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Sunday, February 14, 2010

Dinner for One


Well, the day is here. That’s right, it’s Valentine’s day. We’ve featured romantic meals for both vegetarian and non vegetarians and just to make sure we cover our bases, for all those parties of one out there, we've got a menu suggestion for you on this special day.

Don’t worry fellow singles (that’s right, here at TCC we do understand the pain of this day as a single person), whether you are celebrating SAD (Singles Awareness Day -- like we're not aware of it already so we need a day to point it out) or just trying to avoid the saccharin infusion of love in the air by staying home, here's a caution-to-the-winds dinner suggestion you might like to try out.

Party of One Valentine’s menu:

Buffalo wings
Onion Rings
Chocolate Cake and Special Valentine’s Cookies


Buffalo Wings:

Phone number for you favorite wings shop
Car to get you to and from the restaurant (alternatively, you can get delivery)
Celery sticks (be sure to throw these away, healthy green stuff is not necessary)
Blue cheese or Ranch dressing for dipping

Call the restaurant and order a dozen wings. We mixed it up by ordering half mild wings and half sweet chili style wings.

While you’re on the phone, go ahead and order your onion rings as well (this is a real time saver)

Go pick them up (or wait for them to be delivered)

Notes:


-The best thing about eating wings at home, you can be as messy as you want to be. You don't even need a plate! Dive in and enjoy without having to worry about how you look when you're done.


Onion Rings:

See steps above for wings

Horseradish dipping sauce:

1 part horseradish
2 parts ketchup
½ part mayonnaise

Mix all ingredients together. Adjust to taste.

Notes:


-We do suggest you eat the rings right away, cold onion rings is definitely not the way to go.
- For the sauce, if you want your breath to be particularly foul add more horseradish, if you still want you pets to hang out with you, cut back on the horseradish some.

Choco-Choco Cake:

Bake up your favorite chocolate cake recipe.

After the cake cools, slather it with your favorite chocolate icing.
Notes:

- If you want to go the box route, both Pillsbury and Dunkin Hines have really good mixes.
- The secret to making a box cake turn out fluffy and light is to beat it in your mixer for 5-7 minutes longer than it calls for on the box. This adds extra air to your batter and will result in a nice light cake.

Homemade chocolate icing:

1 stick of butter
3 Tbsp. light corn syrup
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Melt butter in the microwave, add corn syrup and chocolate chips, stirring until chips are melted.


Put in fridge for 30 minutes, or until icing has firmed up (be careful, if you keep it refrigerated to long, it will turn into a block of chocolate. If this happens, stick the bowl in the microwave at 20 second intervals until it’s soft enough to whip)


Whip with a handheld or stand mixer until light and fluffy (icing will change from a dark brown to a lighter brown color).



End This Conversational Hearts Cookies:

4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
2 sticks butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla

Mix butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla, and continue to beat for 2 minutes.

Stir in baking powder and salt.

Add flour in slowly and mix until just incorporated.

Divide dough into three portions. Flatten each portion into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 325.

Bring one disk of dough to room temperature (takes about 10 minutes). Roll dough between two sheets of plastic wrap (this helps keep your counter clean, and keeps from having to add more flour to your mix). Dough should be about ½ inch thick after rolling.

Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut shapes.

Transfer to a plastic wrapped covered pan, and place into the freezer until hard.

Place hardened cookies onto a parchment covered baking sheet, and bake for 15-18 minutes, rotating pan about half way through baking.

Cool and ice with your favorite royal icing recipe (see notes for icing recipe links).

Using a really small pastry piping cone, we decorated our hearts with a couple of choice words or sayings, just for fun, of course (really...but not really).

Notes:

- If you've never made a pastry cone before, here's a handy how-to link with photos and instructions:
http://joepastry.com/index.php?title=how_to_make_a_pastry_cone&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
- We used wax paper to make ours, works just as well as parchment paper.
- Royal icing is relatively simple, egg whites (or meringue powder), confectioners sugar, extract and water. Below are some links to different icings:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/royal-icing-recipe/index.html (this is the one we used, with the addition of some water for thinning the icing down)
http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com/2009/12/royal-icing-101-space-invaders.html (great link, Ms. Humble goes step by step with how to decorate, as well as giving her basic recipe for royal icing)

So there you go, a tasty treat fest for one...who needs company to have a good eatin' time? Whether you are kickin' it solo today or hanging with your better half, we hope you have a fun and Happy Valentine's Day!

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