4th Annual Family Valentine's Dinner!

Happy Valentine's Day!!
With this being such a busy time of year for Dwayne, we have in recent years, given up the idea of a date on Valentine's Day.  Instead, we have made it a family affair!
The kids made the decorations... even Reagan got in on it this year.  Then, we worked together to rename all our menu items to go along with our Valentine's theme. (Ellie really got on board with this this year!)  The girls wrote out menus; Andrew helped me get the decorations put up.  This is really a group effort every year, and something the kids look forward to... and so do I!

So this year, we had...
Hearts on Fire Peppered Steak
Give me A-more Salad
Wild About You Rice
Wrapped Up in Love Crescent Rolls
Swee-Tea
Red Lip Kisses on Spice Cake

All of that translates to pepper-crusted steak; romaine salad with tomatoes, toasted almond slices, shredded Swiss and Parmesan, a little bacon, and a olive oil/lemon juice dressing; wild rice; crescent rolls with cream cheese and dry ranch mix rolled up inside before baking (yum-wow!); sweet tea (of course); and tomato spice cake with cream cheese frosting and red lips (or my best attempt at red lips) piped on top with red frosting.

We hope your Valentine's Day was as love-ly as was ours!! 

Total YUM!

I tried a new recipe last night-- something I am prone to do quite often.  It was out of the park!!  It's like a Philly Cheese Steak.  I started with this recipe.  I'm not sure if this is an authentic Philadelphia Steak Sandwich or not, but I'm telling you, it's good!

I didn't make it exactly as the recipe indicates (do I ever?).  I omitted the wine, and we did not want horseradish or mustard on the bread.  Also, I
didn't cook the peppers, onions, and mushrooms in the slow cooker-- just the meat with broth and seasonings for about 4 hours.  I sauteed the veggies on the stove right before supper and served them on the side just to make it kid-friendly.  I didn't have any French bread, so I made some simple yeast rolls.  The sandwiches were so-o good!  Definitely a do-again... soon!