More on Valentine's Day

  For our dinner, I wanted to make something special. February 14th was a Tuesday this year, so he had a long work day, then arrived home around 8 or so. I had dinner waiting, sort of.  I wanted to make homemade chicken pot pie, but had a few substitutions - I used lima beans instead of peas. I used left-over black beans and corn instead of carrots; although I also picked out all the carrot shreds from a salad. I added mushrooms. Instead of homemade crust or biscuit, I used filo dough. It was an interesting dish, to say the least... I think the only actual ingredient in the "recipe" (which, like the Pirate's Code, is more of a guidline, anyhow, right?) that I used was the chicken.  Ha.
   The verdict: my wonderful husband LOVED it. Hooray! Of course, it might have helped that I paired our chicken pot pie with fresh grapes and roasted asparagus. Yummy.
 

   Dinner filled up our recently new beautiful blue plates, one of our wedding gifts from beloved friends. (Thank you!)  I originally registered for them, thinking I would use them as special platters on holidays and whatnot, but it turns out that sometimes we also use them as plates - which is better when we just make a big salad for dinner.

   For dessert: I made Eric his own individual, heart-shaped (I tried) raspberry pie-like pastry. It's like a creamy, warm, delicious raspberry tart. Dusted ever so lightly with sugar. Yummy.

    The heart-shaped pastry was a bit of a pain, so I only made one - it's more special that way, right? Ha. So I took the remaining pie crust (homemade, so good!) and raspberries - and threw them in a pie plate with chocolate pieces and more sugar. In the oven, it bubbled and sizzled, making a delicious little treat.

   Of course, you simply MUST have heart-shaped doilies for February 14th. I didn't actually use these with dinner (seemed like a little bit of a waste), but I did start using them as stationary to write little notes for Eric's lunch. Super fun. They were a bit of an extra treasure, as I got them from the 75% off bin - notice that they are normally $1. However, they were already on sale as 2-for-1; and yes, I got BOTH deals - and I had the option of only purchasing one pack... so, yes, I got one pack of 25 doilies for 12.5 cents, tax free. Though Hawaii can be expensive, locals can also get some great deals. I love that!

   I also loved spending just a regular Tuesday evening celebrating a silly holiday at home with my wonderful husband, Eric, my forever Valentine!