Healthy Food Blog

Here are 10 things you can do together (or at least…)

1. Bake heart-shaped sweets for your sweeties.

Heart-shaped Sweets

I have presented some recipes for Valentine’s cake and cookies on 11, 12 and 13 February. You can check them out.

2. Send her some eco-friendly flowers.

Eco-friendly Flowers

3. Show off your crafting skills.

Crafty Valentine

Make some crafty valentine for him/her.

4. Adopt an animal.

Adopt a Tiger from WWF

World Wildlife Fund allows you to save an animal on the list of extinction.

5. Join the organic wine club.

Couple Drinking Wine

A membership to a wine club keeps on giving throughout the whole year and wine lovers will enjoy trying new organic vintages.

6. Relax

Spa

Go spa.

7. Make personalised items

Personalised Item

Show them you went all out by simply transforming your photos into timepieces of love — like photo calling cards, calendars, bookstore-quality books, and even stickers!

8. Give her a stone

Gemstone Jewellery

Buy her a gemstone, shop at your local jewellery store. Some stones to considered are diamonds, ruby, emerald and rose quartz.

9. Bath

Couple Bath

Yes. Sharing warm bubble bath together

10. Travel

Romantic Getaway

Meet up with your travel agency to arrange some romantic getaway.

Yet I still present another great recipe – Heart-Shaped Cookies

Heart-shaped Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Instructions:

In a large bowl mix the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla to mix well. Mix in the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Mix until smooth. Divide dough into three equal pieces.

Work with one dough piece at a time. Roll out on a lightly floured surface. Using cookie cutters cut out two equal sized heart shapes for each cookie. Then using a smaller heart shaped cookie cutter cut out another heart in the center of one of the heart shaped cookies.

Repeat process until all dough is used. Bake cookies at 350F for approximately 8 minutes or until golden and baked through.

Today I present another recipe for this coming Valentine’s Day, this time will be a Sweetheart Cake.

Chocolate Sweetheart Cake

Ingredients:

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup light brown sugar

3/4 cup butter

3 eggs

1 large bar baking chocolate

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl beat butter, sugars and vanilla until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Gradually stir in the milk, mixing well after each addition. Fold in coarsely chopped chocolate.

Pour batter into a baking pan and bake for approximately 30 to 35 minutes or until golden and baked through. Decorate the cake with white heart shaped chocolate pieces or rose decorative roses and put some words like “I Love You”.

Today I present a recipe for this coming Valentine’s Day – it’s the all time favourite, a pancake – Valentine’s Pancakes.

Valentine's Pancakes

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 ¾ cups milk

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Chocolate/Strawberry Syrup

RASPBERRY ENLIGHTENMENT or whipped cream for topping

3 inch metal heart shaped cookie cutters

Instructions:

Mix flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Gently pour in the chocolate chips. In a separate bowl mix the milk, eggs, oil and brown sugar and add to the flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (do not over mix)

Heat the griddle or skillet over low to medium heat. Brush the heart-shaped cookie cutters with a little oil and place in griddle. Pour ¼ cup batter into cookie cutters and cook until pancake starts to bubble. Remove the cookie cutters then turn and cook for another minute on the other side or until slightly golden.

Sprinkle with chocolate or strawberry syrup and serve, or dust with powdered sugar, whipped cream or RASPBERRY ENLIGHTENMENT

Prepare heart-healthy dinner this Valentine’s.

1. Lower “bad” cholesterol and reduce your heart disease risk by eating more soluble fiber such as oatmeal, apples, pears, and whole grains.

2. Serve lots whole fruits and vegetables on your dinner plates. They’re loaded with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals and contain virtually no fat and very few calories.

3. Try pouring soymilk on your cereal and munching on soy nuts. Soy protein may help lower blood cholesterol levels and reduce your risk of heart disease.

4.  How about include salmon, nuts,  soybeans, and spinach. These foods rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, which helps interfering cholesterol absorption.

Plan a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner with heart-healthy foods that celebrate your love. Devise a menu of your own, trying to incorporate as many of the above foods as possible.