The Day of Love

I have always loved Valentine's Day, even the first eighteen years of my life when my parents were my Valentines.  This evening, because Law-Man is working hard for no money at school in the crooked letter state, I cooked up my own Valentine's dinner.  You have to love cooking what you want when you want.  You don't have to worry about what other people like or don't like and whether anyone else is hungry at 5pm on-the-dot.

First on the menu, corn meal chicken.  Sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder, and corn meal on both sides of a boneless-skinless chicken breast that may or may not be completely thawed.  (Sometimes you forget you want chicken for dinner when you leave for school at 7:30am.)  Because of the uncertain thawedness, I heated the pan over low-medium heat so that it wouldn't burn on the outside before it cooked in the inside.  Turned out pretty tasty.

 What are those succulent goodies accompanying my chicken, you ask.  That would be bundle of beans.  First, boil a handful of the frozen green beans that are always in my freezer for just a minute.  Then, roll beans in bacon...BUNDLE!  Finally, put the bundles back in the same pot you cooked the beans in (without the water in it, duh), and sprinkle with brown sugar.  Cook over medium heat for a few minutes.  Turn the bundles to brown the bacon on all sides.  Yum.  Btw, this is not the official way to make large quantities of bundle of beans, but it is my quick, only cooking for me, way.

And it's Valentine's Day, so clearly there was dessert involved.  White chocolate-pumpkin ice cream sandwich.  First, win a dozen cookies by jumping into your apartment complex pool in February.

Bur!  Next, go to the grocery store hungry thus prompting you to buy pumpkin ice cream.

As a side note, this ice cream was indeed purchased in late November when everything is pumpkin flavored, much to the dismay of Roomie.  The key to preventing the grotesque and ever disappointing freezer burn on your ice cream is to adhere a piece of Saran Wrap to the surface of the ice cream after each use.  This is a very helpful hint for a person like me that only occasional craves a bite of something cold and creamy.

Now that you have your supplies, place the cookies on a plate, put ice cream on one of them, and top with the other. Yay!

I hope that you each have a wonderful Valentine's Day and go out of your way to show love to someone you don't always get to share with.

P.S. Results of the Blood Orange cocktail throw down are coming soon.