Valentine’s Day Dinner tricks and treats

I love holidays! All of them! And I try super hard (sometimes too hard) to make them extra special for the people I love! I have to occasionally remind myself that if I start to feel overwhelmed, I’m doing too much, even though it’s all things I WANT to do. I’m probably the only Mom who does that, right? I feel like I’ve done a better job with this in the past couple of years, but anyway... Valentine’s Day rolled around and I wanted to do a little something to make the day a little more special than a normal ol’ Thursday. I decided to cook one of our favorite meals and make a yummy dessert.  While I was doing so, I used a couple of recipes and hacks that I’ve used for a while, but thought they might come in handy for someone else. I may be late to the game on some (or all) of these, but in case you’re later to the game than me, you might find them useful!

Valentine’s Dinner Menu
Chicken Alfredo
“Olive Garden” salad
Frozen Homemade Breadsticks
Strawberry cake with cream cheese icing

Stella Rosa Moscato for me, Apothetic Red for Tim, Tea for Mom, and sparkling grape juice in wine glasses for the kids, well two of them, and water in a sippy for Jett Jett lol

I found this Alfredo sauce recipe on Pinterest (Budget Savvy Divas) years ago and it is ridiculous! I actually prefer it over Olive Garden, but it is named an OG (Olive Garden, not to be confused with original gangster) copy cat recipe.

INGREDIENTS

• Pasta
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 clove of minced garlic
• 1 pint of heavy cream
• 1 cup of Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese
• salt and pepper
• 
  
• INSTRUCTIONS
• Make Pasta.
• 
  
• In a sauce pan over medium heat - melt butter and add garlic and cook for two minutes.
• 
  
• Add cream and cream cheese and heat till bubbling ( not to the point of a boil)
• 
  
• Add in Parmesan Cheese and mix until the cheese melts add salt and pepper to taste. 

1. 
   
2. 
   
4. That’s it. So dang easy. And y’all, it is SO good. Also, super healthy, so there’s that. 

Next is my box cake trick! You just swap a little here, add an extra there and it makes a really big difference in your box cake! 

1. Add an extra egg. Whatever the box calls for, do +1. 

2. Instead of oil, use melted butter. Same amount. 

3. Milk instead of water. Also same amount. 

Delicious! I did strawberry cake (as requested by our eldest) with cream cheese icing, but I have done all flavors of box cakes this way and it works like a charm. 

Lastly, I googled “how to frost a round layered cake” just as I was getting ready to do so, to see if I could find any better/easier tips. I found this neat trick to keep your cake platter clean while Frosting your cake. It’s really just a nightmare to try and go back and clean it up after the fact. It looks a mess and then you’re forced  to lick your fingers clean of all that awful tasting cream cheese goodness! So all you do is cut pieces of wax paper and slide under the edges of your cake. After you’ve frosted it, you just pull the wax paper out and ta da! Nice, clean cake plate! 

So there you go. Double layer, box [turned bakery] strawberry cake with home made cream cheese icing, on a clean cake plate, brought to you by Pinterest hacks, google tricks, a top secret frosting recipe and a two hour toddler nap (Don’t worry. It did not take the whole nap). 

I set our “big” table (that we rarely sit at) with dollar tree doilies, real plates (also a rarity, but not as much as sitting at the dining table), wine glasses and my mother in law’s flowers as the center piece. It was special, but not too much! Just right. We enjoyed being with our boys and having Tim’s Mom here! We’re lucky to have so much love in our lives! 

Also, Judah was terrified, thinking that he was drinking real wine, so that was fun! 

Happy (belated) Valentine’s Day!