Valentines Day

I hope you all have a fabulous Valentines Day. My family and I celebrated it at home a couple of days ago with some delicious cake that my daughter Casey made. It was delicious and she made it all by herself. My husband's Grandfather owned a German Bakery in New York City, so maybe she gets it from that side of the family?

Tonight I have a date with a group of twelve year old volleyball players. We have practice on Monday nights, so we celebrated early this year. My husband and I had a date in Coronado yesterday playing a little volleyball in front of the Hotel Del. We're weird, we enjoy workout dates. It was so beautiful and warm out at the beach and we left the kids at home. It doesn't matter what the day is I still like hanging out with him.

Hope you're spending your Valentines Day doing something you love!

The Perfect Valentine's Day Dessert

My friends know I'm not a big dessert maker or eater, but my family is. My husband in particular loves sweets and his favorites are anything that contain chocolate and orange. He has no problem finishing a sleeve of Girl Scout cookies in one sitting. He runs just about every day and still has six pack abs. so he can get away with it. I on the other hand can't and so I don't indulge in sugar very often.

My Sister-In-Law gave my a subscription of Bon Appetit Magazine for my birthday (Thanks Sandy!). I received my first issue this last week and decided to try a new recipe. I haven't tried any new recipes lately. It seems I've been going to my old favorites. Things are getting a little boring in the kitchen.



I love to cook and I make home cooked meals for my family about six out of seven days of the week. The main reason I don't make many desserts is because baking requires exact measurements. I rarely measure when I cook, thus baking is a challenge for me. I get distracted while I'm baking with laundry, the phone, TV, kids, the dog, etc., it doesn't take much. I sometimes think I have A.D.D. or maybe it's too much exposure to spray paint fumes? I forget if I'm on one teaspoon of sugar or two, two cups of flour or three? I have to really concentrate. When I saw this recipe containing orange and chocolate, I knew I wanted to try and make it for my family. This is what I tried,

Bitter Sweet Cocoa Souffle's with Orange Blossom Cream.

Click Here for the recipe.

OK I ate one and it was sooo good! Decadent warm gooey chocolate with cool orange whipped cream. Yum!

The only change I made was the substitution of Orange Extract instead of Orange-Flower Water. I couldn't find Orange-Flower Water at our grocery store.

Orange Extract


Blend the whipping cream, orange extract, sugar and orange peel.

Orange Whipped Cream

Pour this into a ramekin and refrigerate.

I had an extra one. Here it is uncooked and made two days ago.

Not only do they taste delicious, they can be made ahead of time and popped in the oven while you're clearing your Valentine's table of dishes.

Here is the same one pictured fresh out of the oven.

Make an indentation for the cream.

I added some orange peel on top, but I think the color is clashing with the pink plate, oh well.

They are worth the calories.

Bon Appetit!

Happy V Day!