Valentines Dinner and Dessert 2012

For V-Day, we decided that it would be better if I cooked the meal. Not only would we get more bang for our buck (dinner and dessert were about $50 total), but we could control the cooking oils n additives which makes us feel better : ) PLUS, we saved money not needing a sitter. I made baked lobster tails and the bowl of dipping sauce is a mix of butter, olive oil, garlic powder and basil leaves. On the plate is NY strip steak smothered with sautéed onions and garlic. Next to that is spaghetti squash prepared spaghetti style, topped with scallops, chipped spinach and diced mushrooms. Instead of using butter for everything, I used mostly 'ghee' and butter for the lobster to limit our dairy. It was my first time using it and I liked it. Ghee is a traditional cooking fat that Indians use and all of the milk solids are separated and removed, making the butter clarified. Dessert was simple, just melted up some "enjoy life" chocolate chips on the double boiler and squeezed in some new Mexico honey for extra sweetness. Covered the berries and then let them cool on parchment paper. Hope y'all had a nice V-Day and maybe these ideas will be useful for next year or maybe for that special someone's birthday.