valentine’s change

I was supposed to have an amazing ice cream recipe for you for Valentine’s Day inspired by one of my DQ favorites, Choco Cherry Love.  But, alas, my recipe was a somewhat failure, as should happen when you forget to add salt and vanilla to the recipe. 

Note to self:  vanilla is a very important ingredient when making ice cream, unless you want your ice cream to taste only like dairy.  Blech.
   
So, even though it looks pretty, it tastes nothing like cherry and nothing like vanilla.  It only tasted good when you got a bite of chocolate in it.  But, don’t worry, I won’t be letting all that ice cream go to waste…

Since I couldn’t give you the ice cream recipe as planned, I decided to indulge you on our Valentine’s Day dinner.  As much as I would have loved to have gotten flowers sent to work, I definitely didn’t expect them and would love to be surprised “just because”.  (Did ya get that Matt?)

Our Valentine’s plans are very low key every year.  We don’t do gifts or cards because we’d just rather not spend the money.  So instead, we EAT!  Our actual V-Day plans with family fell through, so Matt whipped up our favorite meal that is a weekly, sometimes bi-weekly, treat.

HOMEMADE WHOLE WHEAT PIZZA
Makes 2 small pizzas or one large pizza.  We usually use the dough for one small pizza and put the rest in the freezer until the next time we need it.  Just defrost it ahead of time and it’s ready to go.

1 packet of active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 tablespoons honey
1 cup water

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
Toppings of your choice (veggies, meat, cheese, etc.)

Combine the yeast, honey, and water in a bowl and let sit for 10 minutes until frothy.  Meanwhile, mix both flours together in a large bowl.  Add the yeast mixture to the flour.  Mix in a stand mixer with a bread hook or by hand until combined.

Preheat your oven to 450.  Cover the bowl with a damp paper towel and let rise for 15-20 minutes.  Punch the dough down, recover with damp towel, and let rise for an additional 15 minutes.

Spread dough out by hand – circle, rectangle, etc. – on a greased pizza pan.  Add pizza sauce, toppings of your choice, and cheese.  Place in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly.

We usually just use marinara and mozzarella cheese and split our pizza in half with toppings.  My favorite toppings are tomatoes, onions, peppers, and broccoli, while Matt enjoys broccoli and meat on his side.  And always fresh grated parmesan on top.

This made for the perfect, spur of the moment Valentine’s Day dinner for the 2 of us.  Plus, a few surprise treats that we picked up for each other.  M&M’s and a frosted sugar cookie for me, and Starburst jelly beans for him.

And I promise YOUR Valentine’s Day treat will be coming later on this week!