valentine's dinner

We've had more extravagant Valentine's Day celebrations in the past, but thought it would be nice to make a delicious meal together and enjoy it in our home. The food we had was a little more decadent than our average dinner, but is still relatively healthy; you really can have an indulgent meal without loading up on tons of calories.

On the menu:

• Grilled Filet Mignon with Drunken Onions
• Garlic Dijon Mashed Potatoes with Spinach
• Baby Green Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette
• Flat 12's Bleeding Heart IPA
• Reduced-Guilt Raspberry Brownies

drunken onions

2 Servings

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

Salt & Pepper

8 oz. ale

4 oz. beef broth

• Heat extra virgin olive oil in a medium skillet. Saute onions until lightly browned. Season with salt & pepper. 
• Pour ale and beef broth in and deglaze, scraping up any brown bits from the pan. Simmer until reduced to a thick gravy/onion mixture.

garlic dijon mashed potatoes with spinach

4 servings

1 1/2 lbs yukon gold potatoes, diced

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 lb spinach, torn into small shreds

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 c. milk

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp dijon

Salt & Pepper

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil potatoes until fork tender.
• While potatoes are cooking, heat extra virgin olive oil in a small skillet. Saute spinach and garlic until spinach is wilted.
• Combine potatoes, spinach & garlic mixture, milk, butter, dijon, salt and pepper. Mix on high until fluffy.

The "Reduced Guilt" brownie mix from Trader Joe's is by far the best boxed brownie mix I've ever had, and it is LOW FAT! It calls for combining plain or vanilla yogurt with the contents of the box, but I decided to do raspberry yogurt and serve it with fresh raspberries. The only fat in the whole thing comes from the yogurt.