Instead of spending Valentine’s Day at a restaurant (and spending superfluously), remember that a dinner at home can be just as romantic.  These recipes will cover your entire Valentine’s Day meal, from a sexy salad to an exquisite entrée.

This Valentine’s Day themed salad includes beets, goat cheese and walnuts scattered on top of a bed of greens.  To make this salad even more festive, use a heart shaped cookie cutter to carve beats into hearts.  The instructional video shows you exactly how to put together this delicious salad.  Click on the pictures to bring up the recipes.

Your special someone will be so much more impressed this Valentine’s Day if you create a cocktail for them, instead of giving them another teddy bear.  The Liquid Lust looks especially thirst-quenching, given the apples, oranges, grapes, lemons and limes that the recipe calls for.

Appetizers are an integral part of any Valentine’s Day meal.  If you’ll be making a seafood dinner tonight, spinach cheese mushrooms make for an excellent starter.  Is your main course poultry- or steak-based?  Shrimp marinated in lemon would be the perfect Valentine’s Day appetizer.

Crab cakes make any dinner special, let alone a Valentine’s Day meal.  This easy recipe will have you eating premium seafood in just 20 minutes.  Heat the crab cakes up until they turn golden brown, squeeze a lemon over them and enjoy an entrée that will have your taste buds rejoicing.

For Valentine’s Day dessert ideas, check out Food University’s blog here.

Our friends at Kitchen Daily have put together a list of over 1,000 delicious Christmas dinner recipes. We thought we’d make your life a little easier by giving you some of our favorites, one category at a time. Here it goes, Food U’s Ultimate Christmas Dinner….

Drink- Berry Eggnog Punch

Ingredients:

• 1 12-ounce can frozen cranberry-raspberry juice concentrate, thawed
• 1 quart dairy eggnog, chilled
• 1 12-ounce can lemon-lime carbonated beverage, chilled
• 1/2 cup whipping cream, whipped
• Nutmeg
• Fresh raspberries (optional)

Directions:

1. Combine cranberry-raspberry juice and eggnog in a pitcher.
2. Carefully add lemon-lime beverage.
3. Dollop each serving with some of the whipped cream.
4. Sprinkle with nutmeg.
5. Top with a fresh raspberry, if desired. Makes 14 (4-oz) servings.

Appetizer- Butter Roasted Pecans with Thyme and Cayenne

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 3 cups whole pecans (about 12 ounces)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and stir in thyme, salt, and cayenne.
3. Pour over pecans in a bowl and toss well to evenly coat.
4. Spread out pecans in a rimmed baking sheet and bake in middle of oven until golden and fragrantly toasty, 10 to 12 minutes.
5. Make ahead: Pecans can be roasted 2 days ahead and kept at room temperature. Re-warm in a low oven before serving.

Soup- Gingered Butternut Squash Soup with Balsamic Drizzle

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbs unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 Tbs chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 3 cups whole pecans (about 12 oz)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and stir in thyme, salt, and cayenne.
3. Pour over pecans in a bowl and toss well to evenly coat.
4. Spread out pecans in a rimmed baking sheet and bake in middle of oven until golden and fragrantly toasty, 10 to 12 minutes.
5. Make ahead: Pecans can be roasted 2 days ahead and kept at room temperature. Re-warm in a low oven before serving.

Salad- Endive, Frisee and Watercress Salad

Ingredients:

FOR GREENS:

• 1 pound endive (about 3 medium), cut crosswise into 1 1/2-inch sections, discarding cores (4 cups)
• 5 ounces frisee, torn into bite-size pieces (4 cups)
• 1 bunch watercress, coarse stems discarded (2 cups)

FOR DRESSING:

• 2 tablespoons minced shallot
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

TO PREPARE GREENS:

1. Cut endive crosswise into 1 1/2-inch sections, then separate leaves and discard cores.
2. Toss endive with frisee and watercress in a large salad bowl.

FOR DRESSING:

1. Stir together shallot, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl and let mixture stand 5 minutes.
2. Whisk in lemon juice and mustard, then add oil in a slow stream, whisking, and continue to whisk until the sauce is emulsified.
3. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Just before serving, drizzle dressing over greens and toss well.

Side- Pure and Simple Potato Gratin

Ingredients:

• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 5 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• a mandoline or other hand-held slicer

Directions:

1. Peel potatoes and keep covered by water in a large bowl.
2. Preheat oven to 450F and butter a wide, shallow 3- to 4-quart baking dish (potatoes will completely fill a 3-quart dish but they will shrink as they cook).
3. Thinly slice potatoes on mandoline into a large bowl and toss well with melted butter mixture.
4. Transfer potatoes to baking dish and spread out evenly. Cover tightly with foil and bake in middle of oven until potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife, 30 to 40 minutes.
5. Remove foil and bake, uncovered, until browned, 35 to 45 minutes.
6. Make ahead: Potatoes can be baked 4 hours ahead and kept at room temperature. Reheat, uncovered, in 350 F. oven, about 15 minutes. Potatoes can be reheated while roast is standing and being sliced.

Main Course- Beef Tenderloin Aux Poivre with Brandied Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 (4 1/2 pound) trimmed whole beef tenderloin
• 2 tablespoons black peppercorns, coarsely cracked (see cooks’ note below)
• 3 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup water
• Brandied Mushroom Sauce

Directions:

1. Let tenderloin stand at room temperature 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 350F.
3. Pat tenderloin dry and tuck the tail end under, then tie the roast at 2-inch intervals. Rub the tenderloin all over with the pepper and the salt, pressing it firmly into the meat.
4. Straddle a large heavy roasting pan over 2 burners and in it, heat the oil over high heat until shimmering. Add the roast and brown it on all sides, turning occasionally with tongs, about 10 minutes total.
5. Transfer beef to middle of preheated oven and roast until a thermometer inserted diagonally 2 inches into thickest part registers 120 F., 25 to 30 minutes (thinner sections will register higher, giving your guests a selection of medium rare to medium meat).
6. Transfer beef to a platter and let stand for 15 minutes (internal temperature of meat will rise to about 130F for medium-rare).
7. Meanwhile, add water to hot roasting pan and stir and scrape up browned bits. Reserve liquid.
8. Reheat mushroom sauce, if necessary, and stir in reserved roasting pan liquid. Discard strings and slice meat. Add any meat juices from platter to mushroom sauce and reheat sauce again.
9. Arrange slices on a platter and serve with sauce on the side.
10. Cooks’ notes:
11. Many big-box stores sell whole tenderloins already trimmed. If your tenderloin is not trimmed (you’ll see the fat and silver skin), ask the butcher to the trim the fat and silver skin and chain (a strip of meat loosely attached to the tenderloin) if indeed it is attached. If your tenderloin came with the chain, ask the butcher to grind it so that you can use it as burger meat.
12. To coarsely crack peppercorns, use a mortar and pestle, or put the peppercorns in a small sealable plastic bag and pound them with the bottom of a heavy pan, or pulse in an electric coffee/spice grinder.

Dessert- Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies

Ingredients:

FOR COOKIES

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 large egg

FOR FILLING

• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 2 drops (or more) red food coloring
• 1/2 cup crushed red-and-white-striped candy canes or hard peppermint candies (about 4 oZ)

Directions:

For cookies:

1. Whisk flour, cocoa, and salt in medium bowl to blend.
2. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well blended.
3. Beat in egg.
4. Add dry ingredients; beat until blended.
5. Refrigerate dough 1 hour.
6. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
7. Scoop out dough by level tablespoonfuls, then roll into smooth balls. Place balls on prepared baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart.
8. Using bottom of glass or hands, flatten each ball to 2-inch round (edges will crack).
9. Bake until cookies no longer look wet and small indentation appears when tops of cookies are lightly touched with fingers, about 11 minutes (do not overbake or cookies will become too crisp).
10. Cool on sheet 5 minutes. Transfer chocolate cookies to racks and cool completely.

For filling:

1. Using electric mixer, beat powdered sugar and butter in medium bowl until well blended.
2. Add peppermint extract and 2 drops food coloring.
3. Beat until light pink and well blended, adding more food coloring by dropfuls if darker pink color is desired.
4. Spread 2 generous teaspoons filling evenly over flat side of 1 cookie to edges; top with another cookie, flat side down, pressing gently to adhere.
5. Repeat with remaining cookies and peppermint filling.
6. Place crushed candy canes on plate. Roll edges of cookie sandwiches in crushed candies (candies will adhere to filling). (Cookie sandwiches can be made ahead. Store in single layer in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days or freeze up to 2 weeks.)

Salads are supposed to be healthy. The word itself conjures up images of low-in-calorie ingredients and high-in-wellness leafiness. That’s why we try to drop it in to every conversation we have, as in, “We’re being responsible again today and just having another salad.” The obvious subtext: I’m healthy and you’re not. Plus I’m certain to shed five pounds by the time the check arrives.
But then we read an article in The Daily Beast. Turns out many of the national chain restaurants are on to our mental gymnastics, which may explain why our waistline hasn’t budged.  Maybe it’s not a shocker that the article says Don Pablo’s Taco Salad with Shell weighs in at first place with nearly 1600 calories. But we have to admit to surprise when Applebee’s Pecan-Crusted Chicken Salad busts a gut with 1340 calories, including 17 grams of saturated fat. Even Chili’s Asian Salad with Salmon is a gluttonous 1120 calories. At this rate, a greasy burger looks really good.
The ironically named Daily Beast (it must be fed) analyzed 200 salads from nearly 50 national chains. Check out the results here