Dust off your molcajete, grab these ingredients and treat yourself to a food fiesta!  You will need grilled chicken, steak, shrimp and cheese swimming in a roasted tomatillo sauce with green onions and avocado.  The combination of poultry, seafood and steak should have your mouth watering by now.

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.

This festive appetizer, created by Food University instructor, celebrity chef and author Katie Chin, is great for a Fourth of July gathering or celebrating the Chinese New Year. Best part? It looks just like a firecracker! In China, firecrackers light up the sky on New Year’s Day. Prepare a day ahead and save the frying step for just after  your guests arrive.

Firecracker Shrimp
12 large shrimp, in the shell
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
4 sheets spring roll wrappers
24 carrot strips (3x 1/4inch)
1 egg, beaten

Dipping Sauce
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Sriracha sauce
3 cups vegetable oil for deep-frying

Removing the shells and leaving the tail intact, make a deep cut lengthwise down the back of each shrimp; wash out the sand vein. Place warm water in a bowl and add the salt; stir to dissolve. Place the shrimp in the salt water and swirl. Leave the shrimp in the salt water for 5 minutes, then rinse with cold water, drain, and pat dry on paper towels. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt.

Cut each spring roll wrapper into thirds, making 3 long narrow strips.

Place the carrot strips in a small bowl, sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt, and set aside.

Brush the egg at the top of the shrimp. Place 2 carrot strips in the slit of each shrimp. Brush each spring roll strip with egg and roll each shrimp up tightly in the spring roll strip, with the egg holding it together. The tail of the shrimp should be protruding from one end and the carrots from the other – to resemble a firecracker! Continue process until all the wrappers are folded with the shrimp and carrots.

To make the dipping sauce, in a small bowl, mix the mayonnaise and hot pepper sauce. Set aside.

In a wok, heat the vegetable oil to 350 degrees. Fry the shrimp rolls until golden brown, about 2 minutes, turning 2 to 3 times. Drain on paper towels. Serve with the dipping sauce.

In a wok, heat the vegetable oil to 350 degrees. Fry the shrimp rolls until golden brown, about 2 minutes, turning 2 to 3 times. Drain on paper towels. Serve with the dipping sauce.

Enjoy!

Katie Chin, celebrity chef and author

Imagine if all your actions and the foods you ate on New Year’s day dictated how the rest of your year would unfold?

The Chinese believe this to be true and thus, Chinese New Year is a hugely significant holiday and time-honored tradition celebrating the sacredness of the family and representing a time of renewal. Food plays a major role in the celebration and every dish prepared holds auspicious meaning and is believed to directly affect one’s fortune for the coming year.

Every year, my family savors special New Year dishes which hold special meaning. Each dish has a name representing in some way luck, honor, longevity and riches such as “Firecracker Shrimp” (for good luck) or “Long Life Noodles” (for longevity – the longer the noodle, the longer the life). Here are some other examples of auspicious foods and their meaning:

- Lotus Seed – signifies having many male offspring
- Black Moss Seaweed – A homonym for exceeding in wealth
- Bamboo Shoots – A term which sounds like “wishing that everything will be well”
- Whole Fish – symbolizing abundance
- Whole Chicken served with feet and head – suggesting a favorable start and finish
- Uncut Noodles – represent long life

In addition to the incredible dishes, the Chinese follow some fascinating customs on Chinese New Year day, such as:

- Refrain from using foul language or bad words on New Year’s Day or they will follow you throughout the year
- Washing hair is not allowed because you will wash away your good luck for the year
- Greeting friends with oranges or tangerines during the New Year will bring abundant happiness
- No sweeping on New Year’s Day as you’ll sweep all your good luck out the door
- Stepping into new shoes on New Year’s morning to start your year off on the right foot (My personal favorite)
- Distribution of Red Envelopes (signifying Joy and Luck) filled with money to start the year with prosperity

Wishing you and your family a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year!