Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite days of the year. I've always loved this day, even when I was single, because personally, I think its a day to show your love to all your loved ones, not just your significant other. I always made treats and exchanged Valentines with my closest girl friends.

I started preparing for the fun of Valentine's Day this year with a cute heart manicure. On gray nails, I just used a toothpick to drop two droplets of red nail polish on my nail and dragged them diagonally to connect them and form a heart.

This year, trying to avoid the dinner crowd and boring prixe fix menus, my boyfriend decided to make me dinner at his house. I decided to make the dessert to finish off our dinner. I took a small shortcut by buying this yummy chai tea latte cake mix from Target. It tastes so authentic and has little cinnamon chips incorporated in the batter to give it something special. It also includes mix for the vanilla frosting.

I added my own touch by baking them in Valentine inspired cupcake papers, sprinkling on heart shaped sprinkles, and creating chocolate garnishes to top them off. To create the garnishes, I melted milk chocolate in the microwave in a squirt bottle, mixing the chocolate every 30 seconds. Then using the squirt bottle, I piped different shapes the and word "Love" on wax paper and let it cool in the fridge for about 30 minutes. They slide right off the wax paper and can be secured on the cupcake with the frosting.

Even though our dinner was at home, I still wanted to doll up for the evening and I picked a special outfit for the occasion...red being the theme of the day and all!

Top: Zara
Skirt: H&M
Shoes: Steve Madden
Jewlery: Levik's Jewelers and Swarovski

I picked out the perfect card too...Target is my go to store for any holiday.

Now for our dinner...I'm so happy to say that my boyfriend actually used one of my blog recipes, Pesto Linguini for one of our dishes. See fellas? You too can impress your girls with my recipes! He also added his own steak recipe to the menu, which was delicious. Food is great, but the presentation of the table was even more great.

Chef Seto.

Folks, this just goes to show that Valentine's Day doesn't have to be a day of emptying your wallets. A personal touch and handmade food/gifts can make your night special and meaningful. I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day whether or not you are with someone special. Valentine's Day is about love, and everyone can experience that. 

Savory Palmiers.

So some of my followers have been asking me to post some recipes since I haven't posted them in a while so I thought I'd start the New Year with a couple of delicious things that everyone would love! For the New Year's party I went to this year, I made these adorable palmiers filled with pesto, sundried tomatoes, and goat cheese. They were a huge hit at the party! In fact...ladies, one person upon eating them asked me if my boyfriend had proposed to me yet. I guess it is true that the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach! But in the case of these palmiers, these are little tastes of heaven that everyone enjoys.

The ingredients you will need.

Sprinkle pesto, goat cheese, and sundried tomatoes on a puff pastry sheet.

Roll up the puff pastry and cut into slices.

Deliciousness in a fun shape.

Ingredients:

• 1 package frozen Pepperidge Farm puff pastry, defrosted
• 1/4 cup of pesto either store bought or homemade pesto.
• 1/2 cup of crumbled goat cheese
• 1/4 cup of finely chopped sundried tomatoes in oil, drained
• Salt

Directions:

1. Lightly flour a board and unfold 1 sheet of the puff pastry.
2. Roll the pastry lightly with a rolling pin until its 9.5 by 11.5 inches.
3. Spread the sheet of puff pastry with half the pesto.
4. Then sprinkle with half the goat cheese and half the sundried tomatoes.
5. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon of salt.
6. Working from the short ends, fold each end halfway to the center. Then fold each side again towards the center until the folded edges almost touch. Fold one side over the other and press lightly.
7. Repeat the entire instructions with the second piece of puff pastry and the remaining ingredients.
8. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 45 minutes.
9. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
10. Cut the prepared rolls of puff pastry into 1/4 inch thick slices and place them face up 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
11. Bake for 14 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm. 

recipe courtesy of Ina Garten

Pesto Perfecto.

Hi everyone! I hope everyone had a great New Year and is getting an excellent start to the New Year. I thought I'd start off Taltalsays this year by posting my perfect pesto recipe. Pesto is such a fresh tasting sauce/condiment and it's not just for pasta anymore! I use it in a bunch of different recipes and I think its a perfect compliment to a dinner dish. Here is my recipe:

Ingredients needed:

• 1/4 cup walnuts
• 9 cloves of chopped garlic
• 5 cups of fresh basil leaves (packed)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups of olive oil
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Place walnuts and garlic in a food processor fitted with a steel blade and process for 30 seconds.
2. Add basil leaves salt and pepper.
3. With the food processor running, slowly pour the olive oil in using the feed tube and process until pesto is pureed.
4. Add the Parmesan cheese and puree for 1 minute.
5. Voila!

Pesto.

I just love the taste of pesto and it compliments so many different dishes. A lot of the pesto I have bought, however, has been super oily and not my style. I had been meaning to try making my own pesto to toss with pasta or on crostini. Seeing as though I've never made pesto before, I looked up some recipes and added my own spin to them. Rather than the traditional basil used to make pesto, I used arugula and some spinach. I added my pesto to linguini and threw some shrimp in there too and it turned out really great. Recipe follows. Would you say your pesto is the besto? Please share tips on how you make your pesto!

Arugula & spinach pesto in the making.

Finished pesto linguini dish with shrimp.

Paired with Hart Rose wine I got from Temecula.

Pesto Linguini with Shrimp

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of fresh arugula and spinach (mixed)
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/2 freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound of shrimp (peeled and deveined)
• 1 pound of linguini pasta (can be any pasta though)
• lemon zest and Italian parsley for garnish

1. Blend the arugula and spinach with the garlic in a food processor until finely chopped. With the machine running, gradually add 1/2 cup of olive oil, processing until well blended.
2. Transfer the pesto to a large bowl and stir in the Parmesan cheese.
3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Using a knife, cut the back of the shrimp to butterfly them.
5. Marinate shrimp with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and salt in a Ziploc bag.
6. Grill the shrimp on high heat until just cooked through, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer shrimp to a plate.
7. Cook the pasta al dente in a large pot of boiling salted water. Stir occasionally, about 8 minutes.
8. Drain pasta and reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water.
9. Toss the pasta with the pesto in a large bowl to coat, adding the reserved pasta water 1 tablespoon at a time to moisten.
10. Top with the grilled shrimp and garnish with lemon zest and parsley.