Eating out on Valentine's Day is usually a horor show--crowded, with bad service and nervous, overdressed couples. We find it's much more enjoyable to go out before or after the event, or like yesterday, sit at the bar in Chestnut Hill at Paparzzi, drinking good pino grigio and eating carpaccio and focaccia, and fine Italian soup.
You can see what we ate with our $ 102.00 which includes groceries for the rest of the week, too. If we had gone out for this meal at a nice restaurant, I calculated we would have spent $175.00 for two with tip, tax, wine and four courses. (A salad of lettuce, artichoke bottoms, cherry tomatoes and cucumber is not shone. I made everything from scratch, a labor of love, but hey, it's Valentine's day. The crepes were delicious.
If you have eggs, milk, flour and fruit you can do scrumptious crepes and cafloutis. I used an on sale package of frozen stawberries and made a sauce with cornstarch, a little sugar, orange juice, orange liquor and a dash of brandy. The crepes are filled with cream cheese (on sale) and powdered sugar. The recipe made 12 crepes, which means we have three luscious deserts for Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
The stuffed chicken breasts are from Rachel Ray and there is enough for tonight and extra stuffing for some stuffed shells later in the week.
The shrimp bisque was made with on-sale shrimp and their shells, and I splurged and bought leeks and a fennel bulb. Again, enough bisque for three days and was it ever good. I use cheap white vermouth when a recipe calls for white wine.
Yes, I spent a good portion of yesterday in the kitchen, but having (delicious) food for 2-3 days is a good tradeoff. Living cheaply does not mean living poorly. Give your creativity free rein.
Happy Valentine's Day and President's Day from The Cheeseparer
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