Valentines Day Allergen Free

So Valentines Day is tomorrow and the easy route (or at least compared to what we do now) has been dinner out, nice chocolate that easily bought in stores everywhere, or fancy desserts,also easily accessible in stores. But, no more. Now those things are just nicely wrapped trips to the hospital.  So I have developed a few sweet treats and a main meal that still give those iconic valentines day feelings, and also allow your creativity to flow!

First, Dinner. One of the nice things about Valentines day was of course, not needing to cook. Well, unless you have a magic allergen free meal service, which is not a bad idea by the by, this is the next best thing. If you are doing a family meal you may want to use a full roast, but if this meal is just for you and your  sweetie you can use steaks.

Dredge your meat in a mix of rice flour with a few turns of white pepper.
Sear the meat in Earth Balance soy free spread, and transfer to baking dish or crock pot to make it even easier. Also place your potatoes and other veggies around the meat.
In the pan you seared the meat in mix about a cup of beef broth with 3 to 4 shakes of onion powder. Pour in about 1 cup of white wine. Whisk and then pour over your meat and veggies.  If using the crock pot, cook on low 8 hrs. If using a baking dish, cover and cook at 325 for 3 hrs for a roast and check at 1 1/2hrs  if using steaks.


Next, Dessert.  For the Kiddos check out the sugar cookie recipe and grab a heart shaped cookie cutter.
Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate ...yep that's what we are using. Chocolate Covered Strawberries, and Chocolate Candy here we come!

Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips are going to be your best friends for this, but if you can't get a hold of those then some stores have semisweet chips that will work, just make sure to read those ingredients, but you will need to add in sugar as you melt them and taste along the way!
Wash and cut your strawberries in half, place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper
Place chocolate chips in a bowl and melt in 30 second increments stirring every 30 seconds until smooth. I like to add vegan shortening or Earth balance to give it a creamier texture.
Using a fork spear the strawberries on the cut side and dip them into the bowl of chocolate  Carefully place them on the wax paper.
Repeat until all the strawberries are done and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 min.

To make your own candy, well your imagination is your only limit! Add some orange zest, ginger, ho-made caramel or organic raspberry jam, I could go on and on.... You can get fancy and use candy molds, easily found even at Walmart, or just use mini muffin tins.
Melt your chocolate using the method mentioned above.
For strait chocolate just spoon the melted mix into a plastic baggie and snip off the tip, then squeeze into the mold.
If you are adding orange zest, ginger or chili powder stir them into the chocolate after melting and then put into the molds.
 If you want to make candy with a caramel or jam center then squeeze a layer of chocolate into the mold, followed by a small dollop of the caramel or jam covered with another layer of chocolate.
Let the molds sit in the fridge for an hour or so and follow the manufacture instructions for how to get them out.

Enjoy !