Valentine's Dinner

Dean and I have been married for almost 30 years. Today was our 32nd Valentine's Day together. Dean's favorite meal to eat (which is also one of my least favorite to cook is "Fried Chicken, Rice & Gravy." Getting him to tell me anything else he wants is next to impossible. It makes such a mess to cook. Tonight, with lids, bowls, skillets, and plates, I used 12 different pieces. There were a few measuring cups. I didn't even count how many utensils I used.

Because everyone else is jumping on the food blog bandwagon, I thought I would share our dinner with you - recipes and photos included.

Pinterest offers tons of recipes for things that we have been making. Some of them have a twist and others are the recipes we've been using. One of the ones I made today is a copy cat of Cane's sauce. Because we have been making it for a while, I didn't pin it. Here is the recipe:

1⁄2 cup mayonnaise
1⁄4 cup ketchup
1⁄2 tablespoon garlic powder
1⁄2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Combine all ingredients. It will start to look and taste right as you blend them together, but it is best to let the sauce sit for a few hours before serving.

Be sure you use mayonnaise and NOT miracle whip. Miracle Whip is my favorite, but it does not work in Cane's sauce. We usually don't put as much ketchup either. Thankfully, that was for me and not Dean. At least, I didn't mess up his Valentine's dinner. It didn't even look right, so no pic of that.

Next was the fried chicken. Frying chicken in the iron skillet is the best. I usually use eggs and buttermilk in the wet batter. Here, the buttermilk is so thick, I add in some plain milk as well. In the flour, I put salt and pepper. Yes, I do double dip when I fry chicken. Wet, dry, wet, dry and then in the oil. Put the top on the skillet and let it fry. Yum!

 Dean eats thighs and I eat breasts. I was using strips, so I started the thighs first since they take so much longer to cook.

I also made the 7-up biscuits from Pinterest. I use the recipe, but I don't roll them out. I do biscuits like my nanny taught me. I pinch them off, pat them into biscuits, dip the top in the butter in the bottom of the pan and then place them in their spot. So, if you don't like to roll out, this works great.

Ingredients

• 2 cups baking mix (I used Bisquick)
• 1/2 cup sour cream (I used light)
• 1/2 cup 7-Up or other lemon lime soda
• 3 Tbsp butter, melted

Instructions

1. In a bowl, combine the baking mix and sour cream. Add the 7-Up and combine. The dough will be very tender.
2. Sprinkle some additional baking mix on your working surface and shape dough into a 9 inch square.
3. Cut dough into 9 squares. I like to use my pizza cutter to do this.
4. Pour 2 of the Tbsp of melted butter into a 9 inch square baking dish. Be sure the butter coats the bottom of the pan.
5. Bake at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes until golden. Brush tops of biscuits with remaining melted butter. Serves 9

Long grain rice (Mahatma only for Dean) was cooked in the microwave - perfect every time. I also made gravy. I haven't made gravy much lately. I wasn't sure it was going to work. I managed to get it right, and it was so yummy. I only made the small skillet full - a good thing because it saved me from having more for dessert. What? I can't help it. I like gravy. When we first got married, we at lots of biscuits and gravy. Not the fancy biscuits above, because we would not have been able to afford the sour cream and 7 up. We didn't even use baking mix. Scratch all the way!

So, below you get to see the whole meal. I know, I know. Nothing green. No veggies at all. We had salad for lunch, so cut us some slack. Besides, this is our 3 times a year meal. We certainly do not make a habit of it.