A Valentine's Treat from the Slow Cooker

posted February 7, 2007
  by Pamela Chester, The Savvy Slow Cooker

Though commonly associated with romantic love, Valentine’s Day is the perfect holiday opportunity to extend your warm thoughts and appreciation to all those people that you care about. Although some might consider it merely a “Hallmark holiday” to be filled with frilly cards, jewelry, and flowers, there are many unique ways to celebrate this special day. Chocolate is the ultimate symbol of Valentine's Day and at the risk of suggesting something that is clichéd, I think everyone’s Valentine could use a little more chocolate.

Last Valentine’s Day I had a whole game plan. As I often do, I planned the holiday around what food we would be having and cooked an elaborate multi-course meal to be enjoyed by the fire. Little did I know the effects that meal would have on my husband: After finishing our dinner and before moving on to dessert (a rich chocolate pudding), he went into a serious food coma and passed out on the couch. I literally had trouble getting him up to even move into bed. I am not sure if he was just trying to skip his normal good natured dishwashing duty or if all that food plus the toasty glow of the fireplace lulled him into sleeping like a baby. But he did go on to say it was one of the best meals he had ever eaten!

This year, when Valentine's Day comes around, I suggest keeping things simple. Given the lesson I learned last year, sometimes less is more. Whether you're creating a meal for your partner or a group of loved ones, a low pressure meal is always a surer bet than a more complicated dinner that leaves you feeling stressed and exhausted.

Of course, if you are in a committed relationship, and are the type of couple that loves to cook together in the kitchen, your dinner would be fun to cook as a couple. Simply divvy up the duties, so that one is the prep cook and the other is the sous chef, or one can make the main course and the other makes dessert. If one party wants to hold down the fort in the kitchen, the other non-cook can be a taste-tester (or if one partner is an expert dishwasher like my husband they can take over that duty). You can plan to make part of the menu ahead in the slow cooker so it is ready when you are.

It’s also fun to splurge on some ingredients or foods that might be a special treat, such as high quality chocolate. Since dessert is not normally part of my meals, it makes having dessert on Valentine’s Day all the more special.

A low pressure way to put a little passion into your menu is with a delicious chocolate fondue that is made right in your slow cooker. Don’t worry if you don’t have a fondue pot, it can be served from the slow cooker too. If you have extra when you are finished, you can save the rest to reheat and put it over ice cream. Chocolate fondue can be served with an assortment of dippers such as fresh strawberries, bananas, and other ripe fruit along with pound cake, biscotti, or marshmallows. Spear with fondue forks or wooden skewers, dip, swirl and enjoy! This makes a fun end to a light meal with your Valentine. In my case, to avoid food coma, we may just decide to skip the dinner altogether and move straight to dessert!

Chocolate Fondue Recipe
http://www.cdkitchen.com/


Serves/Makes: 4
Ready in: 1-2 hrs

* 20 ounces fine quality sweet milk chocolate, broken into pieces
* 1 cup heavy cream
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* Pound cake or Angel food cake and fruit (such as strawberries, bananas, apples, and plums), cut into bite sized pieces

Place chocolate pieces in slow cooker and cook on high setting until chocolate melts, stirring constantly. Turn slow cooker to low setting.

Incorporate the vanilla and heavy cream, until smooth. Continue to keep warm on low setting while serving. Serve with cake, strawberries, bananas and other fruit as dippers.

©2008 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction of this article may be made without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.



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