♥♥♥Romantic Valentine Day♥♥♥

How are you celebrating with your sweetie on Valentines Day?

I visited Dawnie's blog the other day and she had such a good idea of posting about our Valentine Celebrations... So here is mine and I would love to hear about yours.

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After giving it much thought and trying to decide which restaurant to go to and what movie we would like to see that the two of us could agree upon we decided to do our own Valentines day celebrations... Ralph is in charge of a delicious breakfast for the 2 of us and we will both work on a romantic dinner with a very decadent dessert...

Appetizer

Cheese & Fruit tray

Our Menu

Toss Salad

Montreal Ribeye Steak

Twice Baked potatoes loaded

Roasted Zucchini & Yellow Squash

Drink

Zinfandel or a Cabernet Sauvignon

I will be making the dessert... One of my very favorite desserts is cheesecake and what is more decadent then chocolate covered strawberries... so I thought I would try this recipe for Chocolate-Dipped Strawberry Cheesecake....

Sounds yummy and pretty easy to do....

Chocolate-Dipped Strawberry Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1-3/4 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs (about 9 whole crackers)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 pound fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 packages (8 ounces each) fat-free cream cheese, cubed
1 cup (8 ounces) fat-free cottage cheese
Sugar substitute equivalent to 3/4 cup sugar
1 carton (8 ounces) frozen reduced-fat whipped topping, thawed, divided
13 medium fresh strawberries (for dipping)
4 squares (1 ounce each) semisweet chocolate

Directions:

In a small bowl, combine cracker crumbs and butter. Press onto the bottom and 1 in. up the sides of a 9-in. springform pan coated with cooking spray. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack.

Hull strawberries if necessary; puree in a food processor. Remove and set aside. (Not the 13 medium Strawberries.. they are for chocolate coating)

In a small saucepan, sprinkle gelatin over cold water; let stand for 1 minute. Heat over low heat, stirring until gelatin is completely dissolved. Transfer to the food processor; add cream cheese, cottage cheese and sugar substitute. Cover and process until smooth. Add strawberry puree; cover and process until blended. Transfer to a large bowl; fold in 2 cups whipped topping. Pour into crust.

Cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until set.

For garnish, wash strawberries and gently pat with paper towels until completely dry. Cut tops off berries. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate at 50% power; stir until smooth. Dip each berry tip until half of the berry is coated, allowing excess to drip off. Place with tips pointing up on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet; refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Carefully run a knife around edge of springform pan to loosen; remove sides of pan. Arrange berries, chocolate tips up, around edge of cheesecake and place one in the center. Garnish with remaining whipped topping. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 12 servings.

After dinner we will be each choosing a movie that we will love to watch together... Maybe a good romantic comedy like Sleepless in Seattle or a sexy steamy movie like Thomas Crown Affair (HOT, HOT, HOT) or an old classic like An Affair To Remember or Sabrina with Audrey Hepburn

♥♥♥Whatever you choose to do I know you will have a wonderful day♥♥♥

Until Later