Monday, February 15, 2021

A Snowy Valentine's Weekend!

It's been an icy/snowy week in Memphis! Last Thursday, we had an ice storm, and it started snowing on Sunday. Temps have been in the teens and single digits, so the roads have stayed pretty bad. I know my Northern friends are used to winters like this, but down here, we might see snow once every couple years. It's always a big deal when it happens! 

Paul works in Nashville but he'd been home in Memphis sick all week last week (not COVID!). By Saturday, he was feeling a bit better, and we knew he'd need to leave Sunday to head back to Nashville before the second big wave of winter weather hit. 

So we did Valentine's dinner on Saturday night. I made Vegan Pepper Steaks from The Vegan Meat Cookbook (full review coming soon!) with Chunky Smashed Potatoes and Roasted Broccoli (for me; Paul requested green beans from a can! HA!).

The steaks were made with Beyond Burger and topped with a yummy mushroom gravy. I really enjoyed these and can't wait to try more recipes from the book. I roasted the broccoli in the air fryer (at 350 degrees for 8 minutes), and the potatoes were lightly smashed because Paul wanted chunks. We watched Greyhound with Tom Hanks, and I really hated it. If you like war movies, go for it, but there's no plot to speak of.

On Sunday morning, we got up late, and I made a Valentine's Day pancake brunch. I used this recipe for Fluffy Vegan Pancakes (it never fails!), and I made some Beyond Sausage. I added blueberries and chocolate chips to my pancakes, but Paul likes his plain.

Rather than my usual mimosa, I opted for a zero proof Sweet Sunrise Mocktail with OJ, simple syrup, and pom juice.

Brunch table no-makeup/still in my PJs selfie!

Paul got me a box of Vegan Chocolates from Imagine Vegan Cafe. They made them in-house, and they're all different flavors — butter cream, chocolate PB, orange cream, chocolate almond, chocolate cherries, and many more! I got him some running socks because he always runs in cotton socks that aren't designed for running.

After brunch, Paul had to head out because the snow was starting to come down pretty hard. I did a little KonMari-ing around the house and started Bridgerton on Netflix. And then I dug into my Sjaak's Chocolate Almond Butter Heart that my dad ordered me for Valentine's Day. Perfect paired with a glass of red wine.

For dinner, I made myself a very fancy dinner of Vegan Arancini with Almond Cheese from The Superfun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbook! These arborio rice balls are stuffed with almond ricotta and deep fried. Not something I'd typically make but soooooo good. 

3 comments:

Hillary said...

Your Valentine's dinner looks incredible!!
I've always wanted to try arancini, they looks incredible!!!

Anonymous said...

Would you be willing to share your mushroom gravy recipe? Thank you.

Bianca said...

Hey Anonymous, the recipe was actually from The Vegan Meat Cookbook, and I don't have permission to share it. But it's an awesome book! I'll be posting a full review after I make a few more dishes..