The Way To a Man's Heart is Through His Stomach

Today we had a Valentine dinner. It was really delicious. We had Spinach Salad (my husband's favorite). I put sliced strawberries on the top. They looked like little hearts. I also made Heart shaped croutons.
For the main course we had steak. I bought one large rib eye steak. It was really enough for four people. I had the butcher butterfly cut it. He said it would look like heart. But we had to do a lot of trimming for it to actually resemble a heart. He said Fillet Mignon works a lot better. But I couldn't afford $17.00/lb. So we went with the rib eye. I also made heart shaped dinner rolls.

This is the recipe for the salad:

SPINACH SALAD

2 bunches of spinach or spring green mix (torn into bite size pieces)
1 head of lettuce (torn into bite size pieces)
1 purple onion (sliced)
3/4 lb. fresh mushrooms (sliced)
3/4 lb. Swiss cheese (grated)
1 C drained cottage cheese
1/2 C crumbled bacon
sugared almonds
mandarin oranges
crasins
sliced strawberries
croutons

Toss all ingredients together (except onions and strawberries). Use sliced onions and strawberries as a garnish. Top with following dressing immediately before serving.

DRESSING

3/4 tsp poppy seeds
3/4 C oil
3/4 tsp grated onion
1/3 tsp mustard
1/2 C white vinegar
1/3 C sugar
3/4 tsp salt

Buzz in blender. Pour on salad right before serving.

Croutons:

Brush both sides of slices of bread with olive oil or a garlic butter mix. Sprinkle with Salad Supreme or herbs of your choice. Cut with small cookie cutters or cut into cubes. Place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 300º for 20 to 30 minutes until crisp, turn them over every 10 minutes.

Sugared almonds

Mix 1/2 cup sugar with 2 T. water in a sauce pan. Cook until sugar is dissolved. Add 3/4 cup sliced almonds. Continue cooking (while stirring constantly) until the sugar crystallizes. Remove from heat and dump on a cookie sheet with a cooling rack over it. Separate out the sugared nuts from the excess sugar.