3 At-Home Valentine’s Day Dinner Ideas for Your Family
February 8, 2019
There was probably a time in your life when Valentine’s Day dinner meant getting dressed up and dining out at your favorite restaurant. Or maybe it was a night spent at home cooking a romantic, candle-lit dinner for two. But now, your Valentine’s Day evening might involve picking up kids from basketball practice, sitting through dance lessons, or making final preparations for the science fair.
But don’t forget to treat the ones you love! There is time — even in the busiest schedules — for easy, at-home Valentine’s Day dinner ideas for the entire family. Here are three Valentine’s Day-themed dinners that everyone can enjoy.
A Pizza My Heart
Pizza is a crowd-pleasing at-home Valentine’s Day dinner idea that your family will love. Prepare individual heart-shaped pizza crusts and let each family member build their own personal pizza from the toppings you supply:
- Red sauce
- Mozzarella cheese
- Pepperoni
- Sausage crumbles
- Veggies
Do you think it’s too hard to make heart-shaped dough? It’s so much easier than you think. If you can cut out a paper heart, you can make a heart-shaped pizza with fresh, store-bought dough! View this video from Zagat for an easy how-to!
We Heart Breakfast for Dinner
Everyone loves breakfast for dinner, whether it’s a special treat or it’s on your menu every week. As a Valentine’s Day-themed meal, the star of the show has to be heart-shaped pancakes!
Use a large, heart-shaped cookie cutter or mold on your griddle to create the perfect heart-shaped pancakes. If you don’t have a cookie cutter, you can create a mold using tin foil.
For best results when cooking pancakes:
- Spray the inside of your form with cooking spray.
- Use 1/4 cup of batter per pancake.
- Heat until bubbles start to form in your batter and burst.
- Remove the mold, flip your pancake, and cook about 1-2 minutes more.
- Top your pancakes with raspberries, strawberries, chocolate chips, maple syrup, whipped cream, or heart-shaped sprinkles.
Want to take your Valentine’s Day breakfast for dinner one step further? Try a side of heart-shaped bacon.
Valentine’s Fondue for Your Crew
Fondue is a perfect Valentine’s Day dinner idea for families because it brings everyone together. Not to mention it involves cheese and chocolate! This Valentine’s Day, you can prepare a two-course fondue dinner with these simple recipes:
- 8 oz Gruyere cheese *
- 6 oz Swiss cheese *
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp pepper
* shredded cheese melts better than cubes
Ideas for dippers: crusty bread, apples, broccoli, and cubes of salami
- 6 oz semisweet chocolate — chopped
- 4 oz milk chocolate — chopped
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
Ideas for dippers: berries, bananas, pound cake, and shortbread cookies
Don’t have a fondue set? No worries! You can use a make-shift fondue pot by creating a double boiler. Here are the steps:
- Fill a pot with water, about 1/4 way to the top and boil.
- Place a glass bowl into the pot, leaving about 2-3 inches between the bottom of the bowl and the water.
- Place your ingredients to be melted into the glass bowl
Have a busy week ahead of you? Let Stauffers do the shopping for you!
Use our Stauffers Online shopping app to order everything you need for Valentine’s Day dinner. Simply place your order and pick up at in-store. Local delivery is now available for locations within four miles of our Lititz or Rohrerstown stores.