Easy DIY Romantic Valentine's Day Menu

Need a little help in the romance department? Don't worry, NaturaMarket has got you covered! We've crafted an easy Valentine's Day menu you can make for a romantic home-cooked meal that's sure to impress--no reservations needed!

 

 

Ready to slay your Valentine’s plans with your beau or belle or flying solo and just wanting to romance yourself in an act of self-love? 

From breakfast to dessert, we’ve got a meal plan and some lovely recipes that you can serve for this romantic day! No need to go out to a fancy restaurant with all that puppy love in the air, you can enjoy some delicious, valentine’s day themed meals right in the comfort of your cozy home with company or if you’re just vibing with yourself! 2023 is the year we’re all going to spread the love, you know what they say, gotta give love to get it, and what better way to spread the love than with food! Food is one of the biggest love languages out there, it’s an act of love and sharing your work with yourself or with others, and of course, it doesn’t have to be just with your significant other, you can spread familial and platonic love, there are so many different loves and so many different foods and recipes to show them that you’re thinking of them on this day of love!   

 

Wake up with Heart Shaped Pancakes!

Anyone call for breakfast in bed? Let’s start with an easy recipe that you and your schedule will love to kick off your day with a whole lotta lovin’! Some of us love the classic, make-it-from-scratch pancakes just like how our parents made them, and others love a quick, just add water or dairy into a pre-made pancake mix, so we’ll include both!

 

What You’ll Need

For Pre-Made:

A pancake mix of your choosing, here are a few healthier brands that we personally love;

• For vegan: Birch Benders Chocolate Chip Pancake & Waffle Mix
• For plant based: Flourish Pancake Mix  
• For grain free: Birch Benders Pancake Mix

A skillet

Water and/or milk of your choice to add to the mix (you can refer to the package's instructions to see what they recommend and what substitutes they offer!)

Oil of your choosing like avocado, olive, coconut, or shortening!

1 egg (if needed / wanted) 

Chocolate chips (optional but always welcome!)

Heart-shaped cut-outs       

 

Make It From Scratch:

1 cup of all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons of sugar (or however sweet you want your pancakes, measure to your heart’s content!)

½ teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 cup of water or milk/nut milk of your choosing!

1 egg

Chocolate chips (optional but always welcome!)

Heart-shaped cut-outs   

  

Instructions

For Pre-Made:

Preheat your skillet with the oil, shortening, or butter of your choosing

Then, just follow the instructions on the pancake mix’s packaging and prepare as needed! Once you’ve mixed everything together, before pouring it on the skillet, set your heart-shaped cutouts into the pan and pour your pancake mix inside.

Add your favourite chocolate chips (totally optional), and flip until both sides are golden.

Serve and top with your favourite maple syrup, fruits or drizzle on some chocolate butter! 

Enjoy!  

 

Making From Scratch:

Preheat your skillet with the oil, shortening, or butter of your choosing

Mix your ingredients together until smooth (you can add in your chocolate chips in advance, or you can add them in once you put the batter into your cookie cutter), and pour until it fills the line. 

Let it brown (usually takes about 30 to 45 seconds or until desired shade of golden brown is achieved) and then flip until both sides are a perfect golden!

Serve and top with your favourite maple syrup, fruits or drizzle on some chocolate butter! 

Enjoy!

 

Live, laugh, love in the late afternoon with some pasta for lunch or dinner! 

We’ve heard that one of the most romantic places in the world is Italy, the music, the culture, the amore~, and all that jazz. One of the most romantic foods, or at least a food that’s closely associated with Valentine’s day and love is pasta, more notably spaghetti! So we’re recreating an arrabbiata recipe with easy to prep, and not to mention healthier alternatives to the classic ingredients for this dish to dine on in the afternoon! Maybe if you’re spending your valentine’s day with your love, you could even meet in the middle of a spaghetti noodle like they do in all those old romance movies, così carino!

 

What You’ll Need

A box of pasta of your choosing (we recommend spaghetti, but any kind of pasta will do)

A jar of tomato sauce of your choice

3 tablespoons of your choice of oil; like avocado, olive!

1 cup of chopped onion & 2 cloves of garlic, also chopped 

If you’re going for a bolognese type of sauce, you can swap out the beef for a packet of meatless crumble for a vegan-style bolognese!

Spices of your choosing (½ teaspoon of oregano, ½ teaspoon of thyme, ½ teaspoon of Italian seasoning, salt and pepper can all enhance the flavour of your pasta dish)

Optional: olives, chopped, for a puttanesca-style dish, or parmesan cheese! 

 

Instructions

In a pan, heat up the oil of your choice and once heated up, add your chopped-up onion, and then once translucent, add in your garlic (and chopped olives if you’re adding them in) until fragrant.

Add your tomato sauce and lower the heat to let it simmer with the spices of your choosing. If you’re making a bigger serving, you can additionally add in water, a broth of your choice, or even a dry red wine, but it’s not necessary (though adding broth or wine can boost up the flavour of your sauce). 

While your sauce is simmering its goodness, you can heat up a pot of salted water until it begins to boil.

Follow the instructions on the pasta box to see how long you need to cook your pasta, and once your pasta is cooked, you can either add your pasta in your sauce and mix, or serve your pasta on your dish and then add your sauce on top! 

Garnish with basil leaves, and pair with your favourite wine! 

 

Sweets for your sweet! 

And to finish this lovey-dovey day off, we of course have to shed some light on some sweets for your sweetheart! From chocolates to muffins, there are so many sweets to choose from when it comes to Valentine’s day, but we’re going for an easy recipe as the perfect little bow to finish the day with all your loves, romantic, platonic, familial, and self. The sweet thing about desserts is that there’s always plenty to go around, and it adds a touch of sweetness to anyone’s day! For our dessert and keeping in theme with hearts (it’s Valentine’s day, obvi), we’ll be making chocolate and raspberry heart-shaped cookies! 

 

What You’ll Need

 For the cookies:

Butter ideally, but shortening can work!

Icing sugar

Vanilla extract 

All purpose flour  

A pinch of salt

For the filling:

Baking chocolate

Raspberry jam

More icing sugar for optional dusting on top of the cookies!   

 

Instructions

Mix together the butter/shortening until the mix is light and fluffy, you can use either a hand mixer or a stand mixer, it’s completely up to you!

Add in the vanilla extract and salt and after these are blended together, slowly add in the flour, maintaining the mixing to keep the air flow. Once it’s all blended, knead the dough into a ball and chill in the fridge in a bowl with a saran wrap covering for 30 minutes. Once chilled, whip out a rolling pin and dust your countertop with some flour. Roll your dough flat and use either heart shaped cookie cutters or you can shape out the hearts with a knife if you got a good hand! 

Next, you’re going to want to cut out a smaller heart within your dough heart in half of the dough hearts, leaving the other half as they are. 

Line a baking tray with parchment paper and transfer the cookies to chill them for about 10 minutes and in the meantime, preheat your oven to 350 F. After chilling your cookie molds, pop the baking tray in your pre-heated oven and let them cook for about 7-10 minutes, allowing them to turn golden brown. Once baked, set aside and let them cool off a bit. 

This is the fun part now! Warm up your chocolate until the chips melt and use this as an adhesive to glue to heart cut outs together, with the heart containing a smaller heart donutted in on top. And in the center of the heart outline, add in your jam and drizzle some chocolate on top! 

You can optionally dust on some icing sugar for extra sweetness and viola! You’ve got yourself about a dozen heart shaped cookies to share with your loves! 

 

And there you have it, a day full of love and great, healthy food, what better way to spend Valentine’s day than with a full tummy and satisfied cravings? We hope these recipes help you spread the love!