Valentine's Day Recipes: How to Make Your Favorite Foods Red or Pink

Valentine's Day is a special day of the year because it allows us to show our loved ones how much we truly care about them. There are a few different ways you can spend Valentine's Day. You can always go the classic route with flowers and candy and hallmark cards, or, you can put a little extra into your Valentine's Day and make your gifts more personal.

Cooking and baking are great ways to show your favorite guy or girl how much you care about them. Putting in the time and effort really shows that you want to make their day extra special. Here are a few ways to take normal recipes and turn them into Valentine's Day treats. By making your normal food red or pink, you can show how much you care and celebrate this great day!

Breakfast:

Breakfast in bed is always a great way to start off your Valentine's Day right. My breakfast of choice would have to be pancakes, only because they are the easiest things to turn red or pink! Just make your normal pancake batter and add some red food coloring. The more food coloring you add, the darker the mix will get. If you want to get extra fancy, you can take a heart shaped cookie cutter and make tons of tiny heart pancakes. You can also take whipped cream and put that on top as well as some red sprinkles or strawberries, basically anything else that is red or pink.

And to drink: if you are going the non-alcoholic route for breakfast, pink milk is always a winner! You can either take regular milk and add a few drops of food coloring, or to get a bit fancier, take some nestle quick strawberry mix and make some strawberry milk! If you are going the alcoholic route, a champagne spritzer is perfect. Take 1 part champagne, 1 part blush wine (zinfandel works great) and two parts lime soda, serve with ice and you're good to go!

Snacks:

If you are looking for mid-day snacks or appetizers for before dinner, here are a few ideas. A fruit tray is a healthy snack that is easy to turn red or pink. Just cut up your favorite fruits, I suggest strawberries, bananas, pineapple, honey dew and red or black raspberries. Then you take vanilla yogurt and mix it with raspberry jam. You get an excellent pink dip that will go great with your fresh fruit.

Another great dip idea is Beau Monde dip. This is very similar to dill dip, but has a few extra ingredients that makes it even better. Here's the recipe:

8oz Sour Cream
8oz Mayonnaise
1 tbsp beau monde
1 tbsp dill weed
1 tbsp minced onion

mix all ingredients together. Add in some red food coloring to turn the dip pink. (we also use green on St. Patrick's Day to make it festive for that holiday as well!) Dip can be served with cut up bread, I suggest rye or pumpernickel. The amount of dip in this recipe is good for 1 pound of bread. If you want to get super fancy, you can cut the bread into hearts, but that'd be a lot of work!

Dinner:

A great pink recipe for dinner is my Zesty Chicken Pasta! The great part about it is that you don't have to add anything else to the recipe to change its color; it is already red and pink! Here's the recipe:

2 cups rotini pasta, uncooked
1 tbsp oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cups chopped red peppers
¼ cup Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
1 tbsp chili powder
½ cup salsa
½ cup sour cream
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Cook pasta.
While pasta is cooking: heat oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken. Cook and stir for about 6 mins. Add peppers, dressing and chili powder. Cook 3 min or until chicken is cooked through. Stir in salsa and sour cream.
Drain pasta and toss with chicken mixture. Sprinkle with cheese.

This meal is delicious and pink all on its on. It's a zesty way to spice up your Valentine's Dinner!

Desserts:

There are many different ways to make desserts red and pink. The main ingredient I suggest using would be red food coloring. You can add this to any mix before baking, or to frosting for decorating. There are several ways you can decorate deserts for Valentine's Day, if you check out my article on 5 Ways to Make Red Frosting, you'll be able to see a bunch of unique ways to decorate your deserts for Valentine's Day!

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These are just a few ideas for making red and pink snacks and meals throughout your day. Whether you use these, or come up with your own, putting a personal touch on your Valentine's Day is sure to put a smile on your loved ones face! Happy cooking and Happy Valentine's Day!