Jane Korvemaker shares a collection of simple recipes for special meals our families can enjoy together for Valentine's Day.

Valentine’s Day is soon! There is Catholic history involved, certainly. St. Valentine was a historical person: a martyr in the patristics period (seems to have died before the year 300). Stories handed down are few, and there is possibly more than one Valentine whose stories were edited together, but there is a catacomb in Rome (north-east of the Vatican) that celebrated him and it seems that Pope Gelasius, in 496, marked February 14th to celebrate him.

I’m not too keen on figuring out the history, apart from recognising that he was a person who loved God and was willing to die for his faith. The self-sacrificing love of the saints is a great witness to help bring us closer to Jesus.

Some ways that we can celebrate that self-sacrificing love is to celebrate with our families at home. One of my favourite things to do to show my family that I love them is to make special and thought-through foods. Here are some simple recipes I’ve found that can be a means of showing Christ’s overflowing and bountiful love to our families! This is the first time my kids are in school (we’ve homeschooled up until this year), and so I’m definitely taking note of the lunch ones here for this February and also maybe for other special lunches in the future.

I’m linking several recipes for each meal. One special meal is typically enough work for me, but I sure love the sound of all of these!

Breakfast

Vanilla Cinnamon Baked French Toast

Strawberry Cheesecake Pancakes

Baked Peanut Butter and Banana French Toast. This is definitely fancier and more work, just FYI.

Everything Cheesy Potato and Egg Casserole

Lunch

Tomato Soup with Heart Croutons. Use canned tomato soup with the heart croutons; if your children carry lunch to school, they can toss the croutons into their soup thermos at lunch.

Mini-Heart Pizzas

Crackers and Heart-Shaped Cheese. I like the simplicity of this for a school snack.

Bow Tie Pink Pasta. I love how easy making pink alfredo sauce is here.

Heart Quesadillas

Snack

Raspberry Swirl Sweet Rolls

Bacon Hearts. This would win me over every time. I love bacon so much.

Oatmeal Strawberry Bread

3 Minute Raspberry-Vanilla Popcorn

Crispy Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Dates. These taste amazing though they are fancier. With kids, I’d substitute in cream cheese over the goat cheese (unless your kids go for goat cheese).

Supper

Buffalo Chicken and Roasted Potato Casserole. This sounds amazing to me, though I’d never roast potatoes at 500F degrees; I’d just do my normal 400F degrees; they’ll come out similar.

Enchilada Casserole. If you already have chicken, beef, or pork leftovers in the fridge, this is a fab way to use them!

World's Best Lasagna. If you’ve never tried this recipe, it is absolutely amazing.

4 Cheese Roasted Garlic Alfredo Stuffed Spaghetti Squash. Not red coloured on its own, but adding in cherry tomatoes, or adding red food dye to the sauce to make pink would add in that Valentine’s colour (also, this recipe is extremely tasty: we’ve made it).

Everything Cheddar Tomato Bacon Grilled Cheese

Sloppy Joes in the Instant Pot. Catholic Mom’s editor Barb knows how to combine tasty, healthy, and quick!

Dessert

Best Brownies. It’s hard to go wrong with chocolate.

4 Ingredient Chocolate Mousse

One Bowl Chocolate Sheet Cake with Milk Chocolate Fudge Frosting

Chocolate Chip Cookie Stuffed Soft Pretzels. I’ve made these for my kids and they couldn’t stop raving about them. Definitely fancier, but the score points are high.

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2 dozen recipes for simple but special meals and treats for a family Valentine's Day celebration. #catholicmom

I’m not sure if I’ll get around to making a special breakfast, but I can definitely make tomato soup with heart-shaped croutons for their lunch, and I’m going to go for the favourite pasta recipe in the house: lasagna. They will be so thrilled. I also know they will anticipate and love their leftover lunches the next day, extending that feeling bountiful love even further.

What do you do with your family for Valentine’s Day?

Copyright 2022 Jane Korvemaker
Images: Canva Pro; Sloppy Joe photo copyright 2018 Barb Szyszkiewicz, all rights reserved.