A Little Valentine's Math

1 Monday night
+
2 little girls 3 and under
+
shoe-string budget
=
Valentine's candle-lit dinner at home.

Ideal? Not really. Romantic? For sure. Delicious? Hands down.
We put the girls down by 7 and indulged in a private dinner-for-two, serenaded by a crackling fire.
Can I brag about this dinner for a minute please? I think I will, but only because my normal week-day dinners consist of taco salad, grilled cheese & tomato soup, spaghetti, or some other trusty stand-by. But this, my friends, was a menu a lady can be proud of.

*Marinated salmon fillets
*Creamy risotto
*Fresh green salad
and to finish it off...
*Marbled Cheesecake Hearts.

I so humbly declare the entire dinner "out of this world."



(Here's the super easy, delicious recipe, out of The Essential Mormon Cookbook- one of my favorites.)

Ingredients
* 2 cups finely crushed Oreos
* 3 tablespoons butter or 3 tablespoons margarine, melted
* 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
* 1 (14 ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
* 3 eggs
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 2 (1 ounce) unsweetened chocolate squares, melted

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 300°F
2. Line 13x9-inch baking pan with heavy foil; set aside.
3. Combine cookie crumbs and butter; press firmly on bottom of foil-lined pan.
4. With mixer, beat cream cheese in large bowl until fluffy.
5. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth.
6. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well.
7. Pour 3/4 of the batter evenly over prepared crust.
8. Stir melted chocolate into remaining batter; spoon over vanilla batter.
9. With table knife or metal spatula, gently swirl chocolate batter through vanilla batter to marble.
10. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until set.
11. Cool completely.
12. Chill at least 1 hour.
13. Use foil to lift out of pan.
14. For hearts, cut with heart-shaped cookie cutter.
15. These can also be cut into bars.


Besides the obvious one, my other two little Valentine's:



(It was absolutely so nice yesterday we went outside for the first time in months to play. Don't worry, it was back down to 40 today.)