Keep the Home Fires Burning

Valentine's Day was Sunday, and many people went out to celebrate the Hallmark holiday in fancy-schmancy restaurants. My husband and I are never ones to follow trends, so instead of eating out, we opted to spend the evening at home. We cooked a dinner together and had a lovely, quiet night.Not knowing what we wanted to have for dinner, we made a pit stop at the Safeway and wandered around aimlessly. We spotted a display of pre-measured, pre-packaged spices on recipe cards from McCormick (called McCormick Recipe Inspirations). My husband was intrigued, so we grabbed the packet for Rosemary Roasted Chicken and Potatoes (they also have packets for Quesadilla Casserole, Apple Sage Pork Chops, Garlic Lime Fajitas, Spanish Chicken Skillet, and Shrimp and Pasta Primavera). We also snagged some chicken and small red-skinned potatoes and headed for home.
My husband is not a cook. He amazing at many things, but cooking is not one of them and that's ok. But he decided that he wanted to help put dinner together. He diced up the potatoes and tossed together the chicken pieces and potatoes with the pre-measured spices and some oil. It was super easy and he had fun getting his hands dirty.
The dinner cooked up quickly and easily and resulted in moist chicken with crispy skin and tender but pleasantly crunchy potatoes. The seasoning was excellent and the meal was perfect. I know it's a gimmicky product, but I must say that the McCormick Recipe Inspirations card was a good find. The recipe on the back can be used over and over with the spices I have in my pantry. Sometimes when my hubby and I go on vacation, we rent a house at the beach. I could see packing one of these Recipe Inspiration cards with us to make for an easy but yummy meal on the fly.

While at the grocery, my husband requested that I make up a batch of Red Velvet cupcakes. Who am I to deny my husband something sweet on Valentine's Day? After we prepped the chicken, we whipped up Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for dessert. I use a recipe from the food blogger at Vanilla Garlic. Click here to get the recipe for yourself. These cupcakes are super delicious, so I highly recommend you check it out.

I hope you all had as nice of a Valentine's Day as we did!