Valentine’s meals are often about sophisticated flavors and fancy cooking techniques. It’s almost as if the difficulty of preparation directly correlates to how much you love your significant other. But what if your Valentine’s plans include little ones this year? No one has the time to truss a pheasant, and your kids are unlikely to appreciate the delicate flavors of caviar and champagne.
Enter Kody and Shelby Hayward of Shelby’s Dae-ly Meals. This husband and wife team has been whipping up healthy and easy scratch-made meals for families for the past six years—even while raising four beautiful children of their own. So grab the whole family and prepare a Valentine’s dinner everyone will love!
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Marry Me Chicken Pasta
Ingredients
1 ½-2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast, butterflied
2 tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon ground thyme
½ teaspoon ground oregano
½ cup chicken broth, divided
½-1 pound bacon
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
½ cup parmesan cheese, shaved or shredded
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
¼ cup sundried tomatoes, coarsely chopped
Pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 box of tri-colored rotini pasta
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350º.
- Melt the butter in a large, oven-safe skillet or saute pan over medium to medium-high heat. Add the garlic, oregano, and thyme. Saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- Add the chicken breast and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, depending on thickness (5 to 7 minutes on each side for thicker breasts), until golden brown on each side. Do not fully cook, or the chicken will end up overcooked.
- Add ¼ cup of the chicken broth, and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. Make sure the middle of the chicken is no longer pink with an internal temperature of 165º.
- While the chicken bakes, cook the bacon in a separate large skillet over medium-high heat, turning occasionally until browned (approximately 10 minutes). Drain the bacon slices on a plate with a paper towel. After cooling, roughly chop them and set aside.
- While the bacon cooks, bring lightly salted water to boil in a medium pot. Add the box of pasta and boil for about 6 minutes, until al dente. Drain and keep pasta warm. Add a tablespoon of olive oil if desired to ensure the pasta doesn’t clump.
- Remove the skillet from the oven and transfer the chicken to a plate, reserving the juices in the skillet. Place the skillet back on the stovetop.
- Whisk flour into the reserve juices over medium heat. Add the remaining chicken broth, heavy whipping cream, and the parmesan cheese. Stir this until combined, and it begins to thicken. Turn off the heat.
- Once the sauce has thickened, stir in the sun-dried tomatoes, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. Place the chicken back into the sauce and sprinkle the bacon over everything.
- Serve the chicken over the pasta with the remaining sauce. Garnish with fresh parmesan if desired.
Simple Sugar Cookies with Icing
Ingredients
1 cup salted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375º. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Mix well and set aside.
- Cream together the butter and sugars until they are fully combined. Then, beat in the eggs and vanilla until the mixture is fluffy.
- Mix in the dry ingredients until they are combined.
- Roll out the dough on a floured surface until even. It should be about ¼-½ inch in thickness.
- Use cookie cutters to cut out the desired shapes and place them on the cookie sheet. Space them out evenly with about 1-1 ½ inches between each cookie.
- Bake in the oven for about 8 to 10 minutes. Take them out when they are just starting to turn brown. Let them cool before icing and decorating them.
- We use premade white icing for these cookies because the consistency is better. You can use a piping bag, icing bottle, or a knife to put icing on each cookie. Top them with sprinkles of your choice. This part is about you and the experience, so have fun and be creative.