Traditionally we think of red or pink food dye squirted into white frosting to make festive Valentine’s Day cookies and cupcakes. Want to put some fun Valentine meals and treats on the table this year – but want to keep the food real and avoid food coloring?
It is a true fact that food exists that is red without any help from outside sources. There’s also this lovely thing we like to call chocolate. It’s not red, but it certainly says, “I love you,” don’t you think?
Here are 29 great recipes for you that can be turned into Valentine’s Day goodies for your family. You might be able to tell that I am desperately hoping for fresh strawberries to be in season and on sale THIS WEEK.
Red and Pink Treats (No Food Dye!)
- Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies
- Homemade Poptarts, cut into hearts, of course
- Strawberry Cream Muffins
- Raspberry Oatmeal Bars
- Chocolate Whipped Cream on Strawberries
- Strawberry-Peach Slushies
- Strawberry-Kefir Smoothies
- Strawberry Yogurt
- Strawberry-Yogurt Fruit Dip
- Strawberry Christmas Salad (which obviously becomes Strawberry Valentine Salad on Feb. 14)
- Low Sugar Strawberry Cheesecake Parfait
- 7-Minute Strawberry Ice Cream
- Strawberry Creamsicles
- Strawberry Shortcake
- Strawberry Milkshakes
- Easy Raspberry Syrup (for your heart shaped pancakes)
- Raspberry Lemon Cream Cups
Don’t forget obvious foods that are red – like tomatoes, sweet peppers, strawberries, grapes, cherries, raspberries, and oranges. Ha. Just seeing if you were paying attention.
Chocolate Treats
- Warm Chocolate Soother
- Chocolate Whipped Cream on Strawberries (which I realize I mentioned above, but it is both red and chocolate, so it deserves to be in both categories)
- No-Bake Chocolate Fudge Bites
- Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Peanut Butter or Caramel Chocolate Truffles
- Low Sugar Chocolate Cake
- Low Sugar Chocolate Cheesecake
- Dark Chocolate Peppermint Mousse
- No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake
- Homemade Chocolate Frappe
- Chocolate Cheesecake Pie
- Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
We always eat tomato soup with heart shaped grilled cheese for Valentines dinner. The kids love it :)
We splurge and buy quality steak with huge, loaded baked potato, mushrooms and scratch made demi-glace. My HUSBAND traditionally cooks the steak dinner. (Nothing says “I love you” like a man that cooks for you! I make a more time consuming dessert such as a multi-layer cake with real chocolate ganache or buttercream (or both). With toddlers, I usually stick to the quick and easy treats, but not today!
PRO TIP: We time the meal to be done AFTER our two toddlers have settled into sleep so we can eat our dinner with a nice bottle of wine in peace. It’s wonderful.
For a treat I make heart shaped sugar cookies decorated with white and pink glaze. Don’t worry, I tint my glaze and frosting with BEET juice. Simply punch a hole in a can of beets (read labels for a can with just beets, water and salt) and pour until desired shade is reached. For buttercream I add juice at the end, for glaze, I add at the beginning, then add milk to reach desired consistency. And no, your frosting won’t taste like beets when juice is added in small amounts.