This year, we’re advocating that you stay home for Valentine’s Day. Especially if you’re a fellow resident of Los Angeles, and you’d like to spare yourself the pricey prix fixe menu, traffic jams, and the epic hunt for affordable parking. We think there’s nothing more romantic than staying home and cooking something delicious for your honey, and we’d like to suggest something classic for your night in.

You can’t go wrong with steak, and this steak is just as simple as it is impressive. As usual, we turn to the Pioneer Woman when we need a hearty meal that even picky eaters will enjoy. This steak with whiskey sauce recipe comes from her first cookbook. The steak itself can be cooked in a skillet with just some butter and salt, but it’s the whiskey sauce that puts this dish over the edge.

Start by sauteing some minced onions or shallots in butter. Lower the heat and add your whiskey and some chicken or beef broth, whisking to combine. Last, add a little cream and continue stirring until it thickens slightly. Serve on top of your steak and let your mouth water!

For a side, we suggest these Hasselback potatoes. The Kitchn has a great tutorial which we used here. Let me suggest that you don’t skimp on the butter. It is a special occasion, after all!

The potatoes take about an hour, but they are pretty easy to throw in the oven and forget about while you whip up your steak, open some wine, and get ready to celebrate a cozy Valentine’s Day at home!

Well February is here and Valentines Day is fast approaching! There are many ways to celebrate this holiday: A great night out on the town, a special trip, even some grand romantic gesture. But over the past few years, I have realized that some of the most romantic and fun filled Valentine’s Days are spent in the comfort of your own home, with a home-cooked meal on your plate, and a great bottle of wine to share with those you care about most. So, if all the glitz and glam isn’t for you this year, here are a few wines that will work for your romantic or relaxing evening at home. Plus they are all available at your local Trader Joe’s and you won’t have to break the bank to enjoy them!

2011 Beringer – Napa Valley – Chardonnay – $11.99

This 2011 Napa Valley Chardonnay is a simple, but incredibly elegant glass of white wine. It has wonderful notes of oak, butter, and a kiss of citrus on the back end of the glass. This glass of white can be served chilled or near room temperature and you will still get a wonderful taste profile out of it. The alcohol content is relatively low, and it is simple, allowing it to pair wonderfully with pretty much any meal you plan on making for your Valentines Day! This wine will pair best with baked chicken, pan seared salmon, or a vegetable stir fry. Its simplicity is its greatest gift.

2011 Tablas Creek Vineyards – Paso Robles – Patelin de Tablas – $15.99

This Paso Robles blend is one of my favorites from the region. This is an incredibly complex red wine that is made up of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, and Counoise. It runs a full gambit of tastes and can really add a little extra spice to your Valentine’s Day meal. The taste profile falls more into an earthy sphere – the tastes are richer with spices and vanilla, rather than intense berries. It will blend wonderfully with a good cut of steak, a beautiful piece of pork, or a rich and creamy pasta without overwhelming the flavor of the food you are serving. This wine will also blend wonderfully with a few pieces or – let’s just be honest – a full box of chocolates!

2011 Albero – Spain – Cava Brut – Sparkling Wine – $7.99

Many associate Valentine’s Day as a day of celebration – and what goes better at a celebration then some sparkling white wine? This Spanish born sparkling white wine is not champagne, but it has a wonderful taste for an incredibly respectable price. I recommend the Cava Brut variety because it offers a dryer and more subtle taste as compared to its sweeter siblings in the sparkling wine world. With this wine you will get some wonderful citrus notes and a slight hint of earthiness on the back end. It achieves a wonderful balance that does exactly what a sparking wine is supposed to do – encourage you to have a little bit more! This will pair really well with your after dinner dessert course or can serve as a great night cap to close out your evening!

Whether you are celebrating with your one true love, with some amazing friends, or even on your own, please remember to drink responsibly!

Good Spirits Folks!

It’s nearly Valentine’s Day, so we wanted to show you what we’ve been up to. We love cake, we love love, and we love frosting, so obviously we were onboard for another delicious heart cake creation this year! We partnered up again with Mary (of Mary Costa Photography) and Kelly (of Studio DIY) for a new take on the holiday – complete with striped balloons, gold sequins, ombre frosting, and of course a delicious black heart inside a cake.

This is the fourth year of heart cakes for Mary, who started the tradition with our good friend Rebecca. Mary made the cakes (which were from scratch and were delicious) and then Corelyn and I helped her carve them out (and stuff them full!) For complete instructions on how to make your own heart cake, look back at our step-by-step directions.

This year, we had six delicious layers of yellow cake, and used chocolate cake dyed black for the heart inside. We thought that gray ombre was the perfect frosting complement, and of course had to add gray shimmer dust to make the cake sparkly (we can’t resist sparkles, you guys. These sparkles may or may not still be all over the GMS kitchen…and over some of our clothes.)

We headed out to this awesome wall that another friend (thanks Cricket!) found in Culver City to shoot the cake, our lovely models (aka paleo contributor Ellen and her bf Aaron), and Kelly’s awesome DIYs. How cute are the heart-shaped cake toppers? We loved how simple they were, and they complemented the cake so well!

 (Photo above by Mary Costa Photography)

Here are some behind-the-scenes shots from the morning spent giggling, eating cake on the street, and putting together a pretty awesome photoshoot.

Check out Mary’s post about Heart Cake Year Four with beautiful shots of the whole thing, and visit Studio DIY for how-tos on the awesome DIYS that Kelly came up with!

(Photos in above collage by Mary Costa Photography)

Credits:
Concept/Food: Garlic, My Soul
Concept/Crafts: Kelly of Studio DIY
Photographer: GMS & Mary Costa Photography
Models/Real-life in love couple: Ellen Tremiti & Aaron Waltke
Camera/Craft Assistants: Jeff Hayford, Mike Marsoupian, Jeff Mindell

Here’s a sneak peek at our Heart Cake from this year…featuring a black heart, ombre gray frosting, and of COURSE some edible glitter. I can’t wait to show you all the photos, but for now, I want to bring your attention to our next holiday!

Valentine’s Day is next weekend, and if your city is anything like LA, it’ll be crawling with people going out to fancy restaurants to eat prix fixe menus and sitting on top of each other in the name of love.

Well, we’re here to tell you that love comes in another shape: a romantic dinner at home, from scratch, followed by a movie, or music, a bottle of wine, and snuggling up on the couch. It can be with your significant other, or your whole family, or just a group of good friends who you love to the ends of the earth. And it’ll be wholesome, delicious, and you won’t have to find a parking spot or take a train or a cab. Win/win/win.

Here are some of our best recipes for you to make a delicious meal for whoever you celebrate Valentine’s Day with!

For Breakfast:

Start things off with these heart-shaped pancakes. Good for kids, or just for those who are young at heart (hint, hint, Jeff, are you reading?!) If you’re looking for something paleo try these super simple pancakes that are gluten free, too! Or, if you’re into eggs, try this frittata to impress your crowd.

For Dinner:

Feeling rushed but still want to make something homemade? The slow cooker is your friend. Try this Chicken Curry – one pot, and is basically makes itself. If you’re feeling vegetarian and/or Italian, try this Penne Alla Vodka – sounds and tastes fancy, but it’s easy to put together. Or, if it’s freezing where you are, put together this Sweet Potato Cassoulet and your heart will be warmed. Plus, this makes enough for a crowd, or awesome leftovers so you don’t have to cook this weekend – a Valentine’s Day gift to yourself!

For Dessert:

You didn’t think I’d let this holiday go without a delicious treat, did you? Of course on Valentine’s Day you need a treat that’s going to make this day feel extra-special. If you find yourself with some crafting time and if you’re good with a knife, try your hand at our heart cake! You’d be surprised at what you can do. If you have a little less time, you can make our Chocolate Bread Pudding – a little savory, but definitely full of rich chocolate. Low on time? Make this bundt cake – it’d beautiful, looks impressive, and comes together in a synch.

Check back early next week to see the delicious results of our black heart cake! And leave a comment to tell us what you’re cooking this year for Valentine’s Day!

Making a good paleo pizza can be exciting for anyone on a paleo diet. Every now and then, even paleo eaters want some version of pizza (without having to cheat) so I set out to try and make a decent one that would satisfy my craving and satisfy my friends.

But that wasn’t all. I also have friends with allergies and I wanted to not only make a pizza I wanted to eat, but also one they could eat, which limited my options even more. For example, the first crust I considered from The Lucky Penny Blog had cauliflower as a main ingredient so that was out. Then, the inspiration for this recipe came from The Art of Paleo Entertaining, but it used almond flour, another no-no.

I ended up trying a mixture of ground cashews and walnuts (thanks to my new mini food processor) with a pretty successful result. The crust was sweet but not too sweet. It sort of had a ritz cracker consistency but the herbs and spices helped it work as a crust. Add in the sauce and toppings and presto! A very successful recipe that my friends and I gobbled up.

This recipe also features coconut oil from Tropical Traditions, who we generally love (see why here.) Coconut oil is one of our favorite things to add to dishes because it’s so versatile – we have even started throwing it in our smoothies.

Pizza Crust

Ingredients:
About 2 cups cashew meal
About 1/4 cup walnut meal
1/2-3/4 cup arrowroot flour
2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons dried oregano (or 2 tbsp fresh oregano)
1 teaspoon dried basil (or 2 tbsp fresh basil)
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
2 eggs

Directions:
1.) Preheat oven to 325.
2.) In a large bowl, combine cashew meal, walnut meal, arrowroot flour, baking powder, salt, black pepper, oregano, basil, marjoram, garlic powder, onion powder, coconut oil and eggs.
3.) Mix until dough forms (We had to add a little more arrowroot flour, cashew meal and walnut meal in order to get a thicker, more dough-like consistency. You want to be able to make a dough-like ball out of the mixture.)
4.) Spread dough out onto a large baking sheet until it’s about 1/4 inch thick.
5.) Bake the dough for about 30-35 minutes until it becomes firm.
6.) While crust is baking, make your sauce and toppings.

Pizza Sauce
Ingredients:
1 7-8 oz can organic tomato sauce
1 5-6 oz can organic tomato paste
2 tsp dried minced onion (or 2 tbsp fresh onion)
1 tsp dried basil (or 1 tbsp fresh basil)
¾ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ tsp garlic powder or granulated garlic

Directions: (continued)
1.) Combine ingredients and simmer on low while crust is cooking.

Pizza Toppings

Ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey
1 pack sliced mushrooms
½ onion, peeled and cut into slices
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp pepper
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp coconut aminos
*optional: fennel seeds

Directions: (continued)
1.) Set sliced mushrooms and chopped onion aside.
2.) Mix ground turkey with the seasoning, coconut aminos and fennel seeds, if desired.
3.) Ball the mixture into small quarter-sized meatballs (about 1 inch in diameter). 4.) Sautee the meatballs in a little olive oil. Be sure to sear the sides until you get a nice brown crust. Then set them aside (they will also bake once in the oven on the pizza).

Final Directions:
1.) Add sauce and toppings to your pizza
2.) Bake for 30 minutes. Onions should be a little crispy. For the last five minutes, turn the heat up to 400.

Have you ever made paleo pizza? How do you do it – and what’s your secret to a crispy crust?