Entertaining Expert Carol Mackey is back to show us easy and impressive ideas for your Valentine’s Day at home! For more visit carolthatcooks.com
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00:00 Welcome back.
00:03 Valentine's Day is literally a week away, and if you're trying to have a get together
00:07 with your gal pals or that someone special, Carol Mackey is here with some tips on how
00:12 to put together an amazing spread without breaking the bank.
00:17 That's the most important part, right?
00:18 That's right.
00:19 That's right.
00:20 So just a few small tips that make a big impact, really.
00:23 So starting with our cocktail, champagne, Prosecco.
00:27 And what I've used here is edible glitter.
00:29 I don't know if you've seen that.
00:32 It's not just like food coloring.
00:34 It actually swirls in there.
00:36 It bubbles when you add it.
00:37 It's really so pretty.
00:39 It looks beautiful in the glass right there.
00:41 That is so cool.
00:42 I've never heard of edible glitter.
00:43 It's kind of all the rage now.
00:45 It's sort of new.
00:46 Yes.
00:47 So.
00:48 Very cool.
00:49 Yeah.
00:50 And then our appetizer, I made puff pastry, French onion hearts.
00:53 And these are so beautiful.
00:54 Look at how gorgeous that is.
00:56 Real simple.
00:57 You can find the recipes on my website, but you take a sheet of puff pastry, layer Swiss
01:01 cheese or Gruyere caramelized onions, and then you roll from the outside in, freeze
01:07 it, cut it, and then kind of pinch the ends to make a heart.
01:10 Perfect.
01:11 So easy.
01:12 And even I could do it.
01:13 Anybody can do it.
01:14 That's right.
01:15 And then also I want to mention the flowers.
01:17 So you know the flowers to cut them and all that takes time.
01:20 So a little hint, I like to sometimes just pick up a potted plant.
01:24 So easy.
01:25 No cutting on the table, no cutting, and it lasts so much longer as well.
01:29 That's a great point.
01:30 And you know what?
01:31 If you're having a gathering with a bunch of your girlfriends or that someone special,
01:33 like we said, someone could take this home at the end of the night.
01:36 Exactly.
01:37 That's exactly right.
01:38 Yes.
01:39 And then of course I love crafts.
01:40 So my little table lantern, you know, you see in restaurants or cocktail bars is actually
01:47 a wine glass.
01:48 A wine glass.
01:49 So easy.
01:50 With battery voted.
01:51 So what I have here is my crafts.
01:53 So I took gold paper.
01:55 You have to have gold.
01:56 And then any color you want.
01:58 And you use a glue stick to put that together so it doesn't show the glue.
02:02 And then poke little holes.
02:04 And then I use Velcro so it gets stored flat, but you can staple it together.
02:09 So smart.
02:10 And I'm not sure, you can't really see the beautiful effect of this, but there you can
02:14 because I took a picture home.
02:16 And it just adds so much and such a fun.
02:18 So much ambiance to the table.
02:19 Yes, and a fun, easy craft.
02:22 Super easy.
02:23 So this is our main entree again.
02:25 Very simple.
02:26 And I'm serving it in the Le Creuset L'Amour pot.
02:30 So cute.
02:31 This pot.
02:32 So cute.
02:33 And it is lobster mac and cheese.
02:36 Wow.
02:37 So you can use your favorite macaroni and cheese recipe.
02:41 Even buy, store bought if you have a really good brand.
02:43 And then to elevate that, I added roasted red pepper hearts that I cut out with a little
02:48 cutter.
02:49 So cute.
02:50 And then I added a little bit of the sauce that I just cut up, which is very reasonable.
02:53 This time of year, specials for Valentine's Day, you always can get a reasonably priced
02:58 lobster tail.
02:59 Because that's kind of the romantic thing, right?
03:01 You do the surf and turf with the lobster.
03:02 Right.
03:03 Put it in the mac and cheese like this.
03:04 It just, like you said, elevates it.
03:06 Yes.
03:07 Makes it more romantic.
03:08 It's a great do ahead too because the Le Creuset is stove top to oven.
03:12 So you can do it on the stove top, put it in the oven, and take it out and just garnish
03:16 it with the heart hearts.
03:17 You got the one pan right there.
03:18 I will tell you guys, that smells amazing.
03:21 You get the mac and cheese and the lobster.
03:22 Oh my gosh, it smells delicious.
03:24 So good.
03:25 So good.
03:26 And then lastly, again, very simple, store bought dessert to really make things easy
03:30 and quick.
03:31 So I bought a chocolate mousse.
03:32 And then the way that I elevated this dessert was edible roses.
03:37 So I just put one of those on top and sprinkled a little petal.
03:42 And very easy and impressive.
03:44 Wow.
03:45 It looks so beautiful.
03:46 Definitely impressive.
03:47 And I love that this is like a restaurant level quality of all of this stuff.
03:50 And like you were saying, this is budget friendly ideas.
03:52 These are things that we can do at home without breaking the bank.
03:56 And talk a little bit about what we have here because these are so gorgeous.
03:59 Oh sure, yeah.
04:00 Very elevated.
04:01 Well, this is actually from my collection.
04:03 I have so many plates.
04:04 My husband's here and he can vouch for that.
04:07 This is from actually anthropology.
04:10 It's a French artist that made all these plates.
04:12 So I have all different ones.
04:14 But I love the Eiffel Tower.
04:15 So I bought two of those.
04:16 It's just so gorgeous.
04:17 And I'm actually doing a book.
04:18 And this is in my book.
04:20 These plates for a French anniversary dinner because we were married on Bastille Day.
04:25 Oh, that's so cute.
04:27 This is so beautiful.
04:28 Something you would love to sit down to for a Valentine's Day dinner.
04:31 And let everybody know where they can find more information.
04:33 Right.
04:34 All this information can be found on CarolThatCooks.com.
04:37 Nice and easy.
04:38 I love it.
04:39 And you guys, we gotta go because I gotta steal this and take it home.
04:41 It smells incredible.
04:42 All right.
04:43 Well, go check out all those amazing recipes and tips.
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