I’m not one to go mad for Valentines Day. I don’t believe in the 8 years of being with my wife that we have ever gone out on or around Valentines Day. I don’t see the point in paying more for something because of the date. Not only that, but everywhere starts taking bookings from what seems June, so it must get busy early on.

Trying to lose weight also adds a challenge to Valentines Day. People seem to go mad with food on this day. Whether it’s chocolate or a meal out, it’s hardly the healthiest day of the year. This is also another reason why I prefer to eat at home instead of going out on this night.

Now, with wifey also being on plan at the moment with Slimming World. I couldn’t just go out and buy her a Milk Tray or something. As much as I would have loved to as I would have shared it, I couldn’t do it to her, not with how well she’s doing with her weight loss at the moment.

I had to get creative. But I wanted to give her something that would last. I hate buying flowers because no more than two weeks later they’re heading for the bin. I might as well chuck £20 in the bin. So I set out to make something personal, something which only she would appreciate. Welcome the 365 jar.

This jar is completely syn free, will not add any unwanted calories and lasts an entire year. Now, how’s that for a Valentine’s gift?

On to why we’re reading this post now. The food. After giving this 365 jar to the wife in the morning, she took it upon herself to cook one hell of a meal. Usually, I have cooked on Valentines Day as a treat for her, but not this year.

Starter

I was treated to a full 3-course meal on Valentines Day. Starting with homemade, syn free scotch eggs. These balls of meat wrapping a boiled egg were plain awesome. Best of all they’re syn free as it’s just an egg and less than 5% pork mince. No breadcrumbs like shop bought ones, but they didn’t need them, they were perfect as they were. Served on a bed of watercress and a tablespoon of Sweet Chilli Sauce (half a syn).

Main

For the main course, I was given a big plate of Beef Stroganoff. I’m a sucker for wintery food when it’s not particularly warm out and wintery food doesn’t come much better than this. Beef and Onion in a beautiful creamy sauce is spot on. Served with Roast Potatoes (seasoned of course) and Carrots, this entire course was completely syn free! This recipe I am going to have to add to my list to upload to this blog.

Dessert

We left it a little while before having dessert, letting the main and starter settle a bit first. I was expecting something like apple crumble and custard (not on plan but I know it’s one of wifeys favourites). What I wasn’t expecting was this Strawberry Bonanza (that’s the name I gave it).

Made of Strawberries dipping in Chocolate, Strawberry Jelly and a Strawberry on top of a Meringue. This was the perfect end to a perfect meal. This little beauty cost 6 syns, but it was well worth it. For the whole meal to come in at 6 and a half syns was incredible!

Just spending time with the wife is enough for me on Valentines Day. We don’t need to make any huge gesture to show how much we love each other, but we do enjoy good homecooked food. So we just indulge at home while others pay a small fortune for something that will be a quarter of the price the following day.