(Way Past Due) Valentine's Day Dinner For Two

So.. Since Max and I actually were living in the same state during this Valentine's Day, and I actually sort of have my own kitchen, I wanted to make dinner instead of go out to an over-crowded, overpriced restaurant. I wasn't entirely sure what to make, but Max had requested some sort of jalapeno- cheese bread or rolls, so that was definitely going on the menu. This is what I decided on:


Jalapeno Rolls with Cheddar and Parmesan



Ricotta, Gorgonzola, Spinach and Bacon stuffed Chicken Breasts




Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes




Chocolate Souffles with Amy's Just Vanilla Ice Cream and a Chocolate-Covered Strawberry (I may have gotten a little carried away with the dessert, but it just looked SO pretty!)






I actually had a lot of trouble finding a jalapeno cheese ROLL recipe that I liked, so I just used a loaf recipe and crossed my fingers. They really turned out great for the amount of improvising that I ended up doing.

The chicken was a little bit interesting because it just really would NOT stay together. You can probably see all of the toothpicks sticking out that I tried to use to hold them together. In order to "stuff" them, you basically have two options: You can get really thick chicken breasts and cut an actual pocket into them, OR you can try my way. (I actually think the first would have probably been a better choice.) I got fairly thin breasts and actually pounded them out even thinner under some parchment paper. Then I piled the filling mixture (Spinach, Ricotta, Gorgonzola, Crumbled bacon, garlic and 1 egg) into the middle, and sort of rolled it up. This worked ok, except that the filling started spilling out the sides. The toothpicks are all there to try to hold the sides together. This was a little complicated, but VERY tasty.

Now i've never actually had a twice baked sweet potato in this form, but i've had lots of sweet potato casseroles, so I figured I could sort of re-create that for a nice in the skin presentation. I cooked the sweet potatoes in the oven for about an hour, and after they had cooled down, scooped their contents into my mixing bowl. I mixed in butter, cream cheese, brown sugar, and a little bit of cream, whipped it together, put it in a plastic ziplock and squeezed it back out into the skins in cute little dollops.

Now for dessert:

I've never made a soufflé before, so this is the recipe that i used:

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/160/Dark-Chocolate-Souffle

There are very step by step instructions that are very helpful.
In a souffle, the whipped egg whites are what give it the rise. In the recipe, he gives you the option of putting an extra egg white or two for extra rise, but I ended up forgetting to do that, so mine didn't really rise as much as they should have. They were still good though!

Finished Dinner Plate:



And Dessert:






YUM