Com"promise" gets everyone to the table

This year, Valentine's Day fell on a Thursday (our usual "Thursday Night Raw"), so to make both parties happy, my hubby and I compromised (isn't that what marriage is all about; there's a "promise" in that word) on our dinner for the evening.

For as far back as I can remember (during our time together, that is), I've made Matthew his traditional request for a meal made with love by yours truly.

Now, you would think that it would be something involving many hours of slaving away in the kitchen to make it happen (picture the lady pulling her hair out with splatters on her clothes and a flour-powdered nose), but lucky for me, he prefers the simple things (he's a club sandwich kind of guy).

Every year, he asks for the same thing: a panini sandwich. This is usually preceded by a salad and concluded with a chocolaty dessert. Since it is his Valentine's gift from me (I also got him a bag full of other presents and a card that whistles when you open it; I never really learned how to do that myself), I wasn't about to deprive him of the real deal (he's been such a good sport about trying everything else). So, yes, he did get his grilled sandwich.

However, he agreed to eat a totally raw version of his favorite Caesar salad as a starter course, which I enjoyed as well. I even made some raw croutons to make it more authentic.

Now, I didn't taste any of his panini sandwich (like he wanted to share it anyway. Just kidding; he would've if I wanted some, but I'm sure he was glad that I didn't). Instead, I made my own hand-held main course out of "grilled" (marinated/dehydrated) veggies, cashew "cheese" slices and a hallowed-out portobello mushroom bun, which I served alongside some asparagus spears (it's an aphrodisiac; no wonder it was on sale this week at the grocery store).

My son even joined in on the meal with his version, a panini-pressed grilled cheese cut in the shape of a heart (he's not raw, although he will eat some raw fruits and veggies. We compromise ... there's that word again). Sometimes it takes a little creativity to get him to eat his dinner (he's a little picky).

We concluded our meal with a chocolate berry parfait-type dessert, something we've had on our Valentine's menu multiple times. In the past, it was made from chunks of chocolate cake or brownies, chocolate pudding and cherry pie filling. This year, I decided to keep it quite similar, although raw (and with fresh strawberries, instead of cherries). Delish!

Hope your Valentine's Day was as tasty as ours :-)