I’m the first to admit, I’m a sucker for a holiday. I know all the arguments about commercialism and whatnot but that’s missing the point. Everyone should spend more time celebrating the people we love and cherish and if it takes a ‘commercial’ holiday to remind us once a year, is that such a bad thing?

That said, for those of us who are careful about what we eat, it’s a day loaded with potential pitfalls (maybe second only to Halloween?). I’ve got nothing against cards and flowers and I’ll never say no to a diamond or two but, ultimately, to me, Valentines Day is about the food (and yes, I acknowledge the trend, I can make almost any day revolve around food…..). Surely, the best way to show someone you care is with a home cooked meal featuring a memorable dessert? So, with that in mind, what to make for that special someone?

I want to make something healthy that doesn’t taste healthy, and, of course, Valentines Day this year is on a school day so nothing that takes too long to make or clean up. This is what I’m planning… First course, Oysters on the half-shell with a champagne vinegar mignonette. Oysters are the perfect romantic appetizer. They’re really very easy to prepare, almost no clean up and super healthy. I found a great mignonette recipe on epicurious.com, which could easily be made the day before (not that I’m that organized).

2 teaspoons Champagne vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped shallot

Pinch of coarsely ground black pepper

Pinch of Swerve

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Simply mix everything except the parsley and let sit for at least 30 minutes then stir in the parsley at the last minute. If you’re not a fan of raw oysters, this is delicious over broiled oysters as well.

For the entrée, I have some beautiful salmon steaks, just crying out for a marinade. We tend to enjoy Asian influenced flavors in the Swerve house so I’m using my go-to teriyaki marinade/glaze. A little soy sauce, Swerve, sake, garlic, ginger, and vegetable oil in any amounts you like, let the flavors marry for at least an hour and then you’re ready to go. I’m going to wrap the steaks in foil and bake in the oven but this is also delicious on the grill! Serve with some wilted Asian greens (bok choy is a good choice) and a brown rice pilaf.

Dessert is easy! Nothing says love like chocolate, right? I have a recipe for chocolate tart that is a never-fail hit. It’s a bit rich and heavy so this year, I’m going to shrink the recipe and make bite sized individual tarts. Voila – instant portion control. I think that all sounds good on paper! Now, it’s off to the grocery store and hoping it all works out on the table. Wish me luck, Sweeties!

So, it’s February. When did that happen? We’ve barely come up for air since the year started. Job number one was making sure all our new friends and fans received their samples. Well, on that note, we’re happy to tell you that all the samples requests have been fulfilled and it’s back to the kitchen.

I wanted to try something different over the weekend so after taking requests on Facebook (thanks to all that weighed in!) I settled on a brûléed, chocolate cheesecake.

(Full disclosure, I used a store bought shell – I wanted to make sure the cheesecake would turn out well – next time I’ll be making the crust from scratch although this recipe would be delicious without – maybe make individual cheesecakes in soufflé cups….?)

I started with a fairly standard cheesecake recipe I found online and melted some chocolate chips in a double boiler while I assembled the other ingredients. Once the chocolate had melted and cooled somewhat, I mixed it slowly in with the other ingredients and then straight into the shells and into the oven.

While the cheesecakes were baking, I also whipped up a blackberry syrup (glaze? compote? I’m not sure what I would call it) by cooking the berries over low heat with some water and Swerve granular, then pureeing and straining. This was great with the chocolate but would also be delicious over ice cream or almost any other dessert.

Once the cheesecakes were out of the oven, I realized the one problem with my plan. The beautiful chocolate brown of the cakes was almost the exact same color of caramelized sugar or Swerve so the traditional look of a brûlée was somewhat lost – very disappointing.

I tried two approaches – one of the cakes, I sliced in the traditional way, while the other, I cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter. I loved the look of this but it was a lot of extra work – I don’t think I’d do it again for home consumption.

The brûléeing was super simple, but takes some practice if you’re not used to it (I certainly need more practice). I like to hold the brûlée to-be in my hand and slowly rotate it on an angle so the caramelization is even, but beware of molten Swerve drops!

The photographic evidence is posted on our Facebook page but as they say, the proof is in the eating…… this one didn’t last long!

Hiya Sweeties!

It’s been an amazing week in the Swerve kitchen. As some of you may have seen on our site, in a 24 period, we received over 20,000 sample requests! I know that many of those requesting samples are now our new friends on Facebook and Twitter, so let me take this opportunity to say howdy and how happy we are to meet all you. We’re so excited to be getting the Swerve word out to so many people.

If you are coming in late, we have some amazing recipes to share and we are always working on some new sweet treats in our test kitchen….. Look for our apple pie recipe later in the week for example. At the same time, we urge you all to share your baking with us, we always love to see photos of your successes (and commiserate with your, ahem, less than successful efforts – trust me, we’re far from perfect, but don’t spread that around). If you have any Swerve recipes you’d like to share, please post them on our Facebook page or email them to hello@swervesweetener.com

We have some other big projects in the works too – I can’t say too much but look out for some more contests on Facebook, some fun and cute Swerve baking accessories and apparel and maybe even some short videos. As busy as we are, is it any wonder that we always need a little something sweet for an afternoon snack?

Speaking of sweet things, we did a little entertaining in the Swerve home kitchen over the weekend, nothing fancy, just a last minute invite dinner with a few friends. While brainstorming (read scrambling) what to prepare, I remembered my all time favorite ‘two for the price of one’ recipe.

The local strawberries are at their best right now, so I bought a flat at the farmers market and sliced them into bite-sized pieces (maybe four cups for four people). I added a third of a cup of Swerve, a third of a cup of aged balsamic vinegar and a cup of regular balsamic then covered and set aside for three hours at room temperature.

Meanwhile, I made a simple salad modeled after a panzanella (bread salad). You can use whatever you like but I chose mixed baby lettuces, heirloom cherry tomatoes, red bell pepper, avocado and feta cheese and two cups of stale French bread cut into rough chunks.

When it was time to serve the first course, I simply drained the vinegar from the strawberries over the salad – voila – sugar free, fat free strawberry vinaigrette.

The strawberries went into the fridge while the salad and entrée were served (lamb baked with olives and lemon juice if you’re curious) and waited for dessert.

By then, the strawberries had taken on a delicious sweet tang from the vinegar and I simply served them with (store bought, I admit) sugar-free lemon sorbet and garnished with a few mint leaves.

I hadn’t planned to write about this and unfortunately the light was terrible for photos but trust me when I say, the whole meal was delicious, low fat and sugar free, and how often do you get to make both an appetizer and dessert all in one AND that take less than 15 minute for both.