Vegetarian Valentine's Day Dinner

A home-cooked meal is our Valentine's Day tradition.

We go out to eat at least once a week all year long, so when a big holiday such as Valentine's Day comes around, I prefer to prepare a lovely meal to leisurely enjoy at home.

We dress for dinner, I set the table in the formal dining room, we light candles, and have a special wine with classical music playing in the background.

Mr. Mickey had just arrived, so he was still wearing his scarf. Doesn't he look handsome?

The dinner menu included crudites as a starter. I cut up fresh baby heirloom tomatoes and served them with olives, garlic I roasted earlier in the day, and rosemary Asiago cheese slices. Sometimes the combination of fresh, delicious items presented simply on their own is the best choice.

I also added some of the roasted garlic and unsalted butter to Rudis Seeded organic bread before lightly toasting it in the oven.

The pasta dish includes Gluten Free Brown Rice Spaghetti from Hodgson Mill. The meatless sauce is the same recipe I told you about here. The leftover sauce will be served over another piece of the yummy Rudis bread as a sloppy Joe lunch with a kale salad on the following day. This sauce could be used in any dish requiring ground beef. (Even the meat lovers who tasted this the first time I made it could not tell there was no meat in it!)

Our wine was 14 Hands 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Mr. Mickey brought freshly dipped chocolate-covered strawberries for dessert, cards, and flowers. He is a Prince!

I wore a rayon three-quarter sleeve black and tan blouse from Coldwater Creek from a couple of years ago. The black Traverlers pants from Chico's are about eight years old. I paired them with my Anne Klein black high heeled shoes.

Later in the evening, as we relaxed in front of the fire, I tried out some of my new reading glasses from Readers.com. Which statement style do you like best? I liked them all! When you need glasses only for reading, it's great to have a stylish pair like these near every chair and in every handbag.

This style is called The Ivy in the brown fade.

This style is The Dolly.

The Maryann comes in several colors, and each has its own matching case.