When the day of luv falls on a weeknight things get a little tricky because, alas, Valentine’s day doesn’t warrant a full day off. I’m left to to squeeze dinner in among work and after school activities. In short, I need a menu that packs a punch of elegance lickity-split. Lamb, a meat that everyone things is so tricky to cook and that looks so beautiful in presentation, is my secret weapon this year. Paired with short-cut mashed potatoes loaded with bacon and cheese and some roasted baby carrots, we’ll have a feast on a weeknight (and you can too). Oh, and let’s not forget dessert. Puff pastry (another of my go-to secrete weapons) makes a beautiful and quick dessert when topped with Nutella and strawberries. Add some bubbly to the mix and the evening will be just right.

The Menu

Lamb Chops with Pomegranate Red Wine Sauce

Thyme-Roasted Carrots

Bacon and Cheddar Smashed Potatoes

Chocolate Raspberry Pastry Cups

Shopping Tips

• If your meat counter doesn’t already have lamb chops pre-cut, ask them to separate the chops in a rack of lamb for you. You’ll save some prep time and their chops will be prettier than yours (unless of course you’re a trained butcher).
• Buy baby carrots with the tops still on if you can find them. They’ll cook a little faster and will be so pretty on the plate.
• The quality of the bacon and cheddar in your potatoes can take them to a whole different level. I don’t recommend using the reduced-fat cheddar the recipe calls for. Instead go full fat and pick an aged cheddar with enough flavor to match that of a good bacon.
• The “apricot glaze” in the puff pastry hearts can really just be apricot jam that you melt in the microwave. Or, you can skip it all together and they’ll still be fantastic.
• Feel free to substitute sliced strawberries for the raspberries in the dessert, or use a mix of berries.

The Game Plan

Set a pretty table, gather your serving dishes, and put the puff pastry in the fridge to thaw the night before. Then plan about 45 minutes to an hour get dinner on the table on the big night.

• The carrots have the longest cooking time so get them started first. Preheat the oven while you peel and prep. If you were able to find baby carrots with their tops intact, leave about 1/2 an inch of the carrot tops on for an extra oomph to the presentation.
• Once the carrots are in the oven peel the potatoes and prep all of the other ingredients but don’t start the microwave until you start the lamb chops. Cold mashed potatoes will totally put a damper on this dinner (ha!).
• Prep all of the ingredients for the puff pastry cups. When the carrots come out of the oven you can reduce the temperature by 25 degrees and slide the puff pastry cups in to cook while you finish getting dinner on the table. Take them out and they’ll be cool enough to handle after dinner.
• The lamb chops come together quickly so get all of the ingredients together and ready to go before you start them.
• Once the chops are done everything else should coming together and while it will be a bit of a juggle it will be over pretty quickly. Plate the lamb chops and carrots, finish the potatoes, and move everything to the table. Don’t forget to take the puff pastry shells out of the oven! After you finish dinner dessert will come together in about the time it takes your family to clear the table.

Over the years I’ve faced two ongoing hurdles in reaching my healthy eating goals:

• Eating enough vegetables
• Making healthy lunches

It’s not that I don’t like vegetables, but I don’t love them, and my repertoire of vegetable dishes is small, so I tend to burn my options out pretty quickly. Lunch is its own brand of fun because it often gets lost in the healthy dinner fray. By the time I’m done with my day and dinner, the thought of prepping lunch for the next day is a bit more than I can handle. To attack these two challenges I’m going to try a few new tactics:

• Actively seek out and develop new vegetable recipes. (Have a favorite? Please let me know in the comments.)
• Shop at my farmers market and ask my fellow food bloggers, the farmers, and other local sources for their favorite ways to prepare in-season vegetable.
• Add more vegetables to every dish I practically can.
• Plan dinners that turn into easy lunches the next day.

This week I put a couple of these tactics to use to create a hearty pasta recipe that uses four different kinds of vegetables, including one that’s somewhat new to me – bok choy. It’s based on a recipe for BBQ lamb chops with a soba noodle salad that I first had in a cooking class with Terry Conolan, the executive chef at the renowned Lake Austin Spa and Resort. Terry is a big believer in big flavors and using collections of vegetables in a single dish. I took his original concept and focused on the soba salad as the main dish. I made the dressing spicier and added edamame to create a dish that in a half portion goes well as a side for dinner, but in a full portion is a wonderful lunch. It keeps beautifully in the fridge for several days, so make the whole batch and you’ve got lunches for a couple of days at the very least.

Learn more about soba noodles

Recipe: Spicy Soba Noodle and Vegetable Salad

Details

• Difficulty: Easy
• Serves: 4 as a main dish, 6-8 as a side dish
• Prep Time: 20-30 minutes depending on your knife skills
• Weight Watchers™ Points: 8 (main dish serving)

Ingredients

For the dressing

• 3 Tbsp. lime juice
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 1 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
• 2 tsp. mirin
• 1 tsp. Sesame oil
• 2 tsp. sriracha sauce (hot chile sauce, usually in a bottle with a rooster logo)
• ¼ c. grape seed oil

For the salad

• 6 oz. uncooked soba noodles
• 1 c. frozen, shelled edamame
• ¾ c. chopped green onion
• 1 c. julienned carrot
• 1 c. julienned cucumber
• 1 c. sliced baby bok choy

Instructions

1. Combine all dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine.
2. Bring a medium-sized pot of salted water to a boil. Add the soba noodles and edamame to the boiling water at the same time.
3. Cook for 5 minutes or until the noodles are tender. Drain and rinse with cold water.
4. Combine the cooked noodles and edamame, the chopped vegetables, and the dressing in a large mixing bowl. Toss gently to combine.

Recipe for Success

• The vegetables listed here are just a starting point – feel free to use any combination of crisp vegetables you like or have on hand. Red or yellow bell peppers would lend crunch and as would slivered spinach. Even crisp fennel would work as might some thinly sliced cabbage.
• To amp up the spice, use a little sriracha or toss in some thinly sliced fresh jalapenos.
• If you can’t get soba noodles, whole wheat spaghetti works well as a substitute.
• The edamame brings protein to this dish, but you could add thinly sliced steak, chicken, or pork for a meat component instead of or in addition to the edamame.