If you’re like me, you’ll be dining alone this Valentine’s Day. Very secure people could go stag to a restaurant and face all the happy couples beaming at one another across their overpriced, love-themed appetizers, but for most of us, that would be absolute torture.
Instead, we can make ourselves a delicious dinner, binge on Netflix and ice cream, and pass out in a sugar coma. There’s nobody to judge your “going out” outfit, buy an all-too-cheesy present for, or critique your cooking.
Doesn’t that sound better than having a date anyway?
Appetizer: Cheesy Spinach and Artichoke Pull-Apart Bread
On a normal V-Day date, garlic (and cheese, for that matter) should be avoided at all costs. But since you’re lonely, nobody cares what you smell like.
Make a date with this pull-apart bread because the truth is, bread will always be there for you.
Entrée: Lavender-Crusted Pork Chop
It looks good, like your ex; it’s fragrant, like your ex; it’s not very smart, like your ex. Bonus: you get to stab it with a knife. Make it like this.
Dessert: Nutella Cake in a Mug
There are few things in life as consistently disappointing as being alone for Valentine’s Day. In my experience, mug cakes are some of those things. Make this single-serve Nutella cake and bury your feelings in the calories that probably aren’t worth it.
Post-Dessert: Salted Caramel Ice Cream
When your mug cake is inevitably not enough sugar to drown your self-pity, whip up a pint (or a quart, nobody’s judging) of this salted caramel ice cream. You could wait the 8 hours for it to freeze, or you could wait for one episode of Friends, then put it in a glass and drink it like a milkshake. Just sayin’.
#SpoonTip: It doesn’t require an ice cream machine, so you’re saving even more money on Valentine’s Day by avoiding another relationship you won’t keep up with.