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Valentines Day provides opportunities for cooks and bakers to show off culinary skills. Biscuits and cookies may be cut in heart shapes. Heart stencils will produce valentine embellishment for cookies, cakes, pie crusts, potato salad, even your morning latte.

Baking powder style biscuits are easy to make with packaged biscuit mix, but are nearly as easy from scratch. Cut with a heart shaped cutter, biscuits will go nicely with just about any Valentine’s Day menu. Add grated cheddar cheese for a special touch, ideal for sausage breakfast sandwiches. This recipe comes from the 1962 edition of the Ann Pillsbury Baking Book.

Buttermilk Cheese Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter or shortening at room temperature

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles course meal.

Add grated cheese and toss gently to coat with flour mixture. Gently stir in buttermilk just until all the flour is moistened.

Knead gently on a floured surface for a few seconds. Roll dough to 1/2 inch thick and cut with desired 2-inch shape cutter. Place on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown. Yield: 12 to 14 biscuits. Serve hot.

Note: this recipe works well also with milk soured with a tsp of vinegar or lemon juice, or you may make the recipe with regular milk. Also, you may leave out the cheese, or use another type of cheese.

Using a heart shaped cookie cutter as a mold, you may form bulk pork sausage into heart shapes to make valentine sausage biscuits. Cut cheese slices with a heart shape cookie cutter to fit the sausage biscuits.

Sugar Cookies are a favorite for decorating for any holiday. Lemon Crisps are a tangy version that keeps it shape well during baking. You may cut them in heart shapes or use a stencil cut from waxed or parchment paper to decorate with sprinkles or colored sugar. The recipe came with a cookie cutter I received as a gift many years ago.

Lemon Crisp Hearts

1 cup butter, softened

1 tsp lemon extract

2 drops yellow food coloring, optional

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1/8 tsp salt

Additional powdered sugar for rolling out dough.

Granulated sugar, colored sugar or sprinkles for decorating. Cookies may be frosted, but they won’t stay as crisp.

In a medium bowl, using a fork, mix together butter, lemon extract, and food coloring, if using, until blended.

Add flour, 2/3 cup powdered sugar, and salt. Stir until well blended and dough clumps together. Divide dough in half and wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Working with one portion of dough at a time, roll out 1/4 inch thick on a surface lightly dusted with powdered sugar. Dip cookie cutter in powdered sugar and cut cookies. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Decorate with sugar or sprinkles and return to refrigerator for 5 minutes.

Bake chilled cookies 15-20 minutes, depending on size, until just barely golden. Do not over bake. Carefully remove to wire racks to cool completely. Yield: 12 to 24 cookies, depending on size.

The perfect Valentine menu varies with individual tastes. Some may desire a well marinated steak, others may look forward to a shrimp, scallop or crab meal, and kids may be hoping for pizza. Ribeye Cap Steak is an easy, one pan recipe for two, boasting a 35-minute prep and cooking time. With a large enough skillet, the recipe could be doubled to serve four, but dinner for two has a nice Valentine tone. This recipe comes from thesteamykitchen.com

Ribeye Cap Steak Skillet

1 pound ribeye cap steak, cut thick, (2 pieces)

1/2 pound baby potatoes, cut in 1 inch pieces

1/2 pound peeled baby carrots or 1/2 pound peeled carrots cut in 1/2 inch slices

2-3 Tbsp cooking oil

1 Tbsp minced fresh chives for garnish

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Rub steaks with cooking oil and season with salt and pepper on both sides (you may use additional seasonings as desired). Heat a large ovenproof skillet over high heat until very hot. Sear the steak, 3 minutes per side.

Then scatter the potatoes and carrots around the steak in the pan. Roll the vegetables around to coat them with the cooking oil in the pan, adding more oil if needed. Place skillet in preheated oven and roast for 15 minutes.

Stir the vegetables once or twice to ensure even cooking. Check the temperature of the steak at 15 minutes. If it has reached 125 degrees remove from pan to a plate and tent with foil.

Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees and continue roasting vegetables until tender, about 5-10 minutes. Remove skillet from oven and slide steaks back in the pan and check temperature. Steak reading should be 135 degrees.

Remove steaks to serving plates and divide vegetables between them. Garnish with chives if desired. Yield: 2 servings.

Soon, we will be in the season of soup suppers. After several years of limited social gatherings, folks may be looking for new soup recipes.

– Share your favorite soup recipes and any tips for preparing them in a slow-cooker or other convenience appliance with your fellow readers by sending them to: Welcome to My Kitchen, c/o The Odessa Record, P.O. Box 458, Odessa WA 99159, email therecord@odessaoffice.com or drop them in the Welcome to My Kitchen mail tin in The Odessa Record office.

Save eggshell halves and set aside to fill with seed starting soil mix and start garden and flower bed seeds come late March.