As you may know, I have a goal to host 20 dinner parties in 2020! TWENTY! That's a lot...even for me! So far, I haven't done anything too crazy, but you can see my list of ideas in my original #20in2020 post!

I have two under my belt, and they were pretty basic, but I did have a little Valentine's flare at my last dinner that I think would be easy for anyone to duplicate as you make your Valentine's plans! 

A Valentine's dinner doesn't have to be tacky with pink glitter and hearts on everything, but it's fun to add a little nod to the holiday without going overboard. For this specific dinner party, I had mixed company- men and women, so I knew the men would be rolling their eyes at a few of my Valentine's touches. Ha! 

One of my favorite parts of this dinner was our appetizer: a traditional Italian Caprese Salad (mozzarella, tomato, basil) but with a twist! I used a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out the mozzarella and I love the way it turned out! Instead of skewers, I used a cheeseboard to layer each item, and topped with a balsamic glaze.

I also loved our place cards- they stole the show! One of the men made the place cards for us and they definitely weren't what I originally had in mind for place card vibes, but they were so fun and creative and everyone loved them! Lesson learned: it's fun to have other people help! Even though it will be different than what you planned, sometimes it's even better! All of our friends loved their special name cards and I plan to ask for help more often in the future. ;)

We had a simple pasta dish for dinner; the highlight of the meal was definitely dessert...Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes. We didn't even ask who wanted dessert, just brought them out straight from the oven, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Heaven. OMG. I have made these for a few past occasions and they are always a hit! I use a Pioneer Woman recipe, and these are definitely not paleo, but they are so worth it. They are relatively easy to make, so definitely give them a try,