Obnoxious jewelry ads. Restaurants offering special menus for one night only. Chocolatiers and flower shops preparing for their most lucrative day of the year. An overload of pink and red.

Kids, this can only mean one thing.

(Insert scary music here.) Valentine’s Day.

As suggested by the scary music, Valentine’s Day is not my favorite holiday. Single or attached, this big, commercial, overdone holiday has always failed to wow me. More importantly, I’m a big believer in showing the special people in my life that I love them on a fairly regular basis.

Are you pickin’ up what I’m throwin’ down?

But rather than babble on about this, I want you to do me a favor. Mmmk?

Step One: Mix up some warm water with a little sugar, then sprinkle with yeast. Let these cats get to know each other a little. Maybe they’ll like each other.

After 10 minutes, things will be getting a little foamy. That means there was a love connection. Bow-chica-bow-wow. Things are getting sexy.

Step two: Add in some flour, and mix things up. Get your hands in there, and start kneading. Add a little more flour and work it in there. This is a great opportunity to work out some of your frustrations! Like being single on Valentine’s Day! And when people innocently ask you what you’re doing to celebrate the day of love, you want to yell about drinking copious amounts of wine and eating Chinese takeout over your kitchen sink. (Don’t worry, I’m definitely not going to be doing that tomorrow.) But if I had any frustration about anything, kneading would totally help. Win! After a few minutes, you’ll have a beautiful ball of dough.

Step 3: The dough needs her beauty rest. Cover her up nice and let her rest for about an hour. Go give yourself a manicure, have a glass of wine, relax. You deserve it after all of that kneading!

When you come back, things will look a little something like this.

Pretty, yes? You just made dough! So easy right?!

Step 4: Divide the dough into two equal parts, and let rise again. It’s almost time to make pizza!

Step 5: Cover these sweet things and let them rise again, this time for about 45 minutes.

Get your pizza toppings ready. It’s time to get crazy!

Stretch out the dough, and if you’re feeling the love, why not shape things into a heart? In my opinion, that is how you show someone that you love them. By taking the time to create something with your own hands and your own time. Serve it all up with a bottle (or two) of wine, a few candles, and your wonderful company, and you’ve got yourself a mighty fine Valentine’s Day, or any day of the year.

However you spend February 14, I hope your day is filled with love and happiness. I’ll be drinking wine and eating a ridiculous amount of chocolate. <3

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough (adapted from allrecipes.com)

This pizza dough is perfect – crispy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside. And it’s made with whole wheat flour, so you can totally feel good about eating an extra slice. Feel free to experiment by adding different flavors into the dough along with the flour (like dried basil or oregano, or even a little parmesan cheese). 

1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

1 tsp. sugar

1 TBSP. active dry yeast

1 TBSP. olive oil

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. garlic powder

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided

In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water. Sprinkle the yeast over the top, and let stand for about 10 minutes, until foamy. Add in the olive oil, salt, and garlic powder, and stir to mix. Add the whole wheat flour plus one cup of the all-purpose flour, and stir until the dough begins to come together. Tip the dough out onto a surface floured with the remaining all-purpose flour, and knead until all of the flour has been absorbed, and the ball of dough becomes smooth, about 5 minutes. Add a bit more flour if the dough is too sticky. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover loosely with a towel, and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

When the dough is doubled, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 2 pieces for 2 thin crust, or leave whole to make one thick crust. Form into a tight ball. Cover with a towel and let rise for about 45 minutes, until doubled.

Stretch the dough out into the desired shape. Place each crust on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with a little bit of oil and sprinkled with corn meal (my newest pizza secret!). Top with your desired sauce and toppings – the possibilities are endless here. Bake at 425°F for 16-20 minutes, or until golden brown and bubbling.

Looking for something sweet to make your Valentine? Allow me to suggest red velvet sandwiches, the perfect chocolate chip cookie, fruit salsa with cinnamon chips, chocolate skor cookie dough toasted marshmallow cupcakes, or bourbon pecan pie brownies. Why choose? Make ’em all! 🙂

A few of the photos in this post were taken with the Instagram app on my iPhone. If you are an Instragram-er, and want to follow the daily happenings of my foodie life, you can find me @onceuponarecipe.