Gina's Italian Kitchen: Valentine's Day Recipes

Thursday, February 12, 2026

Valentine's Day Recipes

Since I was a kid, Valentine's Day was always a special day. The graphic reminds me of the valentines we would give each other in elementary school. One for everyone in the class. Special times that I'm afraid the young people of today do not experience. I'm sad for them because there was nothing like it.

As I grew up, it because a special romantic day. The Valentine's cards, boxes of chocolates, special dates and going to a fancy restaurant . . . that is what Valentine's Day became for me. As an adult, it was a day to make a very special dinner and a sweet treat for my sweetie and I usually got a box of chocolate that came with lots of love.

Chocolate is a recurring theme and I'm going to have to order myself some chocolates.

Below is a listing of Valentine's recipes I hope you will enjoy. I will add more as I find them.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day Dessert Recipes from Martha Stewart

Heart Shaped Treats from Martha Stewart

Happy Valentine's Day from Recipe Girl

DINNER IDEAS:

CHOCOLATE:

OTHER SWEETS:

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UPDATE

Just a note to let everyone know that my husband, The Captain, passed away in 2023. It was a heartbreaking experience to put my sweet fur baby Kiki to sleep in 2024. I am finally back to posting again. It had been a long time since I was able to update my blogs and have removed my website. I am still trying to get my life in order which has been one of the most difficult things I have ever dealt with in my life. I was already dealing with issues surrounding the death of my first husband. Here I go again . . . I am beyond heartbroken.

I'm a recipe collector and have a filing cabinet full of recipes from scouring magazines, newspapers, trading with friends and my cherished family recipes that were passed on to me by family . . . some I have no idea where they came from. I attempt to list sources when I have them . . . I'm not trying to claim any recipe as mine unless it is . . . I'm a serious foodie . . . not a professional chef!

I will also be posting those recipes that look promising to me since I'm always looking for new recipes to try out.

I'm a third generation sicilian italian-cuban-american who was fascinated with everything that happened in the kitchen as I grew up, next to my nana's side . . . watching every move that she made. She started giving me little jobs to do in the kitchen to keep from stepping on me . . . I learned how to cook at a young age, throwing things together, rarely using measuring utensils. Cooking is a passion which takes lots of tasting and nurturing what you are cooking until it is just right.

Here's the twist to my italian cooking . . . I married a southern gentleman whose mom prepared the best southern comfort food meals . . . and as a young adult, I was right there by her side, learning how to cook southern style. He and I combined the two cooking styles into our own style that never disappointed our guests.

Since my southern gentleman passed away, I got used to cooking for one . . . so there is yet another twist to my cooking . . . cooking a big meal and turning it into totally different meals.

I've since remarried and my new husband (yep, another southern gentleman) has a similar cooking style . . . and we are perfecting the art of making great meals using leftovers :)

Laughter is brightest in the place where the food is. ~ Irish proverb

A seafood diet...if you see food, eat it! ~ Miss Piggy :)