Valentine’s Day is one of the busiest days of the year for restaurants which is one of the reasons I never dine out on that day. If you’re like me and prefer a night in on Vday, or if you’ve forgotten to get reservations somewhere fancy for you and your sweetheart never fear! I’m here to show you how to create the perfect Valentine’s meal at home with everything (from dessert to flowers) for under $100, and all from lovely Pike Place Market. Here’s what’s on the menu:
Prosecco
Cheese + meat plate to start
Baked Lemon Butter Salmon
Kale Salad with Parmesan
Chocolate Truffles for dessert
Flowers for your hunny
Pure Food Fish Market: the salmon – $15
Let’s start with the protein – salmon; so easy and so Seattle. Fresh beautiful salmon is just $19.99 a pound at Pure and the guys cut me a very large piece for $15. (We’ve got $85 left to shop with.)
Sosio’s: the produce ( 2 lemons + dill + garlic +kale) – $10
For the salmon you’ll need lemon, garlic and dill. For the salad, you’ll need some kale and one more lemon for the dressing. We are keeping this super easy! (We have $75 left to shop with.)
Delaurenti: the cheese plate + parmesan for your salad + Prosecco + crackers – $36
This is where you’ll pick up the bubbly! They have a beautiful house Prosecco here for just $16.99 that I just adore. Have the lovely ladies and gentlemen at the deli counter help build a meat and cheese board for your appetizer. I gave them a $15 budget and we only spent $14 and it included a soft cheese, French olives and one of their more inexpensive salamis. That also counts the $2 I spent on a bit of parmesan for my salad. Don’t forget to pick up some La Panzanella crackers, $4.99. (We have $39 left to spend.)
Three Girls Bakery: the bread – $3
Grab a crunchy baguette from Three Girls to serve with some room temp butter with a heavy sprinkle of sea salt. It’s the simple things, y’all. (We have $36 left to spend.)
Indi Chocolate: the chocolate truffles – $15
We can’t forget dessert and chocolates scream Valentine’s Day. You’re going to pick up five beautiful chocolate truffles at Indi Chocolate, which at $3 a piece will max out our dessert budget. (We have $21 left to spend.)
The flowers: tulips – $20
You can’t do Valentine’s Day without flowers for your bae and lucky us that Pike Place has the sweetest deals on bouquets. Though you can find beautiful bouquets here for just $5 – $10, I say splurge here for a big bouquet of tulips because they are, in my opinion the perfect flower. This bouquet of 20 stems is just $20! You can also use them for your centerpiece! (And this is our last item, leaving us with $1 to spare!)
Appetizer is up first – this is the cheese board we put together at Delaurenti for just $12.
On to the salmon and salad. Both are SO easy! For the salmon, preheat over to 475 and throw some butter, sliced garlic and dill in a pan. Place in oven to melt; remove and add your salmon, skin up first. Bake for five minutes, flip and bake for five more minutes.
For the salad remove the kale ribs and chops kale thinly. Grate your Parmesan cheese over the kale (I was very generous with the Parmesan cheese). Add your favorite dressing or make one like I did – mix a bit of olive oil, lemon, Dijon and any vinaigrette you have on hand.
Dessert is served! These stunning chocolate truffles from Indi Chocolate are the perfect Valentine’s Day indulgence.
And there you have it loves! A perfectly Seattle Valentine’s Day dinner for under $100.
Add something special! Your own Market Charm!
I know, I know – the whole point is for this to be under $100 but I would be remiss if I didn’t share this super unique gift opportunity with y’all! There are still a very few (less than 200!) Market Charms available for purchase from the Pike Place Market Foundation! These charms were a fundraiser to pay for the new MarketFront expansion, and you can purchase one and engrave it with your sweetie’s name, both your initials, your wedding date – they’ve even seen proposals happen this way! The cost of putting your name permanently on the Market is $180 and it can be paid monthly in $15 installments. Purchase yours here!
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