Ayesha Curry believes the way into someone's heart is through the stomach.
"Creating a meal for somebody, it’s a way to show your love,” said Curry, who is a self-taught culinary guru married to two-time NBA champion Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors.
The author of “The Seasoned Life” cookbook and host of Food Network’s “Ayesha's Home Kitchen” thinks a home-cooked meal can make the perfect gift for Valentine’s Day.
"Cooking is the only way I know how to show my love"
“For me, cooking is the only way I know how to show my love. That’s why I am so passionate about food. It’s such a love language. Anytime I prepare a meal for my family I am putting all of my time, effort, energy and love into it,” Curry, a mom of two daughters, said. “The satisfaction you get when you see them eating and enjoying the meal and saying it’s delicious and you see the smiles on everyone’s faces, I don’t think anything beats that.”
Curry, 28, said she and Steph, who just announced they are expecting a third child, plan to keep things “low key" this Valentine's Day.
"We are going to keep it low key this year, cook at home and spend it with the kids and just enjoy family time. It comes few and far between for us these days since we are both just so busy with work and life, so I think we just want to enjoy it with our little ones this year,” she said.
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The busy mom/mogul, who launched a meal kit service with Homemade geared toward families, developed a box for Valentine's Day dinner featuring a shrimp pasta and red velvet mug cake.
"The most novice of cooks can create this meal even if you’ve never looked at a spatula,” she said. “For people that do cook regularly, it’s still just as delicious and will save you a ton of time. ... Leaves you with plenty of time to pour a nice glass of wine.”
Curry shared some of her favorite recipes with “Good Morning America” that you can make this Valentine’s Day with your kids or your partner to make the entire day special from breakfast to dessert.
The mom of two daughters, Riley, 5, and Ryan, 2, said Valentine’s Day is now more focused on their kids. The girls are “fully aware of the holiday,” she said, they call it “love day.”
“It’s definitely a day for indulging and treats with them,” Curry said with “heart-shaped-pancakes, pink-colored milk, the whole thing.”
Curry suggests making her recipe for “pan crepes,” which are a mix between a pancake and a crepe, with your little ones to kick off the morning.
“The texture is really great -- they are mostly egg-based -- and you can kind of stack them up high and eat a ton of them. I do this really yummy, fresh, healthy raspberry puree, which is perfect for Valentine’s Day because it’s a reddish-pink color. I use a heart-shaped cookie cutter, and I’ll cut hearts out of them when they are done,” she said.
It’s easy to incorporate kids in the prep. “It’s a blender recipe, so you can literally put all of the ingredients in the blender and have them press the button,” Curry said. “It’s super, super simple.”
For a romantic dinner, Curry suggests starting off with a “light and bright” salad like her pear and arugula salad with shaved parmesan. A simple salad “has a sweet crunch from the pear.”
Get the full salad recipe here.
Curry created this pasta dish with a “pretty pink cream sauce” for the holiday.
“It’s the best of both worlds. It’s a cross between a cream sauce and a tomato-based sauce and it’s just comfort food. It’s filling and comforting, but it’s not going to leave you lethargic.... Paired with a yummy salad and a light dessert, it just doesn’t get any better. And the fact that it’s not time-consuming, it leaves you with plenty of time to pour a nice glass of wine and that’s that.
“On a day like Valentine’s Day you don’t want the cooking to continue. Mug cakes right now are all the rage. It takes minutes, so instead of waiting 45 minutes for a cake to bake in the oven, you’re nuking it for 2 minutes and it’s done,” she said. “And then you know, portion control. You don’t want to pack on the extra pounds. It’s the perfect serving size, and little to no clean up since it’s all done in the cup.”
