But now that we do, what a great Valentine’s Day gift for your favorite tequila lover.

Agavero Tequila Liqueur, by the makers of Jose Cuervo, is a blend of 100% agave reposado and añejo tequilas. There’s also a touch of the damiana flower, an herb native to Mexico with a verbena-like aroma that is to have aphrodisiac properties (and if you want to believe in aphrodisiacs, that’s fine with us).

The liqueur fell out of fashion and wasn’t imported for years. Now it’s back in the U.S., and you should be able to find a bottle in the $15.00-$30.00 range (here’s a store locator). There’s also an orange-flavored version.

Agavero has the burnished copper color of an añejo tequila, with medium-full body of a liqueur. You’d think from the nose that you were about to drink añejo tequila: The liqueur has similar flavors, but with the light sweetness and silky texture of a liqueur.

It is delicious to sip, to add to coffee or to incorporate into cocktails. In a Margarita, use half tequila, half Agavero.

Here’s a cocktail perfect for Valentine’s Day, called Besame (Kiss Me). It was created by Sabina and Lorraine Belkin of DUO Restaurant & Lounge in New York City.

This cocktail combines sweet and tangy fruit flavors with a tequila bite and a Valentine-red hue. So get out the glasses and the cocktail shaker, and toast your Valentine with something special.

BESAME VALENTINE COCKTAIL

Ingredients Per Cocktail

 
Preparation

1. MUDDLE limes and raspberries in a highball glass.

2. ADD Agavero; top off with passion fruit juice. Add a splash of Chambord.

4. GARNISH as desired.

MORE VALENTINE COCKTAILS

Check out our Valentine cocktail recipes.

We adapted this tip from the original article on Care2.com.

Here are five of the most common cooking mistakes she witnesses, and how to avoid them.

MISTAKE #1: NOT FULLY READING THE RECIPE

You should never put yourself in the position of wondering, “What do I do next?” Read the recipe as many times as necessary to familiarize yourself with what you’ll actually be doing. This ensures that you have all the required ingredients and equipment; Re-read it right before you start to cook.

Cooking is chemistry: Adding ingredients in the wrong order, omitting them or using the wrong ingredient (baking powder instead of baking soda, for example) can compromise your dish, which wastes your time and money.

MISTAKE #2: USING A COLD PAN

You wouldn’t put an unbaked cake or chicken into a cold oven: Preheating is essential for a successful outcome. It’s the same with stove top cooking. Unless the recipe specifies a cold pan, give the pan and any oil (or other fat) a little time to heat up before adding the food.

Heat encourages the ingredients to release the moisture stored inside them. Adding food to a hot pan creates an instant seal around the food that locks in moisture and flavor. Added to a cool or warm pan, the food will lose moisture.

A hot pan should give off a sizzle when you add food it. If you don’t hear the sizzle, pull the food out while you wait for the temperature to rise.

Of course, you’ve got to be careful not to overheat the pan and the oil. If the oil starts to smoke, remove the pan from the heat immediately and let it cool down. A pan that’s too hot will break down the oil, which can give the food an unpleasant taste—not to mention burning them. Worse, the oil can catch fire.

How do you know if the pan is hot enough? It’s something you learn to judge over time, but here are two tricks:

Some people like to flip, re-flip and flip again…and again. This is a bad habit: Give it up! The hot pan or grill is perfectly capable of cooking the food with minimal physical intervention. You still need to watch food, but most foods don’t require constant hands-on attention.

The heat from the pan or grill is transferred to the food through direct contact. The food has to reach a certain temperature in order to reach “doneness.” Every time you flip the food, it loses contact with the pan and has to start the heating process all over again. So by over-tending, you’re actually extending your cooking time and you run the risk of altering the food’s texture and color by moving it around too much. How’s your chicken breast going to brown if you keep interrupting contact with the pan?

Some foods do require constant attention and your recipe will so indicate (“stir continuously for 5 minutes,” for example).

MISTAKE #4: NOT TASTING AS YOU COOK

Cooking without tasting is like painting a picture without looking at it. If you don’t taste the dish in progress, you may end up with unbalanced flavors or lack of seasoning. Good cooks season and taste, cook some more, then season and taste, regardless of what the recipe says.

Recipes are not infallible. There are typos and editing mistakes, and then, there are personal preferences. What is too much garlic or jalapeño for one household is barely a hint to another.
MISTAKE #5: BLINDLY FOLLOWING RECIPES

Recipes are good guidelines, but they’re not the last word. Every oven and stove cooks differently; cold ingredients cook more slowly than those at room temperature.

A recipe may instruct you to cook a piece of fish for 15 minutes; but if you don’t look at it until the timer goes off, you may have woefully overcooked fish.

Cooking is not always an exact science, unless you’re baking, which is an exact science (and requires an oven thermometer to ensure your oven is cooking at the right temperature).

With stove top cooking, you have to find a balance between your recipe and reality. Oven strengths vary. An electric cook top may not heat your sauté pan as quickly or evenly as the gas range used by the recipe writer/tester.

Check your food periodically and if the food is starting to burn after 4 minutes in the pan, lower the heat and flip it, even if the recipe says cook for 5 minutes per side.

Cooking is an art requiring practice, common sense and skill. The more you cook the better you get. And don’t hesitate to ask for help from others who cook. Or throw your question to the winds of the Internet.
  

Photo courtesy BellaBaker.com.

“I absolutely love surprises,” says Lauryn Cohen of BellaBaker.com. “Imagine a cupcake surprise…biting into an already delicious cupcake and finding a second delicious surprise inside.”

So she created Strawberry Surprise Cupcakes, a lovely treat for Valentine’s Day.

The cake is tender and light and gets its strawberry flavor puréed fresh strawberries added to the batter. The surprise is fresh, sweet strawberry jam that provides a burst of strawberry goodness. Strawberry cream cheese icing brings a bit of tang for contrast.

“So make these cupcakes and shhhh, don’t tell anyone about the jam in the middle.” says Lauryn. “Make it a surprise that’s sure to put a smile on everyone’s face.”

RECIPE: STRAWBERRY SURPRISE CUPCAKES

Ingredients

 
FOR THE ICING

A delicious surprise. Photo courtesy BellaBaker.com.

Preparation

1. PREHEAT oven to 350°F. BEAT butter at medium speed until creamy. Add sugar and beat about 3 minutes, until blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating for a minute after each addition. Add 1 1/2 cups of strawberry puree.

2. COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in food coloring.

3. PLACE in mini baking cups and bake 10-12 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from pans and cool completely.

4. FILL the cupcakes: Cut cone shapes out of the top dome of each cupcake. Fill a Ziplock-type bag with fresh strawberry jam and snip the corner. Fill the hole in the cupcake to the top with jam then place the cone shape back on top.

5. MAKE THE ICING: In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and butter at medium-high speed with an electric mixer for 2 to 3 minutes, until smooth. Add strawberry preserves and vanilla, beating until well combined. Add confectioners’ sugar and salt, beating until smooth. Frost cupcakes. Garnish as desired.
  

Choose your snacks from 25 sweet or savory
mixes. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE
NIBBLE.

Sure, it’s easy to give a box of candy or cupcakes for Valentine’s Day.

But for anyone who can benefit from better snacking, how about something more healthful—and fun?

There are fruit gifts, of course, and delicious artisan nuts. There are portion-sized snacks like Peeled Snacks and GoBites.

GoBites is in the healthful snacking business, delivering portion-controlled snacks that are easily portable and plentiful in variety.

The nutrient-rich ingredients are 100% natural and USDA Certified Organic: the right ingredients and the right amount of them to please both snacker and nutritionist.

Note that not all so-called “healthy snacks” are that healthy. Read the labels to see if they are chock full of added sugar and artificial ingredients.

GoBites, on the other hand, are pure goodness: wholesome nuts, seeds, grains and fruits in creative blends.

A DIFFERENT SNACK EVERY TIME

There are some 27 choices. You can make your choices, or fill out a profile and have them selected for you (do you prefer sweet, savory, both, nuts, no nuts, etc.). A sample of the snacks:

 
You can make a single purchase or sign up for a no commitment subscription program that delivers each week’s worth: 14 packages.

Check out all the options at GoBites.com.

Truth to tell, we’re not a fan of such messy finger food (we don’t do messy well). That’s why we took an immediate liking to this recipe from HungryGirl.com: Buffalo Chicken Parfaits. We’ll be eating ours neatly, with a spoon.

Using pre-cooked chicken breasts (Hungry Girl uses Tyson Grilled & Ready), the prep time is 10 minutes, and there’s no cook time.

For those who don’t want to give up their fried chicken, here’s an elegant, “gourmet” recipe for deconstructed buffalo wings.

On the other end of the spectrum, there’s buffalo chicken pizza.
BUFFALO CHICKEN PARFAIT RECIPE

Ingredients Per Serving

1, MIX yogurt with ranch seasoning in a medium bowl. Stir in lettuce and blue cheese.

2. COAT the diced chicken breast with hot sauce in a medium bowl.

3. LAYER half of each ingredient in a tall glass, sundae or parfait dish: lettuce mixture, carrots, celery and sauced chicken. Repeat layering with remaining ingredients. Serve with a spoon.
NUTRITION: Calories 185, Total Fat 4.5 g, Protein 27 g, Carbohydrate 9 g, Sodium 924 mg, Sugars 5 g, Fiber 1.5 g.

BUFFALO WINGS HISTORY

Buffalo wings were invented in 1964 at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo. Co-owner Teressa Bellissimo fried the wings, covered them in her own hot sauce and served them with a side of blue cheese and celery—because that’s what she had available. Here’s the full history of buffalo wings.

Many popular dishes, including Caesar salad and Cobb salad, were created because “that’s what was in the fridge.”