Here are two tasty Valentine tips from The Pampered Chef:

It’s easy to share the love with mini heart-shaped pizzas for Valentine’s Day. Whether for lunch, dinner or “breakfast pizza,” you’ll have a hit on your hands.

HEART SHAPED PIZZA RECIPE

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT oven to at 425°F.

2. DIVIDE refrigerated pizza dough into quarters and shape into hearts.

4. REMOVE from oven and add sauce, mozzarella and toppings.

5. BAKE for 2-3 more minutes or until cheese melts.
 

DIETING ON VALENTINE’S DAY?

Congratulations for passing by all the not-so-great-for-you simple carbs.

Instead, enjoy slices of apple, pear or other complex carbs (whole grain bread counts) and use a small heart-shaped cookie cutter to make them festive.

The photo shows a “Valendine sandwich” with a filling of peanut butter and a few raisins.

You can also use the cookie cutter to make a cutout in bread, pancakes, whatever.

Go for it!

They’re one of the national breakfast foods of Turkey, baked fresh throughout the day in neighborhood bakeries and sold to the public by food cart vendors (or simply from a tray carried on the vendor’s head!).

Simit falls somewhere between a roll and a bagel: The crumb is less dense and less moist than a bagel crumb, and the exterior is more crusty.

It’s coated with lots of sesame seeds: It isn’t simit without the sesame seeds, which deliver texture, flavor, lots of fiber and heart-healthy linolenic acid and omega-3s.

Simit, which has been called the “Turkish bagel,” is popular in parts of the Middle East, Greece and the Balkans. And Simit + Smith, which launched last month in New York City, is hoping they’ll become as beloved in America…

Not just as breakfast food, served plain or with jam or cheese and a glass of tea, as in Turkey.

Simit is easily Americanized into a sandwich and an anytime snack. It’s the next imported food waiting to be discovered.

With fillings from classic Middle Eastern (black olive paste and kasseri cheese) to classic American (smoked salmon and cream cheese), they’re a hit. The Nutella and banana sandwich is a revelation.

You’ll notice in photos #2 and #3 that some shapes are not round. These were made to have more appeal for sandwiches.

And who knew that tea grows in Turkey (in the mountains in the north)? The tea at Simit + Smith is so delicious—floral and honeyed—we wanted to buy the foodservice-size bag (which isn’t for sale…yet).

[2] Have your turkey and Jarlsberg cheese on a simit. Photo courtesy Simit + Smith.

If you’ve traveled a bit, you may have encountered simit by other names: koulouri in Greece, gevrek in Bulgaria and Serbia, gjevrek in Macedonia and covrig in Romania, among other names.

Simit’s size, crunchiness and chewiness vary slightly by region, even within Turkey. If you like things sweeter, head to Devrek, where the simits are made with molasses.

If you’re passing through Manhattan, head to the Upper West Side or the Financial District and have a simit or two (here are the locations). All the sandwiches are delicious, and the Nutella and banana is a must-have.

If you’re full, get it to go.

Melt-in-your-mouth gourmet jerky. Photo by
Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

But unless you know your guy is one of them, smart money is on gourmet jerky as the most welcome Valentine guy food gift.

THE NIBBLE tastes a reasonable amount of jerky, sent for our consideration. Much of it is tough and chewy, leaving behind gristle that needs to be, well, disposed of.

When we receive a gourmet jerky—tender, moist jerky that disappears to the last bit—we take notice.

So we noticed the packages of Brandt Beef Jerky that arrived last week. Brandt Beef is a family owned, premium natural beef producer that serves the upscale restaurant and retail markets with filet mignon, ribeye, strip steak and other desirable cuts.

Five packages are $39.99, in single flavors or a variety pack. Buy it online at BrandtBeef.com.

WHAT IS JERKY?

The word jerky derives from Quechua, the language of the Incas. Ancient man preserved meat by drying it over hot fires. The Incas called this dried meat “charqui.”

While the prehistoric method of meat preservation was used by other ancient peoples, it was not known in Europe; the first European visitors to the New World found Native Americans making “charqui” from the meat of any animal they hunted (that which wasn’t consumed immediately). The word became Americanized to jerky.

Today’s jerky eaters enjoy it as a snack rather than a necessity, and have the luxury of eating jerky marinated in a variety of spices, salt and/or sugar—seasonings that were not available to many ancients.

Chewy, grisly jerky doesn’t have a place at our table. But gourmet jerky? Bring it on!