If you’ve been following the blog over the last week, we’ve already planned your really red organic dinner with Valentine Salad, Maple Wasabi Glazed Salmon and Triple-Berry Granola Crisp.

Now it’s time to put the final touches on your card or letter. Here are some tips for expressing your love from the experts at Crane & Co.:

• Small is beautiful. A few well-chosen words can be just as effective as an epic effort. In fact, leaving certain details to the imagination can make your note more intriguing.
• Your handwriting, however hieroglyphic, should not hold you back. It’s more personal than any fancy font on your computer. And, says graphologist Barbara Harding, because you take your time with handwriting, the results are more thoughtful.
• Write what you dream about. Go with what you know. Recall the first time you met or a recently shared experience that was particularly special. Be witty, romantic or passionate—but be yourself.
• Borrow brilliance. If you’re stuck, incorporate a quote from your favorite author, song or movie—or, even better, one that you and your significant other have shared in the past.
• Unplug your love. If you’re tempted to send an e-card, pause for a moment and consider what will have the greatest impact on your relationship. A handwritten card or letter is something to cherish. Create a memory that can be saved and savored for decades to come.

Book Pick of the Day: A Kiss Is a Kiss Is a Kiss: A Celebration of Romance Hollywood Style

Beyond its physical beauty, this salad offers interesting textural and flavor combinations.

A perfect addition to a Valentine dinner, it is also special enough to make a festive first course for any celebratory meal. All of the ingredients should be available at your local natural and organic food store.

Valentine Salad

Makes 4 servings

Canola oil spray
4 medium beets
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon pomegranate concentrate or juice, divided
1 cup dried cherries
1 bag mixed salad greens, preferably including red cabbage
1 medium red onion, peeled and chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Segments of 2 pink grapefruits, with pith and seeds removed
1/4 cup tangerine juice
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon raspberry or balsamic vinegar
Pinch of sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray bottom of a baking pan with canola oil spray. Add beets and lightly coat with the spray. Add 1/4 cup water and 1/2 cup pomegranate concentrate. Cover pan with foil; roast beets until knife easily pierces center, about 50 minutes. Remove beets from pan and cool. Peel beets wearing rubber or plastic gloves to protect hands. Slice beets thinly. (Beets can be cooked, peeled in advance, stored and refrigerated until ready to serve.)

At serving time, soak cherries in hot water to cover. Drain when soft and set aside. Meanwhile, divide mixed greens among four salad plates so pieces of red cabbage are visible on top. Sprinkle onions on top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

On top of the greens, alternate grapefruit segments with beets in a pinwheel or daisy design. Sprinkle beets with salt and pepper. Sprinkle cherries over salad.

In a cup, mix together the tangerine juice, remaining fruit concentrate, oil and vinegar. Add sugar if mixture is too tart. Drizzle dressing over each salad and serve.

Recipe and photo courtesy of the American Institute for Cancer Research

Book Pick of the Day: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to a Healthy Relationship

For your entree, try a delicately broiled salmon, garnished with cranberry relish. For side dishes, there are many options: beets, red cabbage and red onion, not to mention pink grapefruit, dried cherries and raspberry vinegar.

Garnet-red beets contain flavonoids that help lower your risk of cancer and heart disease. As beautiful as they are delicious, they are a cinch to roast, and their meaty texture takes well to dressings.

Pomegranates are relative newcomers to the U.S. market and well worth getting to know, as they are packed with health-protective antioxidants. You can now find pomegranate juice and concentrate in many stores (and even pomegranate molasses). It adds a brilliant vermillion color and a bright, sweet-tart flavor to salad dressings. Either the concentrate or molasses versions of this fruit make an elegant nonalcoholic cocktail when mixed with club soda.

Tune in tomorrow for a special Valentine Salad recipe, featuring beets, pomegranate juice, pink grapefruit and dried cherries, among other yummy ingredients.

Book Pick of the Day
Pomegranate Seeds: Latin American Jewish Tales

Medicine Hunter Chris Kilham (left)

Looking to spice up your love life this Valentine’s Day?

Chris Kilham is the “medicine hunter” behind two natural herbal products for romance seekers committed to an organic lifestyle.

An ethnobotanist and explorer-in-residence at the University of Massachusetts, Kilham recently returned from a global search for botanical aphrodisiacs that put him face to face with native shamans and herbalists in Peru, Siberia, Malaysia and the Himalayas. Two supplements—Hot Plants for Him and Hot Plants for Her—are the result of his intercontinental trek, while Hot Plants: Nature’s Proven Sex Boosters for Men and Women chronicles his adventures.

“Our modern culture is infected with DINS—that is, dual income, no sex,” Kilham says. “Forty-five percent of married couples report having intimacy only one to three times per month. Thirty million American men suffer from performance issues, while record numbers of women complain of low libido due to the stress and fatigue of daily living. Ancient cultures treated intimacy problems using indigenous plant medicines. These treasured botanicals have worked for centuries. Today, substantial scientific research validates their value.”

Human clinical studies have shown improvement in sex drive, sexual function and overall satisfaction utilizing traditional hot plants, including Maca from Peru, Rhodiola Rosea from Siberia, Tongkat Ali from Malaysia, Panax Ginseng from Korea and Yohimbe from West Africa. Important note: Just be sure to read Hot Plants package labels before buying or using the products to review contraindications (i.e., high blood pressure, heart/kidney/liver/thyroid disorders, prostate conditions, etc.) that warrant discussion with your healthcare provider.

Hot Plants is available at natural food stores, including Whole Foods Market, Wild Oats and GNC. Next month, Kilham’s new “Medicine Hunter” television series will broadcast to 20 million U.S. homes on The Healthy Living Channel. A year ago, he appeared on ABC’s 20/20 to dispel the myth that herbal aphrodisiacs are “a bunch of hooey.”