Happy Valentines Day!!

I remember when I was about 10 years old, my dad wrote a poem for me and each of my sisters for Valentine's Day. He just wrote it on a heart cut from red construction paper. Nothing fancy. I don't remember exactly what it said. I was too little then to appreciate it enough to save it. But I do remember how I felt when he gave it to me.
I treasure copies of letters that my Great grandfather wrote to my grandma when she was a young girl away from home at a boarding school. In the letters he expresses his great love for her and how much he misses her and how he trusts that God is watching over her.
There is really nothing I want more, than for my children and grandchildren for generations to come to know how much I love their dad and them and the Savior. How will they know that, if I don't write it down? They won't.
I guess that is the point of this blog entry. If you do nothing else this Valentine's Day, write the people you love a love letter. Not something hot and passionate (although you could do that, too), write your true feelings, something that you want your grandchildren to know. It doesn't have to be fancy. It just needs to be sincere.
If you want to make it cute, Martha Stewart has some cute ideas for love notes on here website here, here, here, and here.

The Queen of Hearts, Made Some Tarts

I made Heart Shaped Tarts to take to my husband at work today. But this morning, I remembered he has the day off. I guess I'll put them in the freezer and give them to him next week. Valentine's Day will just be extended for a few days and I get to spend the day with him.

I got this recipe with a little Martha Stewart heart tart press. But you can use a cookie cutter and crimp the edges with a fork. They are really good served with a dish of vanilla ice cream.

I may put a note with them that says "To My King Of Hearts".
This is the recipe:

Raspberry Heart Tarts

5 cups flour
1 ½ tsp. Salt
4 tsp sugar
2 cups (1 lb.) butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
10 Tbsp. Ice water
1 jar of jam (about 1 cup)
2 egg yolks
2 Tablespoon cream
Sanding sugar (optional)

In a bowl combine flour, salt, and sugar. Add butter and cut in with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal. (Or process in a food processor for about 8 - 10 seconds)

Add ice water slowly while mixing just until dough holds together.

Turn dough onto work surface. Form into a disk.

Warm raspberry jam in microwave for 1 minute (so it spreads easier).

Heat oven to 400 F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough about 1/8 inch thick. Using heart press or cookie cutter, cut out heart shapes and put them on a clean surface. Brush edge with water. With back of spoon, spread 1 ½ tsp. Jam evenly to within ¼ inch of the edge of each tart. Carefully place another heart on top. To seal, place the heart press on top of the filled pastry and press down, crimping the edges together or use the tines of a fork to crimp the edges together all the way around. Repeat with remaining hearts. Using kitchen shears or a sharp knife, trim off any excess dough. Transfer to cookie sheet, placing about 1” apart.

In a small bowl. Combine the egg yolks and the cream. Brush evenly over each heart. And transfer to the freezer for 20 minutes. Remove from the freezer and sprinkle with sanding sugar, if desired. Bake until crust is golden, 25-30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

A Kid'll Eat the Middle of an Oreo First

Yesterday, while my daughter was at the grocery store, she found a really good deal on Winter Oreos (the ones with the red middles). They were on a close out after Christmas sale. She bought several packages because she thought they would be great for Valentines. She dipped them in chocolate and put some little Valentine sprinkles on them. I think they turned out pretty cute. They might be even cuter if you dipped them in white chocolate. But we didn't have any. We may give them to some of our neighbors for Valentine's.

Pretty Cheesey

Today I took my husband a heart shaped Cheese Ball with heart shaped crackers. I just made his favorite kind of cheese ball and shaped it like a heart. Or you can just buy a cheese ball. Just push a dent into the top of the cheese ball and squeese the bottom to a point. I bought the crackers at Pirate O's, in Draper, UT. They are probably available at other specialty food stores ,too. I have seen them, occasionally, in regular grocery stores, as well. I have a recipe for a Pina Colada Cheese ball that would be cuter. It is white with little chunks of cherry in it and is covered with coconut instead of nuts. You could even color the coconut pink. But My husband likes the one I made better, so that's what he got. This would also be a good apetizer at a Valentine party.

The card says:

"I know this sounds cheesey, But I'm crackers over you!"

Here are the recipes for the Cheese Balls:

EASY CHEESE BALL
2 8 oz. packages of cream cheese
1 bunch green onions, Chopped
l-2 Cloves garlic (minced)
sliced almonds

Mix Cream cheese, onions and garlic. Form into ball. Roll ball in sliced almonds. Refrigerate, till ready to serve. Serve with Crackers.
You can add some chopped pimento or chopped red pepper to make it look more festive (for Christmas)

PINA COLADA CHEESE BALL
2 8oz package cream cheese
½ cup powdered sugar
1 8 oz can crushed pineapple (well drained)
2/3 cup flaked coconut
8 marachino cherries chopped (optional)
Flaked coconut to roll ball in.

Mix first 5 ingredients. Form into a ball. Chill. Roll in flaked coconut.
Serve with sweet crackers or fruit.

No Bones About It.

Everybody makes heart sugar cookies for Valentines. They are cute and in lots of families, they are a tradition. They have been in mine, too. However, as much as I love Valentines and hearts, I think it's kind of fun to surprise people with something a little unexpected. That's why I made Bone Valentine Cookies for my husband to take to work today. I put little hearts on them so they look a little more Valentiney. Use your favorite sugar cookie recipe. Put parchment paper on the cookie sheet before you put the cookies on. It makes the cookies easy to take off the pans and it makes the them hold their shape better, they don't spread. This is my favorite sugar cookie recipe:

Lion House Sugar Cookies

1⅓ cup margarine 6½-7 cups flour
3 cups sugar 1 tsp. salt
4 eggs 5 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. Vanilla
¼ cup milk

Preheat oven to 400º. Cream margarine and sugar. Mix in eggs, vanilla and milk. Add flour, salt and baking powder. Mix well. Roll 1/4 inch thick on a floured surface. Cut in desired shapes. Bake 7-8 minutes on cookie sheets covered with parchment paper. Remove from pans. Let cool and decorate with frosting and sprinkles, etc.
I put a card with them that says:


"No Bones About It, I Want You For My Valentine.

Games of the Heart

If you are in charge of the games for a Valentine's Party, here are a few suggestions. If you are have an adult party with married couples, you can play The Newlywed Game. A list of questions can be found here. I personally think that the goal of a Valentine party is for everyone to go home at least as good of friends as they were when they came. So, the questions here are pretty tame. I don't think there are any that will make anyone go home angry or with hurt feelings (they may be a little embarrassed, but not too bad). Use your own judgement.

Another game that you can play is "Pick Your Honey's Nose". In this game you make a large screen/wall out of butcher paper. It has to be tall enough for all the spouses to stand behind it in a line. Nothing can show (no shoes or tops of heads). Cut holes in the paper, either all at the same height or at varying heights. We drew stick figures on the front of the paper with the hole where the nose should be. Write a number above each hole. Have all the husbands (or all the wives) stand behind the screen and poke their nose through a hole (if you make the holes at varying heights, make sure that the people behind the screen don't stand at a hole that is the same height as their nose actually is). The other spouse has to guess which nose belongs to their spouse. You would thing that it would be pretty easy, since you see it pretty closely every day, but it really isn't. Even the most distinguishable noses become more ordinary when they aren't attached to a face. You can also have people try to identify all the noses. Whoever gets the most right wins.

Valentine Bingo is fun for parties with kids. You can use conversation hearts for the markers. There are free downloadable bingo cards with pictures here. They have all kinds of free bingo cards there. You can also download card with numbers here.

Another game I found there was a game called, "Find Your Heart Mate". Cut enough hearts that each child can have a half heart. Cut each heart in half at different angles or a different shape line. Give each child a half a heart and have them find the person with the other half of his/her heart. This website has a lot of fun ideas for classroom activities and games for childrens parties.

Roses and Noses

Chocolate and Roses are lots of peoples favorite Valentine's gift. So what could be better than Chocolate roses? These roses made from Hershey's kisses have been around for years. My son used some to ask a girl to a dance 10 years ago. But they are still fun. You can get instructions here. Then check out these ideas for chocolate and flowers on KSL Studio 5. I particularly liked the chocolate bowls.

And speaking of Chocolate Roses, here a little different spin. How about long stemmed chocolate noses. The molds are available at Bakers Cash & Carry in Salt Lake. I also found them on Ebay. I used bamboo skewers for the stems.

I included a note that read:

I ordered long stemmed roses for you, but they must have misunderstood. Because when I went to pick them up, they gave me long stemmed noses, instead. I guess it's alright, though. Because, of all the noses, on all the faces, in all the world, I'm glad I picked yours!

Happy Valentine's Day, anyway.

Oh, and just in case you are wondering, here is a list of the meaning of the different colors of roses and one of the significance of the different number of roses you give.

Conversation Hearts

This is another of those things that I'm not quite sure what the purpose is. But it is kind of fun. You can write anything you want on the picture of a conversation heart and then you can post it anywhere you want. Or you can print it and give it for a valentine. It looks just like the real thing.

The Way To a Man's Heart is Through His Stomach

Today we had a Valentine dinner. It was really delicious. We had Spinach Salad (my husband's favorite). I put sliced strawberries on the top. They looked like little hearts. I also made Heart shaped croutons.
For the main course we had steak. I bought one large rib eye steak. It was really enough for four people. I had the butcher butterfly cut it. He said it would look like heart. But we had to do a lot of trimming for it to actually resemble a heart. He said Fillet Mignon works a lot better. But I couldn't afford $17.00/lb. So we went with the rib eye. I also made heart shaped dinner rolls.

This is the recipe for the salad:

SPINACH SALAD

2 bunches of spinach or spring green mix (torn into bite size pieces)
1 head of lettuce (torn into bite size pieces)
1 purple onion (sliced)
3/4 lb. fresh mushrooms (sliced)
3/4 lb. Swiss cheese (grated)
1 C drained cottage cheese
1/2 C crumbled bacon
sugared almonds
mandarin oranges
crasins
sliced strawberries
croutons

Toss all ingredients together (except onions and strawberries). Use sliced onions and strawberries as a garnish. Top with following dressing immediately before serving.

DRESSING

3/4 tsp poppy seeds
3/4 C oil
3/4 tsp grated onion
1/3 tsp mustard
1/2 C white vinegar
1/3 C sugar
3/4 tsp salt

Buzz in blender. Pour on salad right before serving.

Croutons:

Brush both sides of slices of bread with olive oil or a garlic butter mix. Sprinkle with Salad Supreme or herbs of your choice. Cut with small cookie cutters or cut into cubes. Place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 300º for 20 to 30 minutes until crisp, turn them over every 10 minutes.

Sugared almonds

Mix 1/2 cup sugar with 2 T. water in a sauce pan. Cook until sugar is dissolved. Add 3/4 cup sliced almonds. Continue cooking (while stirring constantly) until the sugar crystallizes. Remove from heat and dump on a cookie sheet with a cooling rack over it. Separate out the sugared nuts from the excess sugar.

The first Valentines I ever gave to my husband were like these. We were in high school. My older sister had found the patterns when she was in college and gave them to me. I made several more for him while we were in college. I'm not sure that it made him fall in love with me, but at least they kept his attention until he did. I made them from colored card stock. But you could just download them and color them if you want. However, the patterns are really just sketches so you might still have to improve them.

The first is a fireman. His heart says "You Set My Heart On Fire".

The next one is a cat or a tiger, depending on what color you make his stripes. His snout lifts up and it says either, "You're My Purrr-fect Valentine", or "You're Grrrreat".

When you lift the tag on the Dog it says "Without You".

The lion's snout lift up and it says either "I Love You" or I Think You're Grrrreat!"
The heart on the Owl says, "Guess Whooo", When you lift his arm it says, "Loves You". Lift his glasses and it says, "Eye Do".

The bear has a sign on the outside that says, "I Love You". When he opens his arms it says, "This Much".

The Hippo Says "Happy Valentine's Day". Under her fan it says, "From Your Biggest Fan".

On the front of the Skunk card it says "It Stinks". When you lift up the arm it says, "When You're Not Around".

More Printable Valentines

Chocolate on my Cranium has a few posts with cute printable Valentines for adults and kids. She also has a link to a flickr set with vintage Valentine graphics.

Pop Ups

I'm a big fan of Pop Up books. Particularly Robert Sabuda and David Carter. So, naturally when I found patterns to make my own pop up cards, I got a little excited. Pop up cards can be a little tricky. So I suggest you start with the ones on Robert Sabuda's web site. He has a lot and they are pretty easy. You can even do them with kids. You can do them with paper, scissors, glue and maybe crayons or markers to color them. There are more intricate designs here. They are a lot more difficult but worth the effort. They are not designed with kids in mind. You need an exacto knife and some sort of mat to cut on. They are printed on the wrong side of a piece of cardstock so you work from the back. You fold them one way on the dotted lines and the other way on the dashed lines and you cut on the solid lines. I found that they are easier to work with if you enlarge them before you make them. I think they look better, too. You can color them also if you prefer. Then mount them on a contrasting color of cardstock and include a message. You can really WOW someone you love!

mmmmm Hot Chocolate

My grandkids like hot Strawberry milk lots better than hot chocolate. That's o.k. because pink is so pretty for Valentines Day. So if they were closer, this is what I would make them. I'll save the Hot Chocolate for Grandpa.
On second thought, maybe I'll send them some.

Cut the marshmallows in half. Then dip the cut edge in powdered sugar. Cut a heart in the center of the marshmallow half with a very small cookie cutter or Hors d'oeuvre cutter. Then shake both pieces in powdered sugar (to cover the sticky edges), shake off the excess powdered sugar in a sieve. Serve them in Hot Chocolate of Hot Strawberry milk.

Dip a plastic spoon in chocolate or white chocolate. Then drizzle with a contrasting color of chocolate or while the chocolate is still a little gooey, dip the edges of the spoon in sprinkles.

If you are giving it away, be sure to include a card with instruction on the back.

On the front mine says:

You melt my heart,

The back says:

1. pour into a cup of warm milk

2. stir with spoon

3.remember Grandma and Grandpa love you!

Nothing say lovin' like something from the oven

I wanted to make my husband some sweetrolls for Valentines day. I hadn't quite figured out how to do it, when I came across the blog of Gourmet Mom On The Go. She has some great ideas. She makes really cute food with her kids. She had already posted Heart Shaped Sweet rolls. I made them yesterday, following her instructions. They turned out really cute. Just be sure to pinch the point at the bottom really well or they will be round at the bottom instead of pointed. When you get done looking at her sweet rolls, scroll down to see her edible crayons. They are very cute and look pretty easy. She even has downloadable labels for them. If you like to cook with your kids this is a great place to explore! But be prepared to stay awhile.

Rice Hot Packs

Rice Packs are the greatest invention ever. You can put them in the freezer and they make good ice packs or you can throw them in the microwave for 2 or 3 minutes and they make great hot packs. They are wonderful for sore muscles or cold feet. And you can use them over and over and over. You can easily make your honey one with the pattern found here or you can make up your own. You can also fill them with dry corn.
Make sure you warm it up before you give it to them.

Flemmings Chocolate Lava Cake

Flemmings Restaurant in Salt Lake apparently has Chocolate Lava Cake that is to die for. I have never been there so I don't know. But yesterday, I was watching KSL Studio 5. They had a recipe for Flemmings Chocolate Lava Cake with a demonstration on how to make it. It looked really good so I decided to try it. I made it tonight for my daughters birthday. It was delicious. It is very light but very rich. The recipe makes about 12 servings. It is very high in fat. The lady who figured out the recipe and presented it on the program, was asked how you could make it less fattening. Her response was to share it. It is definitly a special occasion dessert. So Valentine's would be the perfect opportunity. If you slice stawberries to put on top, they can even look like hearts.

Here is the recipe:

Flemings Chocolate Lava Cake
Ingredients:
1 lb. butter
1 lb. semi-sweet chocolate
8 whole eggs
8 egg yolks
1 C. sugar
2 Tbs. flour
Optional: 2 tsp. vanilla
Method:
Cut butter and chocolate into small pieces. Heat on low heat in the microwave or over a double boiler until melted, stirring occasionally. While chocolate is melting combine whole eggs and egg yolks in mixing bowl and whip until slightly thick, about 5-6 minutes. Mix flour into sugar then pour into eggs and whip for 1 minute to blend. Lightly whip the chocolate and butter until smooth. Add to egg mixture. Add vanilla if desired.
Pour into ramekins (sprayed with non-stick spray or shortening and flour) to about half an inch from the top. Chill for 2-3 hours. Place in a 400 degree oven and bake for 12-15 minutes. (Center will be a bit jiggly.) Remove cake from oven and cool for 1 minute or more. Place cup on serving plate, cake side down and remove ramekin. Serve with ice cream. Garnish with fresh fruit, chopped nuts or whipped cream.

I think it is better cooked a little longer (not too much, you still want it runny in the middle).

KSL Studio5 has a lot of cute ideas for Valentines. Some cute ideas are here.
There are some really cute homemade candy boxes here. They are trying to sell a tool called a ScorPal. But you can make the boxes without it. You just have to measure and score your paper without the tool. They have lots of templates and ideas on their website.
There is a cute Valentine Count Down Jar here.
I"m guessing they will probably have Valentine ideas nearly everyday between now and Valentine's Day. So you might want to watch the show if you get it where you live, or check back at the Studio 5 website often to see what is new.

Kisses

Celebrate the 14 days of Valentines with a variety of kisses.

• ICE KISS: Put an ice cube in your mouth until your mouth becomes cold. Remove the cube, track down your love and plant a kiss that will send chills!
• ELECTRIC SHOCK KISS: The two of you shuffle your feet furiously on carpet. When you both have an electric charge, lean over and slowly aim for each other's lips. With your lips about one-half inch apart, move in even slower until a spark jumps between the two of you. Instantly after this happens, kiss one another...the please us the kiss right after the shock!
• POST-IT KISS: Use 3M Post-It notes to make a trail through your house that leads to your lips. Put a lipstick print or lip symbol on each note with an arrow pointing to the next note. You, of course, are at the end of the trail with a Post-It note over your lips that says, "LIFT FOR KISS"
• MORSE CODE KISS:If you know Morse code, great, If not, this is a great way to learn. Find a Morse Code chart. Using long and short kisses, spell out a message to your love and have him or her try to decipher them.
• RENDEZVOUS KISS: With a note or phone call, tell your love to meet you at a certain place and time (e.g. park bench, street corner, ice cream stand) for a present. When your love arrives, have a bow stick to your lips.
• BATH KISS: Surprise your love with a kiss while he/she is showering or in the tub. (WARNING: Prepare to get wet)
• MACHINE GUN KISS: In rapid succession, plant 12 quick ones on your lover's lips.
• PINK PANTHER KISS: Humming the Pink Panther theme, prowl toward your partner. On the high note, pounce and pucker. Suggestion-wear only pink!
• GREAT EXPECTATIONS KISS: Inform your love one morning that he or she will soon receive a fabulous kiss. Later, call you love with a reminder. When next you see your love, pull out the stops and plant a long, hot, passionate kiss.
• GOODBYE * 2 KISS: Send off your love in the morning with a quick kiss. As your love turns to leave, pull him or her back for a second, more passionate kiss
• RIDDLE KISS: Ask your love to solve the following riddle: "I am just two and two; I am warm, I am cold; I am lawful, unlawful; A duty, a fault; I am often sold dear; Good for nothing when bought; an extraordinary boon; and a matter of course; and yielding with pleasure; When taken by force." If your love solves it, ask for a demonstration as proof. If he or she cannot show the answer, of course, the answer is a kiss.
• UNEXPECTED KISS: When the two of you are doing the usual, lean over and give your love a sweet kiss on the cheek for no good reason and whisper...I LOVE YOU!
• KNOCK-KNOCK KISS: Stage the following knock-knock joke with your love: KNOCK KNOCK Who is there? KissKiss who? Kiss who? Why me, of course!
• TOOTHPASTE KISS: Brush your teeth together. When your love's mouth is all sudsy, plant a big wet one on the lips. WARNING: MAKE SURE TOOTHBRUSHES ARE OUT OF THE WAY!

Red Dinner ideas

I was just at the grocery store and was browsing the magazines in the check out line. I was flipping through the Women's Day Magazine and they had a great idea of serving red foods for valentines that is simple and cute. They had many recipes that looked delectable, it was tempting to buy (I never buy magazines at stores) however, I thought, before I bought it, I would come home and see if they had the recipes on line. I checked, and they don't. So I might have to go buy the magazine after all. However, I did come across, in my looking, a valentines essentials in the Women's Day valentines. When you click on the Link to Women's Day from my blog it takes you to a menu of Valentines ideas, I hadn't clicked on it this particular menu choice, however, it is there. Or you can simply click on my link here and it will take you to the Valentine's Essentials page. it has some cute ideas for heart shaped desserts. I still want the main course recipes found in the printed version of Women's Day. It had some recipes for things like marinara sauce, a shrimp dish, a tart cherry sauce and other entree ideas. maybe I can find similar ideas or different online recipes.

Any Way You Say It, It Still Means "I Love You"

I found a website called BrailleBug that will let you type a message to someone in Braille. The message is then emailed to the person of your choice. They can then decode the message with the decoder on the site, or if thy don't want to do that, there is a button they can push that will automatically decode it for them. I'm not sure what the purpose of this site is, but it is kind of fun. You could write your loved one a secret love note. Look here.
If you don't want to send a message in Braille, You could tell them that you love them in a different language. I've compiled a list of translations of "I Love You". If you are a Star Trek fan it even includes the translation into Vulcan and Klingon. If you are a fan of Lord Of The Rings, I've included the translation into Elvin. There are a lot of languages that I have never even heard of. I never knew there were so many languages! Please keep in mind, I am not a linguist. My son has already told me that one was wrong (I corrected it). I compiled this list from several others that I found on the internet. The information is only as good as the source and I'm really not sure about my sources, so, take it for what it's worth and have fun with it. The list can be found here.

Jump Start Your Heart

Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be.
--Robert Browning

What could be more romantic than having a long and healthy life with the people you love. Valentines is a good time to start or to recommit to taking care of your heart and the rest of yourself. I know that personally, I was being really good at exercizing and eating right until the holidays came. Then I got too busy and there was too much good food around and I lost all my will power. I am going to recommit to taking care of myself so that I will be around to share my life with my husband and my kids and my grandkids. They mean too much to me to cut my time with them short.
So in your indeavors to show your love to those around you, be careful. Limit the amount of junk you feed them. I know almost every food in this blog is probably bad for your heart, so use discretion. Mix things up a little. Give them treats one day and something else another day.
Show them how much you love them by taking care of yourself and them, so you can be around for a very long time.