Do your kids love holidays as much as mine do? This year, Valentine’s Day falls on a Monday and that means the chances are good that you and your hunny won’t be heading out for that romantic dinner on Valentine’s Day so why not make it a family affair? You decorated the house with their heart-warming creations and now it’s time to move your little cupids into the kitchen.
Any of their favorite foods can be made Valentine-festive with a heart-shaped cookie cutter or two and a little bit of red or pink garnish. Here are some fun recipes and ideas to get the kids in the mood for love.
Start your day of love off right with these fun breakfast ideas.
* Make pancakes or French toast and cut out the middle with a heart-shaped cookie cutter. Fill the middle with strawberries, blueberries or raspberries.
* Toast a piece of bread. Cut out the middle of the bread with a heart-shaped cookie cutter. Place the toast with the heart-shaped hole in it into a frying pan. Break an egg into the heart-shaped hole and fry the egg to desired doneness. Use the heart cut-out for dipping into the yolk.
* Use your Wilton Petite Silicone 12 Cavity Heart Pan
Strawberry Banana Sweetheart Muffins
(Modified from the Lemon Blueberry Muffin recipe in Deceptively Delicious
Ingredients:
½ cup firmly packed light/dark brown sugar
4 tbsp butter, chilled
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup vanilla or strawberry yogurt
1 cup diced strawberries
½ cup banana puree
1 egg
¼ cup ground flax seed
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Coat a muffin pan with cooking spray or line with paper baking cups.
2. In a large bowl, cream the sugar and the butter together. Mix in the yogurt, strawberries, banana puree, egg and flax seed.
3. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir just to combine, but do not over-mix. The batter is supposed to be lumpy.
4. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake until the tops of the muffins are lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center – 13 to 16 minutes for regular-sized muffins or 9 to 11 minutes for mini-muffins. Turn the muffins out onto a rack to cool.
* Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, or freeze up to 1 month in a plastic zipper bag.
For lunch or dinner, you can show your love by using heart-shaped cookie cutters on their peanut butter and jelly or grilled cheese. If you’d like a little more of a challenge, give these festive dishes a try, instead:
Cupid’s Mini-Calzones
(you can make your own dough or use pre-packaged dough to save time)
Dough:
1 pkg yeast
1 Tbsp sugar
1 cup warm water
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 ¾ cup white flour
1 ¼ cup whole wheat flour
For the filling:
Mozzarella cheese
Tomato sauce
Pepperoni
Any other toppings the kids might like
Combine yeast, sugar and warm water and let sit for 5 minutes. Mix remaining ingredients and then add yeast mixture. Let dough rise, in a warm place, for about 1-2 hours, until double in size.
Roll out a small portion of the dough at a time, cutting two equal sized hearts. Fill middle with a layer of sauce, cheese and toppings, leaving approximately ½ inch at the edge to seal the calzone. Top with another heart and crimp the edges together with a fork. Set on baking tray. Bake at 400° for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned. Test to make sure dough is done baking. Serve with tomato sauce for dipping.
Spaghetti and Meatballs with Much Love
Now that you’ve made those repurposed crayons and mini-muffins for breakast, it’s time to get some more use out of that Wilton Petite Silicone 12 Cavity Heart Pan
Basic Meatballs
Ingredients:
1 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup low sodium beef broth
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
3 eggs, beaten
2 T. dried oregano
1 T. garlic, minced
1 T. kosher salt
1 T. ground black pepper
2 t. dried basil--or a bunch of fresh
1 t. crushed red pepper flakes
Pinch nutmeg
2 lb. ground beef
1 cup low sodium beef broth
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450° degrees
2. Stir together all ingredients except ground meat in a large bowl.
3. Add the ground chuck and mix together thoroughly.
4. Shape the mixture into balls about 2"in diameter
5. Place the heart-shaped silicon pan on a cookie sheet
6. Coat the silicon pan with olive oil and press a ball of mixture into each cup.
7. Fill the top of each cup with beef broth.
8. If you have extra meat mixture, roll into 2" in. meatballs and place into a baking dish. Pour 1 c. of beef broth into the bottom of the pan.
9. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the meatballs are just cooked through.
*Place leftover meatballs into an air-tight, plastic zipper bag and freeze. To reheat, place in a microwave-safe dish and heat on high for 2 minutes.
Who could forget about dessert? Valentine’s Day practically begs you to make something sweet for your sweeties. These treats will hit the spot and finish off the perfect day on a love note.
Brownie Lollipop Love
Ingredients:
One package of your favorite brownie mix
Wilton 6-Inch Cookie Sticks Mega Pack, 60-Count
Small heart-shaped cookie cutter
12 oz. chocolate chips, chocolate candy bar or semi-sweet Baker's chocolate
Festive sprinkles, coconut flakes, white chocolate shavings or other favorite topping
Directions:
1. Line the bottom of the correct-sized baking pan (according to the directions of the brownie recipe you choose) with parchment paper and then grease pan.
2. Prepare brownies according to package directions, decreasing the baking time by five minutes to ensure that they are not overdone.
3. Allow the brownies to cool.
4. Turn brownies out onto a cutting board and remove the parchment paper.
5. Using a small, heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out brownie hearts.
6. Roll the remaining brownie scraps into 1 ½ in. smooth balls.
7. Press a lollipop stick into the bottom of each heart and ball and place them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
8. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to harden the lollipops slightly.
9. Melt the chocolate chips (or favorite chocolate) in a microwave-safe bowl, in the microwave on high for 2 minutes.
10. Remove from microwave and stir until smooth, microwave at additional 30 second intervals as needed until melted.
11. Remove lollipops from the refrigerator and using a spoon, one at a time, drizzle melted chocolate on the lollipops until they are covered.
12. Sprinkle with your favorite topping.
13. Place them back onto the cookie sheet, standing upright, and return to the refrigerator until you are ready to enjoy them.
For more fun Valentine's recipes, check out Parenting.com. Do you have a favorite Valentine’s recipe or idea that you’d like to share? Share it with us in the Comments Section!
