Valentines Craft

Yes.. it's after valentines day but I did a craft that I'm quite proud of and I believe if I worked hard on something it deserves a whole month... not just half of one :)

Here was my Valentine's Day craft. I LOVE how they turned out. I was originally only going to do one big heart but Ben Franklin was out of their big ones so I settled for three little ones and I'm glad they were out of the big ones!

Inspiration found here...but I added the black sequin in the middle to give it a little bit of glamour.

Valentine's Day Yummyness

So last year I cooked Jared and I a pretty fabulous Chinese food feast on Valentine's Day. Since I like to go over the top on the Holidays, I decided to host a Valentine's Dinner this year. This would be the first time that we've had a group over and I've cooked the whole meal. Usually we do a big potluck but I wanted a challenge (by the end of the day, my feet were not appreciative of being in the kitchen all day long).

Jared's best friend and his wife have moved into their parent's house temporarily while they remodel their home so I thought it would be nice to have them over. His brother found out about it and promptly invited himself and his girlfriend to dinner the day of...YIKES! Good thing I already had my menu planned!

This years theme....Comfort Food!

 Jacksonville Carrots

...probably not a recipe I would revisit. It just wasn't that awesome.

Honey Game Hens 

...Paula Deen you do not disappoint! These turned out fabulous! I've never cooked cornish games hens but they were on sale at Smiths and I thought it would be a fun challenge. They were delish!

 Ultimate Twice Baked Potatoes

...words do not express the delicious melt in your mouth goodness that these were. I would go so far as to say they were the star of the dinner table. Oh my goodness.....

Grown Up Mac and Cheese

...the flavor in these is really really good. I added too many noodles. So if you make this one, stick to the recipe if you want them really cheesy!

Double Chocolate Bread Pudding with Chocolate Whipped Topping

...Miss Paula, you know how to raise those boys! I must apologize for the picture, I forgot to take one before I started eating it. It....was....amazing. I could make this every day and not get sick of it. If you don't mind the calories DO IT! This one is definitely going in the recipe book. YUM YUM YUM!

Of course I was so worried about getting pictures of the food I missed the opportunity to grab pictures of the guests. The night was a success. I even got Jared to do the dishes the next morning ;) And I currently have requests to make it a tradition. We'll see...Annie is at a manageable age now but in a year??? we'll see.

Valentine's Day

I love to cook! Mostly to experiment and make new dishes that we haven't had before. I don't get much of a chance to play in the kitchen since by the time I get off work, this little girl growing inside of me doesn't have the patience to wait for something new. So I took liberties, since Valentine's Day was on Sunday and decided to try something new.

On the menu:
WonTon Soup

Jared helped wrap the wontons, it made quite a few!

The soup turned out delicious! And besides the wonton's was pretty darn easy. I'd definitely make it again!

Ham Fried Rice and Pork Spring Rolls

Apple-Grape Sparkling Cider (served in the champagne glasses we forgot to toast with at BOTH our receptions ;)

During dinner Jared gave me a sweet letter that he wrote up for me as my Valentine's Day Gift... it made me cry...so cute!

For Dessert: ONLY THE BEST!!!! And what would go perfectly with this little vanilla treat? (Well honestly if you ask me, it's perfect by itself but if you must indulge...)

Molten Chocolate Cakes....that since Jared wanted them a little bit more done, didn't turn out so molten but were delicious non-the-less.

All in all I think it was a successful night. Jared's tastebuds were quite satisfied and my indulgence to cook was fulfilled.

Valentine's Day Dinner

Jared and I decided that since we were going to be traveling on Valentine's Day that we would celebrate a day early. The original plan was to get take-out from Famous Dave's and eat at home so we wouldn't have to stress about making dinner and cleaning up. I came up with a better plan.
Here's what was on the menu: Homemade pesto with fresh grown basil (grown by me ofcourse! so much more worth the money) topped on 3 cheese tortilini with fresh green beans that have been saute'd in a little bit of olive oil. Served with breadsticks...and of course for dessert Molten Chocolate Cakes topped with none other than yummy Nielsen's Vanilla Frozen Custard (if there were ever a franchise that I would invest in, Nielsen's Frozen Custard would be it).

Happy Valentine's Day!

So this last Halloween I decided to experiment with making my own gourmet caramel apples. I had extra caramel and chocolate left over and decided it wasn't worth wasting and made some caramel dipped pretzels too. Well I had lots of left overs and the next day was my wards Super Saturday so I decided to take some to share with the enrichment committee.

That might have been my first mistake ;) They thought they were just too cute and wanted me to demonstrate how to make them at another enrichment night. Well last night was the night. The saturday before, I got the enrichment committee together and we whipped out about 70 of these babies as the treat for the night.

We also decorated each of them valentine's style so they would be festive!

So fun to make, I loved using the small pretzel rods, you get so much more and their much quicker to make too.