Last week, I was putting together a little gift box for my kids’ teacher for Valentine’s Day. I really wanted to include one of my new favourite things to make, cake pops, but I didn’t have any frozen cake or cupcakes on hand and really didn’t want to make a whole cake for one cake pop (because then I would have cake in the house – again!!) I had never made a mug cake before, but they seem to be quite popular and I thought why not make a mug cake and then turn it into a cake pop. As a newbie to mug cakes, I do not have a “go to” recipe, so I followed this recipe from the Instructables.
It turned out fine, but there was a bit of cake in the very bottom of the cup that seemed a bit hard and crusty (not sure why). Of course, this didn’t matter to me as the cake was tasty enough and I only required enough to make one cake ball. However, for future reference, I was able to make 4 cake pops from one mug cake.
I am not sure that I would have noticed this had I not been forming the cake into balls, but the cake did seem a bit oily to me. There was a comment on the original post that mentioned using only 2 teaspoons of oil and then substituting the balance with applesauce. I think I would play with this a bit in the future as well, unless someone has a great Mug Cake recipe to share?? I would love to have a “go to” recipe for mug cakes. I love that one mug cake could be used to make a small batch of cake pops or you could make two and break them up into 4 bowls and have dessert for the whole family. The kids would love warm chocolate cake and ice cream! I will continue to be on the lookout for that perfect recipe ~ share if you have it!!
Cake Pops:
break cake into small crumbs
add a spoonful of icing (not too much)
form into a dough like texture and roll in to balls
dip in melted chocolate
add sprinkles
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I was putting together a little something for the kids’ teacher for Valentine’s Day and really wanted to put it in some kind of an open box. The problem was that I couldn’t find anything that was the perfect size, colour and shape. I didn’t want to use a gift bag, because it was really important the gift didn’t tip over or the contents would spill, and thus a box was a must. I finally decided to make one. I did a quick search and came up with this awesome website full of cardboard projects. Being that my kids are a bit older, I can’t say that many of the projects appealed to me, but some awesome ideas if your kids are a bit younger. What I found to be the most helpful for me on iKatbag was Lorraine’s post on the different types of cardboard and what purposes they best serve. Her tutorial is very thorough and complete with pictures and a great explanation.
Working With Cardboard:
First and foremost, if you plan on making any cardboard projects I would check-out Lorraine’s post. Why re-invent the wheel? Clearly she knows what she is talking about. Here are a few tips from her post:
avoid pre-existing creases unless you plan to incorporate them into your project
always make your folds, bends and roll lines parallel to the corrugated flutes between the liners
make tabs that will overlap the other piece or cardboard when joining two pieces together
Turn the cardboard inside out, so that the print ends up on the inside
score before making new folds (run the back of a knife blade along the cardboard to weaken the surface, but don’t cut through it)
I followed Lorraine’s suggestions for how to re-use a cereal box and all of her suggestions were great. In making mine, I used the existing bottom of the box, but cut down the height and length of the box following her directions. I then covered the exterior with brown butcher paper in much the same way as you would wrap a gift. Finally, I punched holes for handles and ran a string through. This gave me the versatility to make the box the size and shape I wanted and I was also able to finish it off in the colour that best suited my needs.
At the end of her post, Lorraine has a picture library consisting of all of her fabulous projects (over 50) with links to her full tutorials. Thanks for sharing all of your cardboard wisdom, Lorraine!
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Don’t you hate it when you go to get some brown sugar for that special recipe and find it all stuck together and as hard as cement. Well, my mom taught me two little tricks that I along with many others have been using for years. Just add a slice of bread or a slice of apple to the sugar container/bag and it will help to moisten hardened sugar and keep fresh sugar in that moist state. However, I have found that the sugar immediately surrounding the bread/apple seems to get a bit hard and chunky and even discolours a bit. The rest of the jar is nice and moist as was the intent. I usually end up tossing that bit of sugar that has been effected. At one time I even purchased one of those terra cotta brown sugar savers and it worked great, but you have to soak it in water every once in a while to replenish the moisture in it. Somehow in this process, mine got tossed in the garbage.
The other day, I came across yet another solution for the hardened brown sugar ~ a jumbo marshmallow! What could be easier than tossing a marshmallow into a jar and the best part is that after over a week, there has not been any adverse effects on the sugar. It does the job perfectly. I can’t comment on how long it will be before I need to replace the marshmallow, but it certainly seems to do the trick.
You will notice that my brown sugar actually looks a little funny, almost two-toned in the picture. That’s because it is. I generally prefer the “golden” sugar that is a finer grain of sugar and lighter in colour, but my husband came home with the dark coarse sugar and so the two are intermingled in my brown sugar canister. (I used commercial sized pickle jars to make this set of canisters ~ here’s the link if you’re interested in checking out my Upcylced Pickle Jars.)
If you are in a hurry and you have found yourself face to face with sugar that has solidified into a brick, no worries as there is a quick fix as well. Just pop the sugar in a microwave-safe both with a damp paper towel, cover the bowl with a lid or plate and microwave for 20 seconds. The heat and damp paper towel help to transfer the moisture back into the sugar. Don’t forget to add a marshmallow to the remaining sugar to soften it up for future use.
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I think it might be a stretch to say that fondue is our family’s Valentine’s Day tradition, but we will often have fondue to celebrate the occasion. I must admit that for me having a fondue has never really been about trying a new recipe or experimenting with new dishes. More often than not, the food is simply prepared and the dips are often not even homemade. For us, having a family fondue is not about preparing a fabulous meal, but all about the process and more than anything an evening devoted to great conversation and quality family time. I love that we are all totally committed to the experience and no one is on their “device” or checking the scores in the hockey game. Everyone is totally engaged, communication barriers are stripped down, frustrations from the week gone and our spirits are fed with good (not great) food and a generous dose of family love and relationship building.
Traditionally, our family fondue evenings consist of:
Cheese and bread fondue
Potatoes (baked, roasted, stuffed or mashed)
Vegetables (sometimes I make a side dish and other times we will cook veggies in the fondue pot as well)
Meat (selection of pork, chicken, steak and shrimp)
Dips for the meat (and veggies, if applicable)
Chocolate fondue dessert
Again, I am not hung-up on the menu at all. It is really all about uninterrupted family time. Here is what we had for our 2014 Valentine’s Day fondue.
Family fondue night!
Potatoes Romanoff
Broken bread for the cheese fondue.
Marinated chicken.
Marinated beef and pork.
Valentine’s Day Fondue Menu:
1. Store bought Swiss Cheese Fondue with French Bread (No I am not kidding, I didn’t even make it from scratch. Sometimes I do, but not this time!)
2. Potatoes Romanoff ~ These potatoes are super easy to make and so yummy. I somewhat followed the recipe from About.com. I added a bit of minced garlic and butter to mine. I used extra old white cheddar and some Velveeta cheese I had leftover from another recipe. I thought it was a great way to use it up.
3. Salad – Just a basic “clean your fridge out” type salad. I tossed in whatever I had on hand and put out a choice of dressings.
4. Meat – I cut up the chicken, steak and beef into bit sized chunks. I generally don’t prepare it in any way, but I did decide to marinate the meat for a few hours before dinner. I think it really added to the flavour and tenderness of the meat. Both the pork/beef marinade and chicken marinade were super easy to make and contained ingredients I had on hand. I also wanted to make sure that the flavours weren’t so powerful that you couldn’t enjoy your favourite dips. These recipes worked out great and the flavours worked well with all of the dips I had out. We also had raw shrimp which required no preparation.
5. Dips – When preparing a fondue for company, the dips become a more important part of the meal. I found some great dip recipes on Multitasking Mom and will definitely give some a try in the future. However, my kids are not really that in to the dips and at this point it is really not worth the extra effort. I did make one homemade dip using a recipe I found on Martha Stewart. I chose her Horseradish-Mustard Sauce as I knew Tim and I would both enjoy it with our steak. It turned out well and the left over dip will be great served with the pot roast I am planning for later this week.
Horseradish-Mustard Sauce
This recipe makes about 1 1/2 cups, so I scaled the recipe down to about 1/3 and it filled my little dipping cup and we still have lots left over for the roast. Combine the following ingredients in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.
1 cup sour cream
6 Tablespoons horseradish
1 1/2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Other dips that we serve have included: Seafood Sauce, Warm Butter and Garlic, BBQ Sauce, Honey Dill Sauce, Honey Mustard Sauce, Teriyaki Sauce, Sweet Chili Sauce as well as many others. I generally do a combination of store bought and homemade, depending on whether we are entertaining or not.
6. Chocolate Fondue – Clearly this is the best part. The kids love chocolate fondue and will often request it at various times throughout the year. Eden often asks for it at her birthday parties. It is super easy to make and always a crowd pleaser. I have used the same Canadian Living Chocolate Fondue Recipe for years.
Chocolate Fondue:
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Place the chocolate chips in your fondue pot/bowl. (I use a ceramic bowl that sits on top of a candle for my chocolate fondue). Heat the whipping cream until hot and steaming, but not yet boiling. (You can do this on your stove top or in the microwave. I use the microwave.) Pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips and let it sit for about 2 minutes. Stir until the chips are melted and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the vanilla. Set over low flame to maintain the smooth consistency.
Chocolate Fondue Dippers:
The possibilities are really endless, but here are a few of our favourites:
Fruit ~ strawberries, banana, pineapple and pears (kiwi, melon and apple are good as well)
Cookies ~ left over cookies are great to use. We have used left over shortbread, sugar cookies and last night we used Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies and they tasted awesome dipped in chocolate. If we don’t have any in the house, I have bought wafer cookies, lady fingers and/or shortbread in lieu of homemade.
Cake/Brownies ~ Pound cake and brownies both work well. Those little round brownies that can be purchased in the bakery section of the grocery store in brown bags are very good. With both cookies and cake, I cut them into smaller chunks. I have sometimes bought those tiny frozen cream puffs for dipping as well.
Marshmallows ~ Jumbo marshmallows cut in half are simple to prepare and tasty to dip.
Pretzels ~ I will sometime put pretzel sticks out as well. I love that salty/sweet combo.
Well, I must say that we had an incredible evening. I was a bit disappointed when the kids said they wanted to go to youth group, but it actually worked out perfectly. We enjoyed a lengthy early dinner and then Tim dropped them off at 7 pm. While they were gone, I cleaned up dinner and prepared the dessert fondue and had some time to relax as well. When they came home, they were excited to get back to the table and pick-up our conversations right where we left off.
Life is so crazy busy and I find that sticking to a regular family sit down meal time is not always easy with Tim’s shift work and the kid’s activities. Time is so sacred and it just seems to get away from us. On an evening like this, one of our favourite things to do is sit around the table and answer questions from our “Family Dinner Box of Questions“. This like a game, but there really isn’t a winner (at least not how we play). It is simply a box of cards with questions that are conversation starters. We all love this. Some of the questions are quick and don’t provoke much talk, but others seem to dig a little deeper and are the spring-board for great conversation. Last night, I even learned something new about my husband ~ never even knew that he always wanted to learn to play guitar. Go figure! It forces you to open up discussion on topics you might not have thought of discussing, helps you to learn more about how the members of your family think and feel about certain topics and is just a great way to connect. Our issue is more one of not being able to stop once we get started. The great thing is that you can do the same questions again on a different occasion and the answers might be totally different. This makes a great gift idea as well!
My mom passed away 15 years ago on February 13th. I can’t believe how fast the time has gone. I had kept a journal for a brief period around the time my mom passed away. I came across it the other day and read the entries on the days surrounding her passing. Last night, I shared a bit with my kids. One of the things that she said several times on her very last day with us was to “Never forget that it is the small things in life that count“. As we connected through of “box of questions” and conversation last night, her words of wisdom were so evident. The most memorable experiences weren’t of glitz and glamour, but of family road trips and camp fires. The thing my son would like most is not a new toy or device, but for my husband to get a job in which he doesn’t work the night shift, so he could be home at bedtime. Sometimes, we try so hard to give our kids the world, when all they really want is quality time! My mom was a wise woman and is still missed so much!
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Happy Valentine’s Day! The kids have a bake sale at school today and last night I finished up some Red Velvet Oreo Brownies for the sale. My passion for red velvet only began a year or so ago. I had tasted it occasionally before, but it didn’t become such an obsession until I tasted Piazza De Nardi’s Red Velvet Cake ~ Oh my goodness! Since then, I have tried out recipes now and again, but a Valentine’s Day bake sale seemed like the perfect opportunity to try out a few more red velvet recipes. Earlier in the week, I made Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies. They are absolutely delicious and the recipe is a definite keeper.
Well, these Red Velvet Oreo Brownies are incredibly good as well and the three layers make them look so pretty! I found the recipe on Sally’s Baking Addiction, so all of the credit goes to her. She mentions at the end of her post, that she adapted the Red velvet layer from Sunny Anderson at the Food Network.
Red Velvet Oreo Brownies:
Ingredients:
BROWNIES
2 large eggs
1/2 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon red food colouring
3/4 teaspoon white vinegar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
COOKIES ‘N CREAM FROSTING
(I adapted this slightly as I thought it would be criminal not to include a bit of cream cheese.)
1/4 cup butter (at room temperature)
1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
1 and 3/4 cups icing sugar
2-3 Tablespoons whipping cream
6 Oreos, crushed (plus 3 extra to break on top of ganache)
2 Tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
Directions:
Set out the butter to soften.
Preheat the oven to 350. Foil line an 8×8 baking pan with extra foil extending over the sides, so that you can easily lift the cook brownies out of the pan after. Set aside or freeze and complete the last two layers closer to the day you need the brownies.
Brownies:
Beat the eggs in a small bowl. Set aside. Melt the butter in a large microwave safe bowl. Add each of the following ingredients one at a time in the suggested order, stirring between each addition: sugar, vanilla, cocoa powder, salt, food colouring, and vinegar. Whisk in the eggs, then fold in the flour until completely incorporated, but do not over mix. Pour the brownie batter into prepared baking pan. Bake the brownies for 22-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean, with a few small moist crumbs. Allow the brownies to cool at room temperature for 30 minutes, then transfer to the refrigerator to cool completely.
Oreo Frosting:
Whip the butter and cream cheese together with an electric mixer, until creamy. Add the icing sugar and 2 Tbsp cream, beating on medium until creamy. I found that 2 Tbsp of cream was enough, but if needed you can add 1 more Tbsp cream. You don’t want the frosting to be too thin, so be careful not to add to much cream ~ keep the icing thick, but spreadable. Fold in the crushed Oreos. Lift the cooled brownies out of the pan, remove the foil and spread them with the frosting. Stick them into the refrigerator as your prepare the ganache. You want the frosting to slightly chill on the brownies.
Ganache:
Break the chocolate into small pieces and place in a small bowl. Heat the heavy cream until boiling, either in the microwave or on the stove top. (I microwaved mine.) Pour boiling cream over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Cut in the butter, one small piece at a time, and stir until smooth. Spread over frosted brownies. Add the additional crushed Oreos to the top and then chill for at least 30 minutes before cutting.
Cut the brownies into squares and then cover them tightly in a sealed container. They can keep chilled in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
If you double this recipe, use a 9×13 baking pan and bake for 35-45 minutes at 350.
These turned out really good. I was sad to package them up to send to the bake sale. I am sure the original frosting recipe would be very good as well, but I love the cream cheese flavour with red velvet. These are a must try!
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I put avocado and apple in my lunch almost everyday. I make my salad in the morning before work and the avocado only seems to get brown if it was already over ripe when I put it in the salad. Otherwise, both the apple and avocado maintain their colour and still appear fresh and appetizing at lunch time. This always stumped me because when I store the other half of the avocado in my fridge the surface always browns. I do understand that avocados “oxidize” when they are exposed to air, much the same as an apple or a potato. However, what I failed to comprehend was why both seemed to maintain their colour in my salad, but not when stored in the fridge. I honestly don’t remember where I read this, but I think it was embedded in a recipe that called for avocado ~ sorry, but I couldn’t find the source. Anyways, the poster suggested adding a bit of red onion to your salad to prevent browning. Well, clearly I didn’t have to test this theory because I eat the same salad almost everyday ~ mixed greens, apple, avocado, raw pumpkin seeds and you guessed it….red onion! I finally had my answer. The onion prevents both the apple and avocado from oxidizing in my salad! So, this got me to thinking….”I wonder if it would it work if I stored a little piece of red onion in the plastic wrap with my avocado?” Sure enough, after 12 hours in the fridge, it looks no different from when I placed in there that morning. (Had I been thinking, I would have removed the plastic wrap so that you would have a better view, but I didn’t so this is the best shot I have to share.)
When looking for the source of the above tip, I did come across what seems to be another great idea. On “thekitchn“, Faith suggests pouring a layer of water over guacamole to keep it from browning. Pour off the water and give it a stir when ready to eat. She also suggests not using plastic wrap as it is too porous and still allows air to penetrate the food. She also shares a few of their favourite guacamole recipe, so follow the link if you want to check out her post. Thanks for the great advise Faith!
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As soon as I saw these posted on Gonna Want Seconds, I knew I was going to want to give these cookies a try. I have always loved the simple look of crinkle cookies sprinkled with icing sugar and the contrast between the dark cookie and white sugar makes them look so pretty without much effort. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try a new recipe or two.
I have never made these before, so I stuck to the recipe and was thrilled with the outcome. I wouldn’t change a thing, but did make my cookie balls smaller than suggested and thus my yield was higher. Thanks to Kathleen, we now how a red velvet recipe to add to our cache of favourite cookie recipes.
Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies
This recipe makes 2 to 4 dozen. Kathleen suggests using a 1 1/ Tablespoon cookie scoop and I don’t have one. I am not sure how big of a ball that makes, but with her suggested ball size the yield is 2 dozen cookies. I made my balls about 1″ in size and ended up with 55 cookies. Now, generally speaking I am not very good at determining the yield of a recipe because it is hard to account for the multiple cookies I ate while still in “dough” form. I generally eat very few cookies once their cooked, I am really more interested in the dough. Having said that, I know that this recipe would have made exactly 56 cookies had I not eaten one single solitary raw cookie ball. In fact, I was a little leery as too how these babies were going to turn out as I did not like the dough at all. However, I carried on and cooked them up and to my surprise they were delicious. I have not done much “red velvet” baking and so I don’t really have much experience with how the batter/dough should taste, but less this be a lesson to us all ~ “You can’t always judge a cookie by its dough!”
2 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (I omitted this because I used salted butter)
1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
2 ounces cream cheese (1/4 cup)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons red food colouring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup powdered sugar (icing sugar)
Instructions:
1. Place flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Use a whisk to combine the dry ingredients and then set this mixture aside.
2. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. Add the sugar and mix for an additional 1 to 2 minutes. Add the eggs, red food colouring and vanilla. Mix well. Finally, slowly add the dry ingredients and mix to combine using a spatula. Refrigerate the mixed cookie dough for 4 hours in plastic wrap or a sealed container.
3.Heat oven to 350°F. Roll the chilled dough into 1″ balls and then roll each ball in powdered sugar until it’s completely covered. Bake on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet for about 9 to 10 minutes. Carefully pull the parchment paper from baking sheet and transfer the paper and cookies onto wire cooling racks. Allow the cookies to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
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I was in charge of snack for Girl Guides on Monday night. I was going to send fruit skewers and Girl Guide cookies that we had left over from our fall sales. We only have two boxes left, but thought it would be nice to finally get them out of the house.
After work, I headed to the store to pick-up fresh fruit, but quickly realized that I was not feeling “up to” preparing the skewers. Like most Manitobans, I am suffering from a debilitating case of “I HATE WINTER” and did not feel like cutting fruit and preparing skewers for 14. Instead, I opted for something much simpler ~ 2 boxes of yogurt tubes. I made by purchases and continued my drive home. Enroute, I was feeling a bit guilty about my lame snack and had a brain wave. I thought of a super simple way to kick the Girl Guide cookies up a notch and make them a little more Valentine…ish. Now, this is not about flavour because the cookies are already very good for boxed cookies, it was more about not feeling like a complete loser by bringing yogurt tubes and leftover Girl Guide cookies for snack.
Girl Guide Cookie Upcycle:
I happened to have everything on hand and didn’t have to make any icing, so these literally took 10 minutes to whip up.
Ingredients:
one box of Girl Guide cookies (mint flavoured)
butter icing (I am guessing a generous 1/2 cup)
chocolate (I had a few red wafers on hand for Valentine’s Day and I think I melted 5 of them in the microwave.)
sprinkles
Method:
Break 3 cookies into small crumb-like pieces (I used my food chopper).
Ice the remaining cookies (I actually had left over icing in my fridge, so this was quick – otherwise, just make a very small batch of butter icing)
Sprinkle the broken cookie crumbs on top of the iced cookies.
Drizzle melted chocolate on top.
Add sprinkles.
I had left over candy corn and added one to each cookie as well.
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You might remember my October post on making Yummy Halloween Candy Corn Cookie Bark. This is a super easy holiday treat and now with the candy industry making candy corn in various colours specific to the holiday season, you can change-up the candy corn to fit with any theme. I can’t promise all of these colours will be available in your local area, but Bulk Barn usually carries a bit of a selection for specific holidays.
It seems like we have a busy week ahead of us. I am in charge of the snack at Eden’s Girl Guides on Monday, a school bake sale on Friday and a possible class party that we will need to send goodies for. I am not 100% sure how many things I will need for all of the events this week, but I decided to spend a few hours baking on Sunday afternoon, so that I would be somewhat prepared.
CANDY CORN OREO COOKIE BARK
Here is a standard recipe, just change up the candy corn colour to make it fit with the colours of the season! Please visit Leigh Anne’s site for her detailed tutorial. Great job Leigh Anne!
INGREDIENTS:
14 whole Oreos, broken up
1 1/2 C pretzels, broken into pieces. I used the small stick pretzels
1 lb. white chocolate melting discs (I used about 1 1/2 pounds for mine and really find that the extra chocolate is needed.)
1 C candy corn (colour of your choice)
sprinkles, edible sequins or coloured sugar in the colours of your choice (Bulk Barn has a great selection.)
coloured chocolate wafers (sometimes I will melt a few coordinating coloured wafers to drizzle over the top as well)
INSTRUCTIONS:
Cover a large cookie sheet with wax paper
Mix the broken cookies, pretzels and about 3/4 C of the candy corn in a bowl
Spread the candy mixture onto the waxed paper
Place white chocolate in a container and microwave for 1 1/2 minutes
Stir and then microwave for another 30 seconds until melted and smooth
White chocolate melts faster and burns easier than chocolate
Drizzle the melted chocolate over the cookie mixture, spreading with spatula to coat evenly
Sprinkle remaining candy corn and coloured sprinkles over the chocolate quickly before it sets
Place the cookie tray in the refrigerator until set and firm
Remove and gently break bark into small pieces
Store in air tight container or place in cellophane bags if you wish to share!
Once the chocolate has set, break the slab into smaller pieces for serving.
Yummy Homemade Candy Corn Oreo Cookie Bark
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If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, then you already know how I love those quirky little word plays that offer double meanings. Well, this cute Valentine’s idea is no exception. Eden and Shay are in the same classroom this year as they are enrolled in an alternative program/multi-aged classroom. This will be Eden’s last year in the 4/5/6 Alternative Program and for the second time in their elementary schooling, both kids are in the same classroom. We are so fortunate to get to experience this for the second time as they were also together when Shay was in grade one and Eden grade three. The kids get along very well (especially at school) and it is so nice to have one set of notes, field trips and even curriculum.
I am not even sure if their class is having a Valentine’s party, but regardless, I have prepared treat bags for their classmates ~ one class, one set….Yay!!! I really loved the idea of putting together a little s’more treat bag and found lots of cute ideas on-line for “catch phrases”. In the end, I found one that said “I love you forever and then s’more.” I liked this, but thought the “I love you” part was inappropriate at my kids’ ages, so I made up my own version of the slogan.
Homemade S’more Valentines Cards:
I made the little “s’more” tags and microwave directions on the computer. I was able to fit 12 “s’more” tags on one 8 1/2″ X 11″ sheet of paper, so I just made two copies of the document. I copied the tags on to a very dark pinkish/coral polka dot paper. I fit all 24 tags with the microwave directions onto one page. I then used my paper trimmer to cut all of the tags out. Once cut-out, I tore the edges of the polka dot paper to reveal the white edge below the surface of the paper. I like the contrast of the white edge against the black card stock background. Finally, I used my Cricut to cut-out a plain white heart for each tag. I then ran the hearts through my crimper to jazz them up just a bit. I mounted both of the tags on a piece of black card stock (with the bottoms sitting along the edges and the tops of the tags sitting towards the middle where the eventual fold would end up. I ran a marker around the edge of the microwave instruction tags in a line/dot pattern. This simple addition just helped to finish off the look.
Homemade S’more Valentine Treat Bags:
small zipper seal bags (dollar store)
4 graham crackers
2 individually packaged chocolates
2 marshmallows
Finally, I folded the black card stock in half and slipped it over top of the zipper seal. I then stapled the tags to the top of each bag.
*Normally, I would have made the cards so that the kids could at least sign them, but I had originally planned to print the tags using white ink on black paper and wasn’t sure I could trust my white pen for them to write their names on all of the tags. In the end, my printer wasn’t working properly, so I ended up using the polka dot paper and black ink.
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