I usually try and put lots of pink and red foods in my girl’s lunches on Valentine’s day. Some ideas I’ve used in the past include: pink yogurt, strawberries or red peppers (with pink ‘ranch’ dip), red juice or strawberry milk, pink marshmallows, and apples!  But as you can see from the ideas below, apparently there are a lot more creative people out there than me! I hope the ideas below inspire you to add a few smiles to meal time on Valentine’s Day!

I actually tried this one last month with a star shape. So simple…cut out bread with cookie cutter and add sprinkles to the peanut butter!

Fun little stickers for fruit, for sale at etsy.

Speaking of apples (you could also do this with watermelon)…

How about some heart-shaped hard-boiled eggs? A bit of work, but creative…

Or for your sweet tooth…look at this oh so creative way to make heart-shaped cupcakes!

{source: Muses of Megret}

Start the day with a smile, with some heart-shaped pancakes (add some red food coloring for extra fun) or how about these cute heart-shaped cinnamon rolls…

{source: Poppies At Play}

And have some hot cocoa with your breakfast. To make your cool-whip heart-shaped, freeze it so it’s flat, then cut it out with a cookie cutter.

Strawberry milk (or can just use red food coloring in white milk) frozen in heart-shaped ice-cube trays.

{source: Kidzui}

A twist on the popular cake-pops right now, pie-pops. Step by step directions for both apple granola and raspberry chocolate pies at Our Best Bites.

And finally, here’s a cute idea for dinner. Hot dogs and cheese…

{source: Family Fun}

A lot of the ideas above require a simple heart cookie cutter, which this time of year you can pick up almost anywhere.  I’ve also discovered I really like the mini cookie cutters. Pampered chef has a cute set (which you could also use for some of these same ideas for other holidays). I also saw a similar set walking through our local Hobby Lobby last week.

So, will any of these ideas make it to your table this Valentine’s Day?

Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays, probably because it’s also my birthday too! Over the years, I’ve always made my husband a Valentine’s Day card – I just think there is something sweet about that! Here some fun gift ideas for your sweetie this year!

I think this is just the cutest necklace ever! I’d really LOVE one of these. Both your thumbprints made into a heart pendant. (awww!) I found it on etsy.

I really think I’m going to make these for my husband this year. I think we can have a lot of fun with the secret messages in them.  There’s even a free template  at Design.Wash.Rinse.Repeat blog! I’m going to try and find a Chinese take-out box to put them in!

I simply adore these cookies I found on pinterest. I will most likely be making them at some point in my future. ..

This will take a bit of time, but I think it will be a treasured gift for years to come. Found on the blog Papervine.

Check out this gift that is also an investment into your marriage…12 months of pre-planned dates! Found it at Find Joy in the Journey blog.

This one you can actually purchase on Etsy. I’d love to hang this in our bedroom. Such a cute idea for your ‘love song’! I would just have trouble choosing which song to use, but it’s a toss up between these three!

Look at this cute, simple personalized print from etsy…the tiny words at the bottom say…the dates our lives were forever changed.

What is the most amazing Valentine’s Day gift you’ve ever given or received?

Written by Contributing Writer, Sarah Farthing.

This salad is a quick, delicious side dish that works as well for family pizza night as it does for lunch with girlfriends or alongside a perfectly seared steak for two.  Keep in mind for Valentine’s Day if you’re planning a meal!

Spinach and Strawberry Salad

Ingredients

2 bunches spinach, rinsed

4 cups sliced strawberries

½ cup vegetable oil

¼ cup white wine vinegar

½ cup white sugar

¼ teaspoon paprika

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

*I love to add pecans or almonds to this recipe and mandarin oranges are a fun addition as well.  Red onion, feta cheese… make any little changes your heart desires!

Directions

1. In a large bowl, toss together the spinach and strawberries.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, sugar, paprika, sesame seeds, and poppy seeds.  Pour over the spinach and strawberries and toss to coat.

The Pioneer Woman

Ree Drummond, known as The Pioneer Woman, writes a riotously funny blog about her life that features her magnificent photography.  She’s also on The Food Network and has authored two cookbooks, a children’s picture book and a touching novel detailing how she fell madly in love, changed course from her planned move from Los Angeles to Chicago and settled down on a ranch in Oklahoma instead.  She is a loving mother to four children and a proud wife to Marlboro Man, her rancher husband.

The Pioneer Woman has been an internet sensation for quite some time, but I just learned of her recently when a friend shared a link to this story: All I Wanted Was a Doughnut.  I was sitting at my computer reading it one night and I had to slap my hand over my mouth so my laughter didn’t wake up my husband. I had to read more by this woman!

I have been perusing the archives of her website, www.thepioneerwoman.com, and I love everything about it. The photography, the entertaining stories, the fabulous recipes…

Oh my goodness, the recipes. If you need some inspiration in the kitchen, her cookbooks are the way to go.  She offers step by step instructions with so many pictures to guide you through the process of making one of her recipes; nothing motivates me to try new recipes like enticing pictures and clear, detailed instructions.

I got my hands on a copy of her novel The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels– A Love Story and I read it in a day and a half.  Ree’s writing is so entertaining and compelling, I could not put it down!

Please take a few of these links and see what Ree Drummond is all about, I promise you it will be a bright spot in your day and leave you hungry for more.  Quite literally, it will leave you hungry. Maybe grab a snack and then take the links…

I was looking for a little inspiration for Saturday lunch a few weeks ago.  It was unseasonably warm and I was in the mood for something light and fun and new.  These apple sandwiches I found were just right and were a hit with all of us!

Cored, sliced apples topped with a mixture of granola, peanut butter and chocolate chips! The next day we were all craving it again (chocolate does that to you) and we actually ended up just dipping apples into the mixture for a snack.  FYI, I didn’t use a lot of chocolate chips and we still enjoyed the full flavor influence of them. Tasty!

I’m a simple girl with simple tastes and here’s what’s working for me right now:

1) Favorite Cup: Twist cap plastic tumblers with a straw to enjoy my daily Diet Coke (found them for $4 at Home Goods/TJ Maxx).  Love that they go from home to car to hockey/tennis/swimming/soccer/lacrosse practice and back.  Really too bad they don’t refill themselves.

2) Favorite Snack: Marcona Almonds from Spain (think between a macadamia and a cashew= devine; I find mine at Costco) and chocolate chips.  I recommend a ratio of 2 chips per almond, in case you were wondering.

3) Favorite Healthy Lunch: My youngest adorable asked me to roll his Red Pepper strip in ham, and you know what?? He was onto something!  Add sliced avocado for an even bigger treat.

4) Favorite unHealthy Lunch: Chunky Peanut Butter and whipped honey (from Trader Joe’s) sandwich; Nachos.  It’s a tie.

Why, oh why, can’t this be healthy??  I prefer shredded cheese to this sauce though.  I mean, as long as we’re talking about it.

5) Favorite Workout: a girlie movie, a mat, 5-lb weights, a medicine ball and a bosu ball.  I put on movies the Running Man will have no part of, and spend an hour making myself sweat.  You know what?  I look forward to it every morning.  We’ll see how long it lasts…. But it’s working for now.

(Let’s just pretend for a minute that this girl is me.  Pretty please, will you do that for me?)

So what are your favorites?  Please do me a favor and copy and paste the following into the comments and add yours!  I need some new ideas!

1) Favorite Kitchen thing:

2) Favorite Snack:

3) Favorite Healthy Lunch:

4) Favorite unHealthy Lunch:

5) Favorite Workout:

You rock! Have a great day!

This recipe, by Rich Davis, founder of KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce, has become a staple side dish our family brings to pot lucks.   People rave about these beans and someone always requests the recipe.

Barbecued Baked Beans

Ingredients

2 (16-ounce) cans pork-and-beans, drained

3/4 cup KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, seeded, and chopped

1 ounce golden raisins

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 strips uncooked bacon, cut in half (you can substitute 3 tbs butter)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients except bacon in a 2-quart baking dish. Top with bacon (or dots of butter) and bake uncovered for 1 hour.

Serves 6-8

* I usually substitute our favorite barbecue sauce of the season and I always make these ahead.  They tend to exit the oven slightly soupy but they set up so nicely if they have a half hour to cool.  Also, don’t let the apples and raisins scare you off- together with the onions they create an unforgettable taste experience. Trust me!

**Rich Davis earned a medical degree from the University of Kansas, specializing in child psychiatry, and served as Dean of the North Dakota School of Medicine before moving to Kansas City in 1977 and developing KC Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce. I had no idea!

(The image is from this site. I could not find a great picture of this exact recipe, as hard as I tried!)

Day 1: We started at the White House first thing in the morning…

Then we headed over to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History:

This is a hit for the adorables – dinosaurs, animals, rocks, Oh MY!

Afterwards we took a tour of the Mall.  Youngest adorable was so excited ALL DAY to say hello President Lincoln (he and Abe have a close Wii relationship)…

…but he zonked out right as we were walking up.  Sorry kid.

Day 2: the Smithsonian Museum of American History – my personal favorite

Filled with pop culture, our presidents (“a glorious burden”), our nation at war, etc, etc, etc.  This museum alone could take days.

I usually limit the gift shop purchases to books, but my younger adorable had me at hello with this Civil War hat.

Luckily, he wore it the rest of the trip.  You can see the Running Man there with perhaps his favorite thing in the whole world: a map.  Oldest adorable with his gift shop winnings: a President Sticker book.

Day 3: we handed the trip-planning over to the 4 and 6-year-olds in our group.

Choice #1 the Udvar-Hazy Center (which is reserved for the really big planes and space shuttles the Smithsonian can’t fit into the Air and Space Museum on the mall.  A MUST-SEE if you have boys and visit the area.(!)

Choice #2: Gettysburg battlefields and museum, located 80 miles to the north (we know this because Running Man biked this with disabled veterans 2 years ago), and kinda on our way home.

Choice #3: the Balitmore Aquarium, also kinda on the way home and outstanding as aquariums go.

They chose #3, which shocked and stunned us – did you hear the description of the Udvar-Hazy??

Everyone else in the world had also decided on the Aquarium, so it was a very busy place!

Anyhoo…

If you have older adorables, don’t miss this Spy Museum, we’re saving it until ours are a wee bit older, but I *can’t wait*!

And Mount Vernon in Alexandria, VA in warmer weather is just incredible.  Love downtown Alexandria’s great shops and restaurants too.  You can actually stay in Alexandria and utilize public transportation into D.C., which will save tons of money.  Several years ago we stayed at a Best Western that was perfectly fine (free breakfast too), but the reason I remember it was the huge *free* snack room where we loaded up for our day.  It was Heidi Heaven!

Westin Hotel Deal

The Running Man found a very reasonable rate for the Westin, downtown D.C., but I needed to call to secure it.  Whilst I’m chatting up the lady, she mentions this special “Year of Your Birth” discount code.  We paid $179 the first night (which is much more than we usually do), but the 2nd and 3rd nights were $71, since The Running Man was born in 1971.  So our total averaged out to $104 per night, downtown Washington D.C.  Except for that lousy $40/day to park our car, I thought this was pretty reasonable.  It’s a national deal, so check it out if you are planning any upcoming trips!

What are your favorites in D.C.?  Have you taken your adorables there?

Oh, it’s that wonderful time of the year…Girl Scout cookies are going on sale!

At the GS Cookie Training I attended a few weeks ago, I discovered that even though Girl Scout Cookies are only sold for three months of the year,  that five of the eight GS cookies are in the top 10 of all cookies sold nationwide?!?! WOW! Here are the top Four: 1. Oreos;  2. GS Thin Mints; 3. Oreo Double Stuffs;  4. GS Caramel Delights (aka Samoas). That’s a whole lot of cookies these girls sell!

I thought I’d share a couple of our family’s favorite recipes to make with GS cookies, in case you might want to pick up an extra box or two from your local girl scout! I mean, who can resist those smiling faces! Note: Girl Scouts uses different bakeries in different parts of the country, so the variety of cookies does vary from region to region.

S’mores – Roast a marshmallow and put it between two Thanks-A-Lot cookies. Instant s’more! Note: you can also make in microwave, but frosting does melt quickly!

L’mores – Roast a marshmallow and put it between two Lemonade Cookies. (These are a personal favorite of mine!)

Shout-Outs Apple Dip – Mix Together: 1 crushed package of Shout Outs (note: 2 packages in each box), ¾ cup sugar, 1 pkg cream cheese, and 1 cup of chopped pecans – then serve with apple slices. Yummm!!

ABC Smart Cookie Bakery (who makes the cookies in our region) also has this website which has many more recipes to make with Girl Scout Cookies!

I think this is a cute 30 second video! Every Cookie has a mission…

Which Girl Scout cookie is your favorite?

I recently swore off Old Navy jeans for my boys after we had no less than four pairs develop full on knee holes after less than a month of wear.  It seems like the bigger the size, the thinner the fabric gets.

I was so frustrated that I went back to basics and turned to good-old fashioned Levi’s.  We love them and my goodness they must have 10 times the fabric of those Old Navy jeans, they are so sturdy.

It was not until after we were all stocked up on Levi’s from Kohls that someone told me about the Sears Kidvantage Club, where they will replace *for free* any kids clothes that wear out before your child outgrows them!  We are absolutely getting on board with this!

Here are the details from their website:

Every time you purchase clothes or shoes for infants through tweens, we’ll add the total amount to your KidVantage Club account. You’ll get a coupon good for 15% off your next kids’ clothing or shoe purchase each time your account reaches $100. Plus, you’ll get special offers and news by email throughout the year.

It’s easy to earn 15% savings

• Shop for kids’ clothes & shoes at Sears. Every kids’ clothing & shoe purchase is added to your account instantly and printed on your receipt.
• We track your balance automatically, so you don’t have to.
• Keep receipts that have 15% off coupons. Every time your account reaches $100, your receipt will include a coupon for 15% savings on your next kids’ clothing or shoe purchase.

There’s no limit to the savings you can earn with KidVantage Club!

WEAR-OUT GUARANTEE
You want the kids’ clothes and shoes you buy to last—especially in today’s economy. That’s why KidVantage Club members get this great guarantee: if the kids’ clothes or shoes you buy at Sears wear out before they’re outgrown, we’ll replace them for free. You’ll get an identical item, whenever possible, or a similar item of equal value in the same size. Please note that you must present your receipt to replace worn-out national brand clothing and shoes.

Sign me up!