So, we started our day, of course, dropping off my eldest to school. Once the little one and I got home, we got started on our fun!
First thing we made was jello! Since jello jigglers take so long to set in the fridge, we got those started right away then put them in the fridge. We used the jello Valentine's mold that we found at Walmart. The package makes 2 sets, but we only made 1 of the 2 boxes since there was only 1 mold. The shapes were hearts, lips, "LOVE", and roses.
Next, we made simple Valentine's cookies from Walmart. They were the break and bake kind with heart designs on them. It was something fun that my toddler could help by putting the little pieces on the baking sheet easily. While the cookies were baking, we made hot chocolate and put heart shaped strawberry marshmallows in them. We rocked it in a Buzz Lightyear cup, because who doesn't love hot chocolate in a cool Toy Story cup?
Then, we got to the fun stuff. We decided to make a giant heart shaped cookie. We bought the cookie tray from Walmart in the Valentine's section. Normally for something like this, I would use break and bake cookies since they are easy to mold (once you let them sit out of the fridge for a moment) or just tube cookie dough from the store. But, we forgot to get chocolate chip cookie dough at the store, so we decided to make it from scratch. (It's cheaper that way anyway!) So, we mixed up chocolate chip cookies. We followed Betty Crocker's recipe (I just love that cook book) and added cherry chips and took out the nuts from the recipe. Once it was all done, we put it in the pan. Now, the only challenge here was that homemade cookie dough is VERY sticky. Had we had more time in our day, I would have put it in the fridge for a bit to make it easier to put in the pan. Then we put it in the oven according to the directions on the pan's sticker.
Now, there was one challenge with this. The pan directions stated that it can handle 18 oz of cookie dough. I'm pretty sure I put more than that in there. While it was baking, it seemed to bubble over the sides. I was afraid that it was going to pour over. I learned my lesson for next time- less cookie dough! However, once we took it out and let it cool, it lowered back down to look fine. We decorated it that night after picking up my eldest from school. We used icing in the middle to make a heart then covered the icing in candy and sprinkles. Then we used red icing in a can to decorate it. You can pretty much do whatever you want. You can make it like a cookie pizza if you want. We just wanted something simple. Now, another lesson I learned here was that, because I used too much cookie dough, the cookie didn't seem cooked all the way through in the middle. It was very doughy. So, we didn't eat much of it. We usually don't eat many sweets anyway, so it wasn't a big deal.
While the cookie heart was cooling, we met some friends for a Valentine's lunch and ran a few errands. I also finally went to buy stuff to make gift bags for my boys. (I will never again wait until the last minute to get the boy's stuff. The crowds were ridiculous and the selection was slim.) It was just a small bag that said "Owl love you forever" and I put a few fun things inside. There was bubbles, sweetheart candy, Spiderman fridge magnets, Superman and Batman chocolate (one loves Superman and one loves Batman), and a stuffed animal. When we were done with our errands, it was time to pick up my eldest from school, so we headed there. I put the gift bag for my eldest in his car seat so he could see it as soon as he opened the door. He was super excited since his stuffed animal was a dog (he wants a new dog so bad since our old dog passed away, but we are waiting until daddy comes home to shop for a new puppy). Now that everyone was done with all their errands and school, it was time for home!
Before we started on dinner, we made Valentine's cards for daddy. My husband works offshore, so he missed the holiday this year, but we didn't want him to completely miss out. The boys cut their own hearts and glued them on a small cardboard card. Then, we added glue and glitter hearts and "XOXO". Then we added stickers, foam hearts with googly eyes (these were from Michael's), and personal messages and put them up to dry. The boys had a great time making a special card for their daddy.
Next thing was strawberries! (You can see these in the first pic above) We heated up chocolate candy coating and put it on fresh strawberries. I opted this year for candy coating instead of the normal chocolate coating that they sell for strawberries. It was cheaper (especially since I keep candy coating in my baking cabinet anyway) and I wanted to see how it tasted. I melted the chocolate in the microwave. You can get a fondue pot, but that is just more to clean up later. I rolled the strawberries in the chocolate once it was ready. Immediately after placing the coated strawberry on wax paper or parchment paper (I used parchment paper), I added decoration before the coating dried. This is important if you want to add sprinkles or anything that needs to stick to the chocolate. The candy coating dries VERY quickly, and once its hard nothing will stick to it except more chocolate or icing. We decorated with sprinkles, icing, chocolate, etc. If I would have wanted, we could have melted candy coating in other colors to drizzle on top to decorate as well. You can use whatever you want to decorate it and make it pretty! Then, we left them to cool/dry (whatever you want to call the process of the candy coating cooling and becoming hard enough to touch).
Later, we, of course, needed to eat. Dinner was spaghetti with garlic toast. I cook ground beef for the spaghetti and set that aside. As far as the pasta sauce, I add green and red peppers, mushrooms, and onions to Prego Heart Smart Traditional sauce. The sauce it super chunky and full of yummy veggies! We put down the garlic bread, pile on noodles, then beef, then sauce and have open faced spaghetti sandwiches! The only challenge is that its super messy, but that's part of the fun! Once we are done eating, its bath time and time to clean up all the spaghetti sauce.
After dinner, we got to eat all the yummy treats we made! Just a little of each one, though, because that's a lot of sweets! The jello went first, of course. Then, the other stuff. The cookie heart was last since we were just having a little bit.
Then, we settled on the couch for our typical Friday night of movies and snuggling in a big blanket on the couch until bed.
Whew! What a busy day! We were doing stuff from the time we woke up until we went to bed that night. Not every day is like that, mind you. But, most days it is. There is always something to do! So, now that I'm done sharing our Valentine's fun with you, I am off to clean and do my errands for today (Monday).
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