More Valentines and Breakfast.

We finally finished this year's Valentines.
Shine wanted to take some to her class too.
So we tried to do something a little more sophisticated than the normal paper SpongeBob Valentines, considering her age.
So here's what we did...
Here are all of our supplies.
Take all this...

and this cutie pie....

Put these on a cookie sheet just like this..
(don't forget some parchment paper underneath the candy)
I added it after this picture.

Put them in a 300 degree oven for about 5 minutes.
You will see them turn a little flat. Then you will know it's time to get them out.
Let them cool for only about 1 min max.
Then get 4-inch sucker sticks and put them in the bottom.
You have to smoosh the two ends together onto the stick.
I used a couple butter knives so I didn't burn my fingers.
You have to work kind of fast because they harden pretty quick.

Don't think you're seeing things, I used two different candy canes.

Here they all are in one big pile. About 30.
That makes 90 Valentines this year between all the kids.
When Coco gets a little bigger we will be about 120 per year.
What are we a factory or something?
Stay focused!!!(self talk)

Here is a closeup! We placed each one in a cellophane bag and tied with ribbon.
She did not want a cute tag. Ouch! That hurt but ok, I had to choose my battles. At least she was still taking Valentine's at 15, right?

Well, that's the last of the Valentines for this year.

On to breakfast.
I decided since the kids all had school on Valentines Day,
I would make their special breakfast on Sunday instead.
Take a peek into our morning...
This is the table all set up. I didn't buy a thing.
Everything was in my house. I like those types of projects.

Well, here's the menu breakdown.
These are heart shaped egg scrambles with cheese.
Cresent rolls cut into heart shapes, with a little scrambled eggs and cheese stuffed inside, then cooked according to the package.

Chocolate Chip heart shaped pancakes. Completely from a mix.
No molds here, just took a medium sized spoon and formed half the heart and then scooped up some more batter and formed the other side.
After making a couple you will have it down to a science.
Trust me on this one folks!

These are cinnamon sugar hearts.
This is just the left over dough from the cresent rolls, cut out in a smaller heart shape, then rolled in cinnamon sugar. These were a big hit!

This is Strawberry Syrup. Which my family loves better than maple.
It's just some berries, strawberry jam and some strawberry ice cream syrup.
They all LOVED it! A little more naughty than my homemade strawberry syrup but it's a special sundae!!! :))

Then the real kicker for them all was Berry smoothies, or
Brooklin called them "LOVE POTION".

So don't throw me out the window b/c they were not organic.
Next time for sure!! Well, maybe.
Some berries, milk, strawberry syrup and strawberry ice cream.
Did you hear that static in the air?
I hope you didn't miss any ingredients!! :))))
Mix in a blender til smooth.
Top with a dollop of Cool Whip or whipped cream and some
Valentine sprinkles.
Wow! Did you hear that static again?
What is that? ;)))
Everyone got a big glass, glass. Even Brooklin.
She was very excited to have a big girl glass.
She said it was just like at Ashley's Bridal Luncheon.
This was the table setting.
Guess what the placemats are?
A pink piece of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock. Told you it was all in my stash.

This was my hubby's place setting.
He doesn't eat chocolate chip pancakes, so I gave him his fav, blueberry pancakes.
He was most happy to have his own stash of pancakes.

This is what it looks like on the plate.
You can do a lot with a few heart shaped cookie cutters.

Yes, that is peanut butter on the pancake. We have eaten it like that since we were children. It's best with hot maple syrup over the top. Try it, you won't be sorry.
Trust me, I didn't get these hips at the mall.

On each place setting I put a little red heart with each person's name on it. On the other side, I wrote something special to them, just from mom.
Then as we sat at the table, they each read them aloud.
Sometimes it's hard to say those things about ourselves,
but it's good every now and then.
Then, each person said one thing they loved about each person at the table.
It was so fun to hear some of the things each of my family members shared.
They were so cute.
I think they all said they loved that mom was so creative and cooked good for them.
It was great for us all to share a little love for each other.

I must say one last thing. My kids and hubby were so appreciative of this special "Love" breakfast.
Kameron kept saying "Wow! Mom this is the best breakfast ever!!", he also said, "Mom, if the Next Food Network Star show was here they would see the breakfast and make you the "Next Food Network Star!" More than once,
Brooklin said "Mom, you are the bestest chef mommy ever!! I'm going to Valentine you on Valentines Day!"
Shine said, "Mom, you did a really good job on breakfast."
On and on they went!!
It really didn't take too much longer than a normal breakfast.
And the extra time it did take, was FAR worth it to see how happy this little fun food made my family. They were very impressed!!
We can spend so much time on trying to impress everyone else in the world and the most important ones are sitting right in front of us everyday. Those are the ones that really matter most because they will remember it the longest!!

This post was much longer than I anticipated. Sorry about that.
I hope you found something on here that you can use for the ones you love.
Don't let today go by without telling and more important showing the ones you love just exactly how much you love them.
A little love goes a LONG way!!

Happy Valentines Day!!
Til next Time with T!!

Cooking Class!!!

Ok, so I never finished posting the last cooking class and we're on to the next one. So I will try to make sure I post them once a week so you can see what we are doing...then during our break I will go back to the International class to catch up...

This is a "Holiday Cooking Class"...so we're making desserts, candy, side dishes and entrees. I am very excited about this one too.

This last week we focused on desserts, i.e., pies, cakes, crepes, most of them with apples as the main ingredient.

Here's a peek into our class, some friends have joined in this one, so you may recognize a few....

Shine waiting for the teacher instructions before we get cooking....

Yea, we have some friends in our class...
Yeah!!! More friends...
Aaahhh!! The ingredients for the night...I love all that color...gorgeous!!!! Yummy Apples!!!
Now we're cooking....our dish our group was preparing was an "Old Fashioned Apple Pie". I have attempted apple pie many times in the past...but not one Hugo has "really" liked..so I am on a mission to make one the he loves...

Shine is rolling out the leftover dough to cut out the leaves for the top of the crust....They are so beautiful on top of the pie...

Mema putting the glaze on top of our masterpiece...
Here it is Babe!!...I hope you like it...It looks pretty, I hope it tastes good....Well, we should probably cook it first... Here's a close-up before it was cooked....

Our friends made an "Cranberry Apple Upside Down Cake"...it was yummy...good job girls...
Our other group of friends made an "Apple Tar Tartane"...well, it was very good too...Carmelized apples in a dough...yummo!!!The finished product...

Even better with a scoop of dairy....
Well, my husband loved it...However, I have just a couple more crust recipies that I want to try...I want to see him jump in the air for joy...so if he does that I will be sure to grab a camera and post that...it will be the entry of the year...cause he doesn't jump for much out of emotion...only for God and that is spiritual not emotional....So I will keep ya'all posted...

Til next Time with T!!!!

Cooking Class!!!

Mom, me and Shine decided to go to a cooking class. We are having so much fun. I have been a few times before and mom has been once before, however, this time Shine went and the 3 of us are a team, well, with one additional teammate.

We are having a ton of fun!!! The class we are taking is International Cooking, so we are cooking from different countries. In addition, each week we go on a field trip. We meet at a specialized store for the country we are focusing on that week. The store has specific ingredients for the country and/or recipies we are making. It's amazing to me, I didn't know these stores even existed, well at least not so far. We'll see...I love it so much because it is getting me out of my cooking box.

Our first week was Italian cooking. So we went to Sam's Deli. Everything you could imagine that's Italian. I didn't realize there are so many shapes of pasta, well at least not locally.

Here are some pictures of our field trip and class (mom had to work late so it was just me and Shine on this one, but mom comes to class after)....

I love Shine in this Apron...It's the flag of Italy. She wanted to buy an apron for each week based on the country we were focused on...ok so that didn't happen...but she does look cute in it...

If you know my mom you have seen this before...

This is the dish me and my kitchen partner made..."Lasanga Pie"...It was very good. Mostly veggies, no meat...This was before it cooked...

This was our dish...presentation complete...yummo!!

Mom and Shine teamed up to make "Cannoli"...They are dipping the ends in chocolate...mom's idea....I think mom could teach this class...

Shine filling the "Cannoli" with cream...she looks like a natural to me... This warms my heart to see my daughter working with my mom. I love it...definitely valued memories.
This is there finished product...they were good, however, mom and I decided that we would add more sugar to the cream...

Hey, we didn't get this body from the gym...haha!!

Well, that's our first class...Italian cooking!!! I love Italian food. Next week is Mediterrean. I'll share more pictures and possibly some tested recipies...keep checking back..

Til next Time with T!!!!