"If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under." - Ronald Reagan

Monday, February 16, 2009

I Pink-Puffy-Heart Food!

Valentine's Day! Some people hate it but I think it's fun. I didn't always feel that way. In fact, it wasn't until I was dating the Man that I had someone special on Valentine's Day. And that first one was not what I expected (I cried). The next one - our first as a married couple - was equally as disappointing (I cried, this time locked in the guest bedroom, not speaking to him). But he's gotten better! MUCH BETTER! And I've loosened up, too. We've started celebrating it as a day to spend with the people you love instead of purchasing over-priced flowers or an expensive dinner (but I still demand a box of nice chocolates).

Three years ago, I started the tradition of a heart-shaped dinner with the family. That year, we had a heart meatloaf and heart carrots (which actually didn't look at all like hearts, more like an orange PacMan). Last two years (here and here), we've had heart pizzas.

In my efforts to improve on the year before, I decided to tap into my Type-A personality and do everything in hearts.
Or pink.
Or with pink hearts.
And we started with breakfast: pink chocolate chip pancakes. I didn't take pictures because I was too hungry.

Here's lunch:



That's a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich made into hearts with a sandwich cutter I got at Wal-Mart (we also have a dinosaur one). It about blew their minds that the milk was pink. Boo kept asking me how I did it. I told her I was magic. Somehow, she didn't believe me.

Since we were once again having pizza for dinner, I made it more Valentine-y.



I folded the pepperoni in half then used my kitchen shears to trim out the hearts. It actually went pretty fast (and the pepperoni under the cheese is the normal round stuff but don't tell anyone). And that's not grease glistening on there...it's love.



Drinks were the same as last year (Sprite) but this time I made the heart ice cubes with pomegranate juice. It was rather tasty but not as pretty a color.


The pears had to be improved, too. I soaked them all day in pear juice with food coloring. This picture is actually rather deceiving; they were more pink than it shows. Next year I may try to get them soaking overnight for better color. And the Boy would have mutinied if I didn't have jell-o. These were made using the "Cool Layers" recipe from the side of the box (basically you mix in Cool Whip and it separates out as it sets) with raspberry jell-o.



For dessert, I used a silicone pan I got on clearance last year. I used my favorite brownie recipe but the details didn't quite come out so it's hard to see. It's mini loaves made to look like Hershey's bars. There was strawberry ice cream with chocolate sauce and piped chocolate hearts. The dessert plates were a clearance item from last year, too, for a quarter each.

While the dinner was tasty, it was also really fun to put together. I don't think I could have gotten everything done if it hadn't been a Saturday when the Man was home. It helps to have an extra set of hands to put kids in time out.

22 comments:

Kristina P. said...

Holy crap! I need to come to your place for dinner. We spent way too much money on VD for dinner this year. And I don't even really care about celebrating it. We wouldn't have it had fallen on anyday other than a Saturday.

And you can totally bring your baby. I will warn you. I am doing a post about this this week, but I don't really do well with babies who can't hold their heads up. They terrify me!

Erin said...

What a fun day for your entire family!

Amanda said...

I love it! What neat ways to make the day more festive! Why don't I ever think of things like that?

Amanda said...

YOu have way too much time on your hands:o

I think it looks great though...but any ONE of those dishes would have been enough for me to do....you had like a 9 course meal plus breakfast and lunch?! ggeeezzzz!

The Blonde Duck said...

I "heart" all your adorable creations!

Jo said...

I pretty much hate most holidays, so I didn't do anything for Valentines. I wasn't feeling well either, so I had an excuse. Your house is much more fun to be in!

My Trendy Tykes said...

That is a great idea on the hearts for the pizza! I will have to try that one day.

Linda

Daisy said...

You are so clever! And I thought I was being so original with my pink heart pancakes, but you went all out for the whole day! I think it's so cute you spent it as a family!

Carissa(GoodnCrazy) said...

Okay. YOU COULD NOT have gotten any hearty-er! the brownie in the mini loaf pan is awesome, can I have some pleaaaaseee?

Josie said...

Oh my gosh that looks SO good!

Shauna said...

I am now following your blog! I am excited to meet you in person this Saturday at lunch! ♥ Hugs :)

Kristie said...

Wow! You went all out!! I loved those cute heart shaped pepperonis. You are so very clever. Thanks for all the great ideas for next year!!!

Jillybean said...

Everything looks delicious, you're such a fun mom!

I actually thought about making my family a pizza with heart shaped pepperonis, but I had no idea how to make them heart shaped, and I didn't feel like cooking, so we picked up Papa Murphy's, dropped the kids off at Grandma's and went out to eat.

Excuse me, I think I need to go make some brownies.

Emma said...

That sounds like so much fun. You really out did yourself! We had a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's, same as last year. The kids got a present from Mommy and Daddy thus were in heaven. Easy peasy V-day. Should I start calling you a time-outaholic?

Rupper Family said...

I heart you Jessica! You are so creative! Can I come over next Valentines Day!?

Jessica said...

Wow, that is a seriously impressive list of food! You are so creative and cute!

Country Mouse, City Mouse said...

Holy cow, that is some serious heart food!! Very impressed!

susette said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I am a follower now of yours and am looking forward to meeting you and many others at lunch on Saturday. Woohoo!

Sturgmom said...

That's quite amazing!

I'm 99.9% sure I would not have had the patience to cut a thousand pepperonis into hearts. Kudos to you for all your hard work! I'm sure you're family LOVED it (no pun intended).

Mary said...

Totally love the heart shaped pepperoni pizza glistening with love!!!

Robyn said...

You always do so cute for v day! Im calling you next year for some ideas! So cute!

Tipi said...

ahh what everyone fails to notice is our family says it all with food,do we not?

Love you = feed you
hate you = feed you(but you might be safer not eatting it.
mad = food
bored = gee what can I cook?
anxious = need crunchy food
stressed = need smooth food

yeah
so what are food issues?

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