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by The Menu Mom

What better way to tell your sweetie “I Love You” than with some fresh baked cookies? Give some of these sweet treats a try this Valentine’s Day. Cupid himself would be impressed by these yummy creations. They are sure to be a hit with your Sweetheart, Children, Neighbors or anyone else special to you as well. Don’t forget to get the kids involved! I still have memories of making Valentine’s Day Cookies as a child.

Heart Shaped Cookies

Make you favorite roll-out sugar cookie recipe. Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut them. Bake, frost and decorate to your heart’s content. You can sprinkle them with red or pink crystallized sugar before you bake them, or frost and sprinkle with some tiny candied hearts or pink sprinkles after they are baked. Use icing in a tube to write a message or draw a picture on the cookie.

Cookie Lollipop

Heart Shaped cookie lollipops are always a big hit. Start with basic sugar cookie dough. Roll it out to about 1/8th inch thickness (place the dough between two sheets of wax paper to keep the dough from sticking). Use a heart shaped cookie cutter and cut an equal amount of hearts. Place half a bamboo skewer, a lollipop stick (found at craft stores) or a Popsicle stick on the bottom half of the hearts. Place the remaining hearts on top and press them firmly together. Bake according to your recipe instructions and decorate as desired.

Tip – soak the skewers or Popsicle sticks in water before placing them on the cookies to keep them from getting burnt.

Valentine’s Rice Krispies Treats

Make Rice Krispies Treats and while the mixture is still warm use a large heart shaped cookie cutter to cut them out. If you can’t find a cookie cutter of the right size, draw a heart on cardboard and use it as a template. Just lay it on the sheet of Rice Krispies Treats and trace around it with a knife. For even more Valentine fun add a few drops of red food coloring to the marshmallow mixture for a pink version of the sticky treat.

Cookie Dough Jar

Place the dry ingredients of your favorite cookie recipe in a pretty jar. Write the recipe for the cookie on a heart shaped piece of paper or a valentine’s note card. Tie it with a pretty bow around the jar. Make the glass jar even more special by drawing little red hearts on it with a permanent marker. These are so cute and easy!

Bouquet of Cookies

Bake up some of your favorite cookies. Get a pretty basket and line it with a red or pink cloth napkin. Arrange the homemade cookies in the basket. If you’d like, you can also add some heart shaped cookie cutters, Valentine’s Day themed sprinkles, or some hot chocolate mix. Another option would be to use a piece of floral foam and arrange some decorated Cookie Lollipops within the basket and fill the bottom with Hershey’s Kisses or other Valentine Candy.

All of these cookie ideas for Valentine’s Day make wonderful gifts for a special someone that has a personal touch. They are sure to be appreciated, after all, who doesn’t like cookies?

Christine Steendahl Is The Founder Of Dine Without Whine – The Number One Online Source For Affordable And Family Friendly Weekly Meal Planning. Eliminate Your Dinner Hour Stress And Re-Discover The Pleasure Of The Dinner Hour! CLICK HERE for a Free Sample Menu And Grocery List.

Article Source: The WAHM Shack Article Directory

by The Menu Mom

Are you as tired as I am of those little white heart-shaped candies with messages like “I like You” printed on them? Be a little creative this year and come up with some new Valentine’s Day treats to take to school and work. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Valentine’s Day Cookies
Make a batch of Sugar cookies or pick up some refrigerated dough at the grocery store. Cut them out with a heart-shaped cookie cutter and bake. Frost with a glaze of powdered sugar, water and a little red food coloring, or make it really simple and buy a container of pre-made frosting. Use some frosting pens to write messages or draw on the cookies. Add a few sprinkles and you’re set! Don’t forget to invite your kids to get involved in decorating any cookies they are taking to school. They will have a great time preparing these special treats.

Valentine’s Cup Cakes
Purchase a box of devil’s food cake mix (or your favorite flavor) and prepare according to package directions. Line muffin tins with paper liners and pour enough batter in each to fill to about 1/3 full. Top with 1 tbsp of fruit preserves (strawberry works great) then add more batter until the muffin tins are approximately ¾ filled. Bake according to cake mix directions. When they are cool, dust them with powdered sugar, or frost them and sprinkle with red-hot candy hearts.

Valentine’s Day Cake
Bake any flavor cake in a heart shaped cake form. Let cook and cut in half horizontally. Mix a few drops of red food coloring into a container of whipped topping, and spread some on the bottom layer of the cake. Add the top layer and frost the entire outside of the cake. Top with fresh berries.

Chocolate Lollipops
Get some heart-shaped lollipop molds. Melt milk chocolate, dark chocolate or white chocolate (quality chocolate chips work great). Pour the melted chocolate in the mold and add a lollipop stick. Let cool until hardened. Wrap in cellophane and tie with a little bow.

Use leftover chocolate and plastic spoons to create fancy coffee stirrers. Simply dip the plastic spoons in the melted chocolate. Let cool and repeat until you reach the desired thickness,

Both of these can be decorated by drizzling different types of melted chocolate over the finished product.

Have fun this year creating some wonderful Valentine’s Day treats. I’m sure you will come up with a delicious treat that will be a big hit in the office or the classroom.

Christine Steendahl Is The Founder Of Dine Without Whine – The Number One Online Source For Affordable And Family Friendly Weekly Meal Planning. Eliminate Your Dinner Hour Stress And Re-Discover The Pleasure Of The Dinner Hour! CLICK HERE for a Free Sample Menu And Grocery List.

Article Source: The WAHM Shack Article Directory

by Shelly Hill

Are you considering making your own chocolate dipped strawberries this year for Valentine’s Day? Making and dipping your own fruits is really a lot easier than you might think and only take a few minutes to do.

If you don’t have a fondue pot, you can still make them by using a double boiler or by using specially made chocolate that you can melt in the microwave oven. When dipping fruits, you always want to purchase fruits that are ripe, firm and free of blemishes. Wash and air dry them before you even begin.

Here is what you will need to make your very own Tuxedo Striped Chocolate Dipped Strawberries.

milk or dark chocolate
white chocolate
fresh whole strawberries (not frozen)
fondue pot, double boiler or purchase chocolate that can be melted in the microwave oven
tongs
silicone spatula
waxed paper
wooden spoon

Step 1: Lay waxed paper on top of a baking sheet. You will lay your dipped fruits onto the waxed paper to harden.

Step 2: Melt your white chocolate first until it is smooth and creamy with no lumps. I use a silicone stirring spatula so that the chocolate doesn’t stick to my spatula.

Step 3: Take your tongs and grab the strawberry at the top. Dip your strawberry into the melted white chocolate covering about 3/4 of the berry. Hold the berry over the pan to let the excess chocolate run off and back into the pan for about a minute. Place berry onto the waxed lined baking sheet to dry.

Step 4: Once all of your berries have been dipped in white chocolate, clean out your pot and melt your milk or dark chocolate. Again, make sure it is completely melted before you start to dip. Using your tongs, grab the berry and dip it into the chocolate at an angle so that it makes a v-shape onto the berry to resemble a tuxedo jacket. Hold berry above the pan and let the excess drain back into the pot.

Step 5: Dip the end of a wooden spoon into the chocolate and make two tiny circles on the white chocolate to resemble the jacket buttons. You only need a little bit and apply those circles while holding the berry sideways. Once done, lay the berry onto the waxed line baking sheet to dry.

If you are in a hurry, place the baking sheet into the refrigerate to speed up the hardening process. Once they are completely done, store them in an air tight container in the refrigerator. If you started off with nice berries, they should keep for up to 3 days refrigerated.

Shelly Hill is a mother and grandmother living in Pennsylvania who enjoys cooking, baking and canning. You can visit Shelly’s Shakin ‘N Bakin in the Kitchen Blog for free cooking tips and recipes at http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com You can find a photo of how the strawberries should look once dipped on Shelly’s blog at http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-to-make-your-own-chocolate-dipped.html

Article Source: WAHM Articles

by Marty Babits, LCSW, BCD,
Author of The Power of Middle Ground: A Couple’s Guide to Renewing Your Relationship

1) How many ways do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Pick at least three qualities about your partner that you love. Gift each one of these with something special. For example, give her a CD by her favorite recording artist in celebration of whatever you consider to be her (or his) most appealing facial feature. Choose a clothing accessory that includes the color that you think best flatters your partner and celebrate the way they look in that color. Come up with a quality that you have always valued, from the start of your relationship onward and feature that in a message written in a blank card by you with a tender sign-off. De-emphasize the gifts and emphasize the qualities that you want to call attention to and celebrate.

2) Surprise! Believe it or not some psychoanalysts evaluate the psychic well-being of their clients by determining the degree to which they are capable of surprise! A person who is not responsive to surprise elements in their life is unable to respond spontaneously. Their capacity for joy — and feeling in general — is impaired. Give your partner a reason to light up the surprise center in their mid-brain! Think of something that they would like but will not suspect. Have you written them a poem lately? Have you recorded the opening strains of “You are the Sunshine of My Life” on a hand-held tape recorder lately and handed it to them with a post-it instruction to hit the play button? When was the last time you brought your sweetheart a passion fruit chocolate truffle from one of the finest chocolatiers in your community? Whatever it is, make it pleasant and surprising. By the way, the residual benefit of surprising your partner is that you activate your own surprise center. No pun intended, it will be surprisingly beneficial for you.

3) Hand your partner a prerogative pass. (Print it out on an index card if you like.) With this pass he or she will be able to exercise their prerogative in a situation where there is usually a conflict over who gets their way. The one limit to the pass is that they are not allowed to exercise a prerogative if it forces you to do something that you feel uncomfortable doing. Next time you have a conflict over which restaurant to go to your partner can flash the prerogative pass and you’ll go Italian if that’s their choice rather than whatever else you might have felt in the mood for. Again, this presupposes that you like Italian — whether or not it would have been your pick that evening or not.

4) Look your partner in the eye and tell them three things that you love about them. They can be big ticket items, like the way you feel together when you are making love. They can be smaller fare, like the way you love it when they wrinkle their nose and close their eyes when they are hysterical with laughter. They can be somewhere in between like when they listen to you explain something in a way that you yourself realize is quite impossible to follow without complaining that they got lost four times in the telling. Write down what you are going to say before beginning this one. Then read it with feeling as if you were auditioning for a part in a movie starring opposite whoever your greatest heart-throb might be. By the way, you can fantasize about a star from any era in this exercise. Living or dead, domestic or foreign — anything goes. Only make sure you deliver your lines with feeling.

5) Think about something that you and your partner have had trouble coming to terms with in the past year — like speaking civilly to each other when either of you is angry; or perhaps, discussing a conflict in your financial situation. Without referencing your partner, give a commitment to improve your own ability to speak about the topic without blaming. Tell your partner that you are going to accentuate understanding the issue from their point of view and that you are hoping to have fewer hurtful arguments this coming year. Tell them that you want to conduct your relationship in the middle ground as much as you possibly can; this means that you want to work together, acknowledge and appreciate each other’s hopes and dreams and make all plans with these understandings in mind.

6) Is your partner an exercise enthusiast? If so, did you happen to catch Marisa Tomei doing hula hoop exercises on The Ellen DeGeneres Show? The exercise looks like fun — read about comments on this product on Amazon — and if you think your partner would enjoy a novel kind of exercise, purchase the item and attach a note pledging, “I hope you enjoy going through this hoop. I look forward to going through all sorts of hoops with you! And I’m lovin’ it.” Note: Only take this suggestion if you and your partner have a similar sense of humor and you think this would tickle them.

7) Do you prepare a food dish that your partner loves? If the answer is yes, put an announcement inside your Valentine’s Day card saying that on such-and-such a date you will be cooking a blankety-blank dinner for them to continue on with the celebration of the love you share. Ask them to contribute on that night by bringing along whatever will enhance the meal for you — a favorite beverage or dessert that they can purchase or make.

Take a minute to think about a trait of yours that your partner has communicated having a problem with — for example, a hot temper or messiness. Think about any constructive suggestions that your partner has made that you think, when you are considering this calmly and not when you are in the heat of a disagreement, is reasonable and possibly something that you might be able to put into practice. This tip works best if you feel that the trait is something that you actually would like to change within yourself. Research self-help either on the internet or in the self-help section of your favorite book store and find out what authors suggest may be helpful in your particular situation. Jot down the best helpful tip you can find and write your partner a note stating that you have heard their complaint, take it seriously and are poised to work on it. Outline the plan that you have read about that makes sense and feel you can realistically implement. Describe it to your partner. Sit back and let the communication magic do its work. You will have just demonstrated acknowledgment of their feelings; appreciation of their communications on a difficult topic; acceptance of their concerns. You well may have instilled hope and mutuality into your dialogue.

More originality in your renewal message signals desire to take things higher. Chocolate and flowers have their appeal, but can become real humdrum. So take some time, do some prep work and put these tips into action — as many as you can. Maximize connection with a fresh plan. Pick up a book that speaks to you on improving your relationship! And get busy because timing is everything and it’s almost Valentine’s Day!

© 2010 Marty Babits, LCSW, BCD, author of The Power of the Middle Ground: A Couple’s Guide to Renewing Your Relationship

Author Bio
Marty Babits, LCSW, BCD (New York, NY), author of The Power of the Middle Ground: A Couple’s Guide to Renewing Your Relationship, is a psychotherapist in private practice and a member of the Executive Supervisory Committee of FACTS (the Family and Couples Treatment Service) of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy.

For more information, please visit www.PowerOfTheMiddleGround.com.

by Rachel Paxton

This Valentine’s Day, surprise your family with a special Valentine’s Day dinner. Here are recipes for four red Jello salads that will be a great accompaniment to any Valentine’s Day meal. Enjoy!

Cherry Jello Dessert

1 6-oz. pkg. cherry Jello
1 c. boiling water
1 can pie cherry filling
1 can (20 oz.) crushed pineapple
1/2 c. chopped walnuts (opt.)

Dissolve Jello in 1 cup boiling water. Place in refrigerator and let set just until Jello thickens. Add other ingredients and let set until ready to serve.

Strawberry Jello Salad

1 3-oz. package strawberry Jello
1 c. sour cream (room temperature)
1 c. boiling water
1 package frozen strawberries, thawed

In a medium-sized bowl, stir together boiling water and Jello until Jello dissolves. Stir in sour cream. Add strawberries. Pour into a serving dish and refrigerate until Jello sets.

Raspberry Salad

3/4 c. water
1 can (20 oz.) crushed pineapple
1 3-oz. package raspberry Jello
1 c. cottage cheese
1 c. Cool Whip

Heat water and pineapple to boiling. Add Jello and dissolve. Place in refrigerator and let set just until Jello begins to thicken. Add cottage cheese and Cool Whip. Let set until ready to serve.

Celery Apple Salad

1 3-oz. package cherry Jello
1 c. boiling water
1/4 c. red cinnamon candy
1 c. cold water
1 c. apples, peeled and chopped
1 c. celery, chopped (opt.)
1/2 c. walnuts or pecans, chopped (opt.)

Dissolve candy and Jello in 1 cup boiling water. Add 1 cup cold water and chill until partially set. Stir in apples, celery, and nuts. Chill.

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the author of What’s for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick easy dinner ideas. For more recipes, gardening, organizing tips, home decorating, holiday hints, and more, visit Creative Homemaking at http://www.creativehomemaking.com.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com