Valentine's Day!

Ok, I am kind of bummed, cause I didn't take any pictures of our Valentine's Day! I was soooo exhausted after spending Saturday getting things ready and running errands, etc. that yesterday I didn't even think about taking a picture until the kids weren't dressed in their Valentine's Sunday clothes, and our dinner was half eaten. And even then, I was too tired to get out the camera. Maybe I will get a picture today of our pretty table with the Lovely flowers my husband and Logan gave to Avery and I!

Anyway, I feel like in the past I haven't been able to do for my family what I want on fun little holidays like this. I don't know if I just don't plan ahead well, or I am too lazy, or what, but this year I decided I couldn't let the day go by without doing something to show my family I love them. This is what I did for them!

I put together little treat bags for the kids. I bought a Valentine's gift bag at the store for each child, and put a $1 heart shaped box of chocolates from Wal-mart in each of them. I also included a box of conversation hearts, a few starbust candies, and some non candy treats. I got Avery a red beaded necklace with a red rhinestone heart pendant, and a pair of Valentine's socks. I got Logan a little notebook, and a book about Dolphins, whales and sharks. All these things i got from the $1 spot at Target. I made them a little Valentine card as well, and was so proud that Logan was able to read his all by himself!

For breakfast, I made a super yummy recipe for muffins. I was a little nervous when I took them out of the pan the night before and tasted a piece that had fallen off. There were cranberries in them and it was so sour! I was worried they wouldn't be good at all, so I made a glaze from powdered sugar, milk and vanilla and drizzled it over the top. They ended up sooo delicious! I am afraid that between Tony and I, we have eaten them all gone already, and it has only been two days!

Cranberry Cream Cheese Muffins

1 cup butter, softened
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, dusted with 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped **(we left these out per Tony's request. I would like them with pecans, so maybe next time!)

1.Preheat oven to 350*F (175*C). Line muffin pan with paper liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2.In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.

3.In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the butter mixture gradually. Fold in cranberries and nuts. Spoon batter into greased muffin cups.

4.Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden and wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let muffins stand on a cooling rack for about three minutes before removing from the pans.

This recipe made 23 muffins for me.

**Like I said, I made a glaze and drizzled it over the top of the muffins. I left the muffins uncovered on a platter overnight so they would be available for Tony to easily grab for breakfast before he left for his early morning Sunday meetings. I had a few muffins that wouldn't fit on the plate, so I just put them in a ziplock bag...without glaze. I have to say, I loved the texture of the ones I left out! They got a little crispy on the outside, but were still soft in the inside. They reminded me of the texture of old-fashioned glazed donuts. Yum!

For dinner, I made Crockpot Cranberry Chicken, wild rice, and roasted broccoli. I totally have to rely on the crockpot for Sunday dinner these days, as I am WAY too tired to think about preparing a meal when I get home from church!

Crockpot Cranberry Chicken

4 to 6 boneless chicken breast halves, skin removed
1 can whole cranberry sauce
2/3 cup chili sauce
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 package dry onion soup mix

Place chicken breasts in the slow cooker/Crock Pot. Combine remaining ingredients; add to the slow cooker/Crock Pot, coating chicken well. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours.
Serves 4 to 6.
** I used 5 frozen chicken breasts, and cooked them for exactly 6 hours on low and they were perfect!


I also made a jello recipe I got from the back of the recent Family Fun magazine.


Ingredients
1 (14-ounce) can of sweetened condensed milk
3 (3-ounce) packages of red flavored gelatin
2 (1/4-ounce) envelopes of unflavored gelatin

Instructions
Dissolve one package of flavored gelatin in 3/4 cup boiling water. Add 3/4 cup cold water, then pour the mixture into a 9- by 13-inch glass pan and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Stir together 1/2 cup boiling water and the condensed milk. In a separate bowl, dissolve all the unflavored gelatin in ½ cup cold water for 1 to 2 minutes. Thoroughly mix in 3/4 cup boiling water, then combine this mixture with the milk and let it cool. Add half the mixture to the pan of red gelatin, pouring it over a spatula to slow the stream, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Continue alternating layers — gelatin mix, the remaining milk mix, the final gelatin mix — chilling each for 20 to 30 minutes to set it. Create individual servings with a heart-shaped biscuit or cookie cutter.

These were super cute, and really tasty! I might even make a green version for St. Patrick's day and cut them out with shamrocks!

To top of our meal, I made chocolate lava cakes. I got the recipe from www.ourbestbites.com They were yummy, but SUPER rich! We topped ours with whipped cream, but I think I would prefer vanilla ice cream. And maybe next time we will share one, cause I almost couldn't finish mine!

Individual Molten Lava Cakes

4 T real butter
1/3 C sugar
3 large eggs
1/3 C flour
1/4 t salt
8 oz bittersweet chocolate*, melted
*8 ounces is about 1 1/3 C of bittersweet chocolate chips. Make the 1/3 cup a little over-full and you should be good (I used semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Additional Ingredients:
powdered sugar for dusting
sweetened whipped cream for serving
butter and sugar for preparing pans

You can either bake these in a muffin pan, in ramekins, or even oven-proof
mugs. If you use a muffin tin you'll get 6 cakes and depending on the size of the ramekins you'll get 4-6.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. To prepare pans, use your fingers (or the butter wrapper) to rub butter in the muffin tins or ramekins. Sprinkle in some granulated sugar to coat the entire inner surface and tap out any extra discard.

In a bowl with a mixer beat the 4 T butter and 1/3 C sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour and salt and slowly add it into the butter mixture just until combined. Stir in melted chocolate by hand, just until combined. Don't over mix.

Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups or ramekins and then place them on a baking sheet. (If using ramekins you'll want them not quite 3/4 full)
Bake just until tops of cakes no longer jiggle when pan is lightly shaken, about 8-10 min for a muffin pan, and 10-12 for ramekins. Remove from oven and let stand 10 min.

You can serve them one of two ways. Obviously if you're using a muffin pan you'll need to invert the cakes and place them on serving plates. They should pop right out after you run a sharp knife around the edge. You're the cook, do what you want! Dust with powdered sugar and serve with a dallop of sweetened whipped cream.

After dinner, we sat around the table and played Go Fish and Old Maid. The kids LOVE playing these games, and can do a great job playing by themselves. Tony built Logan a card holder...a piece of wood with slots in it so he can put his cards in it. Then he doesn't have to worry about trying to hold all his cards in his little hand. It works great and he loves it! Anyway, we had a great time as a family!

I WISH I had taken pictures, so I am sorry this post is boring without any. Logan is home from school today, and we are planning on going to the library. If I don't get sucked into the books I am picking up today (I have two on hold! "The Book Thief" by Marcus Zusak, and "The Swan Thieves" by Elizabeth Kostova. She wrote "The Historian" which I LOVED, so I am anxious to see what this next book is like!) I will update some more about Christmas and Avery's birthday. I will not let myself get so far behind this year on my blog!

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!