Because There is Something Romantic About a Hand-made Valentine

Granted my kid is two and has no idea what Valentine's Day is, I still thought it would be more romantic if "we" made her valentines for preschool ourselves. Here's what "we" made in a few easy steps! (Please note that "we" will be in quotation marks whenever I was the one that did most of the work.)

1. Cut out two hearts - I used my Silhouette for this and it was super easy. I found a pattern that had a scalloped and a regular heart all in one. I used solid cardstock for the regular inner heart and a variety of patterned cardstock for the scalloped heart. I then glued the regular heart on top of the scalloped. 
2. Stamp your images - The Close to My Heart stamp I used was a promotion a few years ago but I can't stop loving the cute little owls. Glacier was my colour of choice for the tiny heart background piece and Archival Black was used for the "To/From Box" and the adorable baby owl. 
3. Cut out the images - I used the Silhouette to cut out my squares and fussy cut (using my own hands) the owl. 
4. Attach to hearts - And we're almost done! As a treat for K's valentines, we attached a small heart sticker sheet to the back of each card with a little Zot (glue dot). K legitimately helped with this part. 

Since it is Frugal February and all, I was happy to say that these valentines cost us...$0! Woot woot! I love being able to use some of the many craft supplies I already have and not having to enter Walmart or Dollarama with two kids to buy anything is a bonus for me. 

Although K's participation in this craft was a bit limited I still wanted her to take some ownership over her valentines. Is that silly? Possibly, but even doing something as small as sticking the stickers on the back taught her that these were hers and created an opportunity for us to talk about this holiday and what giving them to her friends was all about. 

Here are the Close to My Heart products I used to make this craft.

"Whoo's Your Valentine" Stamp Set, Archival Black Ink, Glacier Ink
Sprtiz Cleaner, 2x2 Stamp block, Non-stick Micro-tip Scissors,
Stamp Scrubber

Because We Need to Eat - Feb. 08-11

When Mark and I first got married we started meal planning for the week. I would have to say that this is the one habit that we've been super consistent with doing the last four years. Once K started eating solid foods I became really interested in feeding her yummy and mostly healthy dishes.

I'm not my mother. She can just look in the fridge and pull together an amazing meal. I'm also too chicken to try to do that and much prefer following a recipe. (It's the whole "I like to follow the rules" issue I have). One thing I'm not afraid of doing, though, is trying a new recipe and my Pinterest boards are full of recipes that I want to try and have tried. I also have a few cookbooks that I love and a few other cookbooks that I'm going to try some recipes from before I declutter them for good. 

Each week, if all goes as planned, I will post my meal plan. I'm extremely lucky that Mark likes to cook and volunteered (or was volun-told, I can't remember) to plan and cook for us on the weekends. The added bonus I have is my mom. She lives nearby and we will often head over to her place for lunch and/or dinner sometimes multiple times a week. Yes. I am spoiled. K often gets a variety of fruit, granola bars, and the ever-controversial goldfish crackers for a snack so I will just post the special snacks that I try to make her. 

Mark has dubbed this month "Frugal February" so we've been trying to eat from the freezer to keep our grocery bills to under $100 a week. Before I had C, my mom and I spent a day making freezer meals and I ended up with 18 of them. We're still working through them but this week all our meals are freezer meals. I will post links to the recipes I found on Pinterest below this week's meal plan. 

Ham & Broccoli Quiche with Raw Veggies & Dip

My mom made this quiche for us. I usually make a straight broccoli and cheese quiche from the Baby-Led Weaning cookbook but she had some leftover ham that she donated. This week we had a leftover orange pepper and some snap peas from last week's shop so we munched on those with some Ranch dressing for dip.

Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes & Broccoli

I haven't tried this meatloaf yet. It is currently sitting in my crockpot and was a frozen brick when I put it in. My fingers are crossed that it turns out alright, It is slathered in The Keg BBQ sauce and ketchup so how bad can it be? This is Mark's comfort food and I sometimes let him add some seasoning to the mashed potatoes when he get's home from work. The broccoli I usually just steam.

Macaroni & Beef with Frozen Veggies

I made two of these on our freezer cooking day. I wasn't blown away by it but I think I may add some more cheese this time. Maybe a combo of cheddar and mozzarella. The frozen veggies just need to be used up. I have a few bags in the freezer so I'll just see how the mood strikes me. 

Italian Turkey Soup with Garlic Bread

I really liked this soup. Up until November I hadn't really made soup before. I know...shocking. I had enough trouble making soup from a can as a teenager so I've stayed away from it. We'll probably eat this on Friday since that's the day that we usually resort to fast food since both Mark and I are exhausted by the end of the week. I've been trying to have easy-to-make meals or pizza so that I won't give in to temptation. 

Sweet Potato Croquettes & Cauliflower

I made a bunch of these a few weeks ago and threw them in the freezer. K really likes them, especially if I let her dip them in ketchup or mustard. I try to include a veggie for her at lunch time and sometimes it's a frozen one, like the cauliflower in this case. 

English Muffin Pizzas & Peas

I love English muffin pizzas. I really do. And I'm talking just pepperoni and cheese, here. Although if we have a green pepper I'll put that on, too. The peas are frozen but are pleasing to K and I force myself to eat them with her when really I just want the English muffin pizza. 

Blueberry Breakfast Bars

I have not made these before but they seem healthy and I have a bag of frozen blueberries in the freezer.

Banana Bread

This recipe comes from the Annabel Karmel's Eating for Two cookbook which I was supposed to cook from when pregnant and did not. So to justify it's existence on my cookbook shelf I'm making banana bread this week. I also have about three bags of frozen bananas so those need to be used up, too. 

Because Heart-Shaped Food Tastes Better

A few years ago, Mark and I hosted a Valentine's Day brunch for my brother and his girlfriend. Since that holiday of love is approaching once more I thought I'd share some of the themed food we made. 

Bacon Hearts
Preheat your oven to 400 F. Cut the bacon in half and fold into a heart shape. Bake on a cookie sheet with sides for 18-20 minutes or until done. 

Heart-Shaped Eggs in Toast
My hearts would have been better if I had a heart-shaped cookie cutter but alas my free-hand hearts didn't turn out that badly. 
We cut out a heart shape from the centre of the bread and toasted one side in a frying pan. We flipped the bread and cracked an egg into the centre of the toast and cooked until the bottom was toasted and the egg had set. 

Strawberries and Whipped Cream
Not pictured but especially delicious for me (not Mark as he is not a fruit fan) were the strawberries we dipped in whipped cream. 

I'm hoping to do a repeat of this meal on Valentine's Day this year. Now that K is two I think she'd really appreciate this and I know she'd love the strawberries! 

Because...

"Never start a sentence with "because." Is that even a real grammar rule? I'm not sure but that phrase from elementary school English is running around in my head right now. And if, by chance, it is a rule I am going to do something out of character here. I'm going to break it. Because I want to. Because I think it sounds nice. Because I want to explain why I am writing this blog. 

So, why this blog?

Because I am a writer. 

Because I am a self-proclaimed curator of ideas. 

Because sometimes I have some pretty good ideas of my own. 

Because sometimes my brain feels fuzzy and I need to use it in a different way.

Because I am part of a funny, beautiful family and I need to share that.

Because Jesus saved me and I need to share that.

So as I share my heart and my home with you I hope that you will get some ideas and inspiration because life is about sharing and I'm feeling called to share.