valentine's day

We had fun making cookies and treats to hand out to friends and family. I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe, and we made some white chocolate peppermint hearts out of leftover candy canes.

I'd seen this idea in the blogiverse for a few years, and this year we actually had leftover candy canes. Ava helped me unwrap the candy canes and make hearts out of them. We baked the hearts at 350 for about 4 minutes. I just used white chocolate chips, melted in the microwave, to pour the centers. Then Ava sprinkled the hearts with pink sanding sugar. We packaged them in little bags and tied them with pink ribbons - perfect to give away to our playgroup friends and to family members.



The girls had fun making valentines (and dusting the entire house with red and pink glitter!).

This morning, we had chocolate french toast - yum!

I added chocolate chips to a loaf of Amish White Bread (thanks for the idea, Shelley!), and then we added a few tablespoons of cocoa powder to the egg batter. Needless to say, the french toast was completely gobbled up before I got a picture!

Here's wishing you and yours some love today :)

February Daring Cooks Challenge - Mezze

I'm so excited - this is my first time completing a Daring Cooks Challenge and it was so much fun!

The 2010 February challenge was hosted by Michele of Veggie Num Nums. Michele chose to challenge everyone to make mezze based on various recipes from Claudia Roden, Jeffrey Alford A mezze is a traditional spread of small Middle Eastern plates, a la Spanish tapas. Michele required everyone to at least make a traditional humus and pita bread, and left the rest up to our imaginations. You can check out the recipes we used on Michele's blog.

I had a great time doing this, especially since this is the type of food I great up eating. I rounded out the meal with baba ganoush, falafel, olives, veggies, and raita. I also made a jar of preserved lemons, which I plan on using throughout the year.



The first thing I did was to make the hummus - I used traditional tahini to flavor it, although it was hard for me to find peanut free tahini and I almost used sunflower seed butter. I finished the hummus with some good quality olive oil and a sprinkling of cayenne pepper...yum!

Making the pita bread was pretty easy - I used half whole wheat flour and half bread flour and the dough came out pretty well. I don't think that I let it rest long enough after separating it into individual balls before rolling the pita out - my pitas shrunk up and were a bit thick. They did split beautifully though, and were perfect for stuffing with our falafel.

pitas, all puffed up

The girls gobbled everything up - they're pretty used to this type of food already, and of course, since hummus and baba ganoush are basically dips, they had a great time. Ava ended up making a Middle Eastern pizza that I wished I would have gotten a picture of - she topped a pita with hummus and made a happy face out of the veggies I put out.

not pictured: the falafel and the jar of preserved lemons

This was such a fun meal for our family! Thanks to Michele for such a great challenge!

bowling!

Joel and I used to bowl every once in a while PK (pre kids). It was a fun, cheap date and since neither of us is any good, it made for interesting competition.

Ava has been bowling quite a few times, but we decided we were ready to go on our first family bowling outing...we had so much fun! Little E only had enough of an attention span to bowl one game, but she actually led the pack for most of the game! *Ahem* I had the only strike though :o)

The girls used the ramp and bumpers and the little kid balls, and it was perfect. Joel and I can't wait to take the girls bowling again!

I *heart* her

Last night while the girls were taking their baths, I whipped some cute headbands using this awesome tutorial. Two headbands literally took me 20 minutes total. I can't wait to make the flower version!

February 8 – February 14

MONDAY
Breakfast: oatmeal, applesauce
Lunch: bean and vegetable soup
Dinner: Cincinnati chili over potatoes or spaghetti, salad, veggies

TUESDAY
Breakfast: eggs, toast, fruit
Lunch: quinoa taco salad
Dinner: whole wheat pasta with red wine, red bean, and portabella ragout, sautéed broccoli

WEDNESDAY:
Breakfast: lemon sour cream muffins, smoothies
Lunch: out
Dinner: red beans and rice

THURSDAY:
Breakfast: oatmeal, fruit
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: out

FRIDAY:
Breakfast: eggs, toast, fruit
Lunch: soup, salad
Dinner: basmati & curry casserole

SATURDAY:
Breakfast: waffles, fruit
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: baked lemon chicken, quinoa, spinach

SUNDAY:
Breakfast: chocolate French toast, fruit
Lunch: out
Dinner: spicy beef with shrimp and bok choy, fried rice, Chinese egg tarts

Extras:
Multi grain bread, applesauce muffins, lemon bars

right now...

listening:: to a sweet little two year old sing along to her Fairies CD

drinking:: the last of my insanely expensive yummy chai tea from Teavana

eating:: some interesting hummus. I wasn't aware that I was out of tahini so I substituted sunflower seed butter. Not bad, but not right.

anticipating:: spring! The daffodils are almost in bloom!

excited:: about a stress free, plan free weekend. The first in MONTHS. Ahhhhhhh...

taking a break:: from making a muslin mock-up of this shirt. So far, so good. Will definitely remember to post pictures if the finished product turns out cute.

planning:: a crop for next month...much needed. Can't remember the last time I actually completed a layout.

meal plan monday

February 1 – February 7

MONDAY
Breakfast: baked oatmeal
Lunch: soup, veggies
Dinner: spicy thai tofu stir fry, whole wheat noodles

TUESDAY
Breakfast: eggs, toast, fruit
Lunch: black bean and rice salad
Dinner: white bean and vegetable soup

WEDNESDAY:
Breakfast: quinoa pudding
Lunch: turkey, cheddar, and apple sandwiches, salad
Dinner: sautéed chicken, spinach, baked sweet potatoes

THURSDAY:
Breakfast: eggs, toast
Lunch: turkey noodle soup
Dinner: taco salad

FRIDAY:
Breakfast: applesauce oatmeal muffins, smoothies
Lunch: soup, salad
Dinner: tilapia with tomato-caper sauce, quinoa, roasted green beans

SATURDAY:
Breakfast: pancakes, fruit compote
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: lentil and brown rice burritos, salad

SUNDAY:
Breakfast: goat cheese and chive omelets, toast
Lunch: appetizer buffet
Dinner: chili

Extras:
Whole wheat bread, blueberry muffins, granola bars