easy valentine chocolates

When I was a child, my mom always made white chocolate lollipops for select holidays (Valentine's Day made the cut, St. Patrick's Day, for some reason, did not). I loved helping her, using a toothpick to carefully color details on the molds, pouring in the warm chocolate and then waiting anxiously for the chocolates to harden. I also very much enjoyed eating the end results.

All you need is plastic molds, melting chocolates in any color you desire and lollipop sticks. Basically, you melt the chocolate in the microwave, give it a stir and then carefully scoop into trays. Let harden in the refrigerator and voila, instant chocolate goodness. It really couldn't be easier.

I am continuing the tradition with my girls. This weekend, we made a batch of Valentine lollipops and miniature chocolate hearts. Charlotte and Amelia felt quite accomplished with the end results and plan on wrapping their chocolates and giving them to friends this week as they count down to Sunday.

valentine water bottle labels

Are you hosting a Valentine party or cookie exchange this year? Here's a Valentine water bottle label template to make it extra-special. These are also great to use on a small water bottle for a child's lunch. Just click on the link below to print your own labels.

super bowl chicken chili

I won't even pretend to know who's playing in the Super Bowl this year, but I do know that it's coming up on Sunday. While I've never really watched a game, I can appreciate a good excuse to have a party and enjoy delicious food. This chicken chili is my absolute favorite and would be great to eat while you are watching the game (or the just the commercials and half-time show). It's been cold and rainy in Texas this week so I made this chili to warm us up. I took this picture yesterday just before I savored my last bowl. It's best served with grated white-cheddar cheese sprinkled generously on top and this cornbread on the side. It's also delicious to eat with warm tortilla chips (just scoop it up like salsa). Happy Super Bowl weekend!

intense chocolate cookies

I love Nigella Lawson. I love her television show, her humor and just about every recipe I've tried. I especially love laying in bed at night and reading one of her cookbooks – I usually end up chuckling out loud at her tongue-in-cheek witticisms.

My favorite recipe of Nigella's, to date, is this one for Intense Chocolate Cookies (I love the name). They are seriously, intense – 3 different kinds of chocolate all combined into one delicious cookie. You must eat these while sipping an ice cold glass of milk.

Amelia and I whipped up a batch of these last week to take to my brother-in-law for his birthday.

Please note that the recipe does not make nearly enough and I usually end up quadrupling it, leaving plenty of cookies for neighbors, friends and our freezer. There is something infinitely comforting to me when our outside freezer is stocked full of food and desserts.

Hope you enjoy!

lip and moustache lollipops

Around the end of January, my girls catch the Valentine's Day bug. They love the holiday as much as I do, especially their class parties with homemade mailboxes stuffed full of notes and treats from friends.

For their class treats, we always try to come up with something different each year. Last year, we filled glassine bags full of their favorite Valentine's candy and affixed cute foldover labels printed with their picture and a Valentine's message. My friend, Jennie, made clever ones last year.

This year, however, Charlotte informed me that she absolutely did not want a photo of herself on her treats for school. Trying to convince an almost-7-year-old that there is nothing cuter than her photo on candy was fruitless (evidently some teasing boys got the best of her!). We needed an alternate idea that was equally as clever. Thanks to an idea from Family Fun, this year's treats are sure to be a hit.

This project became a family affair. My husband traced the templates (click on the link below for your own) onto the red and black foam paper and the girls cut out the lips and moustaches. I was in charge of affixing the labels to the lollipop sticks (click on the link below to print your own labels on adhesive paper).

I hope you enjoy!

i love valentines

I have a love / hate relationship with Valentine's Day. I loved it as a child, hated it during my teenage years and 20's and now love it again since having children. My birthday is two days before V-Day so when all the pink and red paraphenelia starts to appear on store shelves, I get excited.

I love the color scheme – totally chic and rarely garish; I love the school parties, always signing up to make homemade heart-shaped sugar cookies and convincing myself that my efforts are not in vain (I'm sure the kids would enjoy store-bought cookies just as much!); and I love this wreath that I picked up at Target for a mere $19.99.

A few years ago, Pottery Barn Kids sold the most darling oversized felt envelopes that are meant to be affixed to a child's chair and filled with goodies on Valentine's Day. It seemed a waste to let the envelopes sit with nothing in them until February 14th. Hence, my husband and I decided last year, beginning on February 1st, to write little notes for our girls at night, leaving them in each of their envelopes. I tried to make it as easy on Charles and me as possible by having preprinted business card-sized notes in a drawer in the kitchen ready to be written on – they are small enough to not feel too overwhelming.

What I love is that each morning, Charlotte and Amelia rush to their envelopes to see what we've written. The notes are sometimes a simple observation of a charitable act or a quick drawing to make them laugh. I love that Charles and I force ourselves to take a minute each evening to think about why we love our children. It's my version of Oprah's gratitude journal.

Click on the link below for cards to write notes to your own children.

 

freezer meals

I don't know about you, but from about 2 p.m. until 7:30 p.m, my day is crazy. I leave work to pick up my girls from school and with carpool, after-school activities, homework, etc., preparing dinner is the thing I dread.

I really used to love cooking – perusing my favorite cookbooks as I lay in bed at night, ripping out recipes from magazines that I wanted to try. Now, however, with 3 small children + work, there is little time for me to wax nostalgic on the joys of making my own pate brisee (not sure if I've actually ever made my own pate brisee!).

A life-changing event occurred in my life just before the holidays... my friend, Jen, invited me to be part of a freezer meal group. I was skeptical at first – what if the food wasn't good? I decided to give it a try and, thanks to Jen's exceptional organizational skills, it has been a huge success. There are 6 carefully chosen girls in our group. About every 6 weeks, we decide on a selection of 12 meals, each taking 2 meals and making 6 servings of each.

This month I made Chicken Enchiladas Verde and Cuban Braised Beef and Peppers. Usually, one dish is more involved and the other is a simpler meat marinade of sorts.

Don't get me wrong, it's no cakewalk making 6 pans of enchiladas. However, for the 2-3 days that it usually takes me shop, prep and cook, the payoff is enormous. Each of the meals are stored in either a freezer Ziploc or disposable tray and carefully labelled with the contents, cooking instructions and serving suggestions. Then, we meet on a scheduled morning to divide up the meals and leave with 12 dinners that fill up our freezers. The servings are usually for 4 people but with little children, we always have leftovers.

I love that I can walk to my freezer in the morning, take out a meal to defrost and know exactly what we're having that evening for dinner. The stress relief is unbelievable. Ironically, it is actually motivating me to want to cook again! I suggest you try it for yourself. You'll be happy you did.

If you would like additional recipe inspiration, click on the image below for some of my favorite freezer meals thus far. Do you have any recipes you think our group should try?

valentine cookie exchange

If you're thinking of hosting a Valentine party this year, I think a cookie exchange is the perfect choice. I hosted one last last year and it was so much fun. I love cookie exchanges, but it's sometimes difficult to organize one in December with all of the other holiday activities. February is the ideal month – there are so many Valentine cookie options to bake. My favorite cookies to make are heart-shaped sugar cookies with pale pink frosting.

 I set the table with a simple brown linen tablecloth and a wide pink ribbon down the middle and some bowls of Valentine candy. I also used pink-bordered place cards to write the names of the cookies that were brought. 

 I made cupcakes for everyone to eat while they chatted before the exchange. I also had mini-water bottles with Valentine labels (not pictured). When it was time to exchange the cookies, I gave everyone a bakery box to gather their cookies and take them home. I am planning to do it again this year and hope to make it a tradition!

january book club

I look forward to Book Club every month. Even if my month is crazy-busy, I still make it a priority never to miss Book Club. It is one evening devoted to good friends, good food and good discussion. For January, we read Paris to the Moon. This was originally scheduled to be discussed in November but, due to the madness of the holiday season, we wisely rescheduled for a calmer time.

Paris to the Moon is a series of essays and journal entries written by one of my favorite writers from The New Yorker, Adam Gopnik. The book chronicles the romantic-comedic adventures of an American family leaving New York to live in Paris for 5 years. I love Gopnik's comments on French life although his musings on French government can get a bit tedious. If that happens to you, I suggest skimming over those pages while munching on a bar of exceptionally high-quality Belgian chocolate – I like Cote d'Or with hazelnuts. I digress...

We met at my house this month and the theme, not surprisingly, was French. I made Ina Garten's Bouef Bourguignon and served it with crusty bread. I do believe there is a misprint on this recipe – 1-1/4 hours of cooking is not nearly enough time for the meat to fall apart. I suggest raising the oven temperature to 325 and cooking it for at least 2 hours. The sauce is delightful – I would like to bathe in it. But then, you really can't go wrong with lots of red wine and Cognac.

My friend, Andrea, made the most amazing Meringue Cupcakes with creme fraiche and a strawberry rhubarb compote. They were divine (and I don't even love meringue!).

I also whipped up the easiest chocolate bundt cake in honor of two of my friends' birthdays. This is my go-to-in-a-pinch cake. It is quick to make, always turns out perfectly, and wins rave reviews due to the massive amount of chocolate ganache frosting on top. I suggest once-and-a-halving the frosting recipe – there's nothing better than a pool of chocolate ganache to scoop out of the middle of the cake! I think it would be a lovely addition to any family Valentine's dinner.

sailboat baby shower

My sister-in-law Jillian just had a little boy – Lucas Henry – and I threw a baby shower for her to celebrate.

Before throwing any party, I first decide upon a theme (in this case, I was inspired by one of our invitation designs) and a color scheme (sage green, pool blue, white and gray – something a bit more unexpected and chic than your standard baby blue!).

 I made a personalized banner to hang on the wall in my dining room, printing each panel on white cardstock and punching two holes at the top. Coordinating pool blue ribbon was strung through to hang. Quite simple, actually, with maximum impact!

I found the most perfect ceramic "boats" months ago at a Crate & Barrel outlet in Texas. I filled each of these with sage green chocolate mints. The "mast" was made using adhesive paper and a wooden skewer. A piece of caramel was used to anchor the mast under the mints.

To ground the sailboats, I used circular pieces of pool blue felt and added chartreuse asters. I love using asters because they are inexpensive (I found these at the grocery store), graphic (no baby's breath for me) and last forever.

I don't like to deal with cups at parties so water bottles are a good choice, especially with coordinating labels.

I am not a big fan of games at showers, preferring good food and good conversation. However, not everyone at this shower knew each other so I used an idea from my friend, Brooke, and put together a little quiz about Jillian (thank you to Jillian's mother and sister for providing the answers).

The prizes for those guests who knew the most about Jillian were individual boxes of coordinating thank you notes.

I was determined to make a sailboat cake to match the invitation.

I made my favorite yellow cake and poured it into a jelly roll pan. When it was baked and cooled, I wrapped the cake in plastic wrap and put it in the freezer, making it much easier to cut. The next day I cut the cake into three sections and managed to not waste a bit of cake (I was quite pleased with my frugality).

Once the "sailboat" was pieced together, the cake was enormous. Thank heavens my mom saved my sister's wedding cake platform!

I frosted the cake with my favorite cream cheese frosting – 1 lb. softened cream cheese, 1 stick softened butter, 1 t. vanilla, and approximately 3 cups of powdered sugar. I tinted the frosting to match the color scheme of the party – pool blue, sage green and gray and then finished the cake by piping white stars on the bottom. Not bad for my first sailboat attempt.

For favors, I ordered a sailboat cookie cutter from here and then packaged each cookie in a glassine bag with a foldover label (remember to staple the bag closed and then affix the label using double-stick tape in order to avoid staple marks on the label).

Voila! The party was a success and I think Jillian was pleased with the results.