It's Almost Valentine's Day!

 Valentine's Day is fast approaching. Are you excited? If you are like me, you are probably not as excited as when you were a child. Don't get me wrong. I still feel loved every Valentine's Day (and every day for that matter) by Farmer John, but there was just something unexplainably exciting about school valentines parties.

Perhaps it was making the valentines "mailbox" to collect my classmates valentines. Mom would save an empty cereal box, or if I was lucky and recently got new shoes, I saved the shoebox for that special mailbox. It was covered with red paper (my favorite color) and sometimes mom would splurge and buy those paper doiles to adorn the box. 

Or perhaps the excitement came from writing out the valentines. Typically I cut out red or pink hearts and signed them with a message. Nothing too mushy, of course. As I grew older, we bought valentines! Wow, the decision was difficult for which fun design to choose.

Or did the excitement grow when the class was told by the teacher that the afternoon would be spent celebrating with treats, games, and opening those special valentine mailboxes to see what was inside?

How about you? Maybe the excitement came from seeing who you received valentines from. Did you get one from each person in the class? Even the cute boy or girl that everyone had a crush on? Did your valentine come with a box of those chalky conversation hearts that we didn't really like, but they were so fun to receive.

Regardless of how you celebrate this Valentine's Day, whether it be a special day with those you love, or reminiscing about Valentine's Days gone by, I wish you much happiness and love.

Celebrating Valentine's Day

How did you celebrate Valentine's Day?

Our family tradition is to have a dinner at home.

Traditionally Valentine's dinner is homemade lasagna, lettuce salad (topped with cheese and homemade croutons), wine, and a heart-shaped pan of chocolate chip cookie bars, all served on our best china and crystal. Yes, china and crystal... the gifts we registered for when John and I were married 37 years ago. The china and crystal that used to get brought out only on Christmas and Easter when celebrating with company. But now it gets dusted off for several celebrations throughout the year. After all, who is more special than our own family?

 But what makes the holiday special is not the food or the dishes, but who we spend it with. With everyone's work schedules, dinner with all four of us around the table at the same time has become less frequent. Truth be told, we celebrated on February 13th rather than waiting until the 14th, since our kids had plans with their special someone's on the actual holiday. But hey, what difference does 24 hours make? We celebrated with the ones we love, and isn't that what Valentine's day is all about?

How did you celebrate?

Ready for the oven

Heart-Shaped Chocolate Chip Cookie

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I use a combination of chips and red M & M Mini's)

Lightly grease pan, In large bowl combine sugar and butter, blend well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well. Stir in vanilla. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in chips. Spread in prepared pan. Bake 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. Do not over bake, Cool before cutting. 

Two Straws, One Glass

Do you remember, as a child, how exciting Valentine's Day was? It was one of my favorite school days. It was so fun to make our Valentine's box at home to bring to school so our classmates could stuff it full of Valentine's. Most of my Valentine mailboxes were made from shoe boxes or tissue boxes covered with paper, and if I was really lucky my mom would let me use wrapping paper as the covering! Most classmates made red or pink construction paper hearts and our "best" friends got the special hearts with the lacey paper doily attached. Of course as I got a bit older it was the "secret crush" that got that special decorated heart!

Working as an Elementary School educator, I still get to experience Valentine's Day from a child's perspective. The mailboxes may not be shoe boxes or tissue boxes and the Valentine's are probably bought and not home-made, but one thing stayed the same...the excitement! It's nice to know some things don't change.

Wishing you and your sweetheart a wonderful Valentine's Day.

Enjoy this smoothie recipe with someone you love.

Add some romance...two straws, one glass? 

It's All About Love

I'm guessing since today is Valentine's Day that you're thinking this is just another reminder to show your sweetie some extra love today. I agree, we probably don't tell those nearest to us how much they touch and enrich our lives, and maybe a day devoted to that is a good gentle reminder. (Farmer John and kids...Love you bunches!) But today I'm reflecting on the love I have witnessed this week.

Thanks to "Farm Life" for the photo.

Our family has been touched by some difficult times lately. As you may know, my mom is now home from her three month "vacation" in the hospital. My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and niece were in a serious car accident this past week. A very close family friend passed away suddenly last week, and our neighbors 2 year old son also passed away. Why am I telling you all of this? Through the grace of God we have been blessed with many close friends. Our friends have comforted us through our family's illnesses, accidents, and deaths. They have been by our side to say an encouraging word, comfort us with their prayers, bring meals or send greetings via phone calls and cards. For all these things, we are grateful.

What's my point? Acknowledge your friendships. Tell them you love and appreciate them. Friendships have helped lighten our load. For this, I am grateful. 

Thank you to all our friends. We love and appreciate you. When times turn difficult for you, you can count on us to be there for you!

Happy Valentine's Day!

from Bremer Farms and Dairy Makes Sense

A "Grand A" Day

Do you remember, as a child, how exciting Valentine's Day was? It was one of my favorite school days. It was so fun to make our box at home to bring to school so our classmates could stuff it full of Valentine's. Most of my Valentine mailboxes were made of shoe boxes or tissue boxes covered with paper, and if I was really lucky my mom would let me use wrapping paper as the covering! Most classmates made red or pink construction paper hearts and our "best" friends got the special hearts with the lacey paper doily attached. Of course as I got a bit older it was the "secret crush" that got that special decorated heart!

Working as an Elementary School educator, I still get to experience Valentine's Day from a child's perspective. The mailboxes may not be shoe boxes or tissue boxes and the Valentine's are probably bought and not home-made, but one thing hasn't changed...the excitement! It's nice to know some things don't change.

Wishing you and your sweethearts a wonderful Valentine's Day.

Thanks to "Must Be the Milk" for this image

Sweets For My Sweetie

Guess who is getting a special Valentine's treat?

Cookie Dough Cream Pie

For crust:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups chocolate wafer cookie crumbs,
         finely ground in a food processor

Mix together with a fork and press into the bottom 
and up sides of a 9" pie pan. Bake 8 minutes at 350
degrees. Cool completely.

For Cookie Dough:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Beat butter and sugars with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add milk and vanilla. Add flour and salt and mix on low until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Press cookie dough into cooled crust to about 1/2 inch thick. (You will have extra dough to bake as cookies) Refrigerate pie while preparing cream filling.

For cream Filling:
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole milk, divided
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk together brown sugar, flour, and salt in a saucepan. Add 1 cup of the milk and whisk until smooth. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue to stir until mixture is smooth and thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. In a heatproof bowl, beat egg yolks with the remaining 1 cup milk. Temper the yolks by adding the warm milk mixture to the eggs, a little at a time, stirring after each addition. Repeat until about half of the milk mixture has been added and egg mixture is warm to the touch. Pour into saucepan and stir to combine. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly; reduce heat to low and simmer until mixture has the consistency of thick pudding, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Let cool 5 minutes. Pour filling over chilled cookie dough, leveling the top. Refrigerate until set, at least 3 hours.

For Whipped Topping:
1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whip heavy cream with an electric mixer until it begins to form soft folds. Add sugar and vanilla and beat until cream holds stiff peaks. Spread over chilled filling. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

There are a lot of steps to making this pie, 

but isn't your Sweetie worth it? 

Happy Valentines Day!

 
Recipe from The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook by Lindsay Landis