ham and egg cups

6 pieces of deli ham, I like the thicker sliced (you can use turkey too)
6 eggs
cheese (optional)
fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste


Preheat oven to 350
1.  Place each slice of ham in a lightly greased muffin cup of a muffin tin.
2.  carefully crack an egg in each one

Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes depending on the done-ness you prefer.  Sprinkle with cheese if you're using it for just the last minute of cooking time.  Remove from oven and garnish with fresh chopped parsley.


The kids loved these.  Someone is taking after his mom...

Valentine Mystery dinner

I mentioned in an earlier post that we were going to do this!  What fun!  The kids had a ball, and even my international student played along and had fun!


First everyone chooses the order of their menu.  Then I serve it up.  I had my husband choose mine since I knew what everything was, then I could have some surprises too.


Here's my boy enjoying his "melted hearts" which is actually spaghetti sauce but he hadn't ordered his pasta yet!  He could've waited, but I think he was really hungry!

My girl, delighted to have her "cold shoulder" very early in her 4 course meal.  :D

but, she didn't have a spoon yet, which is actually on the menu, so she had to eat with her "heart breaker" (knife)

And, my boy enjoying his "Angel's coiffure" with his "cupid's arrow", although he has a fork, so I'm not sure why except of course...it's fun!

In case you missed my earlier post, you can get the mystery menu and all the info at www.gourmetmomonthego.  


I would love to hear your valentine's day ideas and celebrations as well!

Strawberry Lemonade

6 lemons
1 cup strawberry puree' or to taste
1/4 cup sugar
Water


Squeeze the juice of 6 lemons into a basic pitcher.  Add the strawberries and sugar, stir.  Add water to almost full.  Add ice if desired.


You'll have to adjust the taste on this as preferences are so different.  Some like more tart lemonade, and some more sweet, but either way, this is so refreshing!

Valentine Pancakes

Instead of decorating valentine cookies this year (as you can see from the blog, we had lots of treats), we decorated our pancakes.


Basic pancake batter
red food coloring
heart shaped cookie cutters
strawberry, raspberry, or cherry yogurt (something pink)
sprinkles


First we take a basic pancake batter, if you don't have a recipe, let me know and I will post it, I'm just guessing most people have one.  Add about 4 drops of red food coloring and now you have pink pancakes.  I will warn you though, once you cook them and they brown up, it's hard to see the pinkness.

After making your pancakes, cut out hear shapes.  Then you can add your toppings (yogurt and sprinkles), or you could use actual frosting, we just happen to be big yogurt fans.  For some it might seem odd to put yogurt on your pancakes, but you should try it, it's really good!

Healthy Valentine Snack

Valentine's day is one of those super sweet, get your kid ramped up on sugar days.  I know most people don't care, but I do.  My children are not fun after that sugar high.  They're grumpy, and often times I don't recognize them.  This is a nice way to balance out the sugar.


Just use a small heart shaped cookie cutter and cut up some veggies.  You could do bread too, or do tortillas or pita bread and bake them for a couple minutes to crisp.   Here I've mixed up a simple ranch dip.  My husband had bought me a dip dish for christmas, you know the ones that you can put the ice on the bottom, and it keeps your dip cool.  He included this ranch dip mix.  So, nothing homemade here, but very tasty and easy.  Plus you're spending some time cutting up your veggies, so you might as well go easy on yourself.  :D  


I used red and orange peppers, and cucumbers.  I caught this idea from www.gourmetmomonthego.com  
Use an oven mit on your hand while cutting out your shapes so your palm doesn't become sore.  Also, use your scraps for stir fry or on your sandwiches or something.

Aren't they so cute?

For our Valentine dinner we are doing a Mystery Dinner and we're celebrating on Sunday.  You can get all the details of how to do this here.  Great idea!

Black Forest Tartlets

I found these in my Cuisine Lite magazine.  So cute, and way delicious!  (Notice the 'Lite' that means not fattening right?)


1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips, divided (6 oz)
4 tsp vegetable oil divided
12 maraschino cherries
1/2 cup cherry preserves
1 Tbs maraschino cherry juice
1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup heavy cream


1.  Microwave (or use a double boiler) chocolate chips with 2 tsp oil in a bowl until melted.  1 minute increments


2.  Brush sides and bottom of 12 small foil candy cups with melted chocolate.  Place cups in a mini fmuffin tin to maintain shape; freeze 1 hour.

3.  Repeat step one, and freeze for 4 more hours.  Dip cherries in remaining chocolate and place on wax paper on a cookie sheet.  Freeze or refrigerate.


4.  Heat preserves, juice, and gelatin in a saucepan over low heat until preserves melt and gelatin dissolves, 3-5 minutes, cool


5.  Beat cream with a hand mixer to stiff peaks, 3 minutes; fold into cooled preserves mixture; chill at least 1 hour.


6.  Remove foil from chocolate.  Using a tweezers works great.  I wanted to show you a picture, but no one was home to take one.  I found if I pulled sideways and away from me and worked around the cup it worked well.  If it starts warming up too much, it will break easily.  I put a couple back in the freezer when I found this happening.  


7.  Spoon filling into chocolate cups; garnish each with a chocolate covered cherry; serve immediately


per tartlet:  140 cal; 7g total fat; 7mg chol; 6mg sodium; 21gcarb (0 fiber, 11g total sugars); 1 g protein, 0mg iron; 7mg calcium... just in case you were wondering.  :D

Valentine Bark

I saw this somewhere and I can't remember where, but very fun for a valentine treat!


1 12 oz bag of white chocolate chips
1 12 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips (or your favorite)
1 1/2 cups rice krispies
Sprinkles


Using a double broiler (or microwave) melt the white chocolate chips.  Mix in the rice krispies and stir well.  Spread out on wax paper on a baking sheet.  Freeze, 1 hour.

Using a double broiler, melt the chocolate chips.  Pour over the top of the white chocolate mixture.  Add sprinkles and freeze 1 hour.  (you don't have to freeze, but you will want it in the fridge at least to cool and harden.


Break the bark into pieces and serve.  How great to stuff a valentine treat bag with these!