The Swan Family: I Posted Some Posts

Tindy, my good friend from high school, has a very cute lifestyle blog. She has asked me to post on it sometimes, which I am thrilled to be able to do. I love sharing ideas with people, especially ideas that have to do with spending time together as a family. I feel like it’s one small way I can support the family unit. I know that I’ve found so many great ideas about things to do with my kids online, and I feel like if I can provide that for someone else, and save them time, then my efforts are worth it. ANYway, I’ve posted a couple of posts on Tindy’s blog for Valentines Day, and I wanted to post them here too, for the record, so they will be in my blog book later on.

Post #1

Host a Vday Party for the Kidlets

Since I’m a homeschooler, I try extra hard to facilitate fun holiday things in my home, so the kids don’t feel left out when all their neighborhood friends are talking about class parties, and treats, and what-not.

But you don’t have to be a homeschool mom to throw a super-stellar Valentine’s Day party for your kids and their friends.

The first thing I always do is decorate. My kids love to help, and it’s fun to let them. My six-year-old is a pro at cutting out paper hearts, so I assigned him to make a heart banner. He chose to do a white, pink and red pattern; but anything at all, pattern or no, will be festive and fun. I used his banner as the focal decoration, but accented it with crepe paper streamers, and a plastic, disposable, pink table cloth.

As our party guests arrived, I gave them each a brown paper sandwich bag, and have a bucket of crayons handy, so they could get right to work decorating a bag to hold their Valentines in. This also serves as a good gathering activity, while you wait for everyone to arrive.

Then it’s time to really get the party started, with games! Disney love songs musical chairs is always a hit. And so is BINGO. I found this adorable free BINGO printable from crazylittleprojects.com. Check out her site, it has loads of cute things.

After games it’s time to make some treats. My favorite Vday treat to make with kids is candy and fruit kabobs. I make piles of different fruits and candies (i.e. bananas, strawberries, dried apricots, heart shaped marshmallows, cinnamon lips, sugary gummy hearts, etc.) and I give each kid a shish-kabob skewer (and warn them to be careful with the sharp end) and let them make their own. It’s always a big success.

When the kabobs start winding down, it’s time for the finale. The Valentine exchange. I’ve found that the easiest way to do this, is to line all the bags up in a row on the table or floor, and have the kids walk down the line and drop a Valentine in each one along the way. When everyone is finished passing out their Valentines, I take a stapler and staple each paper bag shut, so nothing will spill out, and everything will make it home all in one piece. (And so no stay candy wrappers find their way onto your floor.)

As a party favor, I send each kid home with a Rice Krispy treat heart. Basically you make your normal Rice Krispy treat recipe, and then before the mixture cools you take spoonfuls and pat them into a large heart-shaped cookie cutter, so they become heart-shaped, and then stick them on a pan covered in wax paper to harden. Once they’ve hardened, melt a cup of chocolate chips and a Tbsp of vegetable oil over medium heat on the stove, stir it up until well blended, then drizzle a little bit of melted chocolate over the top, just to make them fancy. :) Adding the oil will make your chocolate drizzle more smoothly. When the chocolate dries, put your Rice Krispy hearts into a cute cellophane bag, tie it up with some red ribbon, and there you have it. A successful Valentines Day shindig for the kidlets. You can cross that one off your list. ;)

Post #2

Valentines Dine-In Dinner for Two

Close your eyes. Picture your ideal romantic dinner. Perhaps you venture out into the heavy traffic and turn circles around and around the parking lot before finally spotting an opening? Do you squeeze into the lobby of your favorite restaurant and stand nose-to-nose with strangers for an hour waiting for a table? Are you rushed by your waiter, who wants you in, fed, and out in record time so he can give your table to another happy couple?

Oh, that’s not what you pictured? Me either.

Early on in our marriage, my husband and I decided that going out for Valentines Day was not our cup of tea. The hubbub of a restaurant tightly packed two by two like the sardines on Noah’s Ark, never felt very intimate to us. So… we choose to dine in, using the money we would have spent eating out, to buy the menu items needed to cook a special meal we can appreciate in the serenity of our own home.

Here’s what a Valentines dine-in dinner for two looks like at our house.

Drinks. Let me re-phrase that: fancy drinks. These are a must, nothing says “romantic dinner” like a fancy drink. Sometimes we do Martinelli’s sparkling apple cider. Sometimes we like to do frozen strawberry daiquiris (non-alcoholic). But no matter which drinks you decide on, make them something special and fun.
Bread. Most restaurants serve bread or biscuits to start off a meal, and you can too! Garlic Cheese Biscuits are my favorite to serve, because they seem so classy. These taste just as good as Red Lobster’s; I promise, and they are oh, so incredibly easy. You’ll never buy Rhodes biscuits again.

Garlic Cheese Biscuits
2 cups Bisquick mix
2/3 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheese
1/4 cup butter melted
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1. Heat oven to 450.
2. In a medium bowl, stir Bisquick, milk, and cheese with a wire whisk or fork until a soft dough forms; beat vigorously 30 seconds. Use a spoon to drop dough about 2-inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. (You’ll get about 12 biscuits).
3. Bake 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, melt butter. Add garlic powder and stir until well mixed.
4. Brush butter/garlic mixture onto warm biscuits before removing from the cookie sheet. Serve warm. (But they are still excellent when they are cold too!)
Salad. I favor a green, garden salad, but you can do what you want here. I like to use spinach, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, chopped purple onions, shelled sunflower seeds, bacon bits, raisins, and croutons. Tossed all together with some home-style Ranch dressing.
Meat. The way to a man’s heart might very well be through his stomach, but the way to my heart is steak. And chocolate, but we’ll get to that in a minute. When I’m dreaming up a special occasion, a steak is the only way to go. To ensure that your steak turns our fantastically, marinate it. Over night, if possible, but at least for a couple of hours. Here is my favorite steak marinade.
Steak Marinade
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt (sea salt if you have it)
3 (or more) gloves of minced garlic
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup olive oil
1. Mix all ingredients together and pour over meat. I like to put everything in a gallon zip-lock bag so I can shake it up occasionally to make sure all parts of the meat get covered. Marinate for 2-24 hours.

Dessert. We save the best for last, of course! Black Forrest Cherry Cake. I only make this on Valentines Day, and I make it every year. It’s a little bit of work, but 110% worth the effort you put into it. It’s heaven.
Black Forest Cherry Cake
2 1/8 cups flour
2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 (20 ounce) cans pitted sour cherries
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch, round, cake pans; cover bottoms with waxed paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, 2 cups sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil, and 1 tablespoon vanilla; beat until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake for 35 minutes, or until wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool layers in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Loosen edges, and remove to racks to cool completely.
4. Drain cherries, reserving 1/2 cup juice. Combine reserved juice, cherries, 1 cup sugar and cornstarch in a 2 quart saucepan. Cook over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Cool before using. (If you absolutely have to cut a corner somewhere, you can skip this step and use a large can or two of cherry pie filling instead.)
5. Combine whipping cream and confectioner's sugar in a chilled medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form. (One year when I was pregnant, I tried to cut a corner on this step and use Reddi-Whip. Don’t do it. It’ll ruin your cake, just make the whipping cream. It’s worth it.)
6. With long serrated knife, split each cake layer horizontally in half. Tear one split layer into crumbs; set aside. Reserve 1 1/2 cups Frosting for decorating cake; set aside. Gently brush loose crumbs off top and side of each cake layer with pasty brush or hands. To assemble, place one cake layer on cake plate. Spread with 1 cup frosting; top with 3/4 cup cherry topping. Top with second cake layer; repeat layers of frosting and cherry topping. Top with third cake layer. Frost side of cake. Pat reserved crumbs onto frosting on side of cake. Spoon reserved frosting into pastry bag fitted with star decorator tip. Pipe around top and bottom edges of cake. Spoon remaining cherry topping onto top of cake.