Oh, how I love so much to have fun with food! And Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays to do this with. I mean, what can be better than seeing hearts all over your plate? Or your meal turned into a dish of LOVE! Show your kids how much fun it can be with these cookie cutters to assist in your heart making abilities. Available on Amazon #ad
(In case you don't have time to wait for shipping on these, I did see them at Target yesterday! Or, you can always get them now and be ready for next year! These are super fun to use on birthdays, anniversaries, or any time you want to show your family some extra love!)
Let's start with something easy. You can make your regular dinner and use these to form rice into a heart. Pack it in nice and tight, it will keep the shape.
This was not sticky rice, just regular brown rice and it worked!
Let's jump to breakfast: I love whole grain waffles and so does my boy. Since they are round, it is easy to bring the heart cookie cutter right up to the edge of the waffle and have less waste.
It is better to cut them after they are toasted, that way they are crispy and make a clean cut. I drizzled them with organic honey and some cinnamon. Delish!
Once a month, he has a "Lunch Bunch" at pre-school where I get to pack his lunch and he gets to eat with his friends. Since I was in the heart making mode this week, I decided to cut his sandwich into a heart, of course. Same thing as the waffles, though. If you toast the bread a little bit, it helps to make a better shape.
And I cut these carrots into hearts for extra cuteness. It is easier than you think!
Peel the carrots and cut off the nub where the stems grow.
Look down the end of the carrot and cut out a "V" for the top of the heart. Then cut an angle on the right and the left to make a point for the bottom of the heart.
Now you are ready to slice along the carrot and each slice will make a heart. (If they don't come out pointed enough, you can always take a knife to make pointier hearts.)
Don't throw away the scraps for the bread or the carrots.
These can be dipped in hummus and continue to be part of your child's lunch. Also, they are small grabbable bits and kids love to play with their food, as you may know!
The very next day was cloudy, drizzly, and our little tradition is to always have grilled cheese when it rains. Yup, you guessed it! Heart shaped grilled cheese.
I did the carrots again and the hummus was a hit. He loved it so much!
Last night's dinner was deconstructed sushi with air-fried pork belly.
(Find the pork belly recipe linked below.)
Hearts everywhere with anything that is cuttable.
Avocado is easy once you cut it in half. White rice can be shaped and used as the base.
Since Nori seaweed is like a piece of paper, I just cut it with scissors. I designed a beautiful plate for my husband and one for my son. Then Momma got to eat all the scraps. And trust me, this recipe made a lot of scraps!
After everything was designed, I sprinkled with my favorite combo of spices over the whole meal.
My bowl was not so glamorous, but it was equally delicious.
The last dish I attempted was another breakfast. But it was kind of an "epic fail!" I am not ashamed to post my mistakes, in hopes that someone else can learn from them. But also, I thought it was pretty funny.
I started by cutting some hearts out of 2 pieces of toast. I used the small cutters this time.
Then I placed the toast in a pan with a pat of butter inside of each heart. This was my first mistake. The pan is curved, so it would not allow my bread to lay flat. If you are going to do this, make sure you use a flat griddle, not curved.
The goal here is to then fill each heart with egg. Normally, this is meant for a sunny side up egg. But I do not like my eggs runny, I like them scrambled. So, I scrambled my eggs in a bowl and tried to spoon them into each heart.
As you can see, the big one worked well, but the small ones turned into a goopy mess. It was also difficult to flip over (to cook both sides) which is why a runny egg would be best, as you do not have to flip it. Here is the end result:
On the left, yay, you can see the heart clearly, but it got a little bit. . . um, well done to say the least. On the right, where it should have been 2 hearts it looks like one blob. Thankfully, I wasn't serving it to anyone but myself. It was still delicious, and now I learned what not to do for the real deal when I make this for my family on Valentine's Day.
I hope you enjoyed these ideas and please comment to let me know what you thought. And of course, if you make any, send me a picture! I would love to show your work on my website. Happy Valentine's Day everyone and Happy Cooking!
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