valentine’s day fun

Here’s a few of the fun things we did and ate today in honor of the day of love. I enjoy Valentine’s Day and think it’s fun to spend a day gushy, mushy and making as many things heart shaped and pink as possible. And on a side note – it’s the 8 year anniversary of Luke proposing from the side of the road so it sort of has a special spot for that reason too.

Greek Yogurt Pancakes

These have become a staple in our house for breakfast. Partly because I almost always have Greek Yogurt in my fridge (love it!) and second because the girls can eat pancakes like they are going out of style. When I first tried the recipe for these I was hooked and have a feeling this could become our go-to pancake recipe. There is very little flour and they are loaded with protein from all the yogurt.  And, although I’m not a crazy-obsessed-organic-all-natural-eating-Mom, I do appreciate that I know everything that is in these and they aren’t made from a packaged mix loaded with ingredients I can’t read. I tried making these using heart pancake molds I bought at Cost Plus and never making fun shaped pancakes before there was a definite learning curve. Apparently, you don’t want the pancake to cook all the way in the mold or it’ll get stuck and you’ll just have mess trying to get it out. So, we had a few decent heart shapes and more little silver dollar sized circles because I lost patience and had hungry girls. All in all I’d say light pink, sort of heart shaped pancakes, were a great way to start our morning.  Try these for breakfast. They are fast, healthy, and I’m sure you could make a huge batch and freeze some for easy breakfasts.

Greek Yogurt Pancakes

adapted from everydaybelle.com

• 1 1/2 C of your favorite greek yogurt (today we used Plain, Non-Fat but I’ve used Vanilla before and want to try Mango or Pineapple)
• 2 eggs (even healthier would be just egg whites)
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 C flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• Optional: red food dye

Mix the yogurt and eggs together well; add in the vanilla.

In another bowl mix the flour and baking powder. Add the egg/yogurt mixture to the flour mixture and mix well. It will be very thick. Today I added a few drops of red food dye to get the light pink shade for Valentine’s.

Spoon onto a hot griddle and flip when they start to bubble. Using the mold I set it down on the griddle, sprayed it with non-stick spray then spooned a little into the mold. After it had a few  minutes to set I carefully removed the mold and let it continue cooking before flipping. Serve with whatever you love on pancakes.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

These are beyond delicious — two red velvet whoopie cookies sandwiched with delicious cream cheese frosting between. Here is the link to Annie’s Eats with directions and much cuter pictures than mine. I managed to make a batch of these today while they girls were napping and we delivered them to our parents and grandparents. They are adorable for Valentine’s Day but would be a sweet treat anytime of the year. I forget how good red velvet cake is and could easily eat quite a few of these in one sitting.

Here’s what I learned from making them:

1.  Really mix the cocoa powder with the flour. I left little clumps thinking my stand mixer would break them up; it did not and I can see little clumps in my finished cookies.

2.Pipe out smaller hearts — she said she got 18 sandwich cookies out of her dough — I believe I got 9 so I was a little generous with my batter.

3.  Use parchment paper not wax paper. It worked but got a little smokey at the end of baking.

4.  More red food coloring! I ran out and used probably half of what she did and I love how red hers are.

Scavenger Hunt

We ended our day with a scavenger hunt in pajamas. This is one of the traditions I remember my Mom doing growing up and knew it was one I couldn’t wait to continue when I had kids.

She always had it all set up when we woke up and we’d tear through the house, reading the clues and moving on to the next one before coming to a small Valentine’s gift at the end. I believe this continued until I left for college. I’ll never forget the year I was 16 and it was a driving scavenger hunt with my younger brother that ended at an old Bed and Breakfast for brunch with my Grandma and parents — talk about a memory!  Next year my plan is to be more prepared and have them wake up to one; we will see if that happens.

I bought a cheap box of Valentines and wrote 10 different clues for each girl and while Luke distracted them I put them around the house. “Where does your toothbrush live?”  “Where do your babies sleep?” Where are your pajamas?” Where do your dirty clothes go?” Where does Stella eat dinner” After watching how into it they were I’m wondering why I’ve never done something like this on a normal day when we are looking for something fun to do.  Thank you Target $1 section for an easy goodie basket of  chap-stick,  princess notepads, princess puzzles, and water bottles.  I love this tradition and can’t wait to do it again next year.

   

Here’s to a fun day of love and continuing that love all year!