Valentine Food Tip/Trick

It is so easy to turn everyday foods into Valentine Foods.  During the whole month of February almost every meal I make is love themed.  It is so easy to do by either making red foods, making foods red, or making it heart shape (or all 3)!

Here is my first tip/trick.  These are those chocolate squeeze containers (that’s the official name).  I actually use these all the time.  On the weekends I make up batches of things for the next week’s meals.  I like serving hot meals for breakfast and these containers make that easy.  I make up a double batch of pancake batter.  I cook up one batch and refrigerate (or freeze).  The next batch I pour into these containers and put them in the fridge.  In the morning I can pull these out and make pancakes just as easily as I can pour up 4 bowls of cereal! 
Oh an extra tip here is that we LOVE Betty Crocker’s pancake recipe.  Seriously it’s so yummy.  I keep the pan greased up with butter, so then I don’t butter my kids pancakes (it really does end up being less butter this way, so much healthier).  My kids can either have chocolate chips in theirs or they can have syrup on them, but not both (I have my standards!).  I usually use whole wheat flour and have just substituted it straight out for the regular flour.  It is dryer, doing this, but in this recipe we like it just fine.  The pancakes just are not quite as fluffy.  My kids have never commented on noticing the difference!
 
The real reason I use those squeeze containers is to make shapes (using them to prepare ahead of time is just the bonus).  This month we are going with all hearts.  It even makes baby hearts so easily.  Is it just mine or do your kids LOVE to have baby anything?!  I always make up miniscule pancakes and they call them the babies.  I divvy those up equally. ;)  It’s the little things in life, isn’t it?
 
Don’t those hearts look great?  The reason they have tails on the bottom is that for some reason that is the way I draw hearts.  On paper I think it’s cute.  In pancakes…well, not so much.  But I couldn’t get my hand to “draw” these hearts any other way. 
I also always do my kids initials too.  I’ve been known to make animals as well.  Though my drawing skills are not the greatest.  So they are more just shapes, and then my kids decide what they look the most like.  Someone with mad drawing skills could really rock these pancakes though…that would just not be me.

Last tip.  Those awesome markers.  They are edible!  Well, not the markers themselves but the ink you write with.  Be creative.  Anjeanette wrote on her banana peel!  How awesome would that be?  These write on just about anything (I didn’t say anything, because not so much with writing on saucy things, etc).

Rebecca

I am linking up to Fireflies and Jellybeans Party and Poppies at Play, and Skip To My Lou!