24 Olive Street

2.14

I was very busy yesterday preparing some special Valentine's Day treats for my hubby & kiddos. We don't go over the top at Valentine's Day...maybe because we just got done with Christmas and 2 of my kids' birthdays. By the time February 14th rolls around I'm a bit worn out with all the planning from the last few months!

I've been a slacker the last few years with the festive decor but I do still like to do a few special things for them.

So here's a few of the treats I made for this special day :)

All recipe links at the end of the post.

I made these heart soft pretzels for my kids' lunch today & paired it with a little but of hummus for dipping (keeping it a little healthy on this candy filled day!). I was a little nervous cause the dough wasn't very stretchy so I thought I did something wrong. But when they came out of the oven they were sooooo good!

I only used all-purpose flour...wasn't even going to mess with whole wheat flour. Maybe next time I'll try half and half to see how it turns out...now that I know how a 'normal' batch tastes. I also used my Kitchenaid mixer to knead the dough instead of doing it by hand.

I baked at 400 for 7 minutes and then turned it up to broil for the last 3. That seemed to be the magic numbers for my oven...just be careful cause they can burn fast when you turn on the broiler. I set my smoke alarms off but thankfully didn't burn them!

I also brushed with melted butter when they came out of the oven. Mmmmm. Just an FYI - once they've cooled the butter gets a little mushy so I would only brush on the butter of the ones that you're eating right away & leave the other ones plain.

These cookies are the traditional peanut butter kiss cookies that a lot of us grew up with (and one of my absolute faves!). Just switch out the kiss for a Dove heart!

Since I couldn't find my recipe (or the 2 that I had from my cookie swap last December) I just hit up Pinterest to find one that was similar. Clearly this shows my recipes are in serious need of some reorganizing!!

Pretzel hugs are a favorite and super easy. We've been doing these for years. If you're not trying to surprise your kids like I was it's fun to have them help out :) Seriously, unwrapping all those hugs is a pain!

Now, I will tell you, my pretzel hugs look a little weird. They should flatten more when you put the m&m's on them but I think my oven was still too warm from making the pretzels that the chocolate didn't melt right (or maybe cooked a little). I thought I had left enough time for it too cool off but oh well. They're still yummy :)

Rice Krispie treats are a pretty standard and easy treat to make. But putting holiday sprinkles makes it fun! My kids got one of these in their lunch...and I sent a few in with my hubby along with a heart pretzel :) I also tried a different recipe using marshmallow fluff and I really liked it much better. The taste wasn't dramatically different but I noticed my pan wasn't as sticky and it was easier to smooth them into my baking dish. So I'll probably make them this way from now on.

Btw, is there a difference between marshmallow creme and marshmallow fluff?? Cause if there is I made them wrong! The recipe called for 'creme' but all I had on hand was the 'fluff' and I couldn't find the other stuff in the store.

Still good :)

I haven't figured out what we're doing for dinner tonight yet. Heart shaped pizzas would be fun but we already had pizza this week and the kids also had pita pizzas one day for lunch. I'm thinking of making it a fondue night. I know the kids would dig it!! So I'll be searching Pinterest today for recipes and we'll be running out after the big kids get home from school to get all the fixin'

This one looks yummy. And this. Trying to stay away from the recipes with white wine...not a favorite of the kids.

We kept it simple for Valentine's this year. Once my son saw these Minecraft Valentine's he immediately wanted them.

My daughter only did a couple since this year her class "wasn't allowed" to pass them out in class. Don't even get me started. So she just made up a few to give to her close friends. {sigh} She used the girly version of the Minecraft Valentine's.

I hope you all have a wonderful day spending it with special people :)

For any other last minute Valentines ideas you can check out my Pinterest board here.

Recipe links:

Heart pretzels - Recipe, Pin it

Pretzel Hugs - Recipe

Rice Krispie treats - Recipe, Pin it

Dove Heart cookies - Recipe, Pin it

thursday

...just because I didn't feel like using the blog post 'Valentine's Day' :) hehe

We don't do a lot for Valentine's Day. Although a little chocolate thrown my way or a nice dinner wouldn't have been rejected for sure! And did I mention that my daughter got a better Valentine's gift than me?! Something is not right there! hehe

I make up little goody bags for them & I made some cupcakes using my favorite chocolate cake recipe.

The hearts are just heart suckers stuck in the middle :) I made a batch of regular cupcakes and some mini ones...the mini cupcakes got sent to work with my husband cause I so did not need that many cupcakes around this house tempting me!

I made up little gift boxes for the kids' teachers. I had these pink boxes I bought a while back (you can get similar ones at Walmart, Staples, etc) and I filled them with pink & red goodies...licorice, gum, chocolates, binder clips & paperclips (all bought at Target).

I meant to also put post-it notes in there but I forgot. Oops!

You could also make up gift boxes using those divided craft boxes you can find at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, etc like I did a few years ago for an end of the year teachers gift...

But I didn't have any of those around so I made do with what I had.

The kids enjoyed the little bags that I picked up at Target in the dollar section. Have you seen the cute little holiday felt bags they have?? I did the same thing at Christmas & left them out on their beds to find when we came home from church :)

Their Valentine's bags were waiting for them on their beds when they came home from school.

My sweets ♥♥♥

february 14th

I didn't do a whole lot for Valentine's Day this year. Some years I do more than others, it just depends on what we have going on at the time. Last year at this time we had just found out we were moving to Washington. Crazy, huh?!

So this year I really didn't do much. I had lofty ideas in my head that just didn't come to fruition...but that's ok :) I bought the kids their $2 box of preprinted Valentines cards...no handmade ones anymore. Bieber & Star Wars is better!

That's what they think anyway ;)

I made some very simple boxes to hold their Valentines goodies from school today

I didn't make any special treats. Quite honestly, I'm tired. Like, feel like I'm gonna fall over tired. Hubby is out of town, Addie has been a horrible sleeper the past week, way too many things on my plate...you know, like everyone else, right??!! heh

Maybe it's cause I was working on this yesterday...

I know. That's crazy messy isn't it??!! Not anymore!! I also discovered that I have a ton of McD's pancake syrup & plastic utensils from the last year or so (I treat the kids McD's pancakes about once every month or 2...pretty much the only 'fast food' we get).

I'll have some reorganization pics to show in a later post.

I may go out & get some special Valentine treats today. I usually do but we'll see. I just discovered an awesome bakery in town that has some treats posted on their facebook page that are calling my name.

After school we have drama & karate & won't get home til 7:30pm. So special treats may be out this year.

I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's day with the ones you love!