Surprise your little valentine with a box of goodies.
Celebrate your sweetest little ones with decorative and delicious Valentine's Day treats. Whether you're planning food for a party for children, or a little something for your own tots, surprise your youngsters with snacks that incorporate heart shapes and pink, red and white hues. Serve the treats with holiday-themed plates, napkins and cups.
Breakfast
Start Valentine's Day with a healthy and heart-y breakfast. Make a pink berry smoothie by combining 1 cup of plain yogurt, 1 cup of frozen strawberries, 1/2 of a small, ripe banana, 1 teaspoon of honey and 2 tablespoons of orange juice in a blender. Process until smooth. Serve this with heart-shaped pancakes. Drop 3 teaspoon-sized circles of pancake batter on a hot skillet. Use a wooden skewer to quickly join the middle and sides of the batter to form a heart shape. Complete the breakfast with an egg baked in a heart-shaped ramekin and sprinkled with crispy, crumbled bacon.
Meals
February is soup season. Serve a hot Valentine's Day meal in a small, round loaf of bread. Choose a sturdy loaf with a thick crust. Search for sourdough bread bowls at your local supermarkets or bakeries. Use a serrated knife to cut a heart shape from the top of the bowl. Pull out the bread and fill the cavity with your child's favorite soup. Minestrone is a good red choice, or make chicken and pasta soup with seasonal heart-shaped pasta. Make ravioli with homemade dough or purchase wonton wrappers. Shape the dough with a heart cookie cutter, fill the dough with herbed ricotta cheese, then cook and serve with red sauce. A large heart cookie cutter is good for shaping sandwiches. Peanut butter and jelly and meat and cheese fillings are the easiest to cut.
Snacks
Keep Valentine's Day healthy and pretty with parfaits. Alternate layers of vanilla yogurt with sliced strawberries and vanilla wafer cookies in a clear glass. For a colorful and flavorful alternative, substitute raspberry yogurt and banana slices, then add a sprinkle of shredded coconut on top. To make heart-shaped cupcakes, mix your favorite cake batter and spoon it into paper liners in a cupcake tin. Arrange one marble in each cupcake section between the liner and the tin. Bake according to recipe directions. The marble will form a top depression in the shape of a heart. Let the cupcakes and marbles cool before removing them from the tin. Spread white frosting and red sprinkles over the cupcakes.
Party Foods
Make sparkling punch by combining one can of red or pink frozen juice concentrate with four cans of seltzer water. Use pink lemonade, cranberry juice cocktail or an apple juice blend with cherry or raspberry for the right color. Dip pretzel rods in melted white and milk chocolate, then roll the rods in heart-shaped sprinkles. Once dry, arrange the pretzels sprinkles side up in Valentine's Day-themed cups. Make pizza with red sauce, mozzarella cheese and pepperoni cut into heart shapes with a small cookie cutter. If you are making homemade pizza, shape the pie into a heart instead of a circle.
Tags: cookie cutter, dough with, heart cookie, heart cookie cutter, heart shape