Remember the scrapbook paper-wrapped boxes I made for Christmas? I used the same technique to make some Valentine’s Day boxes to package chocolate cold process soap hearts that I made using a heart-shaped silicone muffin pan.
The embellishments were made using “Candy and Cupcake” stickers and microbeads from Martha Stewart Crafts, available online or at Michaels.
My 6 year old, Ethan, loves maraschino cherries. Loves them. So, I decided to make him some Chocolate-Covered Cherries for Valentine’s Day. I used the recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens cook book. The recipe is for 60, but I only wanted 20. The recipe is easily divisible by three.
1. Drain cherries thoroughly on paper towels for several hours. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper; set baking sheet aside.
2. In a small mixing bowl combine butter and corn syrup. Stir in powdered sugar; knead mixture until smooth (chill if mixture is too soft to handle).
Shape about 1/2 teaspoon powdered sugar mixture around each cherry.
Place coated cherries, stem sides up, on the prepared baking sheet; chill about 1 hour or until firm (do not chill too long or sugar mixture will begin to dissolve).
3. Melt candy coating. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. Holding cherries by stems, dip one at a time into coating; if necessary, spoon coating over cherries to coat. (Be sure to completely seal cherries in coating to prevent juice from leaking.) Let excess coating drip off. Place cherries, stem sides up, on prepared baking sheet.
4. Chill until coating is firm. Store in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator. Let candies ripen in refrigerator for 1 to 2 weeks before serving. (Ripening allows powdered sugar mixture around cherries to soften and liquefy.) Makes 20 pieces.
I used cherries without stems and lifted them out of the chocolate with a fork.
I have a couple more Valentine’s Day posts that I am working on for today. In the meantime, check out these other Valentine’s Day ideas from the web.
Red Velvet Whoopie Pies (they’re heart-shaped!)
Rice Krispie and Coco Pops Treats (dressed up for Valentine’s Day)
Valentine’s Day Treats Recipes by Martha
Chocolate Lip Balm with Cocoa Powder
And don’t forget to check out my Valentine’s Day ideas from last year – tag: Valentine’s Day
The Valentine’s Day soap cupcakes looked good enough to eat. Add to that the fact that I scented mine with a yummy amaretto-like fragrance oil, which is my favorite flavor, and I just had to make an edible version.
To make these yumtastic goodies, you will need 2 boxes of Jello (I used cherry), a bag of jelly hearts, a can of whipped cream, silicone cupcake liners or foil cupcake papers, and optional cake sparkles to give it, well, sparkle!
Make the Jello according to the directions for Jigglers. Jigglers call for 4 boxes. I used 2 and halved the amount of water.
Pour the jello into the cupcake liners. If you use foil ones, leave the paper layer in. I tried it with the paper and without. It is much easier to remove the jello from the paper. I think it would be awesome to use the silicone cupcake liners, but I use mine for soap and I don’t have any that I use for food.
The way I filled mine yielded 7 Jello cupcakes.
Melt and pour soapers, resist the urge to spray with alcohol to remove the surface bubbles!
Refrigerate until fully set. It took one hour for mine.
You can leave the jello in the papers (as pictured above) or take them out (pictured below), before decorating. It’s up to you. If you want to remove the paper, first peel away the foil. Then, go around the top gently rubbing the jello away from the paper. Once you loosen the top all the way around, you can just peel off the paper and it should come off fine.
Top with whipped cream and cake sparkles, if desired. Place a jelly heart on top. Wait until just before serving to top, or the whipped cream will melt! If you want them to last longer, try Cool Whip, which holds its form better.
If you push a toothpick into the jelly heart, then push the other end into the jello, the heart will stand up better.
Jello and soap cupcake BFFs.
Learn how to make this simple, yet adorable felted heart scarf from The Crafts Dept. blog at Martha Stewart.com.
I have always wanted to try needle felting. It looks fun and rather simple to do this beginner project. I might have to try it.
Okay, I am a blog slacker lately, I know, but on the bright side, my long-time readers are used to it!
I really wanted to do tons of awesome Valentine’s Day posts and here I am, only a week before the big day, just now kicking it off.
And what better way to kick off a week of Valentine’s Day posts than with Melt and Pour Soap Cupcakes all dressed up for V day?
I left the “frosting” white and, even though the Jewelry Box colorants are not non-bleeding, it has been a week and there has been no bleed whatsoever. If you are worried about bleeding, make the frosting pink.
I colored clear soap with the red colorant and soap-safe glitter, and added fragrance. I poured a thin layer (~1/4 inch) into a silicone pan. (I only wanted a couple of hearts, so I used a muffin pan, but if you want to make a bunch, use a brownie pan.) I poured the rest of the soap into the silicone cupcake liners. When the thin layer of soap was set, I popped it out and used a small metal heart cookie cutter to cut out the hearts.
When the cupcake was set, I made the frosting using white melt and pour soap, with added fragrance. I stirred it with a fork until it was thick and poured/scooped it onto the cupcake, which was sprayed with alcohol to make it stick better. Then, I sprayed the top with more alcohol and sprinkled on more glitter!
While the frosting was still freshly poured, I popped in the heart.
Give one to someone you love. Just don’t let anyone eat it!
4 green or red bell peppers
1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
3/4 cup salsa
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/3 cup uncooked converted long grain rice
1 & 1/4 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Mix everything (except the peppers) together. Cut tops off peppers and clean out seeds. Fill peppers with filling mixture. Place in 5 – 6 quart slow-cooker, sprayed with cooking spray. Cover and cook on low 3-4 hours, until filling is heated and peppers are soft. Enjoy your super easy, super yummy dinner! Add a dollop of sour cream for extra awesome.
My sister and brother-in-law bought me these awesome silicone cupcake cups fro Christmas, Regency Sili-Cups
Unlike other silicone cupcake cups, Sili-cups gold their shape without needing a muffin tin and the edges are crisp little zig-zags. They are, in a word, awesome.
I decided to play with my Soapylove Jewelry Box colorants and make some soap cupcakes.
I melted clear soap and mixed in fragrance, color, and the sparkle dust soap-safe glitter that comes with the color set, then poured the soap into the cups.
I played around with filling the cups to different levels.
While the soap hardened, I melted white soap and added the same color and fragrance. These colorants are not non-bleeding, so I used the same color for the cupcake and frosting.
The “frosting” needs to be stirred and stirred until it cools and thickens enough to hold shape when it is poured on top of the cupcake base. Then, you only have a few second before it gets too hard to pour, so be prepared to work quickly.
Spritz the cupcake with alcohol just before putting on the frosting. Then, pour the soap frosting on, using a spoon to shape it. If it floops of the edge of the cupcake when you pour it, just smoosh it back on; it gives it a more realistic frosting appearance.
Spritz again with alcohol and top with a sprinkle of the sparkle dust.
I loved them so much, I made lots of different colors!
Long name, amazing treat.
I make these for the boys to have for snack. They are slightly better than other sweet treats because of the protein in the peanut butter and the whole grain in the cheerios. And they’re addictively delicious.
Ingredients:
Measure out the cereal in a large bowl and set aside.
Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan. Add marshmallows. When marshmallows are partially melted, add the peanut butter. Stir and melt over medium-low heat until all ooey-gooey. Do not burn! You might want to take it off the heat when there are a few unmelted marshmallows left and stir until smooth.
Pour over cereal and stir until well blended.
Pour into a buttered 9×13 pan. Press down with buttered hands (or sprayed wax paper or silicone spatula).
Let cool, then cut into yummy, awesome bars.
Enjoy!
I hope everyone had a nice holiday. I know that was 2 weeks ago, but this is my first post since then. Now it’s time to dive into 2010 with a nice slow-cooker recipe.
This week, I decided to get back into the habit of menu planning. This was not a New Year’s resolution; it’s something I have been meaning to do for a long time.
I was having a hard time coming up with ideas, so I went to a Kraft Kitchens e-mail newsletter and started clicking on links. I came up with a week’s worth of dinners, made a list, and went to the grocery store.
The first recipe I made was this Slow-Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork. It uses barbecue sauce and chicken broth for the flavor. I also added a little bit of the juice from the canned pineapple.
What You Need!
1-1/2 lb. boneless pork loin, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 onion, chopped
3/4 cup KRAFT Original Barbecue Sauce
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) chicken broth
1 can (8 oz.) pineapple chunks in juice, drained
1 green pepper, chopped
2 cups instant white rice, uncookedMake It!
PLACE meat in slow cooker; top with onions.
ADD barbecue sauce and broth; cover with lid. Cook on LOW 6 to 7 hours (or on HIGH 4 hours).
STIR in remaining ingredients. Cook, covered, on LOW 30 min. or until rice is tender.
The recipe calls for a boneless pork loin, but I substituted pork chops because they were on sale for pennies on the dollar compared to the pork loin. It required a bit more work, but the new kitchen shears I got for Christmas made quick work of that.
I like that the recipe calls for adding the green pepper near the end of cooking. I never thought of doing that, but I hate how mushy peppers get in slow-cooker recipes.
Tip: cut up the peppers when you are putting everything else in the slow-cooker and put them in a container in the frige until needed. That way, you only have to do veggie prep once and it’s easy-peasy to throw the chopped peppers, pineapple, and rice in a the end, without having to lug out your cutting board and knife again.
Both my husband and I liked this dish.
Sorry that I don’t have any pictures. I didn’t realize I would like this so much that I would want to blog about it.
