Baby photo credit: doriana_s

• If you have simple PhotoShop skills you can follow my easy to use instructions to download this free photo frame (shown above) and add your own image inside the red frame. Instructions are at the end of this post.
• There’s time to make chocolate covered strawberries. And, they’re quick and easy. The kids would have fun with this project.
• Valentine’s Day crafts for kids.
• If you’ve got some time today or even tomorrow you could attempt to make a Valentine’s Day cake that will *wow* everyone who get a piece. There’s a surprise on the inside — when you cut into the cake it displays a red heart. The baker shows a simple tutorial on her blog. You’ve got to see it.
• One of the allrecipe.com users, Celeste, submitted a photo of a Valentine’s Day (or I should say Night) picnic she created for her and her husband fireside at their home. Looks very romantic.
• RealSimple.com has a Valentine’s Day dinner menu that claims to be “stress-free.”

When all else fails, wait until the kids are in bed and put on a movie. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you are together.

Photo Frame How to:

1. Open valentinewrap.psd in PhotoShop.
2. Click (highlight) on the “Insert your photo here” layer.
3. In a new window, Open your photo.
4. Size your photo to 375 x 500 (width x height). (Go to the Image menu, choose Image size, type in your dimensions and click OK.)
5. Drag your photo to the open valentinewrap.psd file. Since the Insert your photo here layer is highlighted it should show up behind the red border.
6. Save the file as a JPG. (File Menu, Save as.)

DOWNLOAD THE FILE NOW.

Enjoy!

I recently finished reading “A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table” by Molly Wizenberg, with my book club. It’s a memoir of a woman’s life as she progresses through the passing of her father, a move to Paris and the eventual finding of the man she will marry. It’s a quaint story to which many can relate, but what I liked most of all is that at the end of every chapter she lists a recipe pertaining to the story.

For example, for her wedding she made 25 (I think it was 25) decadent chocolate cakes. She claims they are so easy to make and freeze well. How can making 25 cakes be easy? I had to try it. Well, not making 25, but I made one successfully.

First, I melted chocolate and butter over a double boiler.

Stir until creamy.

Lookin’ good.

Mix in sugar.

Bake. It comes out a little crusty on top. Then you have to flip it onto a plate, then flip it again to get it right side up.

Here it is in all its beauty. This ancient plate doesn’t to this cake justice. It needs to be sitting on a fine piece of china or a pretty little cake stand, dusted with powdered sugar.

Here’s the side view. It’s a rich, dense cake with tons of chocolate flavor.

Everyone at book club made a recipe from the book and we had quite the feast that night (see links to recipes below). I wish my camera were working properly that night so I could show you the food. You’ll have to click the links below to see them on Wizenber’s Web site, Orangette.

Related:

• A Homemade Life on Amazon.com
• Orangette the blog 
• Recipes that the ladies from book club made — all are super delicious:
  
  • Gâteau au chocolat fondant de Nathalie (aka Chocolate Wedding Cake)
  • Banana Bread With Chocolate and Cinnamon
  • Chocolate Covered Macaroons
  • Caramel Corn
  • Slow Roasted Tomatoes
  • Sugar Cookies with icing (ours were made in the shape of hearts )
  • Pickled grapes and pickled carrots (I can’t find the recipes online for these, but they were good)

I mentioned in a post two weeks ago that I was busy making Rice Krispie treats for my son’s school’s bake sale. I finished them and was very proud of the final outcome. I doubled the recipe and cut them into little rectangles, stuck in a Popsicle stick and then dipped them in chocolate. So cute.

Here comes the chocolate. School color, no less. I just melted a bag of red candy melts to come up with this smooth, melted goodness.

One by one, they each got dipped half-way and set on wax paper.

See how bright the red looks.

I let them dry like this for about 20 minutes. The chocolate was dry to the touch.

Next were the cute little bags with twist ties. Each treat got his own baggie.

Aren’t they cute?  At this point I’m thinking they are worth $2.00 each. I lower my standards and think $1.00. Yes, $1.00 each, but I am not pricing them. The bake sale ladies are pricing the goods. I’ll have to wait until I get to the fall festival to see how much they ask.

It’s afternoon and I’m at the bake sale and head over to see how much my beauties are selling for. 25 cents! Twenty-five rotten cents. I can’t believe it. Not only that, they are, I think, the cheapest treat on the entire bake sale table!

I’m **crushed.**

Brownies, plain brownies are going for over $1.00. Little pretzel sticks dipped in chocolate are more. I don’t even think anything else is 50 cents.

** sigh **

Onward I go.

They are still super cute and people are buying and eating them. Kids were choosing them (because of the lollipop sticks) so all was good in my life again.

But next time, next time I’m adding some pizazz. Something fun. Something that will get the kids to run over, kicking and screaming, begging for my super cute Rice Krispie treats. I’m adding …

Disney stickers!

Who can resist Nemo?

Or Donald?

Yeah, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll add stickers and make them irresistible.

I think I’ll have to get some Princess and Lightening McQueen stickers to seal the deal.

This batch with the stickers are the ones that I saved for my son’s birthday party to use as the goodie bag item. After my astonishment about the sticker price (ha!) at the bake sale, I found these stickers lying around and decided to add them at the last minute. They really spice the treats up and push them over the top.

Here are some tips in making these treats:

• Make a double batch of Rice Krispie treats — two bags of marshmallows, six cups of cereal
• Cut them into small squares. I even trimmed them once they were cut so that the top was flat.
• Put stick in them after they are hard (I’d use some chocolate on the end so the sticks won’t fall out. Mine came out once you started eating them.
• Melt the candy melts in the microwave in intervals of 30 seconds. Don’t over microwave. Dip the treat into the bowl of chocolate. I had to use a spoon to get some of the chocolate onto the treats.
• Set them down on the wax paper to harden.
• Wrap in small candy/cellophane bags.
• Sprinkles would be cute.
• Don’t forget to add the stickers!

It’s birthday cake time and I’m working on my next creation, but first I have to make bake sale items for my son’s preschool fall festival. I like to bake so it’s a natural for me to participate in this, but to be honest, I didn’t really have a choice because all of the other volunteer activities require parental participation during the day. Makes it tough on working moms to participate in these things, but I’ll do my best.

So, tonight I’m making rice crispy treats on a stick. They are turning out cute. I’m taking photos and will post about it coming up soon. For now, I’ve got to get back to wrapping the teats so they will be the first items to sell at the sale tomorrow

It’s finally starting to feel like fall here in Florida. Friends and relatives are already dealing with snow and sleet, but we’re just getting into jacket weather (and not even that yet!). It’s put me in the spirit to be outside doing fall things. Here’s a list of things you can do to get into the spirit of the season:

• Make some pumpkin bread. Here’s All Recipes’ highest ranked pumpkin bread recipe.
• Pick apples and drink apple cider.
• Take a hay ride.
• Pick out a new book for Thanksgiving. Review this list of the best children’s books about Thanksgiving.

From the Balancing Motherhood archives:

• Preserving Fall in Wax Paper.
• Get an awesome apple pie recipe, learn about the turkey phone hot line for all your turkey problems.
• Fill a shoebox with toys for kids who don’t get Christmas presents. Operation Christmas Child delivers gifts to children around the world. National collection week is coming up, November 16-23, but it doesn’t take long, or take much to fill a box.

Photo courtesy Memotions via flickr.