Hearty Food & Recipes

When we first started planning for this party (almost six weeks ago!!!) we really struggled to find healthy, kid-friendly food, especially savory items. We wanted food that is easy to eat, not too messy but that “fit” well for Valentine’s Day and wasn’t full of food colouring. I thought I’d share our menu with you in case you’re looking for some easy & fun ideas.

Valentine’s Party Menu

♥ Sandwich Hearts

We’re doing PB&J, egg salad & cheese. We’re actually going to be cutting the bread out first & then making the sandwiches to reduce waste. We’re also cutting the pieces of cheese into hearts with the same cookie cutter but we were originally thinking of just using a spreadable cheese. (We canned this idea because our sandwiches are going to be small so spreading the cheese would be too difficult.)

♥ Heart Pizzas with Heart Shaped Pepperoni

Kids love pizza and after seeing the pizza (above) on Feels Like Home we knew we’d just HAVE to cut the pepperoni into hearts as well. I know it doesn’t sound true but it is SO easy to make your own pizza dough, and I promise there is nothing that tastes better than homemade pizza. The following recipe can be made in less than 30 minutes and makes three 12-inch pizzas.

Quick Pizza Dough

4 cups all-purpose flour (we often do half & half w/whole wheat & white flour)

2 (8g) packages instant yeast**

2 teaspoons (10ml) salt

1 teaspoon (5ml) granulated sugar (we use brown sugar)

Water

2 teaspoons (10ml) olive oil

Mix together flour, yeast, salt & sugar. Heat 1.5 cups (375ml) water and oil until hot to the touch, 125 – 130 F. With mixer running, gradually pour in the hot water mixture. Mix adding up to 2 tablespoons (30ml) cold water, until dough forms a ball and then process for 1 minute to knead.

Grease a bowl with olive oil, add the dough, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes. (Do not refrigerate.)

Divide the dough into 3 pieces. Roll out each piece on a lightly floured surface to for a 12-inch circle.

Cook at 500 F (230 C) for 8 – 10 minutes. Pizza stones are a must-have if you’re going to make pizza regularly – they ensure the pizza cooks evenly and the shell crisps up perfectly – SO good!

**We use regular yeast and use the sugar and water to proof it as per the directions on the package. We then cut back on the water slightly when adding it to the over all mix!

♥ Red Beet Hummus & Heart Pitas

We really wanted to have a Valentine’s dip on the table but most of the recipes we found involved food colouring. We wondered about roasted red pepper hummus but that tends to look more orange than red. I randomly googled “pink hummus” and found this FAB recipe for Red Beet & White Bean Hummus from Weelicious. The colour is so bright and cheerful (naturally) that I think this is really going to “pop” on the table, surrounded by little heart shaped pitas.

♥ Fruit & Yoghurt Dip

Always a favourite with young & old & super easy to do!

♥ Heart Shaped Brownies with Ganache

I’ve used so many different brownie recipes in my life but never found one that I adore so much that it’s become my go-to recipe. Wanting a tried and tested recipe I turned to twitter and was saved by The New Girl (I’ve used a couple of her recipes now and damn that girl is good!) I’ve never actually made brownies like this before but it is super easy & super delicious. Because we didn’t want them too thick we used a 9 x 13 pan and they cooked perfectly in 25 minutes. We also added some chocolate chips at the last minute for a bit more chocolatey gooeyness!

TNG’s Kickass Brownies (I named them that because they are!)

Ingredients:

1/2c sugar

2TBSP Butter

2TBSP water

1/2 tsp vanilla

2/3 C flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 C semi sweet choc chips

2 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 325 & grease 8×8 pan

2. In med. saucepan, combine sugar, butter & water. Cook over med heat until boiling. Remove from heat & stir in choc chips until melted & smooth. Mix in eggs/vanilla. (I temper the eggs first by stirring a little of the hot mixture into the eggs to bring them up to temp, so they don’t cook. ugh.)

3. Combine flour, baking soda, salt & stir into choc mixture. Spread into pan.

4. Bake for 25-30 min until brownies set. Don’t overbake.

♥ Cake Pops

This is our table centerpiece and our piece de resistance. Seriously how did I not know about Bakerella before now? Have you checked out her site? If you haven’t head over the RIGHT now – her cake pops are AMAZING. I thought they would be really hard to make but we did a trial session a couple of weeks back and they weren’t too tricky at all. The dipping technique was a little touch and go to start with but after a couple we had it down. I can’t wait to see people’s reactions when they try these!

♥ Love Bug Lemonade (aka Pink Lemonade with Raspberry Ice Cubes)

Last time I was at Ikea I grabbed a Plastis heart ice cube tray (a steal at $2). I have a container of frozen raspberries in the fridge so I’ve been dropping one into each heart before filling them with water. We’re serving the lemonade in a large glass jar with a spigot so everyone will be able to see the sweet little hearts floating around. Such an easy way to add some visual impact to a simple drink.

♥ Love Potion Punch

I really wanted to serve a drink with a big PUNCH of colour but I was pretty skeptical when I first read the ingredients Red Slush Punch. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a recipe with all positive reviews so decided I had to give it a go – SO yummy. We left out all the sugar (the jello’s sweet enough & we figure the kids will already have enough of a sugar rush) but if you do the same make sure you cut your lemon juice in half as well. We’ve frozen ours in a large decorative bundt tin so it will look even prettier floating around the bowl.

Are you hungry yet? Please let me know if you try out any of the recipes – and if you have any other Valentine’s Day food ideas I’d love to hear them!