Valentine's is in the air

I decided to send both my daughter and my hubs off to school and work tomorrow with some sweet treats in hand to celebrate Valentine's day. I of course found some amazing ideas on pinterest so I wanted to blog about my experiences with each recipe/craft.

Lets start off with the M&M Samoa Blondies found here:
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/01/valentine-m-samoa-blondies-recipe.html

These were super easy to make and DELECTABLE! I followed the recipe to the T. And the only issue that I had (maybe because it's my love hate relationship with my Korean oven) was that the tops of the M&M's burnt a little so I had to take the one's on the top off. Hence why no picture of my own (they did not turn out as pretty as these). I would suggest if you do bake these to put some foil over the top so they don't burn. This is also an easy recipe to have the kiddos help with. So out of 10 I give this recipe a 9. This is a keeper in my recipe stach :)



This one is called Two Ingredient Strawberry fudge:
http://cookiesandcups.com/strawberry-2-ingredient-fudge/

This recipe was super easy. I put the white chocolate chips in the microwave (just keep an eye on them so they don't over cook) and then stirred in the strawberry icing and placed in an 8x8" pan that had parchment paper placed inside. EASY EASY. This recipe is also from the site as well because I don't like how my fudge did not hold up. This recipe is a bit of a mess so I would suggest 'lil eyes can watch just not touch. As far as suggestions go with the recipe: Put the fudge in the freezer for a fair amount of time before you cut into them. It breaks really easy and when you handle it for to long (even with it being in the freezer before hand) it starts to get sticky. So how do I rate this? Well, I am not a huge fan of strawberry icing so I was not keen on the taste. The texture was also a bit off for fudge. It was too soft and creamy. Just think in between icing and fudge. However, I am a fan of how quick and easy it was. I will be making this again BUT next time I may try milk chocolate chips and the german chocolate icing, or white chocolate chips with dark chocolate icing. The ideas and flavors are ENDLESS with this recipe so this too will be a keeper (just not the strawberry one). I give this a 7 out of 10.

My daughter's actual valentine's gifts 

I love bear hugs and so does my daughter. This year we decided together that the above link was appropriate for this valentine's exchange for her class. I tried to keep the whole idea of what the link did but I did feel that Gummi Bears and Teddy Grahams were to much "bear" and not enough "hugs" so I kept the Teddy Grahams and ditched the Gummi Bears (sorry hope no hard feelings lil bears) So what did this mama do? I threw in some hershey hugs. So there you got it you have "BEAR HUGS". I am actually really happy with how it came out. I don't think the picture to the right does it justice. And your probably wondering how does a coffee mug fit into the equation of bear hugs. That is for her teacher. It is a coffee mug that has a top on it and I CRAMMED that puppy full of Chocolates. On her label it reads "You're A Sweet Treat". I really like how I coordinated the little treat baggies and the coffee mug. Honestly, that was not on purpose I grabbed these items at two different occasions. Oh well I am totally NOT complaining. So this idea for me deserves a 10 out of 10. Why? Well, what kid is not going to like chocolate and teddy grahams?

This is where I got my idea for my daughter's valentines for her class: http://familyfun.go.com/valentines-day/valentines-day-cards/bear-your-heart-675032/