Happy Valentine's Day!

It was another beautiful day today, so Grandma, Rhiannon & I went to the park for a Valentine’s Picnic lunch.  Nothing really special to eat, just some sandwiches, oranges & pretzels, but that was enough.  Especially since Rhiannon wouldn’t sit down for more than ten seconds to eat; the playground beckons!

I made some special Valentine chocolate treats for Paul and my Mom this morning.  Well, and for me.

Who doesn’t like chocolates?  And they are so easy to make.  If you have a couple of bags of chocolate chips in your pantry, you probably have the rest of the makings for goodies in your kitchen.

I melted the chocolate in a double boiler (I think you can also do it in the microwave) and then started dipping just about anything I could find.  I dipped graham crackers, pretzels and cherries.  I’ve heard that some county fair had chocolate covered bacon, and had I thought to fry up bacon ahead of time, I would have even tried that.  Come on, who doesn’t like bacon??

When I was finished dipping, I divided the remaining melted chocolate into three bowls.  I mixed walnuts into one, shredded coconut into another and crushed peppermint candies in the last one.  Spooned out little globs of each onto waxed paper & put everything in the fridge to harden up. 

You could go a lot fancier on the chocolates, but I was running out of time (i.e. Rhiannon was running out of patience……Mommy will be done in just a minute, sweetie).  I was able to sprinkle some red sugar crystals on the pretzel rods.  I had wanted to paint some hearts on the graham crackers using white chocolate but just ran out of time.

I’m hoping to do some fancier chocolate candies for Easter.  Some old fashioned hard candies, the obligatory chocolate bunnies…..wonder if it’s possible to make jelly beans?  Hmmmm.  Maybe even make some marshmallows!  This time I’ll start a few days ahead of time though. 

Oh, and don't forget to check out the stores for discounted Valentine goodies to put in your stash for next year.  Red sprinkles can also be used for Fourth of July and Christmas decorations.  Nothing better than not only having the stuff ready for next year, but getting it at a deep discount!

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s Day!