by admin on February 5, 2010
Heart Jello
If you’re looking for an easy special treat to serve on Valentine’s Day to serve your kids? Try some of these fun recipe ideas:
Jello Love
1 Lg box Jello
1 heart shaped cookie cutter
Preparation:
Follow recipe on box for Jello Gigglers. Chill in a long shallow pan. Cut out hearts when jello is set. Or you can step it up a notch and add some condensed milk and layer the jello with a condensed milk/gelatin mixture and create a fun layer affect.
FamilyFun Magazine’s “Eat your Heart Out” Jello Fun
Dissolve one package of flavored gelatin in 3/4 cup boiling water. Add 3/4 cup cold water, then pour the mixture into a 9- by 13-inch glass pan and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Stir together 1/2 cup boiling water and the condensed milk. In a separate bowl, dissolve all the unflavored gelatin in ½ cup cold water for 1 to 2 minutes. Thoroughly mix in 3/4 cup boiling water, then combine this mixture with the milk and let it cool. Add half the mixture to the pan of red gelatin, pouring it over a spatula to slow the stream, and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Continue alternating layers — gelatin mix, the remaining milk mix, the final gelatin mix — chilling each for 20 to 30 minutes to set it. Create individual servings with a heart-shaped biscuit or cookie cutter.
Heart Sandwiches:
Cream cheese, softened
strawberry or raspberry Jam
Red food coloring
Bread
Heart cookie cutter
Preparation:
Add a few drops of red food coloring to the softened cream cheese and mix until the color is a light pink. Spread cream cheese on the bread and top with the jam. Cut bread into heart shapes with the cookie cutter.
Hot Cocoa Love
Cinnamon heart candies
marshmallow hearts(small)
Hot cocoa
Preparation:
Pour hot water to make cocoa into a cup. Add some cinnamon hearts and marshmallow hearts on top.
Have a Happy Valentine’s day!! 
Two years ago I moved into a house that has a garden that can be kindly described as uncared for. The weeds were waist high, and soon after we moved in, the weeds were so tangled behind the house that it became difficult to walk there. My stepson has described our yard as “sorta ghetto.”
In an attempt to make our property more usable and truly ours, I pulled out the weeds so that I could put down a pathway. Once the ground was bare and the landscape cloth down, I needed to put something on top to keep weeds from growing again. I thought that this was the perfect opportunity to do a family craft. Crafts are not my strong point, so I wanted to do something easy, and something all the kids could do with me.
I looked online at how to make stepping stones. As we live on a tight budget, I wanted to find a cheap alternative to the stepping stone kits sold in craft stores. At “About.com” I found directions for making stepping stones. I also gave in and bought two molds for stepping stones, partly for the instructions, and partly for the insurance that at least two stepping stones would turn out. I loosely followed the online instructions, and wove into them the instructions that came with the molds. I recommend going to About.com for the full set of instructions, which includes neat ideas of how to include photos in your stepping stones.
1. So then I gathered the three kids who live with us out on the deck and we got together some pie plates, the store-bought mold, concrete mix, water, a bucket, a spatula, and some dollar-store coloured stones. In the bucket we mixed the concrete with water until it resembled brownie batter. Sadly, I am very familiar with the consistency of brownie batter; if you are not, it means that the mixture should be quite thick but damp throughout.
2. We scooped the concrete into the molds and jiggled them to make them look smooth on top.
3. Next we decorated with the stones. My stepson put his handprint and some stones, while my stepdaughter made flowers out of the stones. My son, aged 7, spent approximately 2.1 seconds decorating his stepping stones, but they look lovely nonetheless. It was hard to give up the creative control at this part, so I focused on my own stepping stones and let the kids do what they wanted.
4. As our concrete was a bit wet, we used paper towels to absorb the water that rose to the top. We then found a sheltered spot where the stepping stones could dry without being moved, and without having kitty paw prints added to them.
A week later we popped out the stones and laid them at the start of the garden path. The next round of stones we make will be more daring, I think, with coloured concrete and maybe some more writing. I wouldn’t buy molds again, nor would I use pie tins next time. I think I will use the molds I already have and supplement them with the bottoms of plant pots. I figure if I am going to get dirty mixing concrete, I’m going to make a full batch of them.
Overall, we had a fun family craft that brought us together on a Sunday morning, and that produced art that will help brighten our property. Next time the kids go down the path to get their bikes out of the shed, I hope that they smile when looking at the stepping stones we made, rather than grimace at yard, even if it is a little less ghetto.
