Our Love Day

I couldn't blog about what I was doing for Valentine's Day BEFORE the day, because the wonderful Mr. Curly reads the blog and I wanted things to be a surprise for him.

This year was so pinterest inspired (that phrase is getting a lot of work this year, don't you think?).

Mr. Curly's first gift was a book "52 Reasons I Love You" (found on pinterest here).  I didn't use playing cards, but instead found our stack of 4X6 photo paper we bought ages ago and have never used.  And yes, I will send you the list of reasons I love Mr. Curly if you ask for them, but I've got to warn you - only a handful can apply to other couples!

His second gift was homemade peanut butter cups in the shape of hearts (here).  I used Baker's Melting Chocolate, because once I got to the store I completely forgot what type of chocolate the recipe called for, but they turned out fabulously.  I also cut the recipe down by 75% (so instead of 4 cups of powdered sugar, I used 1 cup).  This made 15 hearts - perfect for a little valentine treat!
Mr. Curly bit into one, paused, his eyes got wide and then he smiled.  "These are awesome."
I'll take that compliment any day!

To celebrate with our kids, we didn't make them clean their plates before serving them heart shaped cake with homemade cream cheese icing (my first attempt ever at this and it came out wonderfully) and exchanging cards.  Mr. Curly got Curly Girl a card and box of chocolates, I bought cards for Curly Boy and Curly Baby.  Curly Boy also got a box of chocolates, while Curly Baby got a can of Gerber cheese puffs (one of his favorite snacks!).

It wasn't the typical, couple, romantic valentine day, but we had such a good time, I don't really care.
Plus, I got a set of springform pans out of the deal!  While this may not sound as romantic as balloons or flowers or chocolates (which I also got), I am super excited about them!  This will make my cake-making SO much easier and I can't wait to make picakens (pinterest idea, but I don't have a link yet), cheesecakes, stacked cakes.....

As I said on facebook - Anybody know any healthy recipes to make in springform pans?


So next year - remember this advice - free is fun and special and with google - you can find and make anything!