23 Heart Shaped Foods for Valentine’s Day

Well Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and with it comes heart shaped EVERYTHING. What is it about heart shaped foods on Valentine’s day that makes people feel like they’re in some way showing extra love for somebody? My hubby and I aren’t big on Valentine’s day because we make an effort to show love for one another every single day of the year! This being said, heart shaped foods are super adorable and make me giggle. Here are some really cute ideas for heart shaped foods for Valentine’s day and EVERY day! Don’t forget to tell someone today that you love them too. 🙂 (Click the images for original posts.)

BREAKFAST:

What goes better with heart shaped eggs than heart shaped BACON! Cutest bacon I’ve ever seen. Source: The Paper Mama

You can’t forget about heart shaped pancakes! Here’s one way to do it. Make two different colored pancakes, cut hearts out of each, then swap the hearts for a contrasting color. Cute idea.                                                                Source: Gatorade Military

Here’s the other way to do it. Just pour the batter in the shape of a heart. If you have a large heart shaped cookie cutter, you could also set that in the hot pan, and pour the batter into it to get a perfect heart shape. Source: Martha Stewart

Here’s a nice collection of various sized heart cutters. About $10. Click Image to BUY NOW.

LUNCH:

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup always makes me happy. The only way it could make me happier is with heart shaped sandwiches! How about floating a few heart shaped cheddar cheese slices in soup. Delish!

Why stop at grilled cheese? You can get super creative in the heart shaped panini department! Do I hear turkey and cranberry? Just make a regular panini and cut it out with a heart shaped cutter.

What else would you serve with your heart shaped sandwiches than… Heart Shaped fries? Seriously, this is getting out of hand. How cute are these? All you do is slice potatoes, and cute out heart shapes, then fry and top with salt. Clever indeed.

Or perhaps you’re in the mood for a warm hearty soup… with heart shaped carrots. Talk about comfort food. If someone made this for me I would totally believe they loved me.

Grape Tomato Hearts. Cutest. Tomatoes. Ever!! Just slice the tomatoes in half and flip one side over, then stick an arrow toothpick through them. Gluing a little piece of paper to the ends of toothpicks seems easy enough. How sweet!

SNACKS:

These pretzels are made out of canned dinner rolls! You roll out two rolls into a rope and then twist them into shape.

Here’s an adorable little snack of heart shaped corn tortilla chips and salsa. Wouldn’t this be great if you used flour tortillas instead, topped them with cinnamon and sugar, and served with a hot apple chutney? Yum!

Talk about heart healthy! Heart shaped fruit, with yogurt dip. This snack is simple, sweet, healthy, and adorable!

DINNER:

Heart Shaped Pizza, with heart shaped pepperonis! My husband would be so happy if I served this up. Make it a white pizza for a prettier look. Sliced ham in heart shapes would add a pretty pink color to the pie.

I’m imagining a scene from the Sex and the City movie involving sushi and Valentine’s day. 🙂 Maybe Samantha would have had better results if she had made these precious heart shaped rolls!

These heart shaped saffron buns would be a delicious complement to a valentine’s night dinner.

Heart Shaped Chicken Parmesan with fresh heart shaped mozzarella topped with marinara sounds delectable for a Valentine’s Night feast!

DESSERT:

Charming little pear raspberry hand pies. Source: Martha Stewart

Making a heart shaped cake doesn’t require a heart shaped pan. All you need is one square pan and one round pan. Set the square cake on a diagonal. Cut the round cake in half, then put each half on one side to make the rounded top. So easy!

Sweetie pie pops would be the perfect little bite after a lovely Valentine’s dinner. They are sweet, light, and the sky is the limit with fillings. Check out full instructions by clicking the image above. Source: Our Best Bite

This Valentine’s day maybe you might get to make some whoopie… pies that is. 😉 Try these red velvet whoopie pies with cream cheese frosting. Mmmmm!

Make your honey happy with these Honey Green Tea Sandwich Cookies. So good, and good for you! Plus, aren’t we tired of pink and red for Valentine’s day?

Related articles

• How to Pull off a Perfectly Romantic Valentine’s Dinner (personalcreations.com)
• Free Printable Valentine’s (all-things-good.org)
• Valentine’s Day Food Ideas (3citygirlsnyc.wordpress.com)
• Heart-Themed Sweet Treats – The Somewhat Simple Valentine S’more Bites are Adorably Delectable (TrendHunter.com) (trendhunter.com)

How to Make Gourmet Campbell’s Soup

4 WAYS TO DOCTOR UP REGULAR CAMPBELL’S SOUP

I have always been a huge fan of campbell’s soup. It was the first thing I learned to cook on my own as a child, and its always been my go to for a quick, cheap, easy meal. At around 100 calories per can, it doesn’t add to my waistline either!

Over the years I’ve come up with a few ways to doctor up the regular ol’ campbell’s recipes. Here are a few of my favourites!

BAKED POTATO SOUP

• 1 Can Campbell’s Cream of Potato
• 1 cup of milk
• 1/4 shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 Tbsp bacon bits
• Salt & Lots of Pepper
• 1/tsp dill or dill pollen
• 1 Tbsp Sour Cream as a garnish
• 1 Tbsp freshly chopped scallions

Add everything together and heat till cheese is melted. Finish with a dollop of sour cream and fresh scallions.

 

GREEN MINESTRONE

I love this minestrone soup but I like a little more green. Jazz up this soup by adding using chicken stock instead of water and add about 2/3 of a cup (a handul) of chopped kale right to the hot soup in the pot. Cook down for about 5-6 minutes. You will have a delicious and healthy soup full of tons of vitamins and nutrients!

 

 

 

CHICKEN CORN CHOWDER

Make a quick corn chowder using Cream of Chicken Soup, one can of sweet corn (including the juice), and one chicken breast (cooked and cubed). Combine all the ingredients and use one can full of chicken stock instead of water. Be sure to add plenty of pepper and a little salt. A hearty meal in minutes! You could also do one can of cream of chicken and one can of cream of potato.

 

 

SPICED AUTUMN SOUP

Harvest Orange Tomato is new on the Campbell’s scene but it has quickly become my favourite! It has the warm smooth comfort of tomato with a deeper more savory flavour. Use one can of chicken stock instead of water, and add 1/2 tsp of allspice, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, and you’ve got a delicious fall soup! If you want to get really fancy add 8oz of frozen mashed butternut squash and melt it into the soup. It is to die for!

Related articles

• The Art of Soup: Campbell’s channels Andy Warhol (theartjunkie.wordpress.com)
• Campbell’s Releases Soup Cans Featuring Andy Warhol’s Pop Art (laughingsquid.com)
• Campbell’s Soup: Rocking the Retro Creative Vibe (aptmarketing.typepad.com)

Exceptional Womanhood

Yesterday someone was was asking me about myself. She asked what my passions were and what I did with my time. I told her about this blog, and all of you. I told her about school and how I was getting my degree in counseling. She asked what my goal was with all of that. I don’t know if I had verbalized it yet, but as I shared with her my love and passion for homemaking I realized how God has been pulling all of these things together for me.

I suppose its about time to come up with a mission statement for Homemaker Chic. My passion is for teaching women and girls the value and worth in being a homemaker. I want young women to learn that being a mother, wife, and all around Proverbs 31 woman is a wonderful and worthy calling.

Today in church my pastor spoke about being exceptional. He said that the only way to be exceptional in this world, is to be abnormal. To be different from the culture, and to seek greater things. While other women are reading 50 shades of grey and watching Magic Mike, I want to be reading the Bible, learning how to be more like Jesus and learning how to romance my husband. While other women are letting it all hang out, I want to be modest and pure.

Today women often find worth in being a sexual object, in being better or more powerful than men, in having a successful career. It seems to be highly abnormal for a young girl to say “I want to be a mommy when I grow up!”

I get the strangest looks when people ask what I do and I say, “I’m a homemaker.” The next question is inevitably… “So what exactly do you DO?” I don’t mind being abnormal, because I have a passion for families. Homemaking is a cornerstone to fostering godly well-mannered children, a peaceful haven for husbands, and a place of rest for the entire family. Even women who work can put their families first, my mother is a perfect example of this. She found a way to help my dad support the family, while also homeschooling her children and maintaining a lovely home.

I want this blog to be a call to cultural abnormality and exceptional womanhood. I want this blog to encourage women to build up their families and husbands- not tear them down. Let’s commit to being a different kind of woman. Let’s forget what society tells us we should be, and realize that God is calling us to something exceptional!

I know there are women out there who in the eyes of the world are very abnormal, but in the eyes of God are truly amazing and exceptional.

I’d like to dedicate this post to some truly exceptional and abnormal women in my life 🙂

I hope you ladies don’t mind me pointing you out!

Tammy, who is an amazing wife and mother. A sweet and loyal friend. Whose children are the most charming and well behaved boys I’ve ever met. Whose husband is a godly man and father. Who is an inspiration to me.

Ara, who beams with joy every time I see her. Who is a precious mommy, who loves her children and has committed to raising them in the way of the Lord. Who is a godly wife and a charming woman of God.

Cessie, who is a shrewd and thrifty homemaker. Who faithfully teaches and shapes her children. Who supports and loves her husband. Who has always been generous, sweet, kind, and modest. Who I have never seen without a smile on her face.

Danielle- my sister, who, though she is a single working mom, strives to teach her boys to be respectful men of God. Who puts raising her children before all else. Whose boys are brilliant and adore her. Who is one of the most thoughtful and creative women I know.

Phyl – my mother, who faithfully raised her children in the way of the Lord. Who still teaches me things daily. Who is a faithful student of God’s word, and a fervent prayer. Who has committed her life to strengthening marriages and families. Who is an incredible grandmother, still teaching and mentoring the next generation in our family.

This link below is to a talk given by Dannah Gresh who is a speaker on purity and raising girls and children to be godly. In this talk she shares the importance of family, and teaching our children to want a family of their own. If you have 20 minutes or so I highly recommend you listen to it. It really opened my eyes to the importance of family and what it means for our society.

Why Your Family is So Important – By: Dannah Gresh

Related articles

• Some Perspective for a Good Homemaker! Are you? (fondfamily.com)
• Empowering Women through The Value of a Homemaker (prweb.com)
• Strange and Wonderful People: Confessions of a Vintage Homemaker (beckydietz.wordpress.com)
• A Godly Homemaker

• Raising Homemakers: Teaching and Preparing Daughters in the Art of Homemaking

• Passionate Homemaking: A Godly Woman’s Work

;

;

Easy Iced Tea

Being Southern I grew up drinking a lot of sweet iced tea. While I’ve skipped the sweet these days I’m still a huge fan of cold iced tea on a summer’s day. I love iced green tea, it is so yummy, refreshing, and it is chock full of antioxidants and other amazing health benefits. I’ve been making tea since I was a kid and together my mom and I came up with a clever way to make brewing iced tea a little simpler. We’ve been using this nifty little trick for years.

Start by pulling off the paper tags and staples from the strings. 

The gather the strings together and tie them around the handle of a wooden spoon. I find that a slip knot works nicely, but a regular knot is fine too.

Then just rest the spoon across the edge of your tea container and fill with enough water so that the tea bags are fully submerged. Let the tea steep then just pull the tea bags out by lifting the wooden spoon. No more fishing around trying to get the tea bags out. And you don’t have soggy tea tags floating around in the tea! Add a little honey or splenda. I just like a little sweetener in my green tea. This keeps it low calorie. Of course if you’re wanting true southern tea, like the kind my momma makes, you can add about a pound of sugar.

Related articles

• Five Beautiful Uses For Green Tea (bellasugar.com)
• 9 Tasty Iced Tea Recipes You Haven’t Tried (Like Strawberry-Basil!) (self.com)
• Kitchen Shortcuts: Homemade Flavored Iced Tea (theyellowprojectdotorg.wordpress.com)
• Cold-Brew Iced Tea (youaremycelebrity.com)