What's cooking? - Valentine treats!

In my quest to make all of my Pinterest recipes, (impossible!) I have inundated my family with enough sugar to last a lifetime!

Seriously, I love doing this stuff! ...And they love eating it! So, it's all good! 

The feeding frenzy began last night as I made a quick bread for dessert.

Sweet soft cherry bread with almond cherry glaze

This bread was so good - even though the cherry glaze looks nauseatingly like Pepto-Bismol! If you've ever had a cherry  cake donut from Dunkin' Donuts, it tastes just like that - only better! 

The bread and the glaze are both made with maraschino cherries, thus the pink color of the glaze. The glaze is a lot thicker on the original recipe site - not sure where I went wrong with the thickness, but it still tasted just as good.

This is definitely a keeper for any time of year, not just Valentine's Day. It would be great to serve to friends at teatime!

Here's the link:

http://www.averiecooks.com/2014/02/sweet-soft-cherry-bread-with-cherry-almond-glaze.html

 

Valentine popcorn crunch

...A little something to snack on that will keep in a Tupperware for a few days.

Make popcorn. Toss with melted white chocolate, colored sprinkles and valentine conversation hearts!

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A special Valentine breakfast: 

Strawberry stuffed French toast

In between two slices of French toast is a creamy strawberry filling, and it is topped with a fresh strawberry sauce. 

For the filling :

Combine 4 ounces cream cheese (I used strawberry flavored) 

1/4 c finely chopped fresh strawberries 

1 - 8 oz container of strawberry yogurt 

For the sauce:

1 c fresh strawberries, chopped

1/4 c sugar

2 - 4 T water

Combine in a small sauce pot. Heat to boiling over moderate heat. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce is thickened (about five minutes). Sauce will thicken more upon cooling (I refrigerated mine until I was ready to use it).

I also sprinkled powdered sugar over it all before serving.

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Finally, after our dinner , we enjoyed chocolate fondue.

I have never seen four people descend upon food as quickly as my family...

...But we enjoyed it. My youngest son told me that he was looking forward to that all week. That made this sugar high all worthwhile!

My oldest son made the fondue by simply combining one can sweetened condensed milk with 1 c semi sweet chocolate chips. He heated it on the stove over low heat, stirring constantly, until it was completely melted.

We served it with: pretzels, marshmallows, bananas, strawberries and wafer cookies. Be creative! Fondue

is  fun!

File these recipes away for next year!

You'll be glad you did!