Do you need some better-for-you treats for Valentines Day?
Kent and I aren't into getting each other stuff for “Hallmark holidays”. Besides, it seems like yesterday when we just gave each other gifts for Christmas.
But do you feel bad if you don't get anything fun for your kids on Valentines Day?
The problem is, something ‘fun' usually means more sugar, and they're probably already getting plenty of that at their school parties. So there will be no Russell Stover here… (***Although if you really want to get them candy, get this better kind!)
Here are some good ideas that are inexpensive and fun too:
- Better-for-you treats for Valentines day #1: I'll wake them up with heart shaped eggs, using our from-the-farm pastured eggs, of course. Here's how: using a Metal Heart Shaped Cookie Cutter, fry an egg inside of it and place on a buttered piece of sourdough toast.
- Better-for-you treats for Valentines day #2: I also have this “I love you” toast stamp thing that I surprise the kids with sometimes when they wake up on Valentines Day. The words are kind of hard to see here. Here's a similar one. Or, you could just cut a heart shape out of a piece of toast using the metal heart shaped cookie cutters above, and smother it in butter or nut butter. Use the middle and the outside piece. 🙂
- Better-for-you treats for Valentines day #3: Whip up some jello using the recipe at this homemade jello post — it's made with gelatin from grass-fed cows! Let it set up on cookie sheets like normal, and then use the cookie cutters to make heart shapes. Yes, those cookie cutters get a workout on Valentines day. Or you could pour the jello into heart shaped molds like these.
Do you have some better for you treats for Valentines Day to share?
Need some more homemade dessert recipes?
Homemade treats are ALWAYS better than store-bought. Surprise your honey and/or your kids with one of these recipes:
- You could cut heart shapes out of these brownies. (Here's a yummy paleo brownie recipe if you need one.)
- Or cut hearts out of these addicting smore bars!
- Or kids would love this chocolate fondue for a special treat on Valentines day too. 🙂
- Here's another Valentines day breakfast idea: make this French Toast Frittata using the metal heart shaped cookie cutters.
- I love these dreamy “clouds” that would be pretty for Valentines day with red berries:
- Last one: a heavenly flourless chocolate cake recipe!
Commenter via Facebook says
I thought I’d make calzones and take one up to B for lunch.
Commenter via Facebook says
The best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach! ….so, I’m making steak & potatoes for dinner and some kind of Chocolate dessert, not sure what that’ll be yet!
Kristy says
We homeschool so I don’t have to worry about the parties and candy at school. So I do pick up a few natural goodies and natural baking supplies at https://www.squirrels-nest.com every holiday. My husband and I exchange small gifts, too.
Commenter via Facebook says
I am making chocolate covered bacon for my family this year. MUCH better than anything from the store! And it’s nitrate free, pastured bacon of course.
Commenter via Facebook says
My kids sang at a nursing home this afternoon and were offered snacks that they did not want. Sad that they don’t have better food there. Glad my kids are hooked on healthy food already!
Commenter via Facebook says
Yeah for real food! I’m thinking about some chocolate pudding for dessert. It’s amazing how good real food tastes compared to the processed stuff. I tasted a pez candy from one of my kids and it literally tasted like flavored plastic! Gross! A gift from grandma, : /
Commenter via Facebook says
Erin Renfro I’m getting ready to make heart shaped sprouted biscuits right now, too! 🙂
Commenter via Facebook says
I made sprouted wheat biscuits in the shape of hearts at lunch. No useless gifts please
D. says
DH and I are watching the two grands tonight, so my son can take his wife out for a nice dinner, just the two of them without kids! They don’t do things like that often enough and can use the break. They are still reeling from the loss of a baby back in October 2011 and are having a hard time adjusting to it even four months later. They are such a sweet young couple and DH and I think the world of our grandbabies, so it’s a win-win, IMPHO.
DH and I exchange an extra morning kiss and say Happy Valentine’s Day a couple of times before he’s out the door and I’m busy for the day, and that’s pretty much how it’s always been. Not that we don’t like to do special things, we just never seem to have the time or take the time for it. We have a few other days we consider pretty special, so Hallmark and e-cards take a back seat today. 8->
Linda says
We don’t? Ok not Russel Stover but I do need the chocolate. Not the cheap stuff tho. I guess I am a little bit of a romantic because I do like to do something for Valentines Day. My hubby’s birthday was on the 10th and we like to go out for dinner on our birthdays so we don’t go out for Valentine’s Day. I like to plan a special dinner at home with a special dessert of course. I baked some cupcakes for my son. It is a recipe I picked up on the net somewhere, probably real food wed. It has avocado in the cupcake and the icing.
Anne says
February in Michigan can be so depressing. I love the timing of this holiday because it gives me an excuse to bring lovely flowers into the house. This year for a strange reason, I got 88 carnations into the house about 2 weeks ago. They were remarkably fresh and have keep perfectly. So– Flower Power for me especially in February!! 🙂
Commenter via Facebook says
We had an almond flour apple cake in the shape of a heart for Valentine’s day – that’s all – and some extra I love you’s and Happy Valentine’s day when we got up this morning!
Commenter via Facebook says
Older son got a couple of gift cards, younger son got a little speaker case for his mp3. Hubby got a little led light that plugs into the usb port on the computer so he can see the keyboard and we can turn the ceiling light off!
Susan says
I got my daughter a balloon and tied it to her chair so she’d see it in the morning. She’s on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (almost 2 years now!) and so I made her some coconut banana waffles (recipe at RealFoodForager.com) shaped like a heart and put raspberries on top. She has planned a party for tonight with crafts and games for my husband, her and me to play.
Renee says
We did heart eggs and soaked oatmeal with raspberries on top 🙂 Used my small heart cutter to make heart apple and cheese cut outs for am snack (my girls are almost 3 and almost 1!), we will have heart nut butter sandwhiches and homemade tomato soup for lunch, and I’m making spaghetti squash spaghetti with tomatos, broccoli and chicken for dinner with cream and olive oil sauce 🙂 We did make coconut flour heart cookies for my oldest friends playdate yesterday but she was more excited about her heart egg this morning I think! LOL 🙂
Commenter via Facebook says
me too. it is such a weird hallmark holiday if you ask me.
Stanley Fishman says
I cook a apecial meal, usually with a new grassfed meat dish with a heart theme. I described a few of these in the latest post on my website.
If at all possible, my wife and I take the day off and spend as much sappy, romantic time together as we can.
And we do not poison each other with sugar drenched candy. But we will share some duck liver foie gras with truffles tonight.
Linda says
Valentine’s Day can be whatever you want to make it. It need not be a “reaction” to any external pressure or manufactured tradition. We enjoy it as a reminder to take the time to let each other know that we are valued, appreciated, and are blessed because we are in eachother’s lives. Yes, sometimes we all need reminding to do something special for those we hold dear. It need not take a specific form as the profiteers of this day have advertised, but if it makes you stop and think, “What have I done for them lately that lets them know just how much I love them?” then that’s a worthwhile exercise. It’s worth thinking about EVERY day.
Wendy Coffman says
I like Valentine’s Day – but we don’t feel pressured to do anything expensive or commercial. It’s just one more reason to celebrate and have fun! Today my hubby helped the boys make cards for me at home, then photographed them holding the cards and made it into a new screen saver for me. Plus he got me a USB splitter I need for my computer – not romantic, but something I needed, for just $5, that I was neglecting to take care of myself. Thoughtful and inexpensive – Hooray!
Colleen says
Sorry ladies, but I cannot stand Valentine’s Day. We call it VD at our house! Just another blatant example of consumerism and materialism. Like there is a competition to see who gets the biggest bouquet of flowers or nicest piece of jewelry. As if? I feel sorry for the pressure put on guys every year to “not be cheap”, “buy the perfect gift”, spend half their paycheck on something that is going to die in a few days”. I personally don’t want an over-priced bouquet of flowers on a day that has been deemed by “the powers that be” to hold some sort of special meaning. No thank you. How about we think outside the box for a change??!!
That does not mean that I don’t love flowers or gifts. But I would much rather get them on a day that the person who loves me chooses to surprise me with them. IMHO, it means so much more that someone was thoughtful on a day of their choosing, rather on a day that is advertised ad nauseum beginning on January 2nd. Cheers!
Susan says
Thank you, Colleen! I am right there with you! I, too, would much rather get flowers or a gift out of the clear blue because my husband was compelled to do it rather than told to do it by Hallmark! It would mean so much more to me if he thought of it on his own! And the one year we did actually go out for a special night on VD, the wait was long, the service was poor and the food was cold. It was neither special nor romantic.
And when did VD become such a big deal? I was out yesterday and everyone was telling me to enjoy my Valentines Day! Or, they would ask about my “special plans.” When you tell them “nothing” they look at you like your dog just died and then ask, “Is your husband is not romantic?” It’s just a day, people! Tomorrow can be just as romantic as today! And when did it become okay for the checker at the store to delve into my personal romantic life?
I don’t need a certain day to know my husband loves me. I know it EVERY day when he goes off to a job he hates -without complaining- so that our family can continue to get by. That, to me, is true love. And when we cuddle up tonight to watch TV, it may not be every girls idea of romance, but it will definitely be mine!
J in VA says
I agree! Let’s surprise the ones we love when they don’ t expect it, not when someone else thinks we “should.” Anyone who goes out tonight is crazy–the lines are from here to eternity and the service and food will be overrated. Treat yourself to something special at home if you must indulge.
carolin says
I made our raw chocolate torte recipe and cut it with a heart shaped cookie cutter into individual treats… pretty and they were thrilled! It’s just almonds (sprouted of course), dates, sea salt, vanilla bean and raw cacao.
Bevie says
I got extra beef heart at the farm yesterday, does that count as valentiney? I am a bit of a valentines grump, and I think that rubbed off on my daughter so we don’t do the whole candy-flowers-lacy cards thing. I do cook a nice dinner for the family though.
Jody says
Kelly,
I do feel like I should do something special for the kids. Last year, I made almond cookies (I can’t remember the name, but they’re the recipe you use from NT for jam thumbprints and witches fingers) and made little hearts with almonds on them. I also made heart-shaped hamburger patties. This year, I’m not feeling quite so ambitious, but I did buy a heart shaped cheese to go with some healthy crackers after school and some heart shaped jerky to throw into the kids’ lunchboxes (Herman’s Boy!). I also succumbed, sadly, to some nasty heart-shaped Peeps to throw into homemade hot cocoa. I may also cut some cheese shapes with little Valentine cookie cutters I got on clearance last year 😉
Jill Nienhiser says
I’ve always liked Valentine’s Day. I love giving and receiving presents, for one. I liked the party at school. We decorated a shoe box and then exchanged cards–at my school we were told to bring one for each person, so everyone got them. We had a small party with cupcakes. Most people wore red. Simple and fun.
People gripe about it being a “Hallmark Holiday”, but I don’t think it’s any more commercialized than Christmas or anything else. It was named a saint’s day in 496, and became associated with romantic love by Chaucer’s time. Giving love letters, flowers, candy etc. dates back to the 15th century. So it has a long history. To me, you can celebrate it or not, as you like, in your own way, just like Christmas, and who cares what advertisers say. I don’t watch TV or take magazines, so I don’t feel bombarded or pressured myself.
I told my boyfriend that I enjoy celebrating it, and that I’d like him to take the initiative. And I’ll return the favor on March 14th, which is the date of a fairly new holiday for couples that’s becoming more popular. 😉 So, including our birthdays, that’s just four times a year total that we set aside to ourselves to celebrate being together. Doesn’t mean we don’t have romantic times the rest of the year, but we do make plans for those days.
Like anything, the key is not to set your expectations too high. I told my guy that if brilliant romantic inspiration strikes once in a while, great, I’ll be delighted. But otherwise, simple is fine. Dinner, movie, comedy club, live music, whatever—a nice evening with maybe a little something extra, like a card, flowers, candy, or some other small gift. This year, I got him that toolbox he’d been wanting. 🙂
I’m all for any excuse to celebrate love!
KitchenKop says
Thanks Jill, now I really feel like a big party pooper!
Had to Google that holiday, LOL!
Kel
Stanley Fishman says
Jill, that is beautiful. Romance is one of the greatest treasures in life. It deserves being celebrated.
My wife and I go all out to celebrate this day, and the blessing of our being together. And we could care less about Hallmark and all the commercial crap.