Home and Family Ezine

How to Make Valentine’s Day Cookies

Many ways to make cookies for Valentine’s Day can be found in this article.

This Valentines Day Say I Love You with Cookies

What better way to tell your sweetie “I Love You” than with some fresh baked cookies? Give some of these sweet treats a try this Valentine’s Day. Cupid himself would be impressed by these yummy creations. They are sure to be a hit with your Sweetheart, Children, Neighbors or anyone else special to you as well. Don’t forget to get the kids involved! I still have memories of making Valentine’s Day Cookies as a child.

Heart Shaped Cookies
Make you favorite roll-out sugar cookie recipe. Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut them. Bake, frost and decorate to your heart’s content. You can sprinkle them with red or pink crystallized sugar before you bake them, or frost and sprinkle with some tiny candied hearts or pink sprinkles after they are baked. Use icing in a tube to write a message or draw a picture on the cookie.

Cookie Lollipop
Heart Shaped cookie lollipops are always a big hit. Start with basic sugar cookie dough. Roll it out to about 1/8th inch thickness (place the dough between two sheets of wax paper to keep the dough from sticking). Use a heart shaped cookie cutter and cut an equal amount of hearts. Place half a bamboo skewer, a lollipop stick (found at craft stores) or a Popsicle stick on the bottom half of the hearts. Place the remaining hearts on top and press them firmly together. Bake according to your recipe instructions and decorate as desired.
Tip – soak the skewers or Popsicle sticks in water before placing them on the cookies to keep them from getting burnt.

Valentine’s Rice Krispies Treats
Make Rice Krispies Treats and while the mixture is still warm use a large heart shaped cookie cutter to cut them out. If you can’t find a cookie cutter of the right size, draw a heart on cardboard and use it as a template. Just lay it on the sheet of Rice Krispies Treats and trace around it with a knife. For even more Valentine fun add a few drops of red food coloring to the marshmallow mixture for a pink version of the sticky treat.

Cookie Dough Jar
Place the dry ingredients of your favorite cookie recipe in a pretty jar. Write the recipe for the cookie on a heart shaped piece of paper or a valentine’s note card. Tie it with a pretty bow around the jar. Make the glass jar even more special by drawing little red hearts on it with a permanent marker. These are so cute and easy!

Bouquet of Cookies
Bake up some of your favorite cookies. Get a pretty basket and line it with a red or pink cloth napkin. Arrange the homemade cookies in the basket. If you’d like, you can also add some heart shaped cookie cutters, Valentine’s Day themed sprinkles, or some hot chocolate mix. Another option would be to use a piece of floral foam and arrange some decorated Cookie Lollipops within the basket and fill the bottom with Hershey’s Kisses or other Valentine Candy.

All of these cookie ideas for Valentine’s Day make wonderful gifts for a special someone that has a personal touch. They are sure to be appreciated, after all, who doesn’t like cookies?

Spring Cleaning, The Natural Way

Spring cleaning goes beyond normal everyday cleaning. It’s a
major project of home revitalization: to make everything new
by removing dust and dirt, to make sure everything is in
good repair, and to put things in order, so that you will
have everything in your household in working condition for
the coming year.

Here are some tasks that are traditionally included in a
major spring cleaning:
* Put away winter clothes and take out spring and summer
clothing.
* Sweep and vacuum floors, walls, and corners.
* Wash floors and carpets…
* Clean window panes, sills, and frames. Replace thick
winter curtains that keep heat in with light summer curtains
that allow breezes through. Remove storm windows, hang up
screens.
* Brush or vacuum stuffed furniture and remove spots.
* Wash every surface in every room that has accumulated dust
or grime. Continue reading →

How to Grow and Use Herbs

I’m sure you have noticed the high price of dried herbs for cooking at the grocery store; a small bottle can sometimes run $4 or $5 or more. Why not save some money and enjoy the fresh taste and grow your own? It’s simple, provided you have a sunny area to grow them.

How to Grow Them
To grow herbs, all you need is a sunny area, fertile soil and a little of your time. If your soil is clay or sandy, you will need to add organic material such as compost or manure to get the best results. Once your herbs are planted, make sure they get at least an inch of water each week and keep the area weeded. If you have added plenty of organic material to the soil prior to planting, you probably won’t have to worry about feeding the plants for a while. All I do is work in a layer of compost around the plants each season and my herbs grow fine.

If you don’t have a whole area to devote to herbs, that’s okay, you can squeeze them into your flower beds or vegetable garden. Herbs make a pretty combination to flowering plants and some will actually benefit nearby plants by repelling insects. Just be sure the area gets plenty of sun and the soil is fertile and weeded.

You can also grow them in containers provided they get enough sun. If you do this, you will have to water on a daily and sometimes twice daily basis. Be sure to check the soil often to see if it is drying out. You will also have to fertilize the plants often because as you water, the nutrients get leached out of the soil.

What it Will Cost You
An herb plant at the local nursery will cost you between $1.99 and $10 depending on the size of the herb. I usually purchase the smallest size to save money because I usually don’t need a huge amount right away. If the herb is a perennial, it’s going to be there year after year supplying you with fresh leaves for cooking and will be growing bigger each year which will allow you to propagate plants by division, cuttings or seed which means more herb! If the herb you purchased is an annual, that’s okay because it will supply you with enough herb to still make it worth the purchase. You can also propagate annual herbs by collecting the seeds or by taking cuttings. If you’d like to save more money yet, you can start the herbs from seed or get a division or cutting from a friend, neighbor or relative.

How to Use Herbs
Through the growing season, you can use the herb fresh which has a much better flavor than dried. If your recipe calls for one teaspoon of dried herb, substitute one tablespoon of freshly chopped herb.

Drying and Storing
You can dry your herbs for winter use or convenience. To dry them, cut them early on a dry day after the dew is gone. Bundle 8-10 stems of the herb with a rubber band at the cut end and hang them upside down in a well-circulated area out of direct sunlight.

I have a piece of lattice hanging on one of my kitchen walls for this purpose and I also use a pegged, wooden coffee cup holder which is made to hang on a wall. They both make pretty decorations with all the herbs and flowers hanging from them drying.

In about a week or so (or less if weather is hot and dry), check the leaves to see if they are crispy to the touch and no moisture remains. If so, remove the leaves from the stem, crush and put into a lidded container, label and store out of direct sunlight. When removing the leaves, it helps to do it over a piece of paper so you
can catch any fallen leaves.

Growing my own herbs has saved me a bundle of money and has provided an enjoyable hobby, fresh taste and something to offer my friends and family. You can even make your own herb seasoning mixes to bottle in pretty jars to give as gifts as an additional way to save money. I’m sure you’ll find it worth the small effort too.