valentines day

I’m so excited to be on Texas Living today showing off this easy and healthy Valentine’s Day breakfast for the whole family with the last minute in mind. When they asked me to be on on the 13th to do something Valentine’s and craft related, I was at a loss. What could I show on the 13th that people would have time to do by the 14th?

Well, everyone’s got to eat, right? So I threw together a Valentine’s themed breakfast with more of a focus on fun than on sweets (since we all know there will be plenty of that the rest of the day).

Everything you need can be found at your local grocery store and craft store. If you’re lucky, the 2 will be close to each other and it will be a quick stop on the way home from work or errands.

For the table:

I covered it in white craft paper that I got at the craft/hobby store. You could also do brown packaging paper, which is sometimes found in the mail supply area at big box stores. In a pinch, just flip some old wrapping paper over, and cover the table white side up.

Then I used a red and pink Sharpie and drew “placemats” at each place with names above them and freehanded some hearts all around. I filled a few with what I loved about each person, and then left some empty hearts for the kids to color or to (tell me what to) write what they love about others in the family.

Dude. My handwriting. I KNOW. I don’t use those old fashioned writing devices much anymore. I’M A BLOGGER. 

I bundled some crayons (leftover from the Valentines we made) and set them at each place setting because who doesn’t like drawing on a table?

 For the food:

A grapefruit sliced in half. Put a heart shaped cookie cutter on it (can find at a craft store or maybe your grocery store), and sprinkle some sugar… okay, lots of sugar inside. Then remove the cookie cutter.

Use that same cookie cutter to cut hearts out of a couple pieces of toast.

Pick up a box of Quaker Oats Whole Hearts cereal at the grocery store, and a tub of strawberries. To make the strawberries look like hearts, just gently pull off the leaves and stems, use a sharp knife to cut a v-shaped wedge out of the top, then cut in half. Top the cereal with your heart strawberries and add milk… in case the cereal thing is new to you.

That heart-shaped egg thing? Amazingly easy. Get you some silicone heart-shaped cupcake molds. Like these, or these. You can find them at your craft store in the baking section, and possibly at your grocery store.

For 6 molds, whisk together 6 eggs, a couple tablespoons of half and half or milk, a tiny bit of salt and pepper, and about a 1/2 cup of shredded cheese. Bake them at 350 for about 20 minutes. (Best to do this first thing, before you start decorating the table, so they’ll be done when you’re ready.) Once they are out of the oven and cooled off a bit, it’s super easy to pop them right out and plop them on a plate. My kids just eat them with their hands.

Oh, and what about this cute cup of juice?!

As simple as freezing some cranberry or cherry (or cran-cherry, in my case) juice in some tiny heart ice cube molds and popping them in some orange juice just as everyone sits down to eat. You should be able to get the ice cube tray at the craft store. Similar to this.

Worst case scenario: Use the cupcake molds. Fill them just a little bit, and just put one giant heart ice cube in each juice glass.

That’s it! Hopefully, even if you don’t use all these ideas, there’s something in here you can pull off by Valentine’s morning that will put a smile on someone’s face. It’s not a crazy, fancy, uber styled tablescape and menu. Just some quick, fun, healthy ideas you can throw together quickly to create some fun family memories.

If you live in North Texas, look for me on Texas Living today! I’ll be showing all this off and demonstrating… how to pour cereal in a bowl? The show is on KTXD, and starts at noon. I’ll come back and post the video here later for those who miss it.