Thursday, February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day!

For all you lucky ladies out there who will be getting roses today from your sweetheart, I found a great way to enjoy your flowers a little longer...Woman's Day Magazine (Febrary 12, 2008) has a recipe for DIY Poutourri that is easy and is sure to smell divine! Just dry your Valentine's roses, and add the petals to the mix below.

DIY Potpourri

Dry rose petals
1/4 cup whole cloves
1 cup whole allspice
10 (3 inch) cinnamon sticks, broken in pieces
8 whole bay leaves
4 whole nutmeg
3 Tbsp. star anise
2 Tbsp. whole cardamom pods


If you know my husband, you can attest that he is pretty non-demanding. So when he requested a specific cake for Valentine's Day, I was floored. And excited to comply.

German Chocolate Cheesecake (from Jeni Harmon)

1 package German chocolate cake mix
(Bake according to directions and pour cake mix into greased 9" by 13" pan.)

2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
(Blend ingredients until smooth. Pour over raw cake mix. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour, or until done.)

Coconut Pecan Frosting
Combine:
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
3 slightly beaten egg yolks
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla

Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened, about 10 minutes. Stir often...bottom will burn if the heat is too high. Add 1 cup coconut and 1 cup chopped pecans. Cook until thick enough to spread. Frost cooled cake.


Jennwa at Ramblings sent along a little blog love this past week and I wanted to pass it along to Kawaii Crafter at Zakka Life. She made the CUTEST Kimono Dum-Dum Valentines. Thanks for the cute, and thrify, inspiration!

6 comments:

Melissa said...

Is it wrong that it is 9 AM and that cake still look really good :) Yummmm

Amber M. said...

No...and you KNOW it's love when I made it for him, even though I'm Lenting chocolate...

jennwa said...

The potpourri idea is good but that chocolate cheese cake looks terrific. Yummy!!

Happy Valentine's Day !!!!

Camie said...

mmmmmm...that sounds delicious! What a good wife you are.

Anonymous said...

Okay, so I am playing catch up on reading your blog, so I have a few comments . . . :) First, Joel says Valentine's Day is for people who don't have anniversaries, and since we've just celebrated the birth of our precious boy, even my birthday last week was very low key - so Valentine's Day in our home will be basially non-existent this year. I like the 14 days of V-day though; maybe I'll do something like that for Joel leading up to his birthday. I was honoured to see that our sweet Vincent is on your to do list today - thanks! :) I have a picture of him in the giraffe oneise I won on your sister's blog, so I need to send that photo to you two. And as one of your Catholic friends . . . for future years and further ideas, you don't always have to give up something for Lent. You can also commit to doing something "extra" as you prepare your heart and mind for Easter - for example, a Catholic may choose to say the rosary every day during Lent or attend daily mass or do some sort of special project in the community, etc. The possibilities are as endless as you are creative! :)
Happy Valentine's Day - I'll eat some chocolate for you (I remember giving up chocolate for Lent when I was a kid)!
Courtney

zakkalife said...

Hi Amber,

thanks for the award, I just did a little post on it and passed it on to someone else if you want to check it out.

jessica