Easy Chocolate Fondue

Last Saturday, I went to a fondue party with ladies from my Mothers of Preschoolers group. Since I have a fondue pot, I was tasked with bringing some chocolate fondue. Well, I had never made chocolate fondue before so I had to figure out how to do it. Turns out, it really isn't that difficult. On the stovetop, a large batch takes less than 5 minutes.

I had quite a bit of leftover chocolate even though we had a pretty large turnout at the party. It got me to thinking about making fondue in smaller portions. If you have a smaller portion and eat it as a simple dessert (rather than a long, drawn out fondue event), you don't need the fondue pot.

So, I did a little experimenting with chocolate chips and cream in the microwave. It's a bit more hands-on since you have to stir every 30 seconds or so and keep checking it to make sure it doesn't boil over or burn. But, you don't have to clean out a pan and a fondue pot.

You can also add different flavorings -- extract, citrus zest, spices, or even wine. You could also make a large batch on the stovetop, divide into ramekins for serving, and then flavor each ramekin differently.

I love fondue with fresh berries -- especially blackberries -- but you can also dip pound cake, other fruits, pretzels, or whatever else strikes your fancy.

Easy Chocolate Fondue on the Stovetop

10 oz. bittersweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli Bittersweet 60% Cacao)
1 cup heavy cream
Optional flavorings: vanilla extract, lemon zest, ground ginger, chili powder, or cabernet sauvignon

In a saucepan, heat the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate chips until they are melted and the mixture is well blended together. Add optional flavorings to taste -- start small and then add more as needed. (I used one teaspoon of vanilla extract.) Transfer to a fondue pot and set to warm.


Easy Chocolate Fondue in the Microwave

5 - 7 Tablespoons chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy cream
Optional flavorings: vanilla extract, lemon zest, ground ginger, chili powder, cabernet sauvignon, etc.

Put the chocolate chips and the cream in a ramekin. Put in the micowave for 30 seconds at 50% power. Remove and stir. Return to microwave in 30 second increments, stirring after each heating, until the chips are fully melted and the mixture is combined. Add optional flavoring to taste -- start with very small amounts and add more as needed.

Note: I made both white chocolate and bittersweet fondue this way. I discovered that it took more white chocolate chips to get a thick enough fondue to dip. Just add more chocolate chips until you get the thickness you prefer. The white chocolate was really good with blackberries. Yum!

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For other fancy food ideas, be sure to stop by Life as MOM on Thursday for Ultimate Recipe Swap.

DIY Rolled Felt Flower Wreath for Valentine's Day

I really enjoy making crafts, and I enjoy it even more when I can use the supplies that I already have. I mentioned before that I have a TON of felt, even after the many, many felt crafts I've made.

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, I decided to make a dent in my felt stash by making some rolled felt flowers. They're similar to the paper flower arrangement than I made at Christmas -- but even easier. Although you can find heart-shaped wreath frames, I decided to make a frame out of some craft vine wire leftover from my braided vine napkin rings. A little hot glue and ta-da! A cool Valentine's Day wreath.

Want to make your own? Stop by DIY Your Way to see my step-by-step tutorial on how to make this fun Valentine's Day wreath!

Family Fun in February!

January always flies by for me. I guess it probably has something to do with planning two birthday celebrations in the course of a month. I didn't help things that the girlies got sick in January either. I felt like I was in a cave for a couple of weeks. But, I'm finally getting to the point where I feel like I can relax a bit and get into a more regular schedule. And I'm looking forward to February!

Last month, I decided to try to be a bit more deliberate in planning fun stuff to do with the girls. I even made a fun little checklist sheet to help them get involved in the planning. While we didn't exactly stick to our list, we DID have a lot of fun in January. Personally, I enjoyed the indoor snowball fights, doing crafts together, and of course the birthday parties.

So, we're going to try to keep the fun going in February. I really hope to do a bunch of Valentine's Day stuff with the girls. We really enjoy making our own Valentine's Day cards so I hope that we'll do that again.

If you want to be more intentional in your Family Fun, download the February Family Fun Printable and brainstorm with your family. Here are a few ideas that might make February a little more fun.

Family Fun Ideas for February:

Decorate for Valentines Day

• Make words for your mantel. I just love my "Love does." decor that's on my mantel. Kids can help decide on the words, trace out the letters, and even assemble them depending on their skill level.
• Make a sparkly heart garland. I haven't done this but I think my girls would enjoy it.
• Make heart-shaped salt dough candle holders. This is an easy craft to do with the kids. I think I might turn mine into a centerpiece for our dining table. They'd look pretty for an at-home Valentine's dinner.
• Make heart-shaped borax ornaments. They'd look pretty hanging in the window.

Make Your Own Valentine's Day Cards

• Crayon Hearts
• Friendship Blossoms
• Lollypop Flowers

Enjoy Sweet Treats

• Creme Brulee. This is one of our family's favorite desserts. Plus, it's always fun to bring out the torch.
• Cupcakes with Homemade Buttercream Frosting. The girls LOVE making cupcakes and LOVE adding sprinkles. I pipe on the frosting so it looks fancy.

Want more Valentine's day ideas? Check out DIY on a Dime: Valentine's Day at Life as MOM this month!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! So far, so good here. The girls both really enjoyed their new Felt Flower Hairclips that they got this morning before school. They were just the perfect things to accessorize their Valentine's Day outfits.

After getting the girls off to school with their homemade Valentine's, I had a wonderful morning out at Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) where I enjoyed good food, conversation with other moms and a talk about breast health by the founders of Beyond Boobs. Talk about breast cancer always touches me. Ever since my wonderful Aunt Cass was diagnosed four years ago, it has been real to me. I'm so thankful for organizations like Beyond Boobs who offer support for women diagnosed with breast cancer and provide education about breast health for all.

I'm not sure what the rest of our Valentine's Day holds. Since Brett has law school stuff tonight, we won't be having our annual Valentine's Dinner at home. However, I think I just might go whip up some Crème Brûlée to enjoy when he comes home.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day Fun

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

We began the day off usual with cereal for breakfast...but, I tweaked an idea from my sister and let the girlies put some red sprinkles on it instead of the usual honey. (Jessica serves oatmeal...my girls won't touch the stuff. It literally makes Ella gag.) They loved their sparkly cereal. Ah, the simple pleasures!
After a morning at school for Ella and work for me and Lucie, we headed home for heart-shaped sandwiches for lunch. So far, it's been a fun Valentine's Day. We hope the fun continues too.

Tonight our Valentine's Menu plans have changed a bit. My husband apparently has had far too much tri-tip these days...so, we'll be having ribs instead. It's a bit of an experiment. The only ribs I've ever "made" are Lloyd's. We'll be trying out this recipe for Baby Back Ribs. As for side dishes, we're going to have Spaghetti Squash Sauté (another experiment) and Spinach Salad with Feta and Cranberries. Last night, I prepared the Crème Brûlée so all I need to do is sprinkle them with superfine sugar and broil them. I think I'll try garnishing them with a heart-shaped strawberry. With all of the "experiments," I really hope this dinner isn't an epic fail! At the very least, at least we'll enjoy the Crab Cakes appetizers and the 2007 Monmousseau Vouvray Blanc des Blancs that my sister-in-law Dawn gave us for Christmas.

After dinner, we'll have a few gifts. I made the girls these cute little Heart-Shaped Flax Seed Boo Boo Bags. Rather than just giving them the gift, I'm going to turn it into a bit of a Treasure Hunt!  I plan on putting a heart-shaped clue on the bottom of their dinner plates. Then they'll have to follow clue after clue until they find their gifts. It should be fun...I just have a lot of work left to do! Gotta get to it...

Ella's Valentine Hearts

As I was assembling Ella's Valentines for her class, Brett asked me, "Why don't you just buy Valentines like normal people?" I guess that I just like to create something homemade. Plus, it gives me a chance to use some of those scrapbook tools of mine that have been languishing in the cupboard for far too long. Last year we used my Creative Memories cutting system to cut the hearts for Valentine's Day Blooms. This year, we used it again to make these little babies.

These Valentine Hearts were fun and easy to make. I got Ella to help me make some Crayon Hearts. (This time she wasn't too busy watching TV to help like she was when I made them for our Valentine's mantel.) All we did was take a long sheet of wax paper, fold it in half, and "sandwich" some crayon shavings in different colors between the layers. Then, I placed the wax paper between two sheets of brown paper bag (my thrifty substitute for craft paper) and ironed on low until the crayon melted. Once the sheets were cool, we cut hearts out of them. Then, I printed some simple wording on white cardstock and cut out slightly larger hearts. We finished them off by using a glue stick to put the crayon hearts onto the white heart backing.  Of course, Ella addressed them herself. We think that they turned out cool.

Not only did we create some unique Valentine cards, but they were practically free! Since we already had the supplies at home (wax paper, crayon stubs, and cardstock), it didn't cost us a penny. Okay, so that isn't quite true. The card didn't cost money, but we did spend about $1 on foil-wrapped chocolate hearts. We plan on taping them to the front of the crayon heart so that Ella's friends get a sweet treat on Valentine's Day. All in all, these homemade cards were a fun and frugal way to celebrate Valentine's Day with Ella.

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For other frugal-minded ideas, be sure to check out Frugal Friday at LifeasMOM.

Valentine's Day Menu

It has become a tradition at our house to enjoy a special Valentine's Celebration at home. The evening usually includes beautiful roses provided by Brett, simple gifts, and a yummy dinner and dessert. Oftentimes, I even print out the menu!

I haven't fully decided the menu, but I just think it might include Grilled Tri-Tip for the main course. In past years, I've made all sorts of yummy chocolate desserts including Chocolate Lava Cakes. However, this year I might skip the chocolate and try out this recipe for Crème Brûlée. Brett and I LOVE crème brûlée. It is the dessert that we usually order when we do have a fancy meal out. We've tried other recipes at home with some success. However, this one looks interesting to me because it doesn't require cooking before going in the oven. If it works out, I'll post about it next week.

If you're looking for other Valentine's Treats, be sure to stop by LifeasMOM for Ultimate Recipe Swap.

Valentine's Day Decorations

Like giving Valentine's Day gifts, putting up festive decorations is another way to make Valentine's Day special. Today, I got to work to change our "Not-A-Mantel" to reflect the upcoming holiday. Back in December, I was inspired by The Lettered Cottage to create a Christmas Mantel. Of course, when January came around, it evolved into a Birthday Mantel. Now for February, we will have a Valentine's Day Mantel.

To create this mantel, I kept the candles from Christmas and added a white teapot filled with silk roses. Then, I decorated the mirror with paper cutouts of the word LOVE and a few Crayon Hearts. I had aniticipated making these hearts with Ella, but she prefered to watch Swan Lake instead. Who am I to argue with her desire for culture? So, I made the hearts myself. I can only imagine that a child would love to do this craft too.

Other child-friendly decorating ideas would be to:

• Make paper chains from red, pink and white construction paper or try this printable Valentine's Heart Paper Chain
• Make some tissue paper flowers together
• Make a sign declaring your love for your family
• Blow up a few balloons. You can either hang them up or just let the kids bat them around. There was a time when Ella declared "It's not a celebration without balloons!"

Valentine's Day Gift Ideas

When I was a kid, my dad would often give each of us kids a special kid-size box of See's Candy for Valentine's Day. We didn't often get candy, so it was an extra-special treat to get our very own box. Although I haven't set a tradition with giving a specific type of gift each year, I do have something in mind for Monday.

Since our Cinderella Ice Pack bit the dust this weekend, I thought that I would make Lucie and Ella each their own Heart Boo Boo Bag. It's basically the same thing as a flaxseed heating wrap, but in the shape of a heart. It can either be stored in the freezer for ouchies OR heated in the microwave for warmth. Ella loves using my flaxseed wrap, so I think she'll enjoy using the heart as well.

These are super-cheap to make. They cost me nothing since I already had some leftover supplies from other projects. However, if you don't want to buy flaxseed, you could also use plain ol' uncooked rice. The smell would be different, but the result would be the same.

Here's what you need:

• heart template
• fabric
• scissors
• sewing machine
• thread
• iron
• funnel
• whole flaxseed or uncooked rice (I used 1 cup per bag)

Here's what you do:

1. Cut out a heart template that is slightly larger than you want your finished bag to be. Trace and cut out 2 hearts out of fabric. (I cut out one solid colored heart and one floral heart.)
2. Place the two hearts with the right sides of the fabric facing together. Use straight pins to hold the hearts together while you use the sewing machine to stitch them together, leaving about a 1 - 2 inch opening.
3. Turn the hearts right side out. Iron to press the seams.
4. Finish the edge by sewing around the heart again and be sure not to stitch the opening closed.
5. Place a funnel into the opening and pour in the flaxseed. Use straight pins to hold the opening shut.
6. Stitch the opening shut and remove the pins.

Sewing not your thing? You can still make a cute homemade gift! Fishmama has two great ideas -- a personalized Candy Bar Wrapper and a free downloadable and customizable Valentine's Coupon Book.

Celebrating Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is in just one week! I don't have plans for date night out. Very rarely do we ever go out on Valentine's Day. However, that doesn't mean that we don't celebrate it. Since we started our family, it has become a tradition to enjoy a special meal together at home. But, it's easy enough to make it a whole day affair...especially with kids! This year, I hope to turn it into an "I Love You Day" Celebration.

I haven't figured out all of my plans this week, but I hope to make the day special for my family in a variety of ways -- decorations, gifts, some fun and of course yummy food. If things work out, I'll be sharing some of my plans throughout the week.

One thing that I know that I will do this week is to make Valentine's cards with Ella for her class. Last year we crafted our own (shown above) using this cool Friendships Blossoms Valentine Craft from Family Fun. The results were so cute...and best of all, Ella loved making them with me. It should be a week of fun!