Valentines Day!

So many days I am so ashamed of my frustration, anxiety and bad behavior and wonder if I will ever get better. And then I see how far we have come... My son wrote a lovely note to his teacher, sewed a valentine; I make lunches, and even a fruit tray for my daughter and class because she is allergic to everything. While it may seem standard mom stuff, I use to barely even be able to get out of bed. We are healing, we are moving forward, and I am so very grateful to those who love us unconditionally and have helped us gain strength.

I love Valentine's Day. It is just such a happily pink day that we get to make cute crafts and have fun parties in the classes. I dressed up today and was told by another mom I looked like a Valentine Fairy... where are my wings! 

For my son's class I made these raw brownie bites, but I made them really thin and cut them with heart cutters, they were a hit in third grade! 

Gluten free cupcakes with coconut milk and berry whipped topping "frosting" inside secret hearts! 

Oh and of course the lunch! An inside out sandwich with heart shaped turkey, beef, and rice cheese. Side of cupcake, yellow peppers, cinnamon sugar apples, and tomatoes. 

And for dinner, we have pasta, with a big turkey meatball heart. I made little gelatin hearts with pomegranate juice and knox gelatin. 

Some roses for you, my dear

I love roses and pink. I'm such a girly girl and those things make me happy. After my grandmother passed away, I went to go live with my grandfather and there was so much pink and rose accents everywhere, I finally figured out where my love for pink and roses came from!

Bacon roses, linguini with beet juice, rice cheese hugs and kisses cut with the alphabet cutters. Heart carrots, tomatoes, cut apples, and a tangerine. 

To market, to market...

To buy a fat pig...

Beet juice to make the rice piggies pink, turkey bacon for the ears and noses, I used a hole punch for the noses, and nori for the eyes and mouths. 

Roses

I saw this done with ham, which is a little more pink, but, turkey will do.

I made little rice cylinders, and cut up sliced turkey into half circles and placed them around the rice to form a rose. I also made some extra turkey bacon,  and rolled them up into roses!

Placed in some greenery of spinach and some craisins on the side.

Pink

I often use canned beets and it's juice for coloring food, I love it's vibrant pinkness!

I decided to see what would happen if I used the beets too, and cut up some of the beets with the heart cookie cutters, and used some juice to color the Ka-Me Bean Threads, and there it is! The kids weren't really thrilled with the beets and most of the beets ended up coming back home, but the noodles and the rest of the food was gone!