Valentine's Day is around the corner! Whether you have a special someone or are single, this is a holiday for celebrating all kinds of love and relationships. Tokens of love can come in many forms, whether it's encouragement and compliments, kind gestures like favors, or gifts. One of my favorite gifts to give (or get) is food, especially food that has effort put into it. In this article, I've listed some cute themed treats from around the web you can give your friends or yourself this Valentine's Day.
1. Smile Dip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pagY7G7WgeU
Remember Valentine's Day in elementary school? It was awesome because everyone brought valentines and candy and it was like a mini Halloween. Fun Dip was one of those candies I never got except on Valentine's Day at school. "Smile Dip" is a treat from one of my favorite shows "Gravity Falls" and definitely is an homage to fun Dip. The YouTube channel "Feast of Fiction" specializes in creating real life recipes for fictional food and made a video of their own (and kind of healthy) version of Smile Dip. The recipe is simple: just sugar and freeze dried fruit all blended up in a food processor. Clicking on the link above will take you to the full video with the complete recipe. The best part? There's also printable packets you can make so you can give them out like legitimate packages of Smile Dip
2. Breakfast Kabobs
http://www.blogilates.com/blog/2015/09/02/easy-quick-healthy-breakfast-ideas/
These breakfast kabobs were created by Cassey Ho, creator of "Blogilates". All you need are kabob skewers, fruit, and mini pancakes! This is a breakfast you can customize to your liking. If you don't want pancakes, leave them out and instead just stack on your favorite fruit. This can be made any time of the year, so for Valentine's day, you can make the kabobs themed by sticking with pink and red fruits like grapes, strawberries, and watermelons. Go a step further and dip the fruit in chocolate if you like. If you have a small, heart shaped cookie cutter on hand, everything on the kabob can be heart shaped! But, if you just want the regular recipe, it can be found by clicking the link above the photo
3. Conversation Heart Cheesecakes
http://hungryhappenings.com/2012/02/sweet-valentines-day-dessert.html/
Rosanna Pansino created these in her "DIY Valentine's Day Treats" video on her YouTube channel but the full recipe is in the link above. I've never liked the taste of regular conversation hearts candy. Does anyone? They always tasted like chalk to me but I always make myself eat them around Valentine's day because, well, they're the conversation hearts. THE candy of Valentine's Day. Plus they're just so darn cute with their little sayings and pastel colors. With this recipe you can get all the stuff you love about conversation hearts without the taste. Instead, they're cheesecake! Warning: These treats require a lot of ingredients, cookware, and time. If you're just making quick treats for your friends, these may not be the ones to make.
4. Valentine's Day Popcorn
http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/valentines-popcorn-white-chocolate-popcorn/#_a5y_p=1247775
Most of the food on this list is very sweet and sometimes (especially during a movie night) you want something salty. One easy way to fix this is with Valentine's Day themed popcorn, a very quick and easy recipe from gimmesomeoven.com.Just top your favorite popcorn(air popped, microwave, bagged, etc) with melted white chocolate, sprinkles, and heart shaped candy. This is another recipe that can be customized because you can add marshmallows, Valentine themed m&ms, or white chocolate covered nuts and pretzels to the mix. This is also another gift that you can put into little packets and baggies and give to your friends.
5. Cupid Floats
http://momsneedtoknow.com/cupid-floats-valentines-day-recipe/
Wash all your Valentine's Day treats down with a "Cupid Float", a drink from momsneedtoknow.com. Simply, these are floats made from vanilla ice cream and strawberry soda. The combination gives the perfect Valentine's Day colors swirled together. Serve the floats in cute mason jars, milk bottles, or ice cream glasses and garnish with whipped cream, sprinkles, or a cherry. Don't forget the straw! This is a great idea for parties because the recipe is so simple but you can really jazz it up with the toppings and by decorating the cups
I love making food for my friends any time of the year but especially on holidays where I can go a step further and make the food themed. I'm always searching Pinterest or YouTube for cute and easy ideas and found these Valentine's Day treats. I know I want to make at least one of these this Valentine's Day and maybe you will too! Happy Valentine's Day!
