Valentine's Day Lunch

We've been snowed in the last few days and decided to celebrate Valentine's Day a day early since we figured my husband would be back to work teaching tomorrow. Of course they decided to cancel tomorrow too, even though we're not expecting any more of the white stuff ~ oh well!

I've been itching to make some of the great things I've bookmarked on Pinterest & put together a fun lunch for everyone. My husband got the works ~



Top: Strawberry Roses - I got the idea for these here. There aren't any instructions, but the pictures are clear enough. These were surprisingly easy & quick to make, just make sure to spread the bottom petals out well. They didn't want to sit well on the plate so I cut the bottom off an apple, covered it with a cabbage leaf, and stuck them in there with some green toothpicks.

Sides: Cherry Tomato Hearts - Apparently you can take most ovals (the longer the better) and cut them on a diagonal to create hearts. I saw this done with the tips of hot dogs, rolled omelets, sushi, and more. I originally saw the tomatoes here, but ended up doing most of them with one tomato like this. The further you can cut from the top, the deeper the V of the heart will be, but if needs a little help you can also cut out a little wedge from each piece to deepen it.

Bottom: Hot Dog & Egg Hearts - I saw these lots of places & they are fun to make. Just cut a hot dog down the center, leaving it connected at one end. Bend the ends down and connect them with a toothpick, then lay it on a pan and crack an egg in the center with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. (The large eggs were threatening to overflow, so it helps if you dump out a little of the egg white first) I let the two cook on the pan for a while, but the top of the egg was not setting, so I put it on a plate and finished it off in the microwave for 1 minute until the yolk was only a little runny.

I changed things up a little for our preschooler, Orson ~



He got so mad when I tried to cut his hot dog into fun shapes before, so I arranged slices into a heart shape instead. Naturally he was ready to eat daddy's egg heart, but you never know! I filled the center with ketchup and added a strawberry rose, two tomato hearts, and a glass of pink milk (used one drop of red food coloring).

Poor Pandora just got little chunks of everything, but she loved the lunch too ~