Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day to you! I hope this is a day filled with love for you and your family. It's a day to do something extra special, I am pulling out a heart shaped cake pan this morning, and making a chocolate cake, along with a special dinner for the family.

Above was written in the morning, this is what we made this evening.

For dessert we made a couple of simple chocolate cakes out of the Bob's Red Mill cookbook.  The one I chose was a yogurt chocolate cake, that I had never made before.  It called for half whole wheat, and half white, I used our fresh eggs from today, and of course yogurt, which added a nice tang.  We pulled out a couple decorative cake pans that are fun to use, and will make a simple cake a little more special.  I didn't use any frosting because it was delicious and moist without adding anything.

For dinner we ended up having a huge salad feast, with leafy greens and raw vegetables, which we all crave this time of year, we included carrots, beets, red chesnock garlic (we still have a lot from the garden) radishes, celery, and parmesan cheese.  My kids love salads, they've grown up on them, and a meal just isn't the same to me without some raw vegetables for enzymes.  We also made brown rice and poached eggs, I was going to make something more, but everyone was just happy with this simple meal.  We were going to sit at the table, but ended up all sitting around the fire happily eating and talking about our day.  Kaley always has fun stories to tell, and when you're in 4th grade, Valentines Day is the best, getting all the cards and candy, she said "it's kind of like a mini halloween".  I remember as a child how much fun it was, definitely one of the best days of the year.

I don't know why I always take a picture of baked goods, and not all the healthy stuff I make, you guys are going to start thinking I'm a real carb junkie... sometimes I am, but I also have balance, and crave healthy things I know my body needs.  I do love to bake though, and I have the mouths to help eat it, so I don't have temptation for long.