Heart Tart ! Day 10

I'd like to start this post off with an apology. I'm sorry there are so many posts with hearts in them. As of Feb 15th, there will be no more hearts. We've only got 4 more heart related posts, so if you can hang in there with me, I know we can make it through this.

With that said, on to my de-lish Heart Tart!

Yum Nutella. I totally did that and I'm not even ashamed to admit it.

Just when you thought I couldn't possibly come up with an easier recipe with less ingredients POW! Right here is a lip-smackin' , 3 ingredient, crowd pleaser!

Pre-made pie-crust from the refrigerator section at the grocery store, Aw heck, it's Pilsbury, I'm name dropping OK? Maybe they'll sponsor my blog? 

3/4 cup of Nutella

1 pint of raspberries or strawberries.

Pre-heat oven to 450.

Fold your premade pastry in half and cut out a heart. 

Bake heart crust on a sheet of parchment lined cookie sheet for 9-11 minutes.

Let crust cool.

Heat your Nutella in the microwave for 15 seconds, just to loosen it up a bit.

Pour Nutella and spread evenly on crust,

Top with berries and serve. (with cool whip if you want or icing sugar or whatever you want really . . )

 Isn't that spectacularly easy?! But Simple doesn't mean it has to be boring. I made this simple dessert look cute and classy by rolling up the extra pastry I cut off into little balls and placed them on the edge of the pie crust. 

I've made a few pies in my time, and let me just say that while I was making all those teeny,  tiny ,  little balls, all the pastry knowledge I've accumulated from my Mom and my Grandma's went sailing right out the window. WOW .  How could I have forgotten that 50 or so pastry balls will not just  ' bake ' onto the crust with out sticking them there with something like water or an egg wash ? ! Yeah,  so when I went to pour the nutella onto the crust, I had to offer back up to save my pastry cuties . Not fun .  

Speaking of not fun, can I tell you something else that's not fun? Of course I can! This is my blog! There's not a thing you can do to stop me! BWAHAHAHAHAHAH (villain laugh). 

But seriously, what's not fun is baking all these treats and having a husband that can't taste any of it because he has Man Cold. Just kidding he really is sick! So I have to do all the sampling to make sure all these things are edible before I send them to you. It's a tough job , but I'm up to the task.

I could probably drink this stuff . Oh wait . . .  

And yes, if you're all wondering, I did in fact shimmer up the edge . . . What can I say, I love the shimmer !

Broken - Tarted *snicker*

(sorry I just couldn't help myself)

But all turned out well in the end ! And not to toot my own horn , but TOOT TOOT! This little tart is too cute!

Day Nine : Heart Wreaths

There are a few household items that I really shouldn't own but do. The following are everyday (for me anyways) items that cause bodily harm to myself and therefore need to be Ali-proofed. 

1) Glue Gun - Top of my list mostly because I JUST burned myself making these cutesy heart wreaths.

2) Any Sharp thing- I think this is pretty self-explanatory.

3) Stacking Washer/Dyer  - This is really only on the list because of my height. At an impressive 5 ft. I manage to walk into the dryer door almost every time I'm in the laundry room. This could also be because I leave the dryer door open . . . 

But I digress. Back to burning myself on the glue gun.

I was planning on doing this craft this afternoon with Venice while Giselle slept, but her Nana and Papa came and got her for a playdate, YAY Grandparents!! Good thing too, cause I'm tough and can handle a glue gun burn, but that little peanut has a few more crafting days until she develops the dragon calluses of a seasoned crafter. 

I digress again! Enough rambling you say, on with the show!

OK,OK!

Cut out the center of a paper plate. 

Cut out a buh-zillion paper hearts of all different sizes and colors. I used many tones and textures from the same color family. I like the monochromatic look. 

Glue gun (caaaarrreeeeffuuuulllllyyyy) all your hearts on to the paper plate rim.  

PS. Did you know that there are glitter glue gun sticks ? !  GLITTER,  PEOPLE ! ! I thought about the fact that no one will see the glitter AFTER I bought them. But I'll know. And know you'll know. 

Glue till your heart is content. And remember,  More is More!

I made one for Venice, using all pinks and I added some fabric covered brads to send her a little message from her Mamma.

Here's the finished project, hanging on my peanuts door.

I can't wait for her to come home! 

I was on a roll so I did 2 more for my front entry closet doors. I used my accent color.

Now if you like these, then I made them. If you think they look like a child made them then Venice made them and you can ignore my story earlier about her being gone, OK? OK!

(Love) For the Birds

So, I'm not sure if I get twitter. I tried it for a week or so, and even had one of my favourite bloggers follow me. I think if all your friends are on it, then it's maybe pretty neat  

( how old am I ? Seriously,  ' neat ' ? ) .  

But Since I was the only one doing it, in my circle anyways, I decided it's for the birds.

PAUSE . . . 

Did you all catch what I did there? I referenced 'tweeting' being for the birds as well as making an awesome transition into my post!  Did ya ?  Did ya catch that ?

Yeah you probably did, you're all so clever.

OK, heart shaped popcorn and cranberry bird feeders! How cute is that ? !

Here's what you need:

Ribbon for tying

popped popcorn

dried cranberries

wire - I'd like to point out that you can use floral wire or really any gauge as long as it can hold its shape while being hung by ribbon. The lucky girl I am got use rusty re-bar tie wire from the garage. 

Roughly shape your wire into a heart, or whatever shape you want, I really don't think the birds will care.

Start threading your popcorn and/or cranberries!

Thats it. How great for an afternoon craft for the kids?!

Look at her focus! A true crafter at heart.

One of my Loves.

For the birds.

I really wanted to wait until a bird came and started feasting on the hearts before I posted a pic of them, but Ben informed me that you kinda have to train birds, so they know that there's going to be food there in the winter.  Yeah, I just kinda wanted a picture of a bird to show that they work. Why is this so difficult?

That's all for today, as the SuperBowl is on soon. Not that I'm really into sports at all, but I love the commercials and the new Glee is on after.

Happy Day 6!

On the Third Day of Love.....

This post is taking me forever to start because I actually have 2 kidlets napping, so I can guilt free watch Nothing But Trailers. I'm that luny that want to be an hour early to a movie so I can catch all the nerdy trivia they play before the movie starts as well as the all the previews. I usually forget what movie we're going to see because I'm so excited for the movies that aren't even out yet!

 OK OK, on with the love fest . . . . Love of sugar, that is!

On the third day of love, my true love brought to me... Cinnamon Heart Meringues!

I love the versatility of a good meringue recipe. One that you can whip up (literally) in a few minutes and add color or flavour and then pipe them or just dump it out of a cookie sheet and bake away!

Just a few simple ingredients that I had in my pantry and some eggs, which I did have to go out to buy after  I discovered Ben had used a WHOLE carton for breakfast and burnt the first batch (this is because he cooks on gas mark 19 instead of 2.) makes a simple and elegant treat that is a perfect side to any Latte or cup of tea.

Pre-heat oven to 225 degrees. (seems low, but it's true)

Just 3 egg whites

1/4 tsp of cream of tartar

3/4 cup of super fine sugar (I used regular sugar but blitzed it in a food processor)

1 tsp of cinnamon. I used Vietnamese cinnamon, I've been told it has a warmer taste and I totally fell for it. But truthfully, you can use whatever you've got.

Red or pink food coloring, I like the gel kind, makes me feel all Martha-y.

I split the it into 2 batches so I could color them light pink and dark pink.

Whip the egg whites on medium speed until frothy.

Add cream of tartar.

Whip until soft peaks form. 

Add sugar 1-2 tablespoons at a time.

Whip until the mixture is glossy, smooth and form stiff peaks.

Stir in cinnamon.

You can drop this mixture by the spoonful or you can pipe the meringue like I did into what ever shape you want. I chose hearts, and some X's and O's. But you could do anything, any color of any occasion. I told you it was versatile!!

Bake for 1 hour, then turn off oven and leave inside for 2-3 hours. I peaked a bunch and took them out after 2 hours, probably why they cracked?? Or maybe my oven is too dry, if that's possible.

Pre-Oven..

Baked and all shimmered up! I used Pink Pearl dust from Wilton (AKA Drink Sparkles!)

These have a really delicate cinnamon flavour, not strong like the heart candies. They melt in your mouth and are delish! 

Just a side note, if you don't want to use cinnamon, they are AMAZING with out it!