Valentine's Day Recipes for Kids: 5 Unique and Healthy Snack Ideas!

Written Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 by admin

Valentine's Day is exactly one week away and if you're looking for festive snack ideas for your kids, look no further - HalfHourMeals has you covered!

Finding unique and fun Valentine's Day recipes for your children isn't exactly a difficult task - there are thousands of great ideas online. The difficulty lies in finding snacks your kids will love that are as equally healthy as they are fun.

In anticipation for V-Day, we've scoured the popular social site Pinterest.com for the best recipe ideas for kids and toddlers. These recipes will put a smile on your child's face and make them the envy of all their friends at school. The best part of all? They're super easy to make!

Here are 5 unique and healthy snacks for your kids this Valentine's Day:

Valentine's Jello Hearts

Conversation Heart Cookies

Watermelon Valentine's Hearts

Linzer Heart-Shaped Cookies

Valentine's Heart Fruit Kabobs

The heart-shaped fruit kabobs are a great way to make snack time healthy and fun. There are other shapes you can play around with as well, like "X and O" cookie cutters and even cookie cutters that spell out the word "Love."

Take some time this year and make Valentine's Day extra special for your kids. Trust me, they'll appreciate it!

If you have your own healthy and fun Valentine's Day recipes for kids, please share with HalfHourMeals readers and upload your recipe now!

A Feast for Dad

Written Friday, June 11th, 2010 by Penny Hawkins

This Father’s Day, give Dad a break from the grill and satisfy his craving for meat and potatoes with this easy-to-make feast from your oven. The star of the meal is a hearty Beef Brisket Sandwich in a tangy barbeque sauce, served on your favorite bun or hoagie roll. Co-starring with these savory sandwiches are a cool and creamy Easy Coleslaw and zesty Seasoned Steak Fries. This terrific meal is a breeze to make, giving you more time to spend with your favorite guy on his special day!

Beef Brisket Sandwiches

The great thing about this recipe is that you do most of the work the day before. On the day you want to serve it, all you basically have to do is slice and reheat! Don’t be concerned about the beer; it helps to tenderize this otherwise tough cut of meat and the alcohol will evaporate during cooking. Also, you don’t want to leave out the horseradish; this is the secret ingredient that gives the sauce its’ zip!

1 (4 lb.) beef brisket

1 cup beer (any kind)

1 cup ketchup

1 cup water

4 tablespoons vinegar (white or apple cider)

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon horseradish

1 tablespoon yellow mustard

1 tablespoon dried minced onion

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper  

1. Place beef brisket fat side up in a large (13x9x2 inch) oven-proof casserole or baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, mix beer, ketchup, and remaining ingredients. Using a whisk if you have one will make this go faster and eliminate lumps. If you don’t have a whisk, try using a fork to beat the mixture.
3. Pour beer mixture over brisket and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, covered loosely with plastic wrap.
4. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Remove plastic wrap and bake brisket in a 300 degree oven for 4 hours. Remove from oven and let cool. Refrigerate covered with plastic wrap overnight.

On the day you plan to serve brisket:

1. Skim fat from top of sauce in pan. Remove beef from pan (do not remove sauce). Cut beef in slices to desired thickness across the width (short side) of the brisket and put back in pan with sauce.
2. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Cover beef loosely with foil and re-heat in pan with sauce in a 200 degree oven until heated through, about one hour (you will want to check beef after 30 minutes, and every 15 minutes or so after that to avoid drying it out). Serve beef in buns with extra sauce spooned over meat, if desired.

Note: Meat can be served cold after this and leftovers can be frozen with sauce.

Easy Coleslaw

1 bag pre-shredded traditional coleslaw mix (cabbage and carrots)

1 jar coleslaw dressing (there are several very good ones in your store- look for them in the salad dressing aisle)  

In a large bowl, toss the coleslaw mix with about ½ jar or bottle of dressing. If slaw seems dry add a bit more, but remember that the cabbage will give off some water as it sits in the dressing, so don’t add too much or slaw will become watery. Refrigerate for several hours to let flavors combine. When you are ready to serve, if slaw seems dry, add a little more dressing until it seems right to you. Remember, you can always put more dressing in, but you can’t take it out!

Seasoned Steak Fries

1 bag frozen steak-cut French fries

Seasoned salt or your favorite salt-free seasoning blend (find this in the spice aisle of your store) 

1. Bake fries as directed on bag on a large 15x10x1 inch cookie sheet.
2. While fries are still warm, sprinkle with seasoned salt as desired.

Post Spring Holiday Meals

Written Monday, April 5th, 2010 by Anne Coleman

Everyone I know had one thing or another to celebrate this past weekend and with each celebration came a large holiday meal. For my family the celebration was Easter and there are now two things in my refrigerator in leftover abundance: eggs and ham.

Now, putting the two together sounds yummy, but hard-boiled eggs and cooked ham aren't exactly the eggs and ham I like.  So, with some interaction here, I'm hoping for an idea or two to put both to good use.

I'm betting that I'll be making deviled eggs. I had one child begging me to make them yesterday during our dinner. I flat-out refused and she pouted. I'll do it today, for sure - because we both love them - and maybe I'll make creamed eggs on toast, but I'm not sure the same-old-same old is what I'm looking for today.

The ham? Well, it was a spiral cut, so it'll make sandwiches galore, but again, that's the usual and even ham salad is sounding boring to me. So, here's the question: What are you making with your leftovers this year?

Easy Hashbrown and Ham Casserole

Written Monday, December 28th, 2009 by Anne Coleman

After the feast, or feasts, of the Holiday season there are always leftovers. At our home this year we had turkey, but we often have a more traditional ham and there's never a shortage of ham left behind to use up. The usual here seems to be sandwiches and soups, but melding one of our favorite hashbrown recipes with our overabundance of pork product is a real crowd-pleaser.

Most hashbrown casseroles call for melted butter to be added, but with all that sour cream and cheese, I never feel the need for it. You can use lower fat dairy alternatives and this will still come out tasting fantastic. Just don't use the fat free cheese, it won't melt the same.

Easy Hashbrown and Ham Casserole

3 pounds frozen shredded hash browns
16 ounces sour cream
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sliced green onion
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
salt & pepper to taste
2 cups cubed cooked ham

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Empty hashbrowns into a large bowl.
Blend together sour cream and milk.
Pour over hashbrowns and add 1 1/2 cups Cheddar, onion, ham (if using) and salt and pepper.
Toss until well combined and pour into a well greased 9x13 baking dish.
Top with remaining 1/2 cup Cheddar and bake 30 minutes until bubbly and browned.

Tradition!

Written Thursday, December 24th, 2009 by Anne Coleman

Each family has traditions they hold fast to during the Holiday season, whether it's Aunt Mabel's fruitcake or the star that tops the tree, the comfort and familiarity of family traditions enhances the celebration. We are no exception to the rule. Although some of our traditions went by the wayside and others have come and gone, there are a few that we hope our children will cling to and pick up as they move on.

1. Our tree is always real. We used to be able to get to a tree farm and cut one down, but the past few years have found us at the corner lot picking up an already-cut version. One year we had absolutely no room for a tree so I improvised and made one out of paper. I hung it on the wall above my grandmother's hope chest and strung lights on it. It worked and the kids didn't seem to miss the real tree at all.

We also have several ornaments that must be on the tree each year. Three of them were given to me by my mother with a small not attached. They are ornaments from Bronner's in Frankenmuth, Michigan - a Christmas village where you can find anything and everything Christmas related year-round. Mom and dad had bought the ornaments early on in their marriage, and after my father passed mom gave them to me. The angel above is one of the three.

2. Our annual Christmas Eve party. This is a party just for the kids and us, nobody else is allowed (unless there is an extenuating circumstance and there is someone we know who has nowhere else to be) and we light every candle we have, light luminarias on the front walk and porch, turn on Christmas songs, put out a table full of appetizer-type food and eat 'til bursting. We usually watch a Holiday movie and attempt to get the kids to bed before midnight.

3. My husband and I stay up after the kids are in bed and wrap presents by "Christmas light" and exchange a single gift between the two of us.

4. In the morning we wake the kids (YES, we are up before they are!) by ringing bells and telling them they just missed the Big Guy.

5. Food! While our main dish changes from year to year, there are several desserts that would be sorely missed if we didn't have them. Nanaimo Bars, a plate of fish and crackers, pumpkin pie, and cut cookies are the staples here.

6. A bowl full of oranges (Clementines) in remembrance of my grandfather, Theodore Sharp. When he would wake on Christmas morning there was an orange and a penny in his stocking and they always had homemade vanilla ice cream on Christmas Day. I want my children to always understand how fortunate they are that we are able to have so much. We are not well-off by today's standards but I still believe we are richer than most in what we do have, and I am very grateful for it. I want them to learn that as well.

What are the traditions your family holds to if you're celebrating winter holidays?

Giving Thanks

Written Thursday, November 26th, 2009 by Anne Coleman

Thanksgiving is celebrated today in the United States and it is one of the biggest holidays we have. We join together with others around a plentiful table and symbolically 'give thanks' for the things we are grateful for. While this is a blog and site dedicated to food, I wanted to share a little more than just that today.

In my short time here on the earth I've learned that gratitude is so very vital to one's happiness and growth. Without it there can be no moving forward, no true love for others and no real love for oneself, either. But, what exactly is gratitude? For me, it is the ability to appreciate and be thankful for your situation and surroundings no matter what they may be. It's the glass-half-full attitude that keeps so many in less-than-perfect circumstances going from day to day.

In my own life, as in everyone else's, I have obstacles - and some rather large. Rather than succumb to the depression and sadness that can so easily manifest when things aren't 'perfect', I choose to see things in a very different way.

I have two children that are Autistic. Rather than see this as a challenge (and, yes - it is) I see the bright side: they are smarter than most children and see things that the rest of us miss. They are bright and shiny and funny and beautiful - just like my other kids.

My husband had a very tragic accident two years ago from which he (and the rest of us) is still recovering. He fell three stories from the roof he was working on and was in a coma for 3 weeks. His body is still broken beyond mending and he is not emotionally or mentally the same man he was two years ago. This, too I choose to see differently. He is HERE. He was so close to death so many times during that ordeal that his being alive is a  miracle in and of itself. He gets to spend each and every day watching his children grow up. Before the accident he was at work so much that he missed the kids' first steps and first words and many other firsts that he now gets to be a part of.

I have seven children. Yes, that's a challenge - but the bright side? I have seven children.

The learning and growing and revelation that comes from these adversities is mind-blowing. I am not the same woman I was before all of this, and I'm not sure I would want to be any longer. The depth of perception that has come from living daily with difficulties has only served to make me even more grateful than I was before. So, you see, it's good to be me.

On this Thanksgiving, though I have been without food, shelter or transportation and am thankful for those things that I now have plenty of, and though I have seen family close to death and yet still have them, I choose today to be grateful for just being me - right where I am.

Easy Entertaining

Written Sunday, October 11th, 2009 by TrishB

A few weeks ago Jews around the world celebrated the religion’s holiest day of the year, Yom     Kippur.  During this holiday, celebrants pray in synagogue and fast for 24 hours to atone for sins committed that year. A dairy meal is traditional for “breaking” the fast. As a child, my family always hosted this meal.  It was a time spent with family and friends after the final religious service and completion of the fast.

Since then, I have married and had my own children.  The “break” fast meal has been handed off by  my mother to me and is now my responsibility.   This year we planned to host friends and family, 36  people confirmed the day prior to the holiday.  By “break fast” we picked up another 9 and we were  up to 45 people.

So why did I choose this event for my “half hour meals” blog post?  I can’t say I prepared the whole  meal in half an hour but many of the dishes can be. I have found the key to having successful meals  for large parties is to prepare a number of dishes, any one of which could be a family meal  prepared in 30 minutes or less.

I choose dishes that are easy to prepare, delicious, and can be frozen after preparation. I’ve  learned this lesson the hard way.

I used to spend the 24-48 hours prior to a party cooking with little or no sleep. Preparing for these  larger events over a longer period helps me maintain my sanity and has kept my husband from  divorcing me. Okay, I’m not 100% but I’m definitely better.

THE MENU

Bagels, white fish, tuna salad, smoked salmon, cream cheese and all the  trimmings...
Mushroom crepes
Asparagus crisp
Pineapple Noodle Kugel (pudding)
Creme brulee french toast - I never make enough of this!
Bulka -   a traditional South African pastry made for break fast.  Served warm  with butter they are similar to cinnamon buns but not as sweet.  Forget the  recipe..these are a two day process and certainly not a half hour meal.
Fried Tilapia with tartar sauce

DESSERT

Pecan Puffs
Shortbread cookies
Scones with jam and cream - find it in the bread and baked goods section of Half Hour Meals
Brownie Pops - these are my quick version of those amazing cake pops that  Bakerellas has made famous in the food blogging world)  I probably should have  stuck to her recipe because they didn’t come out like I would have liked but they  looked pretty...not perfectly round like I would have liked, but pretty enough for  the kids to dive in.
Chocolate chip cookies
Poached peaches
Almond tart
Coffee meringue with strawberries and whipped cream

So here are a few pictures from our most recent Yom Kippur “break” fast a some of the easy recipes that you can prepare in advance or last  minute till you learn the hard way...

ASPARAGUS CRISP

2 cans asparagus, drained

1/2 cup mayonnaise (can use low fat)

1 cup cheddar

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2-1 tsp lemon juice

plain potato chips

paprika

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Grease a pyrex.  Place asparagus in a single layer in dish.  Mix mayo, cheddar, sugar and lemon juice (to taste).  Spread over  asparagus.  Sprinkle cheddar over asparagus and mayo mixture.  Sprinkle with paprika.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Mayo mixture can be prepared a day in advance.  Put all ingredients together morning of party and bake before guests arrive.

CREME BRULEE FRENCH TOAST

(the prep time is very fast but you do need to let it sit overnight)

1/2 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons corn syrup

6 (1 inch thick) slices French bread or 1 Challah bread cut into 1” slices

5 eggs

1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with Pam.

Melt butter over medium heat.

Add brown sugar and corn syrup, stirring until sugar is dissolved and consistency is smooth.

Pour into baking dish.

Remove crusts from bread. Arrange in the baking dish in a single layer. You can squeeze the pieces in so they fit.

In a bowl, whisk together eggs, half and half,  and vanilla extract.

Pour over the bread.

Cover, and chill at least 8 hours, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove the dish from the refrigerator, and bring to room temperature.

Bake uncovered 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. The french toast should be puffed and lightly browned.

SWEET PINEAPPLE KUGEL

1 Packet medium egg noodles

3 eggs

1 pint cottage cheese

1 pint sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla

1 scant cup sugar

1 (8oz.) can crushed pineapple, well drained

Frosted flakes (or corn flakes)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook noodles 8-10 minutes.  Drain.  Place in a bowl.  Add butter and stir until melted.  Add remaining ingredients (except for frosted  flakes) one at a time. Stir after each ingredient is added.

Place in a 9 x 12 x 2 inch pyrex, sprayed with Pam.  Cover with crushed frosted flakes.

Bake 1 hour.

Can be prepared a day in advance and baked day of meal.

POACHED PEACHES

4-6 peaches

4 cups of water

2 cups sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Make an x in each peach.  Pour boiling water over peaches for a few minutes.  Peel skin off peaches.  Bring water and sugar to a boil.  Turn down and simmer in a heavy saucepan. Stir to dissolve sugar.  Add peaches.  Cover and simmer for about 15-20 minutes, making  sure peaches don’t get too soft.  Remove peaches.  Add lemon juice to syrup.  Pour over peaches when cool. Refrigerate at least 3  hours.  Serve cold.

Can be made 3 days in advance.

PECAN PUFFS

1/4 lb. butter

2 tbs. sugar

1 tbs. vanilla

1 cup finely ground pecans or walnuts

1 cup flour

Confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Cream butter and sugar.  Add vanilla and pecans.  Add flour.  Roll the dough into small balls and place on greased baking sheet.  Place  in freezer for about half hour.

Bake in oven for approx. 40 minutes.  Roll while still warm in confectioners sugar.  When cool, roll again in confectioners sugar.

Can be stored frozen.

& Brownie Pops,  the kid's favorite...
of course