Homemade: February 2010

Valentine's Day is a great opportunity to create 'hearty', healthy, decorative and festive treats for your loved ones.

Below are some fun and easy ideas I've used...

Now is a perfect time to purchase these tools since hearts are everywhere, in every shape and form - Heart shaped cookie cutters and heart shaped ice cube trays.

Find a heart shaped cake mold and try the following:

Cook couscous, quinoa or any grain you want. Make sure it's moist and not dry. Pack it into the cake mold and then put a big flat plate over it and turn it upside down to transfer. Tap a few times in case it sticks and very gently and carefully lift up and your heart shape will pop out like a sandcastle ready to decorate.

Put a heart cookie cutter on top and pour tomato sauce in, lift and you have a beautiful creation. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Slice like pie since it might break up using a spoon and supply extra sauce or dressing.

Spread tomato sauce over the top, put olives in a heart shape cookie cutter, lift, and voila! Decorate with chick peas all around to make a lovely dinner table centerpiece.

Another cute idea using the smaller cookie cutter.

Make a very fine chopped salad with tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers and pack it into the heart shaped mold. Turn it over and transfer onto a flat plate. Then lift and add extra tomatoes around the edges to frame the heart shape and create a healthy and beautiful masterpiece!

Make the nut ball mixture (a recipe you can read in a previous blog post) and pack into the heart shaped ice cube tray. Freeze for an hour, then push out, serve in mini cupcake papers and enjoy.