Valentine's Day Tree!

Since we made paper chains last night, our next project clearly needs to be a tree to put them on! If you're new to my blog you should know I can be kind of lazy. That laziness manifests itself in my unwillingness to pack up my christmas tree. Because I leave it up all year I now have two strands that are out and need to be replaced, but that's ok. Point is I just change the decorations for every season. 

This year I filled my tree with all kinds of good things. There is of course the paper heart chain, large pink ornaments, and some smaller pink and white ornaments. Some of my FAVORITE decorations though are the loofahs stuffed in the tree haha :). Target had a great deal going on where you could get two light pink or two dark pink loofahs for a dollar! Naturally I bought a ton of them as a cheap way to get ornaments on my Valentine's tree! There are also some gorgeous hearts made out of magazine covers and pages that a good family friend made as a contribution to my seasonal trees. The tree is topped off with a candy heart pillow.

Don't limit yourself in decorating your tree. There are all kinds of things you could do. Find some candy heart ornaments, or better yet get some clear ornaments at the dollar store and FILL them with candy hearts. I know Market street has some pink and red toulle that you could use to fill your tree and make it kind of funky looking. Get creative, you can do this project super cheaply. 

Here are some pictures of what my tree looks like this year....yes I know the lights are out, but I just got back to school give me the benefit of the doubt!!!

Paper Heart Chains

This week I thought I would do something every day for valentine's day. Everyone gets so down in the dumps about valentine's day if they don't have a special someone in their life, or even if they do and their significant other doesn't take it seriously. But I don't really understand why? There are so many people in your life to love, and who love you. So this year celebrate valentine's day! Single or part of a couple celebrate love on all levels. Back in the day they made you give a valentine to everyone. Part of that is so people's feelings don't get hurt, but part of it is teaching to love everyone. Valentine's day doesn't have to be about one love, so I hope all of you choose to enjoy the day, rather than mourn it :)
  
For tonight.....It's always fun to go back to your kindergarten days and remember how fun some of the simplest crafts can be. This is a slightly modified version of the paper chain. I made each link of the chain into a heart and connected them that way instead. I'm using mine as garland on my valentines tree, but you could use it as garland around your house, hanging down a window, or even in a classroom for all of you teachers.

It's really not too difficult, but I took pictures of each step so it would help. You can use construction paper or any paper flexible enough to bend. For this particular garland I used sparkly scrapbook paper from target. It wasn't very expensive, and the sparkles are sooooo pretty! Construction paper is what people traditionally make the chains out of, at least in kindergarten, but the construction paper is a little flimsy and you have to work to get it to hold it's shape.

First, I cut all of the paper into strips about 2" wide. You should cut the paper in strips the long way unless you want tiny hearts. 

 Second, fold each piece of paper in half with the sparkly side up. 

You want the sparkly sides of the paper to bend inwards. If you are using construction paper you can glue them together, but the glue wasn't holding those sparkles together. I used tape. 

As you make the shapes be sure to loop the edge through the last heart you did before you glue or tape the next heart! 

And there is your chain!!!! 

It's a pretty simple project, but goes a long way in decorating for Valentine's Day. It's cheap, can go everywhere, and sometimes it's fun to just remember how much you enjoyed doing crafts, and to take your mind off of school, work, your cell phone, etc. Try it! I'd be surprised if you didn't find yourself having a ton of fun making them.

Pepperoni Pull Apart Bread!

Here it is!!!!!!! It's only been two days, but I have gotten more requests for this recipe then most of the other ones.

I have a tendency when I cook to not want to eat what I make. Mostly because I snack on things as I'm cooking, so by the end I'm no longer hungry. But I couldn't resist these. This recipe is great because it can be made for so many different things. A weeknight meal, after school snack time, a party appetizer, you name it.

The other great thing about the recipe is that it can be as easy or as hard as you want it to be. I made the dough from scratch...does that make you nervous or you don't have the time? Just use frozen dough. I bought large pepperoni's from the deli counter and cut them up, but really you can buy a package of the mini one's and you're good to go!

Pepperoni Pull Apart Bread!!!!

Dough:

1 3/4 cup warm water, divided
1 tsp sugar
1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp) instant yeast
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing bowl and springform pan
4 cups (22 oz) bread flour, plus more for dusting
1 1/2 tsp salt

To make the Rolls:

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

4 Tbsp butter

2 lbs pizza dough (1 batch of above recipe)

6 oz mozzarella cheese, cut into small cubes (about 48)

48 slices pepperoni (from 1 package) - I bought 16 large slices and cut them in fours

2-3 cups marinara sauce, warmed, for serving

How to!

***Note: if you bought frozen dough skip steps 1-3, just make sure to let the dough thaw!

Step 1:

   put 1/2 a cup of warm water into a bowl (if you want to use a stand mixer use that bowl) and stir in sugar until dissolved. 

Step 2:

    Sprinkle the yeast over the top and let stand until frothy (this should only take a couple of minutes) then add remaining water and oil.

Step 3: 

      Add the flour and salt to the bowl. Then, I knead the dough with my hands until smooth and elastic. Not everyone likes to do that, so if you are using a mixer you want to use your dough hook. Mix on low until flour is combined then on high until dough is smooth and elastic. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough double in size (about 1.5 - 2 hours). ***I always put mine on the dryer. I don't have confirmation that that makes it go faster, but they always say put it in a warm spot, and what's warmer than the top of the dryer?

Step 4:

    Heat the garlic and butter over medium heat just until the garlic begins to brown. Remove it from the heat and let sit. 

Step 5: 

     Lightly brush the inside of a bunt pan with garlic butter. (don't have a bundt pan? No problem! You can use any pan. I used an angel food cake pan so I could pull the sides away easily. 

Step 6:

    Pull of pieces of the dough and flatten. Lay a piece of pepperoni and a piece of mozzarella on top. Then wrap the dough around it and seal the edges together. Roll the dough in the garlic butter and place on the pan. And Repeat till the dough is gone!!!!

Step 7:

   Cover and let sit for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

Step 8:

    Bake for 35 minutes or until the top is very brown. Let it sit for 10 minutes and then you are ready to go! I use that 10 minutes to heat up the sauce. Any sauce will do whatever is your favorite!

I promise you won't be disappointed with this recipe!