Valentine’s Day Class Treats, Making a Charcuterie Board & Busy Day Soup


I believe in the nobility of entertaining people and I take great, great pride that people are willing to give me two or three hours of their busy lives.


John Lasseter


Can you believe it’s almost Valentine’s Day? I can’t! It seems like it was just Christmas yesterday! Actually, it kind of was in our house 😂 yesterday I found a Christmas present that had slipped behind some things in my closet LOL HBear was so excited to open up her brand new fancy-schmancy kimono today!


So Valentine’s Day… I’m just not feeling it this year.

We, like the rest of Canada have been hit with extreme frigid temperatures, we’ve had a horrendous head cold that has slammed our household, and Dad got home from Mexico and was stranded in Kelowna for 2 days due to a massive rock slide between Summerland and Peachland closing off the major highway in and out of town.

All of these things left me looking for an easy peasy Valentine’s Day classroom treat for the Girls. Scrolling through Pinterest I saw this cute idea from Thrifty NW Mom! I printed up her easy free downloadable tag template HERE I cut them with my awesome paper cutter, added 5 gumballs to a snack size Ziploc, one staple and TADA! Super cute Valentine’s Day treats for 60 classmates!


This weekend we had friends over! This is a new thing for us and I am pretty inexperienced at hosting. I know that may come to a surprise to many of you 😳. Hosting intimidates me and appetizers/snacks even more so! I have always wanted to put together a Charcuterie Board but although I enjoy eating them I had no idea where to even start to create one! I read different blogs, looked at different pictures, and got advice from food magazines and decided to go ahead and do it!

To create a delicious board full of variety I chose simple things that range from savoury to sweet! I chose different cheeses like savoury French onion cheddar, cranberry cheddar, Camembert, creamy Laughing Cow, and herb and tomato Havarti. Fresh fruit is hard to find nowadays but these plump green grapes were a perfect addition! I also added sweet pickles! To go with my selection of cheeses I added fresh sliced baguette, toasted onion and garlic crackers, everything pretzel crisps, cranberry crackers, rosemary almond crackers and fig vanilla and black pepper crisps. For our meat selection I chose Ontario cherrywood smoked ham, Gourmet salami, double smoked farmer sausage, and miniature pepperoni sticks rounded off the savoury portion of my board.

I had some oatmeal raisin cookies on hand and I bought a Swiss chocolate roll and a strawberry roll, as well as lemon loaf, blueberry loaf, and fresh baked goodies from Save On Foods. I added a blend of dark chocolate and yogurt covered cranberries, a dried fruit trail mix and a medley of nuts.

 
A charcuterie platter isn’t complete without some delicious sauces! We brought out our Acadian Maple Butter, our Skywalker Ranch Pinot Noir Jelly, and our Field of Gold Gourmet Canadian Garlic Dill Mustard!


I conquered my fear AND it turned out super well! Now I just have to learn how to say it 😉

We don’t have a new episode of How Was Your Week, Honey? out this week! Ninja lost his voice over the weekend and although I do the majority of the talking anyway 🙄😆 We decided to release our mix tapes that we did on Our Liner Notes this past year. You can check out the first instalment featuring, me HERE!

Ninja has been super busy with his Speak Out program at Peach City Radio so I filled in as guest host on Our Liner Notes last week! You can check out episode 97: Let’s Get Political with my RASBesty HERE!

With all the colds and flues going around I wanted to share my absolute favourite soup recipe with you! This is my favourite soup recipe because it is bursting with flavour, uses ingredients I always have in my house, and is crazy easy to make! Most people think homemade soup takes hours but not this one! This soup is comfort in a bowl ❤️.

Busy Day Soup
Adapted from Simply Stacie

1 lb ground turkey
1 package onion soup mix
2 cups mixed frozen vegetables
5 cups water
1 28oz can diced tomatoes
1.5 cup macaroni, uncooked

In a large soup pot, brown ground beef. Drain fat.


Pour in water, onion soup mix and tomatoes with juice.



Simmer for 1 hour on medium low.


Add macaroni and frozen vegetables.


Cook 15 minutes longer on medium heat. Serve hot.

Notes:
If soup is too thick, add more water to thin out.


 

 

This week we started the week… sick.


By the end of the week Ninja wasn’t feeling the best but the rest of us were feeling better… we had no idea that feeling good would only last a few days.

On Friday, 92.9 CFUZ hit the airwaves of Penticton! It was a very exciting day for the community radio station! Congratulations!!!

That evening we had some wonderful friends over for wine and snacks! I’ve been CRUSHING my 2019 goals! I am so thankful for great friends that bring me beautiful flowers ❤️

On Saturday SBean was crazy excited to have a sleepover at her KBesty’s house! We all went over for a wonderful homemade dinner and then both of the Girls had a great time sleeping over with their friends.

Sunday was rough. Too much weekend partying LOL left us all run down. All of us were hit with a major head cold that is kicking our asses still.

 
We have spent the past 4 days cuddling under fuzzy blankets, diffusing the house with Thieves essential oil, and sipping on honey tea… Looking forward to feeling back to ourselves soon ❤️

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