Bakin and Makin...

We have been baking and eating a lot of sweets in recent days...and hearts have certainly been an inspiration in honor of Valentine's Day!

:: These cookies were a hit and so easy to make :)
(I just used a Devils Food cake mix)

:: Banana Bread Hearts

:: Herz Torte (from the bakery)
:: and yesterday we made Grandma Pearl's "Self-filled Cupcakes"

Here is the recipe...

Self-Filled Cupcakes

1 package of chocolate cake mix
1 8 oz. container of cream cheese
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 cup chocolate chips

Mix cake mix according to pkg. directions. Fill paper cups in muffin tins 2/3rds full.
Cream together cream cheese, sugar, and egg.  Stir in 1 cup of chocolate chips.  now drop a rounded tsp. of cream cheese mixture in each cupcake.  Bake as pkg directs. (about 15 minutes)

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We had a lovely Valentine's Day, sharing dinner with some friends.  Then the kiddos started getting all crafty... making heart animals and people (thanks for teaching them Sarah Clark!)

and then they took to making things with duct tape that Memoo sent them...
Did you know you could Youtube how to make a pencil case? (too funny)

Here is Abby's pencil case

  And Levi made an i-pod touch case

Hope you all loved on someone yesterday :)

Nothing says love like...

White Chocolate Cheesecake with Raspberry Swirl

adapted from www.CusineAtHome.com

I am putting it in the oven now...it will be in the fridge overnight and be perfect for our Valentine's Day dessert.  Hope you all have a "sweet" Valentine's Day!

Here is the recipe:


For the Sauce-
10 oz. frozen raspberries
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. raspberry preserves
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 Tbsp. water
2 tsp. cornstarch

For the crust-
2 packages of Oreo's (European size boxes)
2 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. melted butter

For the cheesecake-
8 oz. white chocolate, chopped
3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese at ROOM TEMPERATURE ( I use 4 of the European packages)
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs (at room temperature)
1 tsp. vanilla
juice of 1/2 of lemon
1/4 cup of raspberry sauce

Process berries, sugar, preserves and lemon juice for the sauce in a food processor until smooth. Transfer to a saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat.

Combine water and cornstarch in a small bowl until smooth: whisk into berry mixture. Simmer to thicken slightly. Transfer to a bowl, cover and chill until cold.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees with rack in the center. Coat a 9 inch springform pan with non-stick spray.

Process cookies and sugar, add butter as machine is running. Pat crumbs on bottom and up sides of the pan.

Melt white chocolate over a double-boiler and set aside.

Blend cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time. Blend in melted chocolate, vanilla and lemon juice. Pour batter into prepared pan, then drizzle with 1/4 cup of the raspberry sauce.

Swirl the sauce into the batter to create a marbled pattern. Place on a baking sheet and bake until the edges are set and puffed, but center is slightly still jiggly. 60-80 minutes; Do Not Overbake!

Turn off the oven, crack the door with a wooden spoon and cool inside of the oven for 1 hour. Cover cake with a towel and chill in the refrigerator overnight.

Slice cheesecake and serve with remaining raspberry sauce.

Enjoy!

Valentine's Day Prep...

This weekend we started our Valentine's Day Prep...

we made some Valentine's and some sugar cookies

We shared with our neighbors...
and now I need to clean up the mess...
and go take a nap, cause lovin others makes me tired :)

We used my friend Sharbelle's Sugar Cookie Recipe:

1 cup of butter
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
1 tsp of vanilla
2 tsp. of baking powder
3 cups of flour

Bake at 400 for 6-7 minutes
and then THIS for the icing

And how cute are THESE!
or THESE or THESE!

Loving...

I am loving that the weekend is already here!

:: Tomorrow at New City Wien, we are throwing a little Valentine's Day party for the kids who attended our English camp this past summer and any other friends we have met in the meantime. Should be a nice afternoon of playing games, making Valentine's, eating sugar cookies, and teaching the kids new words like "cupid"! Brad will also share a bit about God's enduring love.

:: Many of you have asked for an update on Luke. Unfortunately, not much has changed and he continues loving his time on the couch. He has been out of school all week and still has a low grade fever. On Monday, he returns to the hospital for a repeat chest x-ray. Obviously if his fever continues, we need to ask the Drs. to change his antibiotics. Please pray for complete healing and his ability to catch up with his schoolwork.

:: We are having a low key Valentine's day, with a date night planned for Monday.
We will celebrate maybe with a few flowers from the Naschmarkt, some chocolate fondue and the kiddos are getting some coupons redeemable for one on one time with each of us ;)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend loving on those who are most dear to you!

Cute ideas...

isn't this a cute idea...and this and this too

Memoo and I plan on crafting with the kiddos this weekend...

Happy Friday from Vienna!

Are you ready...

Valentine's Day is just a few short days away...are you ready?

Last weekend Abby made some "I love You-Pods", which we found on page 64 of our Family Fun magazine ...or you can just go to www.FamilyFun.com

We modified ours a little by wrapping packs of gum, as they don't have conversational hearts here.

If you are not so crafty, but want a simple way to let someone you love them, then you can always go HERE

and if you are feeling really adventurous, you can make someone you love these

However you do it, just be sure to make the time to tell those who are special to you that you love them...very much