You've Got Valentine's Mail

Need a last-minute Valentine's Day gift for your sweetheart?  How about some mail?

I made these for my hubby for Christmas, but they make great Valentine's Day, birthday, anniversary, Father's Day, or just anytime presents!

All you need is twelve envelopes, some paper, a pen/marker, and imagination!  For each envelope (and month of the year), you come up with a date idea.  Write it down, and slip it in the envelope.  Label each envelope with the appropriate month, and any preparations you may need to take care of before Date Night.  That way, the date plans can be kept a surprise until the it's time!

For example, for our February Date, we'll be making fresh pasta and watching a romantic movie.  That means we need a babysitter for dinnertime.  

Other instructions could be, "Saturday Date" for an afternoon hiking trip, or "Buy Tickets and get babysitter" if you're going to a baseball game.  

The best part about this Valentine's Mail, besides that you'll be spending lots of time with your sweetie, is that you can customize the dates to be exactly right for you and your significant other.

If you'd like some simple date ideas, click over to see my Year of {Cheap, Fun, Simple} Date Nights. These are mostly at-home (no babysitter needed!) date ideas.

What are some great date ideas you've tried?  I'd love to hear them!

Updated: Valentine's Date Dessert--Cherry Brownie Towers

I am so excited for Valentine's Day.  (This holiday wasn't so exciting before I was married, but now I love trying to think of something romantic and fun for me and my husband.)  Now that our kitchen is (practically) finished, I just had to come up with something delicious to make.  Joseph loves brownies, so...

I haven't actually made the Cherry Brownie Towers yet--it needs to be a surprise for Joseph!--so I'll have to update this post after Valentine's Day to include pictures.  Alright, I made it today.  (We decided to celebrate today, rather than actually on Valentine's Day, because we'd have more time today.)

You will need:
1 package (about 18 oz) brownie mix and the ingredients to make it
1 can cherry pie filling
Frosting (whatever flavor you want, or even whipped cream/Cool Whip)
Heart shaped cookie cutter

Mix up and bake the brownies according to the directions on the package.  You don't want the brownies to be too thick, so bake them in a 9x13 pan.  You'll see later why.

After the brownies are cooled, cut them into hearts with the cookie cutter.

On your serving plate, layer brownie heart, pie filling, brownie, filling, brownie.  Repeat for your other towers.  (I got two towers of different diameters out of my pan of brownies.  And lots of leftover brownie bits between and around the hearts.)

(Doesn't it look delicious already?  Mmmmm...)

(Oh, no!  The little one fell apart!  But I put it back together.  The bigger hearts seem to be more stable...)

Frost the top and outside of the towers.  You could crumble up the leftover brownie and press onto the sides (or just munch on them while you're working on the rest of the dessert...)

And you're done!

(Yum!)

Shortly after I took these pictures, the big heart broke in half and one side fell off!  Any ideas why?  The little one stayed together...

Even though it didn't stay together properly, it was DELICIOUS!  Oh, so good!  I will definitely be making this again, but probably not in towers.  It'll just be brownies topped with cherry pie filling and whipped cream.




P.S.--This recipe is based on one I found in the cookbook Favorite Brand Name:  Cake Mix.  But obviously their version used cake instead of brownies.