Happy Valentine's Day from Hershey's Review

 It’s almost Valentine’s Day, really where has all the time gone? It is time for you to celebrate your loved ones for Valentine’s Day.  Now, Valentine’s Day is not a huge deal in our house like other holidays but I like to celebrate with treats. I am sure that will change once Noah is in school and has to pass out valentines to his classmates. When I was in school, it was just those little cards and the occasional little candy treat taped on or in a little bag. Hershey’s has amazing treats for Valentine’s Day. One thing I really like about Hershey’s is most of their candy is wrapped which makes it easy for passing out to others.  Hershey’s even went another step and made some the candy it’s self a valentine, with to and from right on the wrapper. You of course could attach it to your card still if you wanted to.

Some of the items we received, and if you know me at all, I am a huge candy junkie, were Hershey’s Valentine Kisses, Jolly Rancher Heart Lollipops Valentine Exchange, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Hearts Valentine Exchange. I am pretty sure everyone loves Hershey Kisses that like chocolate.  They are great for baking too.  Every year since I was very little we would make Peanut Blossoms at Christmas time. It was from a “cookbook” from 1982 and I was born in 1981, we still use the same recipe. Kisses are just the perfect amount to satisfy a little chocolate craving. They are also portable and so easy to unwrap my 4 year old has become a master at doing it.  Noah really likes the valentine’s colors of the wrappers. He has even created new things with the wrappers, like a butterfly for example.

If I had to pick my favorite hard candy, it would be Jolly Ranchers. I am not huge on hard candy, but would never turn down a Jolly Rancher, depending on the flavor.  I have been enjoying them for pretty much since my first one. I have tried and love every variation they have made.  Suckers are a big thing with Noah right now. We had been getting those little wrapped ones, but after he kept pulling the little stick off it, I decided, no more suckers for while. I feel pretty good about having him try a Jolly Rancher Lollipop. I will definitely enjoy them myself.   What is your favorite flavor of Jolly Rancher? Mine are Cherry and Watermelon. I know that is two but they are tied as my favorite.

I am sure you read my post about Hershey’s Halloween Candy in October and already know how much I love Reese’s peanut butter holiday shapes. In case you missed it, I prefer them to the Reese’s cups because there is more peanut butter than chocolate. I love peanut butter. I am so glad that Noah isn’t allergic to nuts of any kind because that would be not a good thing in my house. Noah loves the Reese’s Peanut Butter Hearts; he is actually the same as me and loves any kind of the Reese’s Holiday Shapes. I always buy them for any holiday I can find them and Noah, helps himself. He ate my pumpkin Reese’s and one of my Christmas Trees during those holidays.  He has made a huge dent in the Reese’s hearts though. He is really good at sharing and being generous and thinking of others.  He proudly likes to tell me that Grandma would like one. He is very sweet. 

I don’t let Noah sit down and eat a lot of candy, but he does get treats. I will get my little man some Hershey’s treats, including a Reese’s Peanut Butter heart for Valentine’s Day. I am trying to stay away from toys so, this year will be just some treats. We will also make Valentine’s Day Cookies.

For more information, recipes and ideas, please visit The Hershey’s Website

Thank you to Hershey’s for sending my family some complimentary Valentine’s candy to try out. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

My Top 30 Break up Songs

I thought I would share my top 30 breakup songs with you, since I am single and not too in to Valentine’s Day besides spending it with my little handsome man Noah.  These really aren’t in any order. Just songs that make me feel better…… eventually.

30. Good Person Inside by Jill Sobule.

29. Once Upon A Dream from the musical Jekyll and Hyde. My favorite line is Once upon a dream you were heaven sent to me, but it wasn’t meant to be, now you’re just a dream.

28.  Please Remember Me by Tim McGraw.

27.  How Do You Like Me Now by Toby Keith.

26.  Wait and Bleed by Slipknot, the band I formally thought was called Skipnot.

25.  Desperately by George Strait.

24. Right Through You by Alanis Morrisette.

23.   Cry For You by Ashe.

22.   I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry by Hank Williams

21.  Have You Seen Me Lately (Acoustic Version) by Counting Crows. This is my FAVORITE song.

20. Could’ve Been by Tiffany. I have always loved this song. I remember dancing in my basement to this song in elementary school. It was one of my favorites.

19. Insensitive by Jan Arden. This song is pretty self explanatory.  I thought you might have some advice how to be insensitive.

18. Get Over Yourself by SHE-daisy. I love any song by SHE-daisy.

17.  Cryin’ by Aerosmith. I remember listening to this song, and dedicating this song on the radio to a guy named Seth Johnson when I was in Jr. High. He was a jerk!

16.   Sometimes Love is Just Not Enough by Rod Stewart.

15.  Another Dumb Blonde by Hoku. Yes, I love this song,  don’t judge me.

14.  Unbreakable Hearts by Jessica Andrews.  Love it!

13. Blame it on Your Heart by Patty Loveless.

12. Don’t Cry Joni by Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn. This song is about a girl who has fallen in love with an older boy who says she is too young for him and then moves away and realizes he loves her and she marries his best friend.

11. Bye Bye by JoDee Messina.

10.  One of These Days by Tim McGraw

9.  Why They Call it Fallin’ by Leann Womack

8. Ten Thousand Angels by Mindy McCready

7.  Some Fools Never Learn by Steve Wariner

6.  Stay by Sugarland.

5.  Two Teardrops by Steve Wariner

4.  Where are You Now by Janet Jackson

3.  Every Rose Has its Thorns by Poison

2.  Ocean Front Property by George Strait

1. After the Rain by Nelson.   None of the other songs are in order except this one. This is my favorite break up song, because it always makes me feel better…..eventually. My favorite line in the song is:  He never really loved you from the start, the only thing he ever gave you was a broken heart, don’t be afraid to lose what was never meant to be.

 
What are some of your favorite breakup songs?

Wilton Cake Pops on a Stick Transportation Pops!

I had the opportunity to take part in a contest with Wilton. Wilton is the premier brand of cake decorating and baking products. The contest was to create your own original cake pops. I bet you are wondering what a cake pop is? It is cake on a stick dipped in delicious candy melts. I really want to show you all how to make cake pops. I decided that I would use my adorable little boy as my inspiration for deciding what to make. Noah loves everything having to do with transportation, that’s what I would do. I would make a few of his favorites in to a delicious treat. Since he truly loves them all, picking which ones to do was somewhat difficult. So, I went to the source and asked Noah, he wanted rocket ships, submarines and cranes. He also mentioned blimps but, unfortunately the blimps were too warm and it was like the Hindenburg disaster.



I received a Cake Pops kit from Wilton to help me get started in my first cake pop adventure. Since I am left handed and tried to decorate Noah’s cakes before I was very nervous as they didn’t turn out very pretty. I had confidence in myself and along with my trusty and adorable assistant we were ready to hit the kitchen and start creating. First thing we did was use The Cake Pops on A Stick book to make the special recipe for the cake part. Noah really helped a lot; he poured everything in for me and even helped to stir it all up complete with construction vehicle noises. Once it was baked and cooled, we crumbled the cake.



I can honestly say that was Noah’s favorite part. He told me before we started baking that he was going to make me in to a cake pop and tickled me and said crumble crumble crumble. It was very cute. It was fun to crumble the cake up. My Grandma Rose always said that your best tools are your hands, and I agree completely.

After we crumbled it we added some icing and mixed it up with our hands. I had bought my favorite cake mix and frosting on clearance for 42 cents since it was green holiday icing, we looked like swamp things after we were done. I had to remind Noah, many times not to try and eat it all off his hands.





I decided to let it chill for a bit to firm up some, which was a great idea because it was pretty messy before. Once it was firm enough to shape without making a mess. I started making the shapes for the rocket ships, blimps, cranes, and submarines. I put them back in the refrigerator for a couple hours before I dipped the 6 inch sticks in melted Candy Melts to help them stick. Since my cake pops were bigger than the average cake pop I was worried that it would fall off if it didn’t have enough time to chill. I left them in the refrigerator for 24 hours, just to make sure.




I was ready to dip them with my new Chocolate Pro Electric Chocolate Melter. I melted some more red Candy Melts being careful that I wouldn’t waste them, when I was ready for the next color after washing some of the candy melts down the sink, I figured out if I poured the leftovers on parchment paper and let it dry I could reuse it. It peeled off really easily and I also figured out that you have to melt quite a bit to get easy coverage on your Cake Pop. I was able to make it work easily with a spatula on the bottom of the pops so they were completely incased in Candy Melt. It doesn’t take the Candy Melt very long to harden which was a good thing. I dipped the Red Rocket Ships and the Yellow Submarines first. I let Noah pick the colors all of them, since I bought every color of Wilton Candy Melts they had at the craft store.

I have always wanted to try out fondant and I thought no time like the present since I wanted to add specific details. I purchased several packages of colored ready to use fondants. I ended up using yellow fondant on all of the Cake Pops. I had also used some little cutters in different shapes. It was really easy to roll out even for me. My crowning achievement was when I put the yellow candy melts in a disposable icing bag and wrote USA on the rocket ships. It is legible even. I am not sure if Julia Child was guiding my hands like in the movie Ghost or what but it was perfect. I was so afraid that the rocket ships were going to be drizzled in yellow candy melt. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. I was so proud of myself at that moment.

I decided to make the wings of the rocket ship out of fondant. I used yellow fondant as the periscope of the submarine as well. I had some trouble thinking of what to use for the windows on the submarine. I was going to first use the candy eyes that were included in my pops kit turned backwards, that didn’t work too well so, I thought marshmallows would work. I decided to rip them and shape them for the windows. After attaching them I decided, it looked weird so, I melted some white candy melts and put those in a disposable icing bag and drew the windows on. I thought they really needed the porthole covers around them too. I used some melted chocolate chips in another disposable icing bag. Melted chocolate chips are a different consistency than the Candy Melts so it was harder to manage. Noah reminded me that submarines have propellers so I used some pull and peel licorice that I had purchased for the cranes to make it. By that time I had poured out the yellow Candy Melt to harden so I just kind of dipped the back of the pop in the yellow melts and attached the licorice. Two down two to go I thought to myself. I was doing this and it was working for me.

 

When it was time for the blimps I went to dip them and since they had been sitting out for a hour or more they were no longer cold. I almost started to cry after I watched the Cake Pop fall apart. I was thinking, it’s ok I have two more blimps. I didn’t realize until after that was the reason they fell apart, I dipped the second making sure it was carefully placed on the stick. I went to dip it and it fell apart too once it hit the Candy melts. At this point I yell Darn it. Noah said, “Mommy, that is a bad word.” Thinking after two were ruined I couldn’t have just one blimp I dipped it and covered it in sprinkles and watched it fall off the stick as I put it in a bowl for Noah to enjoy. I put the pre-dipped cranes back in the refrigerator for a few hours so, they would survive. I think next time I will keep them in the refrigerator until the last second before dipping. I highly suggest you do so too. It makes it a lot easier and saves you from the heart break of your beautiful creations plummeting from the stick.



After waiting a while I decided the cranes needed to be dipped. I had purchased some thin pretzel sticks to be the arm of the crane. I knew how fast the Candy Melts dried so I figured that I had to dip the cranes and then stick the pretzel in quickly or my cranes wouldn’t have an arm. I thought about dipping them with the pretzel stuck in it already but decided that would probably end badly. I took a spoon and covered the pretzel with Candy Melt. I cut out some yellow little squares and circles for the wheels and windows I attached with water on a little paintbrush. I put them back in the refrigerator to make sure the arms of the cranes were dried. Everyone knows that cranes have strings on them so I thought the pull and peel licorice would be perfect for that. It’s fun to eat too. I just tied it on and it looks really cool.



I received a Cake Pops stand in my Cake Pops kit which is really nice; I plan on saving it for a special occasion. I thought since these Cake Pops capture the essence of my little boy, I wanted the stand to be something that was Noah’s. I decided to build a couple rows with his favorite blocks that have holes in them, which are perfect for holding Cake Pops. Noah’s little eyes lit up with amazement when he saw them all done and placed on our display blocks.



I received the Wilton Cake Pops Kit for my contest entry where I could win a $500 VISA Gift card or 9 other prizes. I did purchase additional products for my Cake Pops and all thoughts and opinions and ideas are in fact my own.