Brunch With Love + A Valentine’s Popcorn Recipe

So if you know us at all, you know we take any reason to celebrate and relish all the sweet things in life. Valentine’s Day is no exception. It’s completely acceptable to love love around here and though we need no reason particularly, a day of love is a pretty good excuse. With that, we decided to have an early “Brunch With Love” to celebrate with all of the kiddos before I left. The palpable excitement from them is what fuels me and my quest for making memories and creating special moments that they’ll cherish. The simple act of cutting pancakes into heart shapes with a cookie cutter, making hot chocolate with marshmallows and adding some pink Valentine’s white chocolate popcorn (recipe at the end of this post) to the table was enough to make it feel like Christmas morning again in my house. Aliyah helped to wash the milk bottles and fetch the straws for our strawberry banana protein smoothies (gotta have some protein with this meal!), and we figured out together how to cut strawberries into the shape of hearts (it’s SO easy, just cut off the green stem by slicing a V into the top of the strawberry and then cut the strawberry in half to form two hearts). Brayden reminded us about the sprinkles, of course. And Skylar, well, he just swiped a marshmallow or two whenever he could. But no matter what was on the table for brunch, these kids knew it was to celebrate them, and us, and love… And it was pretty darn special. 

To make the pink white chocolate Valentine’s popcorn, I just melted some white chocolate, added a bit of red food coloring and poured the pink chocolate mixture over a large bowl of pre-popped popcorn. Actually, Aliyah did most of it herself! Then we laid the coated popcorn out onto parchment paper and added sprinkles while the chocolate was still sticky before we allowed to dry and harden. So easy, so cute… and SO good! Perfect for our Valentine’s brunch or for ANY reason!

So whether you have plans or not, whether you’re “for” or “against” Valentine’s Day or whether you feel like you have someone to celebrate with or not, I encourage you to find the small ways in every day to create the moments that make memories. Sometimes that means busting out the special straws or taking an extra minute to make hot chocolate with marshmallows (you can do it a little healthier by just heating up almond milk and dark chocolate, and can even find vegan or healthy alternatives for marshmallows!). Sometimes it means using a cookie cutter to cut fun shapes into pancakes, or sandwiches or… Anything! And sometimes it means just showing someone some extra love. Let’s not make this Valentine’s Day about us and what we can get, but rather what kind of love we can give… To our loved ones, our kids, our friends, the woman at the checkout counter. What would your day, your life, look like to treat this day of love, or any day for that matter, like it was a chance to make a series of special moments?  

I’d love to hear your plans and your ideas for Valentine’s Day too!! Share in the comments, or tweet me @tabithablue, or if you happen to make a fun Brunch With Love, hashtag with #freshmommyblog or tag me @tabithablue so I can see it and show you some extra love too!! ❤️