I love when Valentine's Day falls on a weekend. One of my favourite ways to celebrate is to enjoy breakfast or brunch with my family. Sometimes we just make a simple breakfast of toast or cereal if we have planned an outdoor event we want to get to early, but usually I like to have fun and make a special meal.

One way to jazz up your Valentine's Day morning meal is to make heart shaped pancakes. If you don't have a heart shaped mold, it is quite easy to make one using tin foil.

Just tear off about a foot of tin foil and fold into a long, inch high strip. Then make a heart-shape and slip one end into the other to hold. It doesn't have to be perfect, just have fun. I've been thinking of buying some mold shapes online? I've been looking at the Sweton stainless stell egg and pancake mold set.Has anyone got a one? How do you like it? Is there one you would recommend?

Now all you need to do is make your favourite pancake mix. I like Duinkerken's pancake mix or Betty Crocker's gluten-free bisquick mix. If I'm feeling like cooking from scratch I use the recipe my Mom used. Recipe is below. I just substitute gluten-free flour for regular flour.

Before you put the batter in the mold you need to spray it and your frying pan with some oil. You can use a pastry brush and brush on oil too. This will allow the pancake to be removed easily from the mold. When pouring your batter into the mold, you may need to gently hold it down gently so that the batter doesn't leak from under the tin foil. Don't worry if a little batter leaks out as it is easy to trim off. When you see bubbles in the batter, like in the above photo it is time to flip the pancake. You flip the pancake with the mold on. Remove the cooked pancake to a plate. If the mold was well oiled the pancake should easily come out of the mold and you can just keep reusing it.

Gluten-Free Pancake Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 1 cup of milk or milk substitute
• 1/8 cup melted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup of gluten-free flour

Directions

1. Mix the ingredients in the order given.
2. Just mix until combined.
3. Let sit for 5 minutes.
4. Heat your frying pan, add oil or spray with oil. Pour your pancake batter into the warm frying pan to the size of pancake you like.
5. Have your frying pan on medium heat. When you see bubbles on top of the pancake it is time to flip. Cook for about a minute and remove to enjoy!

I like to serve my pancakes with fresh fruit like strawberries, blueberries, bananas or kiwi fruit. Maple syrup is our go to. Another flavour combination I like is fresh lemon juice and a sprinkle of icing sugar.

You could also use the mold to make heart shaped eggs. Just grease the mold and crack an egg into it. You could also make scrambled eggs and cook them in heart shaped molds too.

Another fun Valentine's Day breakfast idea is to use a heart shaped cookie cutter to make heart shaped egg-in-hole toast. As a child this was one of my favourite breakfasts. My Mom used to use a glass to make a hole in the bread. There isn't really a recipe for this, more like instructions.

Gluten-Free Egg-In-Hole Toast Instructions

Ingredients (For one serving)

• 1 egg
• 1 slice of your favourite gluten-free bread, buttered on both sides
• 1/8 cup melted butter
• salt & pepper to taste
• Toppings: cheese, ketchup, mustard and so on

Directions

1. Butter your bread on both sides.
2. Using the rim of a cup or cookie/biscuit cutter, make a hole in the middle of the bread.
3. Remove the middle section of the bread. You will toast this in the frying pan.
4. Heat your frying pan on medium heat, grease the pan. Put in the both pieces of bread and crack the egg straight into the hole in the bread.
5. Cook until the egg sets and the toast is brown on the underside. This takes about 1 minute. Then using a spatula, flip over the egg/toast and cook for about another minute or until your bread is golden. Don't forget to flip the circle of bread too.
6. Remove from the frying pan and season with salt & pepper and serve.

I like to serve mine with a heart shaped piece of cheese.

You can add a heart shape of ketchup or mayonnaise if you like.

I don't have a photo, but sometimes I keep the middle heart shape bread and use it to make french toast.

Small gluten-free quiche tarts are great for brunch. You can make your own pastry. Here is a link to the pastry recipe I use. Or you can use your favourite gluten-free pastry shells. I like Molly B's gluten-free tart shells or Kinnikinnick's gluten-free tart shells.

Quiches are fun to make with the kids, just defrost pre-made gluten-free shells and poke the bottoms with a fork a couple of times. This is to stop the pastry puffing up when baked. I don't prebake my shells, I just put in the fillings and bake. Gather your favorite fillings and have everyone build their own quiche.

I like to use crumbled bacon or cut up ham. Make sure it is gluten-free. For vegetables I like green onions, red onion, bell pepper, mushrooms and spinach. For convenience I buy shredded cheese, but you could easily shred your own.

It is best to precook your vegetables a little. I microwave my spinach for about 30 seconds. Just put it in a microwaveable bowl, don't add any water, cover and microwave. Let it cool and squeeze the spinach dry with your hands. It will have a lot of liquid in the bowl. You want it as dry as possible. Then cut into small pieces. I microwave my cut up onions and bell peppers as well for around 30 seconds. Drain any liquid off. I fry my chopped mushrooms in leftover bacon fat. You don't have to use bacon fat. Butter or oil will do. You don't need to precook the green onions.

Mix the eggs and cream together in a 2 cup measuring cup. It makes it easier to pour into the tart shells. Now add a little cheese to the tart shells, you favourite fillings, the egg and cream mixture and sprinkle with a little cheese. They are ready to pop into a 375 farenheit preheated oven for about 25 minutes. Take out and let cool for about 5 minutes before eating.

Again there is not really a recipe, but more like instructions for quiche tarts. Below is the one I use.

Gluten-Free Mini Quiche Instructions

Ingredients (For 24 tarts)

• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup cream
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup finely shredded cheese
• Fillings (ham, bacon, spinach, onion, mushrooms, green onion, bell peppers)

Directions

1. Prepare your fillings.(See above)
2. In a 2 cup measuring cup mix your milk, cream and eggs until well combined. I like using a cup as it makes pouring the egg mixture easier.
3. Preheat your oven to 375 farenheit.
4. Put your pastry into tart tins or if using premade tarts then arrange the tarts on a baking tray.
5. Fill the tart shells with a little cheese, fillings of your choice, then fill with egg mixture and top with a sprinkling of cheese.
6. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes. Remove and let cool for a few minutes. Enjoy!

The quiches are great the next day. The filling seems to take the slight gritty texture of gluten-free pastry away. I love them cold or you could reheat in the oven, air fryer or microwave. The microwave will make the crust soft, but still tastes delicious.

I sometimes just make a cheese and fruit board and serve with gluten-free crackers and buns. Along with a gluten-free bisquick no crust quiche. Here is the recipe I use. I also serve hashbrowns, gluten-free sausages, gluten-free bacon and some sweet gluten-free baked treats. You could also just make your favourite breakfast and decorate the table with red napkins and pretty flowers. Have the kids cut up some heart shapes out of red and white paper and use as a decoration.

I found some yummy gluten-free muffins from Ohh La La this year, and they will be on my breakfast/brunch table as well. You don't have to bake like crazy if you don't want to. Recently there are a lot more delicious gluten-free baked goods available in my area so I'm enjoying the ease of buying premade gluten-free treats.. I found these yummy muffins at my local Safeway.

I thought I would share an old Valentine's Day card my Mom received way back in 1944! I just thought it was so cute. Above is the front of the card and below is the inside.

My family has always enjoyed the fun of making some special dishes on Valentine's Day and giving each other cards - bought or homemade.

I was interested in how Valentine's Day got started, so I looked about on the internet and it seems like we don't really know the origins of the day. It is celebrated on February 14. Looks like February is the month of romance. Maybe because Spring is around the corner in most parts of the world. This year it is very cold where I live. Lots of snow and doesn't look like we are close to spring at all! LOL! There's quite a bit online about Valentine's, so I thought I'd share a couple of interesting link I found.

• https://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day-2
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Valentines-Day.

I also found a link that has information on how Valentine's Day is celebrated around the world. I think it is always fun to see how other countries and cultures celebrate.

What do you do for Valentine's Day breakfast/brunch?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Note: These are my personal experiences and opinions. Always seek out a medical opinion for medical concerns.