I am crazy about Valentine’s Day. All the pink, red and fuchsia stuff. Boxes of chocolate. Pretty little cards. This heart-filled lunch. Okay, I might have gone a little crazy with my heart-shaped cookie cutters. The sandwich is an open faced Canadian bacon and swiss cheese delight. I toasted it slightly in the oven—just enough for the melted cheese to stick on two slices of heart ham. The scone is from a batch I made for today’s preschool snack: whole grain strawberry orange with a little blood orange glaze. I based it on this recipe with some modifications. I left out the dried fruit, swapped half of the milk for pureed strawberries and added orange zest, because I have oranges for days thanks to two extremely prolific trees. I used half butter and half coconut oil and they turned out amazing. The little hearts are a slice of apple and two pieces of homemade berry gummy snacks. The gummy snacks were made with frozen berries, applesauce and gelatin. I know that gelatin grosses some people out, because it’s made from hooves and stuff. Well, I just try not to think about that, because I love to have fun with gelatin and Jello and jiggly stuff. I haven’t yet experimented with plant-based gelling agents like agar agar (If anyone knows how this works, let me know).

This is the last lunch I’ll be making for the week, because tomorrow we’re taking a little road trip up to San Francisco to visit awesome friends and to meet my adorable new nephew. Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day and weekend. Kisses!

Whole Grain Strawberry Orange Scones

• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 5 tablespoons turbinado (raw cane) sugar
• 5 tablespoons coconut oil (or butter)
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup milk (I used almond)
• 1/4 cup pureed strawberries
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• the zest of one orange

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Combine the yogurt and baking soda in a small bowl and set aside. The yogurt will go crazy when you add the baking soda: it will fizz up and expand due to some amazing food chemistry.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon, orange zest and salt.
4. Drop solid coconut oil (or butter) into dry ingredients one spoonful at a time and break apart with  your fingers as you mix it into the flour. You could also use a pastry cutter, but I find it goes faster if you just use your hands. Fold in milk, strawberry and yogurt mixture.
5. Place dough on a surface dusted with flour and roll out until it is 1/2 inch thick. The dough will be easier to work with if you chill it slightly (3o minutes in the fridge). You can use a cookie or biscuit cutter to make cute little shapes, or you can just cut the scones into traditional triangles.
6. Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat. Bake for about 15 minutes or until light brown.
7. If you are feeling decadent, you can drizzle on a little glaze made with confectioner’s sugar and orange juice.