Happy Valentine's Day! (with gifts for you!)

Happy Valentine's Day to all my wonderful Smiling Mama readers!

Abel and I will have a quiet Valentine's Day this year. No grand romantic gestures on this, the 10th Anniversary of our first Valentine's day together. And yet, at home with our wonderful two boys, it seems like just the perfect day.

I have a few Valentine's to send your way this year, dear readers...

First, over the past few days, I've posted some great indoor activities to help your family survive Snowpocalypse 2010 over at Out by Ten. Usually I just post about local activities but anyone, anywhere trying to keep sane while snowed in or just looking for some fun new ideas to do with your kids should go over and check it out.

Second, I have a hot tip for you about an amazing Valentine's Day giveaway at Tech Savvy Mama. I've written about her amazing site and incredible giveaways before but these Valentine's Day prizes really take the box of chocolates! I want every single one of them! For example, I was just telling Abel and my mother-in-law about the Toshiba Digital Frame, I think I could get Lucas to do almost all our cleaning if I won the Dyson DC31, and as the days slowly (oh so slowly but spring is on its way!!) get longer, I think the Good Nite Light would help us get Lucas to not pounce on our bed earlier and earlier every day. And those are just a few of the amazing prizes. So, go enter, and if you win, consider it my Valentine's Day gift to you!!


And, finally, I've got a fantastic recipe to share! I've taken this to two pot lucks recently and multiple people have requested the recipe. It is easy and delicious. Enjoy!

Nicole's Thai Noodle Salad

(I have no idea who Nicole is, but the person who gave me the recipe called it this and I feel the need to continue to give Nicole credit!)

Sauce:

1/4 Cup smooth or crunchy peanut butter (I've always used smooth)
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 Teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons sesame oil
3 Tablespoons salad oil
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce

Salad:

10 oz angel hair pasta, cooked and drained
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
3 Tablespoons julienned red pepper (steamed or raw)
2 Tablespoons julienned carrot (steamed or raw)
3 Tablespoons chopped green onion

Combine sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Add noodles to a large bowl and coat with sauce. Add remaining salad ingredients and mix well. Chill before serving.

Notes: I'm always very liberal with the cilantro, red pepper and carrots. Also, the most recent time I made this, I also made chicken satay to go with it. I just doubled the sauce, cut two chicken breasts into small pieces and marinated them in a few tablespoons of the sauce, then I cooked them and served a few more tablespoons of extra sauce on the side for dipping. This also left me with probably about 1/4 batch additional sauce to use on the noodles. I can't get enough of this yummy sauce so liked having some extra for the noodles.

I hope you enjoy all these "gifts" and have a wonderful Valentine's Day and enjoy at least one piece of delicious chocolate!


Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!