Show the birds some love....Bird Seed Hearts :)

Homemade Birdseed Cakes. (vegetarian suet alternative)

1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 cup cornmeal or cracked corn

1 cup bird seed/sunflower hearts/oiled sunflower seeds

1 cup whole wheat flour

* When using cornmeal and whole Wheat flour make sure it is NOT self rising, and does NOT contain baking soda.

Optional ingredients: chopped raisins, dried blueberries or cranberries.

place the shortening and peanutbutter in a saucepan and heat on med. low until melted. Stir in other ingredients until well mixed. Then place in molds of choice. Last year, we made traditional suit style cakes by using a 8x8 casserole dish.

This year we decided to make heart shapes for Valentines day.



This is the heart pan i used for the crayons. It works great for so many things.
To make the hanging heart feeders, we (the kids helped) half filled each heart mold with the birdseed mix. Then we added a ribbon to each one. The ribbon is tied on one end, and we placed the knot in the center of the heart. Then we added enough mix to fill the molds.
Place them in the freezer for about 20 minutes or until firm, and then pop them out of the pan. Place them in a freezer safe container and return them to the freezer until frozen solid (a couple hours).



We made these small birdseed feeder ornaments to adorn our Yule Tree that has been planted back outside.


We also made some of the larger suit cakes. i used a large heart shaped cookie cutter to make these. First, just line a pan with waxed paper. Then we placed the cookie cutter on waxed paper and i let my girl scoop the birdseed mix into the center of it. We pressed it down into the form and placed the entire thing into the freezer. It only takes a few minutes for the mix to set in the freezer, so once the shape is set you can slide off the cookie cutter and make another.
When you have them all made place in the freezer and let them freeze solid (a few hours.)

Now you can set them out in your suet feeders and provide the birds with a nutritious treat during these cold days. Be sure and store any unused cakes in your freezer. These are great for the freezing winter months, but the heat from the sun will cause them to melt during the warmers days.