baked ham with honey orange glaze and lemon parsley asparagus

Hi everyone. I hope you are all enjoying the last day of the year doing something you love! Unlike me, who has to work :/ blerg. Oh well, c'est la vie! :D

Here, at last, is my Christmas ham! Just in time for you to make on New Year's Day, if you're into that sort of thing.

Last year on New Year's day I was most likely nursing a hangover. This year I will not be doing that, but I may be tending to the hangovers of others! And not cooking up a fancy meal. There's always next year :)

At any rate! Here is the ham recipe and, BONUS, a roasted asparagus recipe, to boot!

The ham (isn't it cute? we called it our "hamlet" ...I guess that's also kind of sad):

First you need a ham. Even ham steaks would do. The tricky part here is measure for the size ham you have. Basically, you want enough to thickly coat your ham, twice, plus some (just in case).

My ham was 2.67 lbs, and pre-cooked, so I just had to heat it through. Follow the safe cooking directions on your ham's packaging.

The glaze:

2 oranges, one zest grated and juiced, one sliced
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbsp  and 1 tsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp boiling water
A handful of whole cloves (optional)

See your ham packaging for cooking instructions. Just for reference, mine said to bake for 20-30 minutes per pound, at 350.

Preheat your oven.

Boil your water and measure out two tablespoon, whisk your cornstarch into this, then add your honey, orange juice and zest. Whisk until well combined.

This is optional, but what I did was to poke whole cloves into the the ham in rows, about an inch apart.

I poured half of my glaze over the ham to start, then followed the package instructions, baking for 1 hour and 10 minutes, covered in foil. Then I took it out, poured the rest of the glaze over and baked uncovered for 30 minutes. Then when it was done, I let it rest a bit, and then placed it on the tray on top of some orange slices and drizzled the glaze from the roasting pan over the top.

Now for the ASPARAGUS!

For this you will need:

1 bunch of asparagus
Juice from 1 lemon
2 Tbsp melted butter (or Earth Balance)
2 Tbsp honey
black pepper
flat leaf parsley, chopped

Preheat your oven to 325 (I used a toaster oven, since my regular oven was full)

Mix together your lemon juice, melted butter and honey.

Place asparagus on a baking sheet, taking care not to overlap any of the spears. Drizzle the mixture over and pepper to taste. Sprinkle parsley over the top. You don't need much, just, like, enough. I don't know. Whatever you think is best. Save some fresh for garnishing.

I guess I had mine in the toaster oven for about 25 minutes. Most recipes I've read for roasted asparagus say 400 degrees for 25 minutes. That probably yields a crispier asparagus than what I ended up with.

But it was still delicious!

I hope you all have a magnificent New Year's Eve and subsequent New Year's Day.

Love,
-A.

healthful scalloped sweet potatoes

As I may have mentioned before, for about eight months earlier this year I was vegan. I got to explore plenty of interesting vegan recipes and alternatives. One of which, these great scalloped potatoes.

Since not being vegan anymore, I've noticed that dairy, in particular, just does not sit well with me (it probably never did, but I had nothing to compare it to). Especially creams and soft cheeses :( For this reason, while I've been recovering I decided to go dairy-free wherever possible, including important dinners.

Interestingly enough, the only thing about our Christmas breakfast and dinner that wasn't vegan was the ham itself.

Our creamy scalloped sweet potatoes were vegan, though!

Here's how I made them:

3 sweet potatoes, sliced thin (or use regular potatoes)
1 onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup Earth Balance, melted
6 Tbsp flour
~2 cups almond milk (or any kind of milk)
salt & pepper to taste
paprika

Pre-heat your oven to 350.

Whisk your salt and pepper into the flour.

Mix together your onions and potatoes and create a layer on the bottom of a buttered 9x9" baking pan.

Pour 1/3 of your melted butter over the potatoes and onions and dust with 1/3 of the flour.

Do this two more times, so you have three layers.

Pour your milk over, until it reaches the top of the pan. I didn't measure my milk for this, I just poured.

Dust paprika over the top of the potatoes.

Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until potatoes are soft enough to break apart easily with a fork, or (like I did) bake for 1 hour covered with foil, and finish later, or the next day, baking for 1 1/2 hours, uncovered.

Either way you choose, I recommend placing a baking sheet under your pan. This may seem like a no-brainer but I didn't do this at first and then I had to clean the oven, so . . . yeah.

The photo above shows my potatoes only halfway through the cooking process, which is why the milk/butter/flour mixture looks a little separated and runny. It hadn't quite cooked down yet. But I promise this is a great alternative to the regular, and much more healthful!

Enjoy!
-A.

pumpkin waffles

Of course Christmas breakfast has to be special, even if it's just for two. I thought about making a quiche to go along with these waffles, but doing all the cooking myself was a lot of work and I didn't think we really needed quiche and waffles. I'm glad I didn't make the quiche. I barely have room for our leftovers as it is!

These pumpkin waffles, however, were amazing! Here's how they happened:

1 cup all-purpose white flour
1 cup all-purpose wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 table spoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 dash of salt
2 eggs, separated
1/2 cup almond milk*
1 cup water*
1/4 cup cream cheese*
4 tablespoon Earth Balance vegan margarine, melted
1/2 cup canned pumpkin

Heat your waffle iron according to manufacturer directions and coat with vegetable oil.

In a bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

Separate your egg whites from your yolks and place in separate bowls.

To your yolks, add the milk, water, cream cheese and margarine and whisk until well combined.

Whip your egg whites with an electric hand mixer, working your way up through the speeds until you are on high. Your egg whites are ready when they will hold a peak.

Add wet ingredients over the flour mixture and mix until combined. Fold in egg whites. If you find that the mixture seems to be too thick (it'll be somewhat thicker than other waffle batters I've used), add a little milk.

Scoop 1/4 cup of batter onto waffle iron and smooth somewhat into shape, adding more batter if needed.

*You can also use 1 1/2 cups of any kind of milk, to sub here. I used what I did because I did not have enough almond milk :)

Serve warm with lots of syrup and butter!

Peace!
-A.

a new ruche outfit i will soon own!

I am so, so excited because my incredibly thoughtful sister, Miranda, gave me a very generous gift certificate to Ruche for Christmas!

Last week I had to have surgery (ugh!) and was confined to my bed for a few days. She sent it a little early so that I could have something to do while I rested. Isn't that sweet? :) I was so surprised and so thrilled!

As you already know, I love just about everything on Ruche so it was hard to pick what I wanted to buy and I'm aways very indecisive when it comes to spending gift certificates. I picked out a few items while stuck in bed, but I decided to wait and think on it.

blouse, skirt, socks, shoes

I'm so glad I did because they are having a 15% off promotion today and tomorrow, so I thought it might be a great time to pounce. Also, those adorable shoes just arrived today! I scooped up these four items and I can't wait until they arrive!

I thought this might be the perfect Valentine's Day date outfit. Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday. I will probably say that about every holiday, but V-Day is definitely top 3!

Thanks Miranda! <3

-A.

peppermint bark snickerdoodles

 Last month some of the gals at work did a very thoughtful and generous thing for me. I've had some stuff going on this fall and they were a big help. I wanted to thank them a long time ago, but I just hadn't had the time. This last weekend I found myself with a bit of free time so I decided to make some peppermint bark snickerdoodles.

They were delicious, if I do say so myself. But unfortunately I only ended up with half a batch because the other half got burnt.

This is the recipe that I adapted mine from, but I had to make some changes because I didn't have cream of tartar. It's a great recipe, but it also resulted in my horribly burnt cookies. The bottoms were black and they turned into rocks. Here's my version:

2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/8 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp peppermint flavor

Preheat oven to 375. Line your cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and set this aside. In a larger bowl, mix together sugar and butter until well combined, using an electric hand mixer. Add eggs, vanilla and peppermint until well combined. Slowly add dry ingredients. You can use your handmixer at first, but I found that after a fashion, using my hands worked better. Kneed your dough until all ingredients are well combined.

Roll pieces of dough into 1/2" - 1" balls and place evenly and well spaced on parchment paper. Flatten into 1/4" thick patties using a small jar or glass.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, move to cooling rack.

For the icing:

Using an electric hand mixer beat together 1 egg white and 1 cup confectioner's sugar, at first on low until combined, then for a few minutes on high. If you like, add in 1/8 tsp peppermint flavor or vanilla extract. (Note: the latter may result in a more yellow icing.)

Once cookies have cooled completely, dip them flat into the icing, then flat into crushed peppermint candies. I used candy canes, which I crushed up. My guess is, for a full batch, you would need about 4 regular sized candy canes, or maybe half a small bag of peppermint candies.

The end!

Peace,
-A.

peppermint hot cocoa

I love peppermint this time of year. Peppermint everything. Peppermint lip balm. Peppermint bark. Peppermint soap. Peppermint hot cocoa. . . .

So this weekend I decided to make some! Cocoa, that is. If you're really not so good in the kitchen, you could definitely make this with some Swiss Miss and peppermint flavor, but if you like to get crafty, you can make it like I did.

For this I used:

2-3 cups almond milk (or any kind of milk)
2 Tbsp Dutch process cocoa powder (you can use any kind, but I swear, Dutch makes the difference)
1 1/2 Tbsp mini chocolate chips
1/8 tsp salt (optional)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
1/8 tsp peppermint flavor (more, to taste, but this is the absolute min you can put in and still taste it)
1 Tbsp sugar (optional, I didn't use sugar in mine)

Heat your milk in a sauce pan slowly over medium low heat (be especially slow and careful if using dairy!).

When milk is hot, stir in chocolate chips until fully melted and combined.

Whisk in cocoa powder and salt, vanilla, and sugar, if using.

Whisk in peppermint flavor.

This makes for a very rich cocoa! The measurements, as I'm sure you've come to realize is my M.O., are approximate. If you want to omit the chocolate chips, go ahead! If you do, you should definitely use sugar and maybe a little more cocoa powder.

I also wanted to mention that I will be on another hiatus for the rest of this week. Lots of Christmas prep and some personal things coming up so I decided it might be best to take a little vacation from the blog. I will be back next week, I believe!

In the meantime, enjoy your own holiday prep, if you're prepping, and if not, just enjoy your week, all the same :)

Peace,
-A.

christmas cards & lights

Just about every year since I graduated from college, I've made and sent out Christmas cards. For some reason, I think of sending Christmas cards as a very adult thing to do. It makes me feel like a grown-up. Making them is just a lot of fun, and I think it adds a little something extra.

This year, I had intended to start really early on cards and mail them out the week after Thanksgiving. Procrastinator that I am, that didn't happen . . . so now I find myself scrambling to get about 30 cards finished and in the mail by next Monday!

I had started off with a completely different idea but I didn't even attempt it. I just couldn't figure out in my mind how it would come out the way I wanted, so I changed my idea (sometimes I'm easily frustrated and find it better just to simplify). I really like the way these cards are turning out! I plan to do a few other words, too (like "joy" and . . . well, actually I haven't thought of any others yet!).

All I did for these cards was write the word "peace" on a piece of paper, lay it over the card, punched holes with a darning needle along the lines of the word, and then I used a thinner needle and embroidery floss to embroider the word. A little time consuming but pretty simple!

I also strung up my Christmas lights last night! I opted out of a Christmas tree this year because of my living situation, but I still had to do something festive since I'll be spending Christmas day here in the city. I hung them by pushing a tack through one loop of a binder clip and fastening it to the edge of a shelf that runs along one wall in my room. The shelf is just white washed slab of wood, so I don't really care about marring it--plus is already has marks and what not. Then I could just push the other loop to open the clip and clip in my string lights. Super easy! And I can reuse the binder clips later to hang art, or something!

I personally thought it was pretty ingenious, but I might be a little biased ;)

Anyone else sending out last-minute cards this year?

Peace,  (ha! geddit? like my cards. . . )
-A.


PS Today is the LAST day to enter the burlap wreath giveaway!! any entries after midnight today will be disqualified.

penguins on ice ornament

This ornament was a lot of fun to make because I was using materials I've never used before. I bought a set of four empty glass ornaments, little rocks, fake moss and polymer clay at Michael's. 

I made the penguins with the clay and baked them in my toaster oven. I colored them with Sharpies. Of course you could also use colored clay or paint. 

For the ice I used an acrylic water kit, which I bought from Amazon. It was really, really simple to use and a great alternative to more common resin kits, if you have not used them before. One thing I wish I had had, though, was a funnel to funnel the mixture into the ornament. If you try out this project, make sure you pick up a cheap funnel, one you won't use again, as the acrylic will likely ruin it.

Arrange the rocks and moss how you want them in the bottom of the glass ornament (careful! I broke my first one but dropping the rocks in a little too roughly, they're very fragile). Then mix your acrylic water according to the manufacturer directions and pour over your rocks and moss. Let sit, perfectly still, for at least 24 hours.

The hole to my ornaments was very narrow so I had to make sure my penguins would fit. I put them in by taping a piece of duct tape, sticky side out, to a pen. I dabbed a bit of hot glue on the bottom of the penguin, stuck its head to the tape, lowered it in, held it in place while the hot glue dried and then carefully pulled the pen off. It sounds silly and complicated but I swear it worked and I don't know how else I'd have done it. Tweezers might work but mine were not long enough.

I think that about covers it! You could do this with just about anything, I guess. Go crazy! If you have any questions, please feel free to post them in the comments!

Peace,
-A.

simple crafts: glitter critters

These adorable little guys are another part of my DIY Christmas. I found these wooden critters at Michael's for $2 a piece.

For this cute fish I used Martha Stewart Crafts Glitter paint in Smokey Quartz and Aquamarine. I like this paint because so far it seems as though the glitter sticks pretty well. Since I'll be giving these creatures to my five-year-old niece, I wanted to be sure the glitter wouldn't be flaking off all over my sister's house. So far, the paint seems pretty solid once it dries. 

 For the snake, I used the same Martha Stewart aqua glitter paint (which is more green than teal), but first I did a green wash by mixing a little of the green paint (that came with the wooden snake) with water and coating the wood. I let that dry thoroughly before adding the glitter paint. 

The glitter paint requires several coats to create the glitter coverage you see on the fish and the snake. The fish especially because I didn't paint the wood first. I probably did ten coats there, to ensure the wood was completely covered. I found dabbing it on worked better than brushing.

I did the same thing for the gecko as for the snake, except that I used red paint that came with the kit and the smokey quartz glitter paint. I decided for this guy to use the glitter paint only on the head, legs and back of the body and not to do so many coats. I liked the way the red looked.

It was a really simple handmade project which I think makes a great gift for little ones! It'd be great to do with kids, too.

And how cute are they?

Peace & love,
-A.

the burlap wreath

I'm pretty jazzed about this post. I do plan on doing a tutorial in the next few weeks, along with the first ever l'élan jolie giveaway, so stay tuned for that! 

This particular wreath I made for my mother for my DIY Christmas (like this scarf, for my niece!). It was really easy and the result is beautiful (if I do say so, myself!). I got the idea from this wreath which I posted about here.

Burlap wreaths seem to be the thing right now and it's easy to see why. They're so simple and so rustic and lovely.

I'm excited to show you how I made mine! It came together easier than I anticipated. The trickiest part was definitely positioning the flowers. I let them sit on the wreath a while before I committed to permanently affixing them. I could make a million of these, it was so much fun.

Check back in the coming weeks for the step-by-step and the chance to win a wreath of your own :)

Peace & love,
-A.