heart shaped frame

I found this cute little frame at Michael's several weeks ago. It was only a buck so I picked it up. At the time it was just unfinished wood.

I painted it an antique white and at first I tried to paint the lines of words, but I found that a Sharpie worked much better.

It was a really simple craft that didn't take much time, but in my opinion turned out really cute!

Valentine's day is coming up! Last year Tom surprised me by showing up at my work with flowers, and because I was just becoming vegan that very week, some fresh berries instead of chocolates. It was very sweet and exciting because we had not been together long and it'd been a few years since I'd last had someone to celebrate with.

Tom and I agreed that our gifts for each other this year was our vacation, but we are also going to go out to dinner on Thursday (to beat the Friday Valentine's crowd). I'm looking forward to a quiet evening in on Friday :)

Love,
-A.

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.

creamy beef and black bean burrito filling

So I know this isn't a very holiday-esque dish, but I made this for dinner on Christmas Eve. It was just going to be Tom and I, and since the special Christmassy food was coming the next day, I wanted to make something different.

For this I used:

1 tomato, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 can black beans
< 1 Tbsp Better Than Bouillon beef base
3 Tbsp cream cheese
taco seasoning & cayenne pepper, to taste

Heat a little bit of oil in a sauce pan over medium high heat. Add all of your veggies and cover, stirring occasionally, until the veggies have begun to soften and have released their juices.

Stir in your beef base (I used just under a tablespoon).

Stir in your cream cheese until well combined. Season as you wish, with taco seasoning, cayenne pepper, salt & pepper or chili powder.

Serve hot wrapped in a tortilla and/or over rice!

We had ours without rice, in tortillas. They were a satisfying break from the usual holiday fare.

Of course, not to let you down, I will be posting what holiday fare I did make shortly! :)

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday!
-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.

balsamic roasted veggies

I've been lucky so far since I  moved to New York that I haven't had to spend any important holidays alone. Last year, I spent Thanksgiving with my sister and her family, and I got to fly home for Christmas. I even had Valentine's day covered!

This year I was able to go all the way home for Thanksgiving, which was really exciting for me because it's my favorite holiday!

The only downer was that I wasn't able to help cook, as it ended up being an eleven-hour journey this time so I got home just in time to eat. 

Next year I'm hoping to be able to coordinate more time off so I can be integral in the cooking process. I'm starting to think early about what I might like to make. My family agrees that we need some more color on our table, so I was thinking balsamic roasted brussels sprouts, maybe?

For this experimental recipe I used a bunch of different veggies. Here's how I did it (as always, measurements are approximate):

2 cups brussels sprouts, quartered
2 red bell peppers, cut into strips
4 garlic cloves
1 yellow onion (I cut my onion in half, sliced up each half and pulled it apart. I don't know what thats called)
4 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 Tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper, to taste

Preheat your oven to 375.

Place all your cut veggies in a large mixing bowl, pour over the vinegar and oil, use a spoon (or, as I did, your hands), to turn the veggies until evenly coated. Turn your coated veggies out into a roasting pan.

Roast for 20 minutes, then stir up your veggies, turning them over, and roast another 15 minutes, or until all veggies are beginning to brown. I think I got impatient here and turned my oven up to 425 for the second leg. It worked out fine but I can't recommend that method. It feels wrong.

These were really delicious (and healthy!). I'm not sure if I loved the brussels sprouts quite enough to incorporate into our most important dinner of the year, but they're definitely a great side for standard meals. I've seen some recipes that include herbs and Dijon mustard in their balsamic roasted veggies, maybe I'll have to explore that more in the future. I'll let you know how that turns out!

-A.

the peppermint bark ordeal

 I know, I know. . . it's still a little early for candy canes. But I was at the drug store the other night and they already have their Christmas merch out! And peppermint bark squares at the counter!

I love peppermint bark. I can't remember the first time I had it but it was fairly recent in the grand scheme of things. I really should've been eating it long before. It's amazing.

Last year we got all the stuff to make peppermint bark but never did. Those chocolate and white chocolate chips disappeared, of course. The parchment paper got used up, too, but I still had the peppermint flavor, so I decided to get it in early, just to make sure I get to it at all. It's really easy to make, though I did make a couple of silly mistakes, I'll share with you my process and my recommendations. Do as I say, not as I do!

As you can see, the white chocolate of my peppermint bark is in the inside, rather than on top like I meant for it to be. That is because I do not know how to melt white chocolate, apparently. We'll get to that....

What you need for this is:

Most of 1 bag of chocolate chips
Most of 1 bag of white chocolate chips
Candycanes or peppermints, crushed (you can do this with something solid and a Ziplock bag, or do what I did and break them into little pieces, put them in a bowl and then pulverize with a glass jar. It's a little messy, but fun, and you save a plastic bag!)
Peppermint flavor (optional)
Parchment paper on a baking tray

I melted my chocolate chips in the microwave on high for 1 minute, stirred and kept putting them back for 20-30 second intervals until thoroughly melted. Then I added a few drops of peppermint flavor (more or less depending on your preference, or you can omit altogether for a more subtle peppermint bark).

I spread the melted chocolate out on the parchment paper and allowed to cool. Well, I was in a hurry (as per usual) so I stuck it in the freezer for about 10 or 15 minutes. This was silly because the chocolate didn't really set up in that time, it just got cold so it appeared to be set, but melted as soon as I tried to spread the white chocolate on... I recommend putting it in the fridge for 30-60 minutes.

I then set to melting my white chocolate in the microwave, as well. As I began, Tom said, "Aren't white chocolate chips really hard to melt?" I said, "I don't know, I've never heard that." But, as it turned out, he was right. They started to melt, at first, but then ceased melting and became just a kind of solid-ish mush. I tried to spread this on the chocolate but the chocolate melted and it started to mix. I put it under the broiler a bit to see if it would melt more (Tom's idea, thank goodness he was there to keep me from flying into a panic about my weirdening bark), but it didn't really help. So I ended up just flattening it out, best I could, and put the dark chocolate over the top.

While still melted, I sprinkled the crushed peppermint over the top and pressed in gently with the back of a spoon. I let this harden in the freezer over night, though it probably would've done just as well in the fridge (I just didn't have room).

I've melted white chocolate before in a makeshift double boiler (with a glass bowl and a pot of water) and that worked fine, so I highly recommend doing that. Here are some really straight forward directions for that.

Anyway, it turned out really yummy (Tom-Approved) and prettier than I'd expected, which is what really matters, anyway, right?

Peace & love,
-A.