Christmas Chronicles

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Christmas has come and gone without much activity in the blog world, and I'm actually pretty happy about it. I made a decision to leave my DLSR at home, but I did bring along my trusty Nikon Point-and-Shoot to chronicle my Christmastime adventures.

I am now up in Northern Michigan at my in-laws' ski condo, so stay tuned for some more holiday fun. For now, here is my Christmas!

We spent a few days around Christmas up at my parents' house, North of Chicago. We had all of the typical Christmas Eve ingredients: a roaring fire, lots of glitter, a brightly lit tree, and far too many presents underneath it. Hey, I'm not complaining.

We went to 7:00 Church with my family, and had to snap a picture when we got back. Please notice the ridiculous, contortionist pose my dog is in. She's scratching her ear, but it looks like she is trying to model.

We all pitched in to prepare a Christmas Eve meal. As my sister and I prepped a salad and set the table, apparently a few other family members broke into the Patron...

I started the meal with a pomegranate champagne toast. It was somewhat formal and a bit religious, but seemed fitting for Christmastime. As soon as we toasted and I sat down, my brother stood up to perform his toast... a rendition of the locker room speech from the movie Miracle. It was the yin to my yang.

After dinner, we sat around in the living room for a few hours to open gifts from my parents and gifts that we gave each other. The dogs enjoyed it.

We tried to get to bed early, but it ended up being 1 or 2 am, so we all slept in.

The next morning, we hung out in our Christmas jammies and drank some coffee. My mom made some delicious french toast using european bread, and we paired it with mimosas before getting to the presents from "Santa."

And there you have it! Christmas Chronicles. Hope yours were festive, too!

Red-Skin Potato, Chives, and Chevre "Pie" Casesrole

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On Sunday night, my mom brought me a bag of red-skin potatoes. I wasn't quite sure what to do about this, because I'm not really a potato person. 

But then I started cutting them up. I sliced them into small, 1/4inch thick rounds, and they were quite beautiful. And suddenly they weren't just weirdly shaped red masses. They were a gourmet meal!

Also, in case you were wondering, yes, this recipe is proof that one should always have chevre on hand. It's just math. A girl's gotta do it.

Red-Skin Potato, Chives, and Chevre Casserole

Prep time: 10 Minutes

Cook time: 60 Minutes

Servings: Makes 6

Ingredients:

• 4-5 medium Red-Skin potatoes. (This will also work with ANY potatoes, so feel free to experiment and know that you are safe!)
• 4oz Chevre (Any crumbly cheese, like goat or feta, will do)
• 1 tbsp Minced Garlic
• 1 tbsp Chopped Chives
• 2 tbsp Mixed Shredded Cheese (Any shredded, meltable cheese will work)
• 1 tbsp Dried Oregano (You can substitute any Italian seasoning here)
• 1/4 tsp Sea Salt
• 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
• 1 cup Milk
• 1 Egg

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375.
2. Slice potatoes into 1/4 inch thick rounds. Layer half of the potatoes into a greased pan (I used a circular cake pan), overlapping slightly. 
3. Layer half of the goat cheese on top, dispersing evenly throughout the pan. Sprinkle some dried oregano, sea salt, and black pepper on top.
4. Add a second layer of potatoes.
5. Layer the rest of the goat cheese on top, and sprinkle with oregano, sea salt, and black pepper again. Add minced garlic, dispersing evenly on top of the potatoes.
6. In a separate bowl, combine milk and egg and whisk until well combined. Gently pour evenly over the casserole.
7. Top with mixed shredded cheese, and then sprinkle chopped chives on top.
8. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until mixed shredded cheese begins to brown.' 
9. Let sit for 15-20 minutes before serving (it will be HOT HOT HOT!).

Note: For a large family party, you can double this recipe and cook in a very large cake pan.

5 Tips For Alternative Christmas Decor

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When it comes to Christmas decorations, I'm non-traditional. So, some of you will hate this post because you swear by the red and green decor, the Santa figurines, the stuffed animal reindeer. Try not to hate me! We're all different.

When it comes to finding alternative, modern ways to decorate your home (or apartment) for a Christmas party without becoming swallowed up in the red and green, here are a few tips!

1. Globe Lights

First, purchasing interesting lights will help with the nontraditional vibe. Look for large globe lights, or the larger oval bulks. Consider stuffing a few of the lights into a mason jar (I found a blue mason jar a few months ago and it worked beautifully here).

(Large globe lights stuffed into a beautiful blue mason jar)

2. Homemade Signage

Then, to up the ante, make your own festive signage. I posted a tutorial over the past few weeks to show you how to make the sign pictured above. I'd suggest decorating with doilies, stamps, or anything you can glue on (I seriously considered Mod Podging glitter all over the place, but didn't want to end up with an obscene amount of glitter on my couch, because we all know glitter tends to spread like, well, let's go with the flu and keep it PG).

3. Framed Signage

For those of you who don't have the time to put together a homemade sign (or perhaps you can't find a good place to put it), there's also a much easier way to include special quotes or phrases. In particular, this works well for quotes that are too long to put on a sign, like lines from poems or music.

Justin and I love this line from a traditional Christian hymn, so I wrote it out and framed it. It's not exactly in the holiday spirit, but it's a good reminder to keep your thoughts on what the holiday is all about.

4. Ornament Display
Instead of displaying all of your ornaments on your tree, create a festive display on a countertop by placing a few ornaments in a small (or large!) bowl or glass. I suggest going with ornaments that are in a similar color scheme. You can work with your existing collection, or stop by Home Depot to pick up a package of ornaments in the same color family.

I put the ornaments in a thrift store bought, Kate Spade-esque bowl that was a gift from my Aunt Betsy and Unka Toby as at my housewarming party.

5. Unconventional Colors
You may have noticed as you browsed the images in this post that my color scheme for Christmas decor is somewhat unconventional. To replace the traditional red and green, I used blues, silvers, and other "cool" hues to keep things fresh. In picking these colors, I was inspired by snow and ice, by songs like "White Christmas" "Let It Snow."

I also played around with a new Christmas tree idea. For those of you who, like me, are renters and city dwellers, sometimes it's just a big hassle to get a live Christmas tree in the city, haul it to your place (or pay for it to be delivered), and then deal with disposing of it afterward. Instead, we went with a small, shiny white tree from my mother and decorated it with blue Christmas ornaments.

We also strung blue ornaments in front of the windows, to add a bit of festive flair without making things too cluttered.

Mini Blackberry Pies

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Ingredients:

• 1 sheet pastry paper
• 1 can blackberry filling (find a can that lists blackberries first; this means they have the highest percentage of actual backberries used in their filling)

Cooking Directions:

1. Thaw pastry paper.
2. Preheat oven to 350.
3. Cut each sheet into 9 squares (or square about 3-inches x 3 inches).  Use a rolling pin to make each piece just a bit thinner/wider (but not so thin that it falls apart when you manipulate it into the cupcake tin).
4. Place into cupcake tins and fill with blackberry filling.
5. Bake for appx 25 minutes, or until pastry sheet begins to brown.

Chickpea-Based Cookie Dough Dip

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People often ask me about cookies. I generally steer clear. To be honest, I’ve often found them kind of boring to make. It’s hard to get creative with your regular old cookie. They don’t taste that great to me most of the time. And, to top it off, they’re generally a calorie feast.

Until today. Ha! One small step for womankind…

I found a cookie dough dip recipe on Chocolate Covered Katie’s site and modified it by using less sugar, no milk or oats, and bittersweet chocolate. It’s pretty much to die for. My coworkers swooned and huddled around my desk.

Here’s what you ought to do with it (because you asked): Stir it into ice cream. Bake it into cookies (will it work? I’m about to try it!). Any takers?

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups Chick Peas (1 can)
• 1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/8 tsp Salt
• 1/8 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 cup Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
• 1/2 cup Almond Butter (or Cashew butter or Peanut butter, etc).

Cooking Directions:

1. Open Chick Peas and pour out the liquid, then re-fill with water (this isn't entirely necessary - I just think that replacing the Chick Pea "juice" with water helps eliminate some of the chickpea flavor).
2. Blend all ingredients except for chocolate chips in a blender or food processor (I used a hand-held blender in a bowl).
3. Once ingredients are smooth, add chocolate chips and stir.

[Click here for more Healthy Holiday recipes for a guilt-free holiday season!]

[Click here for more Healthy Holiday recipes for a guilt-free holiday season!]

[Click here for more Healthy Holiday recipes for a guilt-free holiday season!]

[Click here for more Healthy Holiday recipes for a guilt-free holiday season!]

[Click here for more Healthy Holiday recipes for a guilt-free holiday season!]