New Year's Day and a Good Luck soup recipe

Happy New Year! I hope yours was lovely and relaxing. Or fun and exciting. That's what our New Year's Eves used to be, but now we are very happy with lovely and relaxing. :) We have had a sick little babe for a week now which is NO FUN at the holidays, but she's managed to keep a smile throughout most of her feeling bad, for which this mama is SO grateful. My heart breaks seeing her hurt.

So, due to the little one being under the weather, I decided we should have a day of yummy food, cozy at home. We started the day with a great brunch of delicious omelets (hubby-made), French baked donuts, bacon, and grapefruit mimosas. Mmmm. I made the donuts last year on NYD, too, so this is our new tradition!

After brunch we took down Christmas, which is always sad for me. But, it is nice that it generally spurs us on to do a little tidying up around the house. It sure is hard to keep a house clean with a little one! Ours is slightly better after yesterday.

So, back to our day of yummy food. For an early dinner I made us a New Year's Day soup. In the South, we always have black-eyed peas and ham (and sometimes greens) for good luck in the New Year. I decided to make ours into a soup, since we had lots of carrots and delicious greens from our weekly veggie delivery. I would say this is a step up from previous years where I've just heated a can of the peas and smothered them in ketchup. Ha. Don't judge. Try it. Anyhoo, here is the recipe:

New Year's Day Good Luck Soup

1/2 - 1 c. onion, diced

2 c. carrots, diced

2 TBSP oil (I used ghee- it's better for you at high heat than olive oil- you could use grass-fed butter)

1 TBSP thyme

1 TBSP sweet basil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 ham steak, pre-cooked and cubed

2 c. chicken or vegetable broth

2 c. water

2 cans black eyed peas, rinsed and drained

1 bunch of greens, washed thoroughly and chopped, stems removed

salt & pepper to taste

Melt oil/butter/ghee in a large stockpot on medium heat. Add onions and sauté until translucent. Add carrots, thyme, basil, and a few pinches of kosher salt. Sauté for a couple of minutes to add a bit of roast-yness to the carrots. Add garlic and ham and brown for another couple of minutes. Add the chicken/veggie broth and water and a couple more pinches of salt. Turn up the heat, bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, until carrots are mostly cooked (20-30 minutes). Add the black eyed peas and greens, cover, and cook for another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add freshly ground black pepper and more salt, if needed, to taste. Serve with cornbread or crusty French bread. Enjoy your good luck for the coming year! (Approx. 6 servings.)

I hope you'll try this out. It was really easy and doesn't have to cook too long, like some soups, since the ham and black-eyed peas are already cooked. Of course, it would be best for you to buy dried beans and cook them yourself, but the mama of a little one doesn't remember to do things like that...pre-planning and soaking things the night before?! Someday.

Happy New Year to you. I will be posting some fun(ish) resolutions soon. 

xoxo

Valentine's Day craft project

I don't usually decorate for Valentine's Day, but today I stopped by a great paper/craft/art store called Collage and I couldn't resist the lovely Valentine's Day craft supplies. I thought last week about making some type of garland for the fireplace mantel, so that's just what I decided to do with these lovely supplies! It was SO easy and quick. What you'll need is pictured above. Both the doilies and heart stickers are Martha Stewart brand, so you should be able to find them at most craft or paper stores. You'll need bakers twine or any cute string, also found at craft stores.

1. Measure out the twine to be at least as long as your mantel with a little extra on either end for attaching and cut it at that measured point (remember you'll want it to drape down a little off of the mantel).
2. Lay out the doilies on the table in the arrangement you like. I tried not to make it too symmetrical because I don't like that, but you can lay it out however you like.
3. Put the heart stickers on the doilies to add a little color. You could also add any other adornments you want.
4. Find the middle of the string and place that point above your middle doily.
5. Cut a length of twine about 7" long for each doily.
6. With each length of string, fold it in half, place it under the long length of twine and bring the tail ends through the loop made to secure it onto the long twine at the spot above each doily. This creates a tiny knot that is also adjustable, so you don't have to perfectly adjust the doilies until you hang it. (see photos)

7. Next, tape on each doily to the end of each piece of twine. You can hang some at higher lengths and trim the ends of the twine a bit and hang others at lower lengths to add some dimension. *Be sure to tape the doilies on without twisting the short lengths of twine. They will hang better that way.

8. Secure onto your mantle with tape (or thumbtacks) and adjust any doilies that need it. Enjoy!

You could buy a second package of doilies and make these double-sided if you want. 

Happy Valentine's Day decorating everyone! Send photos if you make one of these. Happy Weekend, too! ♥