Glazed Ham, Asparagus + Rosemary-Roasted Potato, Carrot and Fennel
Dinner was delicious. The highlight was the fennel! If you have never had roasted fennel, now is the time to try a new vegetable. It’s kind of like liquorice – but in a good way! Sweet and just a hint spicy. And SO easy to chop and pop in a hot oven. Although it is scary-looking because it has onion-like characteristics, it is nothing like onion. But it took me a while to learn that!
Ham was good! We have TONS of leftovers – you’ll be seeing it again and we’re freezing a bunch too. I think ham is my favorite meat. It’s just got more flavor than Thanksgiving turkey and roasted chicken. More fat too though! Too bad. I had about a 3 oz serving (4 slices), but I actually left a slice on my plate. Although it tasted great, 3 slices was enough for my palate.
The roasted veggie medly – mmmmm!!
And asparagus. It was kind of thin and I think we overcooked it a bit –
Seconds on Veggies! We had planned on splitting the veggies in half, but when they came out of the oven it looked like a lot so we each only had a third. But after eating my third I decided I wanted the rest of my half and went back for ’em! They were SO good. And I gave that last piece of ham to the husband.
From above –
Including the whole half of veggies, this dinner was appx. 470 kcal, 16 grams of fiber and 25 grams protein.
Treat!
So instead of a heavy pear tart, I decided on a light fruit crisp for dessert! With the tiniest bit of vanilla ice cream leftover from last weekend. I made single servings too, so it was light and we don’t have a bunch of leftover crisp to eat. Please pardon the ugly aluminum trays – we don’t have cute oven-proof bowls!
For two servings:
The base is 1 pear, about a cup of sliced strawberries, 1 tsp flour, and 1 tsp lemon juice.
The topping is 1/4 cup oats, 1 tbsp flour, 2 gingersnaps (crushed), 1 tbsp brown sugar and 1 tbsp Smart Balance. Put all in bowl and work into a paste. Sprinkle on fruit and bake for 20-25 minutes.
The husband said it was “the best crisp topping he’d ever had.” Maybe he was just being nice 🙂
The dessert with 1/4 cup Breyer’s All-Natural Vanilla was 285 kcal, 6 grams fiber and 5 grams protein. Not bad for a yummy homemade dessert!
Crackers!
The husband made another round of crackers today! He added caraway seeds so they are rye-ish tasting. They’re also a little thinner than last time, so a little cruchier and less doughy (too bad for a dough-lover like me 😥 ).
I had about 10 of them for a snack – eaten off the cooling rack!
We also went for a nice 30-minute walk while the ham was cooking. It’s always nice to walk and talk together.
I enjoyed seeing/hearing about all of you food bloggers’ Easter dinners. It made me miss my big family celebration (Hi Mom!).
I’m off to bed – early morning tomorrow!!
OH YEAH
HELL YEAH DAVIDSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hk says
yum, I LOVE fennel! glad you had enjoyable day with the hubby. fruit crisp looks fantastic!
Katie says
Looks like an AMAZING Easter dinner. We went to my awesome dad’s house and he made a crazy Lebanese feast and his famous “healthy” cheesecake and chocolate chip cookies made with no wheat that were light as a feather. I’m still in a food coma from it. lol.
Maria says
What a lovely Easter dinner! And 470kcal for all that food – speaks volumes about volume eating (er, pun not intended). I am always impressed that simple cooking techniques (roasting, braising, grilling) can elevate veggies to a whole new level!
And I love fennel – one of my favourite salads is thinly shaved fennel (raw), dressed lightly with a lemony vinaigrette and dusted with shaved parmesan, toasted almonds, coarse black pepper, and sea salt. Positively addictive! It’s even better the next day because the fennel is still crispy, but the dressing has sunk in.
Ally says
Go Davidson!
My family had the same ham and asparagus as you! They have a TON of leftovers as well!
Your day looked really healthy and well balanced- I wish mine had gone over like that!
Have a great night 🙂
Romina says
What a delicious feast!! That roasted veggie medley looks superb… and I love how you managed to get oats into your dinner. 😉
Bev says
What a surprise about Davidson. They have a great team . Even though they weren’t in my bracket. We had pork loin and my roasted asparagus look like yours. A little over roasted. Our guest were a little late but dinner was good . We also had roasted potatoes. We had raw fennel in a salad at Whole Foods yesterday. We loved it.
Kelly T says
Its good to know i wasn’t the only one that didn’t have a huge shin-dig.
The dinner looks great, we pretty much had the same thing. i love ham too but the fat helps me keep it in check.
Tara says
Happy Easter Kath!
For my easter dinner I had your parchment fish dinner!!! I think I overcooked it, but the veggies were FANTASTIC! I love the crispy carrots in it!
Laurel says
Yum, everything looks delicious.
I wish I could figure out how to have delicious flavors in my foods every day. I must be doing something–many things–wrong. I hardly ever enjoy any food that I have, especially the food that I have to make for myself (which is 95% of what I eat).
It sort of dismays me that I’m getting bored of eating the same foods all the time–I used to be able to do it. It’s so much easier and faster for me to pack a week’s worth of breakfasts, lunches and snacks, then grab them as I need them.
Kallie Doherty says
Hey Kath, my name is Kallie. I am a sophmore in college, also maintaining a weight loss of about 20 lbs. I lost in while training for a half marathon, but also during my freshman year cut back on calories DRASTICALLY. Now I am getting better, but live in a sorority where there are cakes, cookies and the meals they prepare are less than healthy. I cook and prepare a lot of them myself, but always love seeing your blog and your creative recipes. Any suggestions for breakfasts/lunches/dinners to prepare in college? Thanks, and love your blog!
LolaFunk says
Just for clarification…how do you pronounce Larabar?
Kristine says
WILDCATS WIN AGAIN!
Gotta love our alma mater, eh Kath? 🙂
Kath says
Laurel ,
Often it’s just little things that make a huge difference – a tbsp of capers, a sprinkle of curry powder, nuts. Think about what toppings you like and how you could incorporate them. A little planning goes a long way too! Plan to try 1-2 new recipes each week and put the ingredients on your grocery list.
Kallie,
It’s definitely hard being healthy in college – I was not a good example! As for meal ideas, just keep reading! Most of our meals are pretty easy to prepare and don’t take a long time.
LolaFunk ,
I say “Laura. Bar.” Just like the name.
Kristine ,
I only wish I could have been there!!! I’ll be watching on Friday!
Kath
Petite Yogini says
I love fruit crisps. I never thought to use ginger snaps before, it sounds yummy.
Suzanne says
Hi Kath,
Happy Belated Easter (I’m writing this on Monday morning).
I have 3 questions for you (well, kinda):
(1) What temperature did you bake your fruit crisps at?
(2) How did you make your roasted veggies? Olive oil, rosemary, S+P? Baked at 400 degrees?
Every time me and my husband roast veggies in the oven – they always turn out somewhat mushy – especially when we make potatoes/sweet potato fries. 🙁 Any advice? I watched your hubby’s video on sweet potato fries and followed his example (but I know he mentioned that sometimes yours turn out mushy as well).
My friend gave me some advice: Broil them the last 10 minutes and it will crisp them up. I haven’t tried that yet…..
(3) If we have a comment regarding a meal that is not the most current post, do you still want us to post the comment to the meal I am referring to? Or post it to the most current meal? Sorry – that was confusing. Do you always go back and read comments to old meals – in case someone posted something AFTER you already read them? Or do you just read the most current comments to the most current meal post?
OMG – if you understood that – you deserve a medal! Sorry, Monday mornings are brutal for me! 🙂
Thank you ahead of time if you can decipher and respond to all that!
Kath says
Suzanne ,
1) Crisps were at 375*
2) You got the veggies right on! I think the key to getting them to really roast is not crowding the pan and giving them enough time. If the pan is crowded, they tend to steam instead of roast. Broiling at the end sounds like it would definitely help crisp them too.
3) I get an email when I get a comment – even if it was 2 months ago – so keep the comments relevant to the meal, please 😉 I think the “Recent Comment” roll on the sidebar helps to let others know when there’s a post on an older comment as well.
Thanks for the good questions!
Kath
Cara says
Looks like a great Easter dinner and treat 😉
Mmmm. Droolling. haha.
When I heard on the radio this morning that Davidson is still doing great I thought of you 🙂
Erin says
Hi!
How does your husband get the crackers so pretty and thin?! I tried baking some a few days ago, and they were thick and hard to transfer to the cookie sheet without messing them up (the recipe said to roll the dough out between wax paper, cut them, and transfer them to the sheet – but they were so sticky!)?
Thanks!
Kath says
Erin,
Our first batch was much thicker and made 90 crackers. This batch made about 160 because he rolled them out MUCH thinner this time. Almost paper thin because they puff a bit in the oven. He used a knife to get them off of our granite counters. See if that works next time.
K
Phoebe says
Hey Kallie,
Besides the ideas on this website, some healthy meals to prepare in college (I too am a college sophomore!) that I’ve discovered are:
1. Scrambled eggs with spinach and salsa mixed in, in a sandwich or not
2. Canned soup — there are a lot of good varieties
3. Pasta with canned beans and spinach mixed in
4. Microwaved sweet potato (all you have to do is buy a sweet potato, wash it, stab it with a fork, wrap it in paper towel and microwave it for maybe 10 minutes, cut it in half and put olive oil, salt and pepper on it)
5. Canned tuna fish mixed with salad dressing, salt, pepper and chopped up cucumber or carrots or whatever else (with bread or not)
6. Sweet potato and spinach soup — saute onions and garlic until soft, add 2 large chopped sweet potatoes and about 3 cups of water, cook until really soft, throw in most of a bag of spinach, puree in a blender (if you have one . . . maybe for making margaritas haha!) or just kind of mash up, and add curry powder, paprika, oregano, salt, pepper or whatever spices but curry powder is especially good). This makes at least 4 servings. This is a faster “student” version of Kath’s sweet potato, spinach and turkey stew! I was inspired!
7. Whole wheat english muffins with salsa, some melted mozzerella or whatever kind of cheese, spinach, and avocado if you have it
8. Frozen vegetables cooked in the microwave, I like just plain peas, and edamame is really good too for protein
9. Those Thai Kitchen meal-in-a-box kits with added vegetables and/or tofu (often you can take vegetables from the dining hall in tupperware and use them to add to boxed meals or ramen or mac’n’cheese to improve the veggie content of pre-prepared meals)
10. Frozen veggie dumplings, if you can ever get to a Chinese supermarket you can get frozen items (and food in general) there for really, really cheap usually.
I could keep going but these are all things that I’ve made in my dorm kitchen on a fairly regular basis that are really easy and quick to make, clean up, and eat!
Another Kelly says
Erin,
I haven’t made these crackers, but I have found that when I am rolling dough out thin and cutting it that chilling it first makes it much easier to work with. It tends to hold together better and keep it’s shape..
Kath says
Phoebe ,
Thanks so much for your suggestions!!
Kath