Mini Churro Donut Muffins

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If you love churros, donuts, and the excuse to justifiably eat them both for breakfast–trust me, these sugary babies are for you.

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Mini Churro Donut Muffins are, as their name implies–ahem–the perfect balanced breakfast food. Okay, so they’re rolled in glorious cinnamon sugar post-baking, and maaaaybe they’re more like a donut/cake than a muffin–but they’re baked instead of fried, which has got to count for something…right?

And that makes them okay to consume for breakfast.

And lunch.

And dinner.

And maybe dessert, if your stretchy pants are feeling particularly stretchy.

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We’ve been having a lot of sweets around here lately…and … Read more

Asian Sesame Pasta with Steamed Broccoli

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #DareToPair #CollectiveBias

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Last year, when the sneak-peek movie clip featuring broccoli-topped pizza from Inside-Out was first released, my Italian friend sent the link to me, laughing as he quoted Anger:

“Congratulations San Francisco–you’ve ruined pizza!”

As it so happens, I love broccoli on anything–even pizza–and I stand my ground when I say that it makes a great, refreshing topping for one of my favorite homemade meals: Asian sesame pasta. Luckily, I recently learned that this same Italian friend buys Barilla pasta, … Read more

Chocolate Chip Toffee Walnut Cookies

Raise your hand if you’ve ever gone grocery shopping at an absurd hour of the night. Say…..4 AM? No? Anybody?

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I realize that there are a lot of things that I take for granted as an unmarried, mostly unemployed, highly mobile grad student. Free pool access, on-campus groups, friends living within walking distance, and yes–spontaneous 4 AM grocery shopping trips, apparently. Which may or may not be coupled with–ahem–the 5 AM baking sprees that yielded these chewy, amazing chocolate chip toffee walnut cookies.

On Sunday night, that’s exactly what I did. My friend and I had stayed up … Read more

Lemon Meltaway Cookies

I’m posting and running today–after all, it IS spring break around here!

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We visited San Diego Zoo this weekend and oh my gosh, I’ve forgotten how much I miss my old zoo days–yes, I worked at a zoo for four summers in high school–surrounded by discussions of conservation and environment and animal enrichment. We also got to stay at the SD Welks Resort, and I swam at a pool for fun for the first time in years. Bliss!

I even made it back to LA in time for an impromptu dinner with friends and way, way too much good food … Read more

Baymax Sugar Cookies

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I rarely fall in love at first sight, but if I had to make an exception, it’d be Baymax. Or should I say Bae-max? <3

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If you’ve never seen the movie Big Hero 6, a) I have a lot of questions for you, most of which are not particularly innocuous in nature, and b) unless your house is burning down at this very minute, I want you to drop everything you’re doing and watch the movie. Wrangle in a couple of five-year olds for the cause if it’ll make you feel better.

Then you can come back and … Read more

Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirl Cookies with Easter PB Eggs

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #EasterSweets #CollectiveBias

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It’s funny what small things can make an ordinary week great! Aside from a smattering of rain (which caught us as we walked back from Spotlight on Saturday night–and okay, it’s pouring outside right now but I love it), the weather here has been beautiful and the days have been a real lark. There’s been quite a lot of baking going on, not to mention lazing around and generally being as sloth-like a creature as humanly possible–which, if you know … Read more

Zucchini Tomato Marinara Pasta with #OXO

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“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

If you were standing in my apartment earlier this morning, that would have been the inarticulate sound from the kitchen.

Now before you panic (oh my god, there’s a MANDOLIN SLICER in her photos!!!), I can assure you that it wasn’t a scream of pain.

No, my friends–that was a shriek of pure joy issuing in glass-shattering pitch as I played with my newest kitchen toy. And I am so so so excited to share it with all of you today–can you tell?

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OXO recently sent me another lovely bundle for my pasta-making lazy days: this Adjustable Hand-Held Read more

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies for Galentine’s Day

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, and I couldn’t imagine a better excuse to celebrate a day early than with some of the most amazing gal out there – so happy early Galentine’s Day, everyone!

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I made these red velvet chocolate chip cookies last week for a group of friends’ picnic, but I’m sharing them today as part of our Galentine’s Day festivities. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this special holiday, it’s a big round-up of all your best gal pals and celebrating each other on the big day of love! It’s one of my favorite times of the … Read more

How to Bake Hearts into Cupcakes for Your Valentine(s)!

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As someone who’s looking forward to another V-day on my own, my increasingly wedded-and-engaged friends are asking me the same thing: aren’t you sad to be spending S.A.D. (Singles’ Awareness Day), well, sad?

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There are some years where I might have answered yes, maybe an 8th grade spent on Xanga bemoaning my eternally loveless existence with angsty Maroon 5 lyrics or a college year pining after my incredibly cute, incredibly unavailable coworker.

Even so, I can’t recall ever having spent a Valentine’s Day lonely. Growing up, I recall waking up every February 14th to a lovely something sitting on my … Read more

Tofu Pineapple Veggie Rice Bowl with Tangy Asian Peanut Sauce

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ChineseNYeats #CollectiveBias

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It feels like it’s been forever. It really has been forever, hasn’t it? HI!

Things have been flat-out crazy around here lately, hence the radio silence recently. I drafted up a Life Plan-of-Attack a few weeks ago that basically boiled my hours down to a fine dust: 63 hours of research, 20 hours of miscellaneous writing work, 15 hours of blogging, 15 hours for teaching prep, and 15 hours for swimming. That left 40 hours in the week for sleeping, and … Read more