Recipes

This is my favorite cookie recipe and I’ll just jump straight into it:

Dry ingredients:

• 2 cups flour, sifted
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

Wet ingredients:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup sunflower oil
• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp vanilla

Extras:

• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 handful roasted & salted peanuts (or any nut)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. Mix all dry ingredients together.
3. Mix all wet ingredients together.
4. Combine dry + wet ingredients.
5. Add in chocolate chips (and nuts) and mix until fully combined.
6. Spoon onto cookie sheet. I use this cookie scoop (Amazon) for even cookies.
7. Bake at 325 for 16 minutes.

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One of our favorite meals to eat out at restaurants is Pad Thai and recently we’ve been trying to learn to make all our favorite “restaurant meals” ourselves so we finally learned this dish! The secret ingredient is authentic tamarind paste – there’s really no substitute and you just can’t make it taste legit without it. As long as you have that ingredient, this is one of the easiest, quickest, and yummiest warm meals to make!

Prep the following ingredients and set aside:

Tofu:

• 1 block extra firm tofu – thinly sliced (pieces ~ 1″x1.5″x1/8″), sprayed lightly with oil, and placed on a lined baking dish evenly so that none are touching. Roast them in the oven at 350 for 6-7 mins. They should be just starting to crisp. Prep this first and allow it to cool while making everything else.

Sauce:

• 1/2 cup tamarind paste: Amazon
• 1/2 lime – juiced
• 6 tbsp brown sugar
• 6 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp sriracha – you can add more or less of this to taste

Veggies:

• 2 heads of broccoli – cut to bite size pieces
• 1 carrot – chopped into match sticks
• 1 red onion – sliced into half rings
• 3 green onions – chopped into 2-3” pieces

Garnish:

• Handful roasted peanuts – chopped
• Handful cilantro – chopped
• 1 lime – sliced for squeezing

Noodles:

• Use flat rice noodles: Amazon | Amazon. Place noodles in a pot. Pour hot water over them until they’re covered and soak for about 3 minutes. Stir occasionally to shake them up and get rid of excess starch. Drain once they’re al-dente (they will finish cooking in the sauce later).

Cooking instructions (note: I literally use a timer on my phone to be sure I don’t over/under cook the ingredients, I’ve made this dish several times now and this timing works perfectly on my cooktop):

1. In a wok on med-high heat, drizzle in some cooking oil.
2. Sauté onions for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Add in the tofu and broccoli.
4. Sauté for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
5. Add in the carrots.
6. Stir, then cook for 3 minutes with the lid on, stir every minute.
7. Add in the noodles, green onion, and the sauce.
8. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.
9. Plate and sprinkle over peanuts and cilantro. Serve with lime wedges on the side.

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I love donuts but I don’t love that they’re fried so I finally found a baked donut recipe I was happy with and I’m going to share it here. This is an adaptation of my Donut Bites recipe but it’s less work!

All you need for this is a donut tray (Amazon | Walmart) which is like a muffin tray for donuts.

1. Preheat your oven to 350.

2. Make your batter like this:

In a medium mixing bowl, combine your wet ingredients:

• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk (I use soy)
• 1/3 cup sunflower oil or melted butter

In a separate bowl, combine your dry ingredients:

• 3/4 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt

3. Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix – I literally just use a fork.

4. Spray down your donut trays with oil, then spoon the mixture into the rings. I use 2 spoons and do about a third of the donut at a time. I find this much easier than piping them in.

5. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

6. Remove from tray as soon as you can handle them and transfer the donuts to a cooling rack. Once they can be handled, get two bowls: fill one with 1/4 cup of oil or melted butter, fill the other with 1/2 cup of cinnamon sugar (which is literally just sugar with some cinnamon mixed in).

7. Brush each donut with oil on both sides, then dunk it in the sugar bowl until fully coated.

8. Devour all donuts. They are best fresh. It’s possible they’d keep well overnight but we’ve never gotten that far. Ours are usually all eaten within the hour lol.

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I’ve recently been loving this blended red pasta sauce so I thought I’d share the recipe for anyone who wants to try it. It’s easy to make and seriously I’ve made it like three times in a row – that’s how good it is!

I think this recipe will be especially appealing to anyone who is either vegan or trying to limit their dairy consumption because it tastes cheesy without having any dairy products at all. The secret is blended chickpeas. I’m not really sure why it tastes cheesy because (at least to me) whole chickpeas just don’t really have that flavor, but when you blend them into this sauce it turns really creamy and delicious. This is also a great way to make a simple pasta red sauce healthier and heartier than it otherwise might be.

If you store it separately from the pasta, this sauce will stay fresh for several days in the fridge so I really have been loving just having it on hand for days when you don’t feel like making a meal from scratch.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 medium can of tomatoes (around 30oz) – mashed
• 1 small can of chickpeas (around 15oz) – drained & rinsed
• 1 medium/large onion – chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic (optional) – chopped
• 2 celery stalks or 1 medium zucchini* (optional but tasty) – chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional but I like the spice)
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 3 tbsp olive oil (this is for flavor so don’t skimp!)

*Note about the celery/zucchini: I’ve made this both ways depending on what I have on have and both versions are tasty but I slightly prefer the celery option. Both are good though. Also, you could easily add in any other veggie you wanted. The whole thing gets blended up so it just becomes a part of the sauce and it’s a great way to sneak more veggies into your meals! Just limit the quantity to about one medium-zucchini’s-worth of ‘other’ veggies so it doesn’t overpower the sauce – a red pepper would be great too.

PREPARATION:

1. I like to pre-prep all my ingredients into 2 bowls: I chop up all the veg and place it right into the pot with the olive oil. And in another bowl, I combine the tomato/chickpea cans and seasonings so they’re ready to go once I start cooking.
2. In a pot on medium high heat, cook the chopped onion, garlic, celery, and olive oil until the onions are translucent and the celery has softened (about 4-5 mins), stirring frequently.
3. Add in everything else (tomatoes, chickpeas, seasonings). Reduce heat to medium, stir mixture until combined, and cook covered for ~ 10 mins (stirring every couple minutes so it doesn’t stick).
4. Blend it!!! That’s the secret. Just blend it all like you would a soup. So far, I’ve just used an immersion blender (mine’s pretty old but I think this is the newer version of it: Amazon | Walmart) and blended it right in the pot, but you could also use a stand mixer (just be careful to allow room for the hot the air to escape).
5. Serve with your pasta of choice and enjoy!

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I adore these little donut bites so I thought I’d share the recipe. You don’t need an oven, but you do need a specific cake pop appliance to make these. However, it’s fairly inexpensive, I’ve had mine for years and it’s held up really well so personally I think it’s worth it for the homemade donut yum.

The Cake Pop Appliance I use can be found at: Walmart, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Amazon. It comes with the appliance, special prongs (really useful), cooling rack (with little holes), and recipes.

Dry ingredients (combine in a bowl and mix):

• 
1 3/4 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp cloves

Wet ingredients (combine in a separate bowl and mix):

• 
1 egg
 (whisked lightly with a fork)
• 
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 

1/2 cup milk (or soy milk)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (white or half white/half brown works too)
• 1/3 cup melted butter (or sunflower oil)
• 
1-2 tsp vanilla


Coating:

1. Small bowl of sunflower oil or melted butter (~3-4 tablespoons)
2. Small bowl of cinnamon sugar (mix 1/2 cup white sugar and 2-3 tbsp cinnamon)

Directions:

1. Preheat your Cake Pop appliance – just plug it in, when the light turns green, it’s ready to use.
2. Combine the contents of your wet and dry ingredient bowls and mix.
3. Lightly spray the appliance’s baking tray with cooking oil. Spoon batter into each little hole – each one should be filled about half-way. Don’t overfill them or they’ll overflow.
4. Close and bake for 3-5 minutes. They’ll be softly golden brown when done.
5. Use prongs to remove them from the heat and cool on the designated rack for about 1 min.
6. When they’re cool enough to touch (but still warm!), brush them with melted butter (or sunflower oil), then roll them in the cinnamon sugar until fully coated.
7. Place them on a drying rack until they’re all complete.
8. Repeat until your batter is used up.

Sources:

• Cake pop appliance kit: Walmart | Bed Bath & Beyond | and Amazon
• Glass jar: The Container Store
• Label maker: Amazon | Walmart | The Container Store
• Hex coasters: Crate & Barrel
• Utensil crock (similar): McGee & Co
• Wood utensils (similar): Bed Bath & Beyond | Bed Bath & Beyond
• Rectangular cutting board: Amazon
• Salt cellar (similar): Crate & Barrel
• White ceramic vases (set of 3): Amazon | Similar: Wayfair
• Drawer pulls: Amazon | Similar: Schoolhouse
• Cabinet knobs: CB2 (mine were sold out and replaced with these very similar ones)
• White ceramic bunny: Crate & Barrel (sold out)