happy 4th of july!

i meant to post this earlier, but i got caught up with preparing for a party i was going to - and the result was this amazing cake! it's easily one of my favorite cakes - dark, sweet, and irresistibly moist.

it's also super easy to make! and no one will know that most of it is from boxed mix. magical?! i think yes! so whip this up and prepare to capture some hearts with this show stopper!

THE CAKE

ingredients 
1 box yellow cake mix
1 box chocolate pudding (small)
4 eggs
1/2 cup of oil
1/4 cup vodka
1/4 cup kahlua

what to do!!!1. beat eggs in a mixing bowl until frothy.
2. add in the rest of the liquids until well incorporated
3. sift in the yellow cake mix and chocolate pudding and mix little by little.
4. prepare your cake pan.
    a. spray with nonstick spray or rub butter into your bundt pan
    b. evenly distribute with a paper towel
    c. coat with flour; tap excess flour around the pan until it is evenly coated
5. pour batter into your bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour
6. it's done! let your mouth water while the the cake cools on a rack. it should plop out easily!
7. cover with the glaze, sprinkles, and candy of your choice! just the glaze is good too!

THE GLAZE

ingredients
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup kahlua
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chocolate chips

what to do!!!
1. in a double boiler (or a glass bowl over a pot filled with water that is not touching the bowl), dissolve the powdered sugar in the kahlua over medium heat.
2. add in the chocolate chips and stir with a spatula. lower the heat to medium-low
3. add the butter and stir briskly to incorporate.

your glaze should be super shiny! just keep on stirring - if you want, a whisk works with achieving that gloss! if it is too thick, add some more kahlua. if it's too runny, add more chocolate chips and add 1/2 teaspoon of butter for every 1/4 cup of chocolate added. over the lowest heat, let the mixture keep warm while you drizzle the glaze. sprinkle on your toppings quickly before the glaze sets. once the glaze cools, it will take on a soft, ganache denseness that pairs nicely with the super soft cake.

enjoy!

okay. i was always a sucker for gingerbread and other spice-y sweet treats...but whoa. whoa. these are something else. this is better than gingerbread. if you want a little cookie that packs a huge punch in flavor, this is it. this. is. it. the texture is light, flaky, and slightly chewy. you can definitely bake up the whole batch and impress company or hoard them up just for yourself! you can have a pair with a nice cup of chai or have one when you have a sweet tooth. or you can have like five at a time...like my dad, who i definitely caught at midnight with his hand in the cookie jar.

rolled in sugar, these babies are sparkling. literally, the picture above does not do these cookies justice. at first sight, they make you salivate with every glitter of the sugar crystals and the heavenly aroma that wafts up when you lift the lid off the cookie jar. absolute perfection. if this isn't true love...i don't know what true love is!

i got these fabulous ginger chips in the mail from one of my mum's friends.
totally delicious and they melt in your mouth after they're baked in these cookies. mmm.

ingredients:

2 cups of sifted all-purpose flour
2/3 cups of butter, cut into chunks
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups of ginger chips
1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of molasses
2 teaspoons of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 teaspoon of ground cloves
3 teaspoons of ginger

 first thing's first: preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

mix your dry ingredients and spices together.

cream your brown sugar and butter together.

incorporate the molasses, egg, and vanilla with a hand or stand mixer.

add your dry ingredients little by little into the wet ingredients

keep mixing...
don't overmix! the dough should be sticky!

add in the ginger. at this point, try not to eat the dough. i definitely started drooling over the smell of the dough. it smells like the winter holidas and happiness. but mostly happiness. ugh. yes.

wrap your dough in plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge. i let it chill for about 2 hours.

when throughly chilled, roll into 1 inch balls. rolling them in sugar is totally mandatory and you won't feel the same satisfaction without a little extra sparkle. if you want to go for gold, roll them twice. yes, i said it. do it. do it.
 lay them 2-3 inches apart (i found that they don't spread much, so don't feel stressed over spacing. i fit 12 on a pan and they baked perfectly! bake them for 10 minutes. if you like a firmer cookie,  go for 12. they're just as delicious.

i baked them on a silicone baking roll, as you can see, which is easier. if you don't have that, go for parchment paper lined on your cookie sheet. after you finish baking them, transfer your paper or silicone baking roll to a cooling rack and let them relax. eat warm, completely cool, or right off the cooling rack! with ice cream! 

they're so stinkin' cute it makes my heart ache! i piped some melted chocolate on top to make a cookie for each family member. completely optional, but a little bittersweet goodness is nice. my preference is that you keep the cookie completely...er...naked...because it just keeps the ginger kick pure. the ginger chips, i noticed, turn completely melty and chewy, not crunchy like how the unbaked chips feel. they're sooooo good! it makes me sad that they're (already!) all gone. </3

if you try this recipe, comment and let me know how this is!
xoxo, jen

I've been cooking a lot lately since I've gotten home, and to beat the heat, I made my family some cool soba to eat for lunch today.

For some background: soba are Japanese buckwheat noodles that are thin, easy to cook, and can be eaten hot or cold. It's served with a savory-sweet soup base and it's usually garnished with green onions, with the addition of vegetables, tempura, fish cakes, and fish or small amounts of meat, like pork. 

The soup base is usually served on the side, and you eat the noodles by dipping mouthful of noodles at a time (from another bowl or bamboo-mat-lined tray) into the sauce, then eating it right after.

However, I like to serve the noodles in the soup. It's just less dishes to clean and plus the noodles sitting in the yummy broth make it somewhat easier to eat and the flavors can intermingle. 

I place a serving of noodles in a large bowl. A large handful is enough.

Here, I added pan-fried tofu (fried with some olive oil and soy sauce) and Brussels sprouts. 

 When I make soba, I like to be really flexible with what I put in it. With the soba noodles as a healthier noodle to slurp, as it's made with whole buckwheat, it has the appeal of whole wheat spaghetti with a more tender bite (Admittedly, I've made whole wheat spaghetti and served it with all the soba fixings! It works!). I like to mix traditional Japanese toppings with some un-Japanese ingredients due to what's available in my fridge or what I'm craving. My family has just started falling in love with Brussels sprouts, and I found that caramelizing them with the soup base helps get rid of the bitter flavor they have. It's a delicious combo.
Adding a drizzle of soy sauce and a sprinkle of garlic sauce parties up the tofu. Slicing it thin guarantees that it will cook evenly, quickly, and all the way through. Plus the soy sauce adds an amazing golden color to it. It really does beat adding it in plain, in terms of flavor and texture.

Then two ladles of the soup base! 

Some chopped green onion adds bite, as well as a little toasted panko (Japanese bread crumbs) lends some crunch. I added some shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven peper seasoning) for some heat.

 I added some toasted panko crumbs as a garnish because I thought a crunchy topping would be good in combination with the softness of the noodles, the roughage of the Brussels sprouts, and the chewiness of the tofu. I just put a handful into the pan that I fried the tofu and Brussels sprouts in until it was golden brown. A good tip is to constantly stir it while toasting to ensure that it toasts easily and doesn't burn! It was a good addition.

I've eaten soba ever since I could remember. In a largely assimilated family, food was one of the only ways that my parents really connected to Japanese culture. We don't speak or even know how to speak Japanese conversationally, and holidays are more of an entertainment factor, and if we even remember when they are. Food is a way that I've been able to appreciate my heritage in my own way - even if it means tweaking the recipes and adding non-traditional components to fit my budget or lifestyle. I've never seen a Brussels sprout ever used in Japanese cooking, and it still tasted marvelous as it floated in the soup! While there's still more to explore in terms of how I can better appreciate my ethnicity, I'm still trying to facilitate a lovely marriage between my American identity and my Japanese background.
So far, it's proven to be a tasty match, indeed.

happy tuesday, everyone!

a huge diet trend is known as "juicing" combines the juice of fruit, vegetables, cashew/soy milk, and other natural/raw/organic foodstuff that will help you lose weight. basically, you get various bottles to drink 4-6 times a day (for a certain span of days) and you will drop weight! it sounds too good to be true right? 

however, when you juice, you also lose a lot of the fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that are still in the skin. 

so what's the solution to get the best of both worlds?

THE NOT-AS-TRENDY-BUT-STILL-AMAZING SMOOTHIE!

since starting college, i've gained considerable weight because let's face it - college food is just not that good for you, no matter how hard you try, especially when the only late-night options come in the form of IHOP and chicken tenders. as an art student, i've definitely had to sacrifice healthy eating choices due to the fact that they're not accessible! 

in this recipe, i'm going to change it up and measure ingredients by handfuls and guesstimations. in the morning, when you're running late and you need something to get super energy on the way to school or work, you're not going to have time to measure and be precise. the magic of smoothies is - guess it - you don't need to have precise measurements to have great taste! 

in addition, i made this in my magic bullet, which definitely makes it easier to make single-size servings. in addition, the small size makes it easier to clean later. otherwise, you can double the recipe and make it in a normal blender.

so, here is my winning combo (well, my personal fave) that i love to wake up to!

THE CONFETTI SMOOTHIE

(serves one)

grab a handful of washed baby kale and add it to your blender cup

add 8 rounds of fresh or frozen bananas.

i added bananas i froze earlier because it adds a creamy-icy sweetness.

add a small handful of fresh or frozen blueberries

add 7-8 fresh raspberries 

add a 3 second glug of orange juice (or any other juice you prefer)

screw on the blender cap and twist onto the magic blender base

start blending! shake the cup attachment so the kale will

loosen from the bottom. blend 20 seconds at a time and shake to mix

until well incorporated. it should only take a minute.

and it's done! 

if you want to, sprinkle on some chia seeds!

ta-daaaa! 

if you need a larger serving, feel free to double the ingredients or blend in a larger blender.

hello, hello!

today, i'm going to show you how to make the yummiest pavlova i've ever tasted!

it's also super easy to make, and while it's baking you can eat dinner and finish after.

let's start!

preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.

with a balloon whisk, beat 6 egg whites until stiff peaks start to form.

slowly add in 1 2/3 cups of sugar, a little at a time.

i like to add two tablespoons at a time. doing so helps

make the meringue become nice and shiny!

toast your almond meal over medium heat until fragrant.

i ground 1 1/3 cups of raw, unpeeled almonds in my

magic bullet until they resembled breadcrumbs.

sift the meal into the saucepan to remove any stray chunks.

into your meringue, add in shaved/finely chopped semisweet

chocolate. fold it in with a spatula very, very gently.

reserve extra chocolate for topping later.

fold in your toasted almond meal in the same manner!

at this point you can also add in 1 tsp of vanilla and/or

almond extract. i personally didn't use it and it was still fine.

spread your lovely, puffy meringue onto a lined baking sheet.

i used a silicon liner, but parchment also does the trick.

if you want to be fancy, you can use your spatula to create little

peaks, or you can just smooth it into a disk shape.

it won't spread while baking, so you spread it 1 in. from the edge.

pop the pavlova into the oven and set the timer for 45 minutes. 

meanwhile, you can enjoy your dinner or watch netflix (also a great option).

15 minutes into the cooking time, lower the heat

to 300 degrees fahrenheit.

when time's up, gently transfer the baked pavlova to a

cooling rack. it's okay if it cracks! it's artistic character! 

 while it's cooling, prepare the whipped cream.
start by adding 2 cups of heavy whipping cream to your mixer.
a good tip is to chill your bowl while your pavlova is baking
because it helps the cream keep its shape while whipping.

when soft peaks form, slowly add in 1/8 cup of sugar.

add more or less, depending your taste. less is more, because

you also have the tart-sweetness of the raspberries and the

warm-sweetness of the almonds and chocolate.

stop when stiff peaks form and the cream sticks to the mixer

blades. be careful to not overwhip - then you'll get butter

(which isn't necessarily bad...you just can't use it for the topping!).

let it sit in the fridge for 15-20 minutes if you're not serving the pavlova immediately.

once your pavlova is cooled, spread the whipped cream on

top, leaving a one-inch margin between cream and edge.

on top, sprinkle the rest of your reserved chocolate.

carefully arrange your raspberries on top!

you can get creative and also add other fruit, but keep in mind

that heavier fruit will crush your pavlova - it's very delicate!

i also took the liberty of adding some chocolate hearts i created by melting chocolate in a double boiler and squeezed out on wax paper. just let the chocolate set in the freezer while you're decorating your pavlova with the whipped cream and strawberries.

and now you're done! sit back and watch your guests marvel over your culinary genius while you cackle in the back over how easy this was. or, if you're alone, it's totally cool to eat this by yourself while watching a good movie. treat yourself.

enjoy!

jen

FULL RECIPE:

for the meringue
6 egg whites, room temperature
1 2/3 cups white sugar
1 1/3 cup raw, whole almonds, ground
OR
1 cup almond meal
finely grated/chopped bittersweet chocolate
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
a few drops of almond extract (optional)

for the whipped cream
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/8 cups of white sugar (can be adjusted to taste)

extras
reserved finely grated/chopped chocolate (about 2 tablespoons)
two cups of raspberries to garnish