Apple Caramel Muffins

Procrastination never tasted so good.

It’s getting to be that time of the semester. You know, that time when everything just happens to be due at once, and you didn’t realize that everything was due the same week…despite the fact that your professors have been telling you the entire semester the exact due date for these projects.

Well, now I’m in a bit of pickle, since I have two projects due the Monday and Tuesday after Thanksgiving. I’m not the least bit close to being finished with either of them. So, it’s a good idea to bake and blog about it instead, right?

Yes.

Cha Gio (Vietnamese Eggrolls)

Deep fried and delicious

Thanksgiving this year was a little bittersweet for me. Usually, every year the entire extended family along with a few random uncles (who I still have no idea who they are to this day, despite seeing them once a year for the past 23 years) would gather at my eldest uncles house to celebrate Thanksgiving and hold a small memorial for my late grandfather. My grandmother passed away earlier this year, and she was the real glue behind the family gatherings. She really lived for them. This year, without her, each of our families quietly decided to just celebrate on our own.

Mini Pumpkin Pies

Only about 160 calories!

Going along with the Thanksgiving theme of this week, I also made miniature pumpkin pies to accompany our roommate tryptophan feast. I’ve also never made pumpkin pie before, but I knew I wanted to try to make a healthier version of it. I looked around on Foodgawker and saw some terrifying recipes that incorporated tofu. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some tofu, but it was just too weird for me to try. I haven’t had much success with using strange ingredients in baking. Earlier this fall, I tried making black bean brownies, and they just ended up tasting like chocolate beans. I’ve learned my lesson, and from now on, I think I’ll stick to normal ingredients.

Stuffed Turkey Breast

Coma-inducing.

I come from a Vietnamese family, and not once in my entire life have I ever had a traditional American Thanksgiving. While many families around the country are gorging on turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, and , I’ve always stuffed my face with shrimp rolls, noodles, rice, and meat buns. Mmm meat buns. Other people lay around in a tryptophanic state, while I usually pass out in a MSG-induced coma.

Healthy Chicken Fajitas

Perfect for a weeknight dinner.

Going out to eat in DC is expensive. Prohibitively expensive. $4 cupcakes?! $15 lunches??! It’s just absurd. As a grad student living on a mish-mash combination of internship stipends and scholarships, this puts a limit on how often I can go out to eat. It kind of puts a limit on what I can eat in general, since grocery prices here are also exorbitantly high. That is, unless you purchase your meat products in the clearance meat section and other products from the bargain bin– and unless you want some really groedy looking meat and potential food poisoning, I don’t always recommend it.

Pear Yogurt Oat Muffins

Somewhat good for you!

I’ve been baking incessantly lately. Perhaps it’s because I have two upcoming projects that I have no desire to complete (accounting, I’m looking at you.) Or it could be because I’ve finally completed my transformation into a grandmother that spends her free time reading the news and looking at food porn. I’ve become known around the office as that person who always (always!) brings in baked goods, hopefully that’s a good thing. Maybe once school is over for the semester, I’ll actually have more of a social life temporarily. One can only hope.

Speculoos Butter Cookies

So good.

Trader Joe’s cookie butter is probably one of the most delicious things I have ever tried. I had a spoonful and shed tears of joy. And then I had at least ten more spoonfuls before I had to slap myself and stop. It’s a spreadable cookie! Genius.

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip with almonds

Stack of cookies

My roommate got a cat. An adorable, orange striped cat. I’m not much of a cat person, since I think they’re frigid animals with the inability to love, but this one is the most precious thing that I’ve ever seen.

So when I’m not at work or school, I’ve been playing with him a ton, probably to my roommate’s chagrin. I can’t help it. He’s just too damn adorable.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies

Super healthy, you don’t even know.

I’ve been baking up a storm lately, mainly as a means to procrastinate. Accounting homework? That can wait. Midterm tomorrow? Cookies need to be made first. Applying for jobs? Well, let’s not get crazy here. But in all seriousness, baking has been a nice outlet. With the pressure of working, trying to find a job, running a student organization, maintaining a pathetic semblance of a social life, and not flunking out of graduate school, things get a little hectic at times (read: all the time). Baking’s been a great way to relax, even if it means pushing back readings for half an hour or so. So take that, accounting homework, you’re not getting done today. Or ever.

Baked butternut squash pasta

Filled with butternut squash and spinach. That means it has 0 calories, right?

It’s getting to be that time of year. The sun sets earlier, the wind has more chill to it, and the layers start coming on. Scarves, sweaters, hats, and unfortunately, body fat. Like clock work, once it starts getting cold, all I want to do is eat, hibernate, and develop a fat coat to keep me warm throughout the winter months.