Cooking with a Wallflower - Page 77 of 139 -

Wallflower Weekly Finds, 100

Some days, all I want to do is sit in a nice cozy bed with a mug of tea, cookies, and a great book.

I grew up obsessed with reading. It started with Nancy Drew and then it spread to all sorts of genres. And even now, between work, cooking, blogging, and life in general, I try to make time to read.

What do you like to do on your day off?

By the way, something in the picture above will be coming to the blog soon. Sneak peek =)

And don’t forget! There’s still time to enter the Fiesta Friday Healthy Recipe Challenge. There are prizes involved too!

Ham and Cheese Crescent Rolls

Crescent rolls filled with thin slices of ham and shredded cheese. These ham and cheese crescent rolls are easy to make and great as snacks or appetizers.

It’s almost the weekend!

I can’t believe it’s the last weekend of January. And since it’s also Lunar New Year this Saturday, I’m going to be busy with all the festivities (aka lots of eating) and visiting family. Is anyone else celebrating?

Sometimes, when family and friends come over, I don’t really have time to make snacks or desserts. So I like to rely on recipes that are super easy to make with very few ingredients.

One of my favorite recipe hacks is using crescent rolls to create snacks and desserts. Like these ham and cheese crescent rolls.

Asian Chicken Noodle Soup

Shredded chicken, chopped carrots, shiitake mushrooms, and onions cooked with rice noodles in a savory broth. This Asian chicken noodle soup is perfect for chasing away the winter chills.

It’s Tuesday! It’s Tuesday! Happy Tuesday!

Sometimes, I kind of wish all weeks start on Tuesdays. Maybe it’s because Mondays were always the first day of school. And it still has that sort of connotation for me. But when my week starts on a Tuesday, it’s a lot closer to the weekend.

So, as you probably know, since I’ve been complaining for the last two weeks (sorry!), I’ve been out sick with a cold. Coughs, sniffles, sore throat. I sounded so raspy! So glad that’s all over with now. And while I still did all the things I normally do, it took a lot longer to do anything. Especially cooking and working. All I ever wanted to do was sleep, drink tea, and eat soup.

And I had soo many different types of soups the last two weeks. It’s all I wanted. Don’t worry. I’m slowly going to share them with you. You’ll want these recipes to keep you warm through the rest of winter. Or if you’re recovering from a cold, like I was.

Pineapple Chicken Teriyaki Swiss Chard Wraps

Shredded chicken, diced red bell peppers, and diced pineapples cooked in a sweet and savory teriyaki sauce then wrapped in rainbow chard. These pineapple chicken teriyaki Swiss chard wraps are delicious and perfect as an appetizer or meal.

Happy Sunday!

Okay, let’s be real. I am ridiculously terrible at taking photos of wraps. While these pineapple chicken teriyaki Swiss chard wraps are so delicious, I have to say that my photos could not do them justice. Not to mention that with all the gloominess and rain we’ve been experiencing lately, I swear, it feels like the sun sets at 2:00pm instead of after 5pm. Which means I can’t rely on my source of light unless I start cooking when the sun rises.

Um, no. I think my family would kill me for making so much noise at dawn. lol.

So we’re just going to have to deal with low lighting photos for a couple more months.

But seriously, this chard wrap is one of my favorites right now!

Remember how I mentioned last week that Angie from Fiesta Friday is hosting a healthy recipe challenge with prizes? Basically, you have to create a healthy recipe that includes two things: pineapples and leafy greens. Doesn’t sound too hard, right?

So this was my answer to the challenge.

Will you enter the challenge? I would love to see what you come up with!

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Recommendations Wallflower Weekly Faves

Wallflower Weekly Finds, 99

Last weekend, I was at the Campbell’s Farmer’s Market for the first time in a long while. It’s always fun to explore the farmer’s market and find new fruits and vegetables to try. And the colors are so gorgeous.

I might have gone overboard with buying corn nuts. They were sooo good.

Then of course, I get to indulge in cupcakes! This is a coffee toffee crunch from Frost Cupcake Factory.

Roasted Mushroom Pasta with Fresh Herbs

Bow tie pasta tossed with roasted mushrooms, tomatoes, onions and fresh herbs then lightly seasoned with a balsamic vinaigrette. This roasted mushroom pasta with fresh herbs is delicious and easy to make, perfect for a weeknight dinner.

Just one more month until I leave for vacation. I’m so excited! Has anyone been to Ensenada in Baja California before? I’d love any tips or recommendations you might have, especially since it’s a cruise and I’m only there for a day. And in less than four months, I’m headed to Denver, and for the first time ever, I’ll be stepping beyond the airport. Any recommendations there will also be appreciated!

The last week has been so difficult. Whenever I’m sick, I take forever to get over it. It doesn’t matter if I’m drinking a ton of water, or if I’m consuming a crazy amount of Vitamin C, or if I’m taking a lot of medicines, or if I’m sleeping all day and doing nothing else. I generally take forever to recover. *sigh*

And cooking? Ha! Almost nonexistent.

So it’s kind of nice to have easy to make recipes on hand. Especially when it can double as dinner and lunch to bring to work the next day.

And this pasta is definitely perfect for both.

Cranberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Lemony muffins filled with poppy seeds and tart cranberries. These cranberry lemon poppy seed muffins are the perfect morning pick me ups.

Happy Monday!

How was your weekend? I hope it was much better than mine.

I spent most of the weekend trying to recover from my cold. Except I seem to have gotten worse on Saturday. I went from a sore throat and the occasional cough to sniffles and lots and lots of sneezing. I am sooo over being sick!

But it didn’t stop me from wandering around the Campbell Farmer’s Market Sunday morning. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to this particular farmer’s market; I just couldn’t say no. So I bundled up and ventured to the farmer’s market with my cousin. Luckily, no rain this weekend!

We need to talk about these cranberry lemon poppy seed muffins!

One of my all time favorite muffins is lemon poppy seed. The slight lemony citrus flavor is so delicious and refreshing. But to take these muffins to the next level, I wanted to add fresh cranberries. Well, they were fresh before I froze them to make them last longer anyway. If you’ve had cranberries before, you know that they’re super tart. But adding cranberries give these muffins an extra depth in flavor.

So moist with a combination of sweet and tart, these cranberry lemon poppy seed muffins are the perfect way to start the day.

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Recommendations Wallflower Weekly Faves

Wallflower Weekly Finds, 98

Happy Saturday!

It feels like this past week has been extra long.

First, the multiple rainstorms we’ve been having in the Bay Area, and then getting sick.

I’m just so glad that both are mostly over. All I ever wanted to do most of this week was sit at home wrapped in a blanket and eat chicken noodle soup.

Spicy Root Vegetable Chili with Buttered Toast

Chili filled with diced red bell peppers, corn, diced parsnips, diced carrots, and black beans then served with warm buttered toast. This spicy root vegetable chili is chunky, spicy, and soo comforting especially on a cold day.

It’s been so cold and rainy lately. Not just in San Francisco, but all over the Bay Area. Rivers and creeks have overflowed. Roads and homes flooded. Trees and power lines fell. It’s so crazy to think that just a little over a year ago, we were in the middle of a drought.

I really don’t like being out in the torrential rain when I don’t have to be. Especially now that I’m sick. Seriously, sore throats and dry coughs are the worst! I just want to stay in bed all day wrapped in blankets and eating chicken noodle soup. Any soup really.

But enough of that. We have to talk about this spicy root vegetable chili.

Winter is all about the root vegetables. When I browsed the farmer’s market a couple weeks ago, there were beets, turnips, radishes, and parsnips everywhere. So of course, I had to buy some. And well, turn them into chili.

Scrambled Eggs Turkey Breakfast Quesadillas

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

Large tortillas filled with thinly sliced honey smoked turkey, scrambled eggs, diced red peppers, spinach, mushrooms, and cheese. These Scrambled Eggs Turkey Breakfast Quesadillas are so delicious and filling, the perfect meal for your family.

Oh my gosh. It’s been so cold, dark, and gloomy these past few days with heavy torrents of rain and strong gusty winds. I have absolutely no desire to venture out of bed much less out the doors to go to work or run errands. I love watching the rain from my windows, but I definitely don’t like being soaked to my knees from walking through huge puddles!

But these scrambled eggs turkey breakfast quesadillas! These would totally completely convince me to leave my bed on a cold gloomy morning. Filled with simple ingredients like thinly sliced turkey, mushrooms, spinach, red bell peppers, melted cheese, and scrambled eggs, these quesadillas are so delicious and perfect for breakfast or brunch. And if you make extras, you can even pack them for lunch or eat leftovers for dinner. More delicious homemade meals even on a busy schedule rather than ordering out. Or be creative and have breakfast for dinner with your family!

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