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Desserts Quick and Easy Recipes Vegetarian

Peach Berry Ice Cream Cupcake Pops

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

A layer of peach and mixed berry ice cream over a vanilla wafer crust topped with vanilla frosting and sprinkles. These peach berry ice cream cupcake pops are the perfect treat for late summer.

Omg! I’ve been dreaming about these peach berry ice cream cupcake pops for days, no, weeks, now.

You have no idea how excited I am to finally share these with you!

Trust me, they’re the ultimate summer dessert, perfect for cooling off during hot days as well as impressing family and friends.

Just the other day I shared a photo of the ice cream cake my little cousin Laina and I made. It was our first attempt at making an ice cream cake. And after trying a few flavors and ideas, these cupcake pops were the final results.

Layers of vanilla wafer crust, peach ice cream, mixed berry ice cream, and vanilla frosting captured the essence of summer. A medley of colorful sprinkles gives these cupcake pops a festive touch.

They’re like cake pops but so much easier to make and super cute too. These would make great desserts when you’re entertaining guests.

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A few weeks ago, my little cousin, Laina, came to visit us for our grandma’s birthday. Since she was staying with us, and she loved baking and cooking as much as I do, I thought it would be fun to test out a recipe that I was working on.

So together, we created an ice cream cake using fruit juices that we found in the fridge. It wasn’t so much about creating the flavor as much as figuring out how to make the ice cream cake.

After the ice cream cake formed overnight in the freezer, I let Laina decorate the cake using strawberries we bought from the farmer’s market and sprinkles from Sweetapolita.

Ta da! The original. =)

Glazed Blueberry Lemon Bread

Lemony buttermilk bread filled with fresh blueberries and drizzled with a lemon glaze. This glazed blueberry lemon bread is moist, delicious, and perfect in the morning with coffee or milk.

It’s almost the weekend again!

I’m really excited. Usually, weekends are relatively low key for me. Mostly because after a long work week, I really just need time to wind down and do absolutely nothing.

This weekend, however, we have tickets to Eat Drink SF. There’s supposed to be over 35 restaurants, over 160 chefs, and over 70 purveyors. Some of the restaurants present at the event are places that I’ve wanted to try for forever and haven’t had a chance to yet. So I really can’t wait! Have you ever been?

But since there’s a few more days left of the week, I thought I would share with you a little midweek pick me up. Because I totally need it.

Loaf breads are one of my very favorites to bake. They’re easy to make and take little effort to clean up. And I’m all about easy and mess free.

Overnight Chocolate Chia Pudding

Chocolate chia pudding topped with shredded coconut, dried cranberries, and granola. This overnight chocolate chia pudding is the perfect make ahead breakfast, especially with summer winding down and days becoming hectic with work and back to school.

I seriously need some chocolate right now.

These last couple days have been rough and so totally stressful. And unfortunately, it’s going to be like that for a few months.

Have you ever had one of those periods? Where you’re just so overwhelmed by life? How do you de-stress? Just take it one day at a time, right?

Or maybe it’s time for a vacation?

I’m a self professed chocolate addict. It’s my comfort food.

Back in college, I even had a chocolate emergency kit for all those late night study sessions.

I swear, I can give practically anything up except for chocolate. Milk chocolate in particular.

And right now, I feel like I’m in need of chocolate.

So what can be better than to start the day with breakfast made of chocolate?

Seriously, chocolate for breakfast, and it’s guilt free too!

Peach Mint Lemonade

Blended peach swirled in mint lemonade. This peach mint lemonade is both refreshing and delicious, perfect for a warm summer day.

Did you miss National Lemonade Day?

I almost did.

But if you did, you can still enjoy this Peach Mint Lemonade.

A few weeks ago, Forsythe Farms CSA contacted me to ask if I would like to guest post for them.

I thought it would be a fun challenge, to take ingredients that come in their CSA box to create a recipe. Kind of like a mystery box challenge. Except I get to cheat because I get to add my own ingredients.

I love the idea CSA boxes because it means that sometimes you get to try new foods. There might be a fruit that you’ve seen at the farmer’s market or the supermarket, but you’ve been hesitant to try. Or maybe these CSA boxes will get you to think creatively about your next meal, or your next dessert.

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For me, summer is all about the weather, the stone fruits, the berries. It’s all so hard to resist.

Before I went to the farmer’s market regularly, I had no idea that there were so many different types of peaches and nectarines.

When you shop at the supermarket, peaches and nectarines come in only two types: yellow and white.

And after all those taste testing at the stalls at the farmer’s market, I finally discovered a favorite: the O’Henry.

So I’m practically hoarding all these peaches while they’re still in season =)

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Life of a Wallflower Travel

Life of a Wallflower, 29 – Sonoma Valley

Today, I’m sharing photos of my recent trip to Sonoma Valley. Be prepared for a ton of photos. =)

Every summer, my sisters, my cousins, and I take a trip together.

We’re all obsessed with food, which makes traveling together so much easier.

But with 5 different schedules, sometimes it’s difficult to plan a vacation together. So this year, we were thinking of just doing a day trip up to Sonoma County.

Have you ever been?

Sonoma is similar to Napa, but it’s not as touristy, which means it’s a lot more relaxing and less crowded.

At the last minute, we opted to do an overnight trip, that way we would have more time to explore, and let’s be honest, eat.

Our first stop was Sausalito.

Roasted Summer Vegetable Spring Roll Bowls with Tamarind Sesame Vinaigrette

Rice vermicelli tossed with roasted asparagus, carrots, mushrooms, mixed greens, and fresh herbs. This roasted summer vegetable spring roll bowls with tamarind sesame vinaigrette is delicious and refreshing, perfect for hot summer days.

Happy Monday!

Today, I’m sharing vegan spring roll bowls with you!

Spring rolls are one of my favorite meals.

Filled with simple ingredients, it’s so refreshing and healthy without tasting like it’s healthy.

Spring rolls have so much texture from different vegetables and herbs and so much flavor when dipped in the accompanying sauce.

I made a version of spring roll bowls several weeks ago: garlic shrimp spring roll bowls with garlic tamarind vinaigrette. Savory and still refreshing, it was my favorite dish for a long while.

But this time, I wanted to make a vegan version so that everyone could enjoy it.

I love that these spring roll bowls take so little time to make. I grew up making spring rolls so it’s really easy for me to wrap them, but I do know how frustrating it can be when the rice paper sticks to itself. Or even worse, when you think you’re at the verge of success, and suddenly the spring roll splits down the middle and your hard work starts to spill all over. It’s one of those Ugh! moments.

So why not simplify it?

Why not have all that goodness served in a single bowl? No mess. No frustration.

Spring roll bowls. Yes, please.

Stone Fruit Salad

Mixed greens tossed with peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots, and cherries topped with a drizzle of poppy seed dressing. This stone fruit salad is refreshing and filled with some of the best fruits of summer.

Are you watching the Olympics?!

I’m not a sports person so I don’t usually watch sports unless it’s like the most important game of the season, the last one. But when it comes to the Olympics, I’m so obsessed with watching the swimming and the gymnastics. It’s so dramatic in a nail biting kind of way. I’m constantly hiding my face behind my hands and peeking through my fingers. I seriously can’t stand the suspense, and yet I can’t resist watching.

It’s been a few very unproductive days because I’m just sitting there watching the games.

Are you watching too? And if you are, which events are you watching?

Anyways, let’s talk salads.

Summer is all about the fresh produce. But the best part for me? Stone fruits.

Peaches, nectarines, cherries, apricots, plums, pluots, which is your favorite pick?

Does it even matter? Because I’m using almost all of them in this salad!

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I can’t believe it’s almost a week since my little getaway trip to Sonoma County.

We visited St Francis Winery and Vineyards in Santa Rosa along with so many other places. But I loved that we were able to do a free self guided tour through St Francis Winery’s vineyards. I don’t drink a lot of alcohol so sometimes I just want to walk around, admire the architecture, and take in the scenery.

The view from the vineyard was just absolutely breathtaking and so peaceful. And all that lavender!

It was exactly what I needed to relax and to feel inspired again. But one day just didn’t feel like enough, and I’m already missing all that sunshine!

I’ll share all the places we visited in a later post, but you can see some of our photos on Instagram.

Sonoma Valley | Cooking with a Wallflower

Photo taken by Victoria Giang

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