Cornbread Bacon Stuffing

Thanksgiving is hands down my most favorite holiday of the year.  It marks the beginning of the holiday season when everyone becomes super jolly and festive.  It also begins the season where it is totally acceptable to dream of stuffing.  Stuffing, probably the most underrated side dish of all. Stuffing, the BEST side dish of all.  I'm not talking about the mushy box stuff you guys are probably imagining, I'm talking about the homemade goodness, moist on the inside and crunchy on the outside.  My mouth is drooling right now as I sit in small group trying to listen to the guy talk about antihypertensize drugs.

Anyways, the proceeding stuffing recipe was the one I made for Thanksgiving this year.  Reasons why this is the best dish ever:

1. Who doesnt love cornbread?
2. Who doesnt love bacon?
3. Who doesnt love cornbread AND bacon together?

Kudos to Martha Stewart for the original recipe!  I modified it based on what I had at home and on the fact that I had to feed an army on Turkey day.

Pumpkin Spice Cake

It was roomie's birthday this Friday so that means cake time!  We have a running joke about how we love being basic although I still really have no idea what that means. I mean really...what is wrong with liking pumpkin spice lattes, apple orchards, plaid, and north face jackets?  People need to accept the fact that all of those things are awesome..

Anyways, like I said, my roommate and I have this running joke about how we LOVEEEE basic things so what would be more perfect than a pumpkin spice birthday cake?!  The answer is nothing :)  

Oh and this time I had 2 excellent pastry chefs to help me out!  

                                     

Chicken Enchilada Lasagna

So I've been trying to do more savory dishes lately.  Figured I cant just live off of desserts for the rest of my life.  I was feeling Mexican the other day and since the closest Chipotle is still way too far away, I thought I would try my hand at it.  Corn tortillas, veggies, chicken, enchilada sauce, cheese...what more could you ask for?

Normally the tortillas are rolled up with filling but I thought it would be much easier to layer everything.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Twas a fun four weeks learning about all the awesome bacteria that give us diarrhea.  Seriously though, how it is possible that almost every bacteria infection will give you fever, headache, malaise, diarrhea and/or nonproductive cough? 

It was quite imperative for me to have some happiness this passed weekend while I was studying for my exam.  I happened to have an open can of pumpkin puree so I made a pumpkin spice latte!  Starbucks got nothing on me!

Pumpkin Spice Latte

-1 cup hot, strong coffee.  

-3/4 cup milk** (I used almond milk)

-1 tsp. vanilla

-1 tbsp. pumpkin puree

-1 tsp. brown sugar

-1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1. In a mug, mix together everything but the coffee.
2. Microwave the mixture until it is hot.
3. Mix in the coffee.
4. Enjoy!

**DONT USE PASTEURIZED MILK! Definitely dont want a campylobacter infection.....

Brinner is for Winners

Not going to lie, second year is tough.  Literally every night, my "To Do" list consists of "learn all the drugs" and "learn all the diseases."  So anticipating the fact we were most likely going to be seeing each other less often than we wanted (especially during the week before exams, a group of friends and I thought it would be an awesome idea plan post-exam dinner parties.  Good food and great company with excellent gossip, what more could a girl want to do after an exam?

Last month, after our first exam, we wined and dined to bruschetta and risotto with banana bread for dessert thanks to Anna and Karthya!  Now this time after our immunology exam, my roommate Joy and I made brinner!  On the menu, we had french toast, veggie frittata, and apple butter bars. Yum!  Also, please ignore the fact that brinner was heavy on the carbs.  Carbs mean love and that's all we want after a weekend of hardcore studying and a very difficult 2.5hr exam...

The Oh So Versatile Tortilla

Just a few things that I have been making using tortillas!

Margarita Pizza 

 

Ingredients

• tomato sauce
• mozzarella cheese
• tomato slices
• basil (I only had dried basil)

Spread the sauce on the tortilla and top with the cheese, tomatoes, and basil.  Put in toaster oven for 10min or until cheese is melted.

Chicken Quesadilla 

 

Ingredients

• shredded cheese
• shredded chicken

Sprinkle cheese, chicken, and then another layer of cheese onto a tortilla.  Top with another tortilla.  Heat each side of the quesadilla in a pan for 3min or until the cheese has melted.  Top with guac and sriracha if you have any!  

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Chief Complaint - Headaches

History of Present Illness - Patient presents with headaches, achy hands, and tiredness.  No significant past medical history however the patient did explain about the high levels of stress she has been dealing with.  She recently finished a 2 hour exam which tested her on immunology, all of which as taught in three weeks.

Allergies: none although she stated that she can now explain everything about allergies

(skipping the rest of the report and going straight to Assessment and Plan)

Assessment - Patient is a stressed medical student who had to just suffer though the awful ordeal of taking an immunology exam.

Plan - Treat with an order of drunk noodles from her favorite Thai take-out place, copious amounts of TV, and many Irish car bomb cupcakes!

Overnight Oatmeal

I love fast and easy breakfasts. The quicker, the better because that means I can stay in bed for even longer :) Sure, I like grabbing a granola right before I sprint out the door to get to my 8am class but it's never very filling and I'm always starving after only a few hours.  With that said, I am always looking for new breakfast options that are keep my stomach from rumbling in class.  

The other day, my friend Ellen told me her new go-to breakfast is overnight oats.  I looked more into it (pinterest and buzzfeed were my primary sources).  Turns out that it is really easy to make and since it is so customizable, so you can literally make it however you want and it'll be delicious! 

Oh, and for those people who say they cannot cook for the life of them, this recipe is FOOL PROOF!

                          

From Tumblr to Blogspot

At the beginning of this new school year, I decided to embrace change.  I changed living situations, I changed my exercise routine, and I changed my note taking strategy.  Yep, lots of new changing to adjust to while also adjusting to the trials and tribulations of the second year of medical school...no, I'm not having a mid-life crisis.

Since I'm on this "change is awesome" high, I also decided to change to a different blog format!  Goodbye Tumblr, helloooo Blogspot!  Since I had quite a few posts on the old posts, I moved all of those old posts here!

Few perks about this new format
- Organized recipe folder!
- Search Box toolbar  

Lots of new recipes to try, so little time to do it!  I want to try to post more often so I guess I'll write more instead of youtubing/hulu-ing/rolling-around-in-my-bed-time.

Also, I was looking through old photos of mine and I found this lol. I told the artist to draw me as a "baking doctor" hahahahaha.

Amaretto Buttercream Frosting

Baking is fun….but baking with alcohol is even better.  I cant think of anything better to celebrate birthdays than with boozy goodies!  It was a few friends’ birthdays and since I had some Amaretto liquor left over from my own birthday celebration, I figured that this would be an excellent time to experiment.  Chocolate cupcake + frosting with a kick —> perfect birthday surprise!

Flourless PB Choco Cookies

So during our last few blocks of Cell Bio, metabolic diseases were thrown in our faces.  It was pretty interesting whenever patients came in to talk about their lives and how they manage their conditions.  Problem is, every time they came to talk, I just felt so bad for them because they were never able to appreciate food!  Just like Dorothy Wang,*** I’m just a fat kid trying to get out.  If I could, I would seriously eat all day so I cant even imagine going through a day constantly monitoring everything I eat.  Really though, mad props to those patients for having so much self-control.

I’m sort of surprised we didn’t learn about celiac disease (condition where you have a gluten allergy). Last year, a friend of mine was diagnosed with it and I was so sad for her because her favorite food is bread. We had a gluten-free-German-food themed birthday dinner which turned out surprisingly well. Some months later, she found out she was misdiagnosed with it so she went back to eating all the bread in the world.

That was the most roundabout way to introduce these gluten-free cookies but oh well. Random tangents are good sometimes.  Okay, back to da cookies.  Got this recipe from a friend and am definitely going to add it to my recipe-keeper list. Gluten-free and I’m going to say they’re healthy since peanut butter is the main ingredient (yay unsaturated fats, fiber, protein, micronutrients and vitamins) hehe. 

Avocado Grilled Cheese

I LOVE AVOCADOS. Literally obsessed. So much so that I will straight up grab a spoon and eat it plain.  Actually my favorite method is to drizzle a little honey over it and sprinkle with a pinch of salt (don’t judge me until you try it).

Thought I will share some meals I’ve been made lately that had avocados in them.

The other night for dinner, I had a spinach, strawberry, avocado salad with grilled chicken and a raspberry honey vinaigrette. 

Strawberry Sangria

Classy drink for a classy lady

• 2 pints of chopped strawberries
• Thinly sliced citrus fruits (we did 2 oranges and 3 limes)
• 2 bottles of red wine (choose your fav)
• Ginger ale (a juice or a citrus soda will also work)

1. Put all the fruit in a large pitcher.
2. Pour wine in the pitcher to cover fruit.
3. Chill the fruit and wine together in the fridge for at least 3hours.
4. When ready to serve, make sure each glass has a few slices of the awesome fruit.
5. Top with ginger ale, mix, and enjoy!

Any time of fruit works (apples, kiwis, other berries, etc). Choose your favorite!  

Slutty Brownies

Ekk! These brownies are the epitome of indulgence and death by sugar but hey, it’s only your birthday once a year right?! :)

SLUTTY BROWNIES 

• Brownie box mix (along with all of its ingredients)
• Chocolate chip cookie dough
• Oreo cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350degrees.
2. Oil a 9x13 baking pan.
3. Evenly spread the bottom of the pan with cookie dough.
4. Put down a single layer of oreo cookies on top of the dough.
5. Evenly pour over the brownie mix on top.
6. Bake for about 30minutes.
7. Let it completely cool down before entering a sugar high.

Apple Pie

After my renal and pulmonary exam Friday morning, all I could think about was eating pie but I couldnt find a place nearby that sold pie!  Ridiculous…but I figured this would be the perfect time to try to make an apple pie.  Nomnomnom.

Avocado Breakfast Smoothie

I just got a new mini blender and I’m literally obsessed with it.  It’s not to the point where I will spend an hour on pinterest and buzzfeed looking at things I can do with Hamilton the Blender (like smoothies, hummus, sauces, etc) buttttttt it was close to it.  Sorry Im not sorry that my blender is more interesting that the female reproductive system and other boring endocrine hormone lectures we’ve been having all week…

And yea I like naming my toys.  Hamilton the Blender because he is a Hamilton Beach blender hahahaha.  Sometimes my creativity just cracks me up.

So lots of smoothies for breakfast these days whoohoooo. So much easier and faster to drink all of the healthy things than to eat them.  A girl has other things to do in the morning (like sleeping in for 10 more minutes) than to chew breakfast!

Here is a super healthy smoothie I made the other morning =)

Green Morning Smoothie

• 1 cup kale
• 1/2 ripe avocado
• 1 banana
• honey
• pinch of salt
• milk

Peanut Butter Choco Mug Cake

Problem: it’s a Saturday night and I have an Endocrine and Integrative Functional Systems exam on Monday.

Solution: Make a cake and then eat your sorrows away (this can actually be the solution to many problems).

One of my super awesome friends and I made this our I-dont-want-to-study-so-lets-eat-cake-and-gossip-pre-exam-weekend tradition and it’s pretty much the highlight of my day whenever we plan to do it.  Good motivation to study during the day and it makes a nice study break!

Here is a super easy recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Mug Cake!

2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp chocolate chips

1. Mix the butter, peanut butter, vanilla, egg, and sugar together.
2. Add in the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder and mix.
3. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Put in the microwave for 1 minute or until done.

Ironically, after the cake break, we went back to studying about diabetes and obesity…oops. 

Cinnamon Rolls

Brunch time, the second best meal of the day.  Second only to brinner of course.  I mentioned this to a friend the other day and he brought up 4th meal.  Valid point but I personally have that at the bottom of my totem pole. While I do enjoy it occasionally, most of the time it just brings regret.  Eating super late is never actually a good idea...

So yea, brunch time.  Obviously you are craving cinnamon rolls and lucky for you, I have a recipe for them!  Takes a bit of time to make (mostly because you have to wait for long periods of time) but it's totally worth it and its actually really easy! Trust me!! 

CINNAMON BUNS WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

(original recipe here)

For the dough:

• 1 cup warm milk 
• 2 eggs, room temp
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch nutmeg
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

Making dough is super easy with a kitchen aid stand mixer but being that I am a poor medical student, I dont have one.....yet.  That being said, making the dough is still very doable with just your hands.  Dont be scared to get your hands a little dirty!

Outrageously Organism Oreo Overload Cake

The first time I made these cupcakes was last summer for my brother’s birthday because he is a huge fan of oreos (single stuffed, not double stuffed…sorry to anyone he’s offended *cough cough Paprika*).  The fam loved them so when I found out that the medical school student council was having a bake-off, I thought I would try my hand in it and enter with these cupcakes!

There were 7 other dessert entries and the cake ended up winning 3rd place! Not too shabby if I do say so myself :)

Outrageously Orgasmic Oreo Overload Cake (I worked really hard on the alliteration guys) 

• 1cup + 2tbsp flour
• 1/4tsp salt
• 1/2tsp baking powder
• 1/2cup +1/3cup sugar
• 4tbsp butter, room temperature
• 2 egg whites
• 1tsp vanilla
• 1/2cup milk
• 15 oreo cookies, crumbled

1. Preheat oven to 350degrees.
2. Mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Then set aside.
3. Beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy.
4. Add in the egg whites, one at a time.
5. Mix in the vanilla.
6. Fold in half of the flour.
7. Add in the milk
8. Mix in the other half of the flour, being careful to not overmix.
9. Fold in the cookie crumbles.
10. Spray nonstick cooking spray into a 9x13 pan.
11. Pour batter into the pan.
12. Bake for 15min or until a toothpick comes out clean when you stick in inside the cake.

Spaghetti Squash

SPAGHETTI SQUASH!

This has been a very trendy squash lately so when Safeway had it on sale, I obviously had to try one out.  Very easy to cook. Very healthy.  Very delicious.

Nutella Sea Salt Fudge

FACT: Fudge is awesome.

FACT: I have a love affair with nutella.

FACT: I found the easiest nutella fudge recipe!

Baked Avocado and Egg

Baked Avocado and Egg recipe!  Looks deceivingly complicated to make but it’s actually really easy! 

Ingredients

• avocado halves
• eggs
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450degrees.
2. Scoop out some of the avocado from the halves so that there is enough space for the egg.
3. Bake for 15min or until egg is set.
4. Season with salt and pepper.

I had shredded mozzarella cheese in my fridge so I put some on top of my egg and left it in the oven so the cheese could melt. 

Cashew Butter Cookies

As everyone knows, I bake a lot. Especially when I get bored. Yesterday by 4pm, I had already finished work, went to the gym, did laundry, AND watched the latest episode of SUITS.  Thus, yesterday was an excellent example of when I boredom baked.

I had a field trip to Amish Country earlier this week and I got a huge tub of cashew butter (for $6!!!) so get ready for some cashew butter cookies!

Hummus Chicken

It’s dinner time and hummus chicken is on the menu!  Enjoy :)

Ingredients

• Chicken breast
• hummus
• salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Place chicken on a roasting pan.
3. Spread hummus on the chicken then sprinkle some salt and pepper.
4. Roast chicken for 25min.
5. Take chicken out and let rest for 5min.
6. Consume!