Om Nom Nom Delicious White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

I love experimenting, but sometimes I wish I didn’t. The problem is that I have fallen in love with my dad’s DSLR. I was experimenting to see how much of an effect it would have on my food photography. Wow. I could take a nice overview shot and still see the texture of my goodies. With my point-and-shoot, I had to get up close and personal before I could photograph the texture of my food, which often resulted in tight compositions.

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You see my dilemma? I can’t go back to point-and-shoots anymore! I try to convince myself that I still need my point-and-shoot because it’s a good way to practice my composition skills...but the quality isn't the same. ='(

On a side note, these cookies were delicious. Chewy and moist with the crunch from the nuts. Mmmm…and the creaminess of the white chocolate melting in your mouth. Best combination e-var. My only issue with the recipe was that I found it too sweet so I reduced the sugar amount in the recipe below.

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White chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Adapted from For the love of cooking

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 TBSP vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
• 2 4oz. white chocolate bar cut into chunks (approx. 1 3/4 cups)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.
3. In another bowl, beat together melted butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until creamy.
4. Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture until just mixed.
5. Stir in nuts and white chocolate.
6. Drop by the spoonful onto baking sheet.
7. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until edges look golden brown.
8. Cool on baking sheet for at least 4 - 5 minutes so the cookies can set before moving to a rack.

Oven-Baked Fries (Potato or Taro)

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Whenever I hear someone order a salad or diet soda along with their fries, big mac, or any high calorie fast food item, I die a bit on the inside. Psychologically, it makes you feel better, because you think, "Oh, I got my a side salad. That's healthy. Or I got diet soda, which is so much better than regular soda." But if you press the pause button and think rationally, the healthy side salad or diet soda doesn't cancel out the rest of your greasy meal. You are still eating overly processed goodies that lack nutrients.

Sadly, I am a victim of that sort of logic. When I have a craving for junk food, I try to satisfy it with a healthier alternative. This time I was dying for the crunch of crispy McDonald fries, but all we had at home were baby taros. I had the brilliant idea to oven-baked them, because it would be "healthier" and to eat a crapton of veggies with it. Oh, and a glass of milk.

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I did learn one thing about baby taros. They aren't meant for baking, but I'm sure with the larger taro, it would work well for oven-baked fries. The problem with baby taros is that it becomes very mushy and soft after it's cooked compared to the larger variety that's still firm after it's cooked.

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Oven-Baked Fries (Potato or Taro)
*this is a very flexible recipe.*

Ingredients

• potatoes or big taro
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste
• olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Wash, peel, and cut the potatoes (taro) into thin strips.
3. Toss the potatoes (taro) with salt, pepper, and drizzle with olive oil. You want to lightly coat the potato/taro in olive oil. DO NOT drown it.
4. Spread one layer of potatoes/taro onto a baking sheet. I lined it with foil so it would be easy clean up. Make sure there's space between each piece.
5. Bake in oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until browned and tender.

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Super healthy delicious Chocolate Chip Banana Cake

Last year around my birthday, I made my own birthday cake. The cake was moist, sweet, healthy, and delicious and my family devoured it. However, they had one complaint: it was a bit too moist. As in, it was so moist that it was on the borderline of wet/mushy so I made a note in my notebook to make it firmer the next time I tried again.

Coincidentally, we ended up having too many ripe bananas around my birthday again this year. I pulled out the old recipe and made some adjustments.

The verdict: it was a major improvement from last time. It was so good that my grandma requested that I make more for her and said I was the best baker ever. Muahahah. I love my g-ma.

Chocolate Chip Banana Cake
Adapted from Pink Peppercorn

Ingredients

• 3 TBSP butter
• A heaping 1/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 2 TBSP applesauce
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 egg
• A dash of milk
• 2 1/2 bananas, mashed
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup of wheat flour
• a little less than 1/4 cup of wheat germ
• a little less than 1/4 cup of flax seed
• a heaping 1/2 cup of rolled oats
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup of walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 1/3 cup of walnuts, chopped, (this is used as topping)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Cream butter and sugar together. Add applesauce, cinnamon, and egg to mixture. Mix well.
3. Stir in milk, bananas, and vanilla. Combine.
4. Add in the rest of the ingredients: flour, wheat germ, flax seed, rolled oats, baking soda, and salt. Mix.
5. Gently combine the chocolate chips and walnuts with the rest of ingredients.
6. Pour the mixture into an 8x8 inch dish lined with parchment paper.
7. Sprinkle the crushed walnuts (1/3 cup) on top.
8. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or poke the cake with a toothpick and see if it comes out clean.

A-Maizing Corn Snacks. NOT!

It's been a busy morning and I'm feeling grumpy, tired, and hungry. I need a mood picker upper before I meet up my friend. I enter a store and wander through the aisles to the snack section. I select a package that reminds me of "corn nuts" because it says its a corn kernel snack.I pay for the package and walk to the bus stop.

My bad mood makes a turn for worse. My corn nuts-esque snack turned into what looked like half-popped kernels from a popcorn factory. What a disappointment.  I was not expecting leftovers to be repackaged and sold. *sad face*

It tasted salty and I wasn't a fan of the texture. However, JSB loved it, because her favorite part about popcorn are the semi-popped kernels.

Bottom line: Avoid product unless you enjoy semi-popped corn kernels.