Tag: simple

  • chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter bacon frosting

    chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter bacon frosting

    i have a friend, cy, who eats like no one i’ve ever seen. he’s happiest in a state of food coma, stomach contentedly protruding and eyes drooping shut. he readily devours the leftover baked goods i bring to school on a daily basis. unless they contain a trace of banana. the curved, yellow, potassium-rich fruit is…

  • poblano black bean quesadillas with pico de gallo

    poblano black bean quesadillas with pico de gallo

        how do you feel about spicy food? that’s a pretty broad term. we’re talking food that gives your mouth a red-hot blast of flavor. do you the fierce complexity of a spicy curry? the kick of a jalapeño? the deep intensity of a homemade chili? personally, i tend to opt away from super hot, mouth-on-fire,…

  • breakfast pita pizza with bacon, eggs, and a trio of cheeses

    breakfast pita pizza with bacon, eggs, and a trio of cheeses

    makes two servings i woke up wanting something with eggs and heat. i briefly considered (boring) scrambled eggs or a (boring) omelette, but i always end up 1) forgetting the cheese until the last second, which leads to a mad scramble (pun intended) for the first cheese i see in the fridge – usually something moldy…

  • cookie dough stuffed brownies

    cookie dough stuffed brownies

    makes nine (huge) brownies i surprised myself by making these. i usually shy away from the ‘edible cookie dough’/’funfetti cake batter’ shit that’s plastered all over Pinterest (you know what i’m talking about), looking down on them haughtily while perched atop my cardamom-scented-gold-luster-dusted mille feuille. nothing against mille feuille, but these cookie dough stuffed brownies are…

  • blackberry jam-packed dark chocolate cupcakes with whipped white and milk chocolate ganache frosting

    blackberry jam-packed dark chocolate cupcakes with whipped white and milk chocolate ganache frosting

    makes nine cupcakes i rarely make cupcakes. they’re easy to overbake, underfill, overfrost, you get the idea. i also try to avoid the title of ‘cupcake girl.’   all of that being said, you should DEFINITELY make these. the rich darkness of the cake finds a divine pair in the tangy blackberry preserves. the white…

  • fig newtons

    fig newtons

    makes two dozen cookies I think it’s safe to say I am the top consumer of figs in North Carolina? Maybe on the East Coast? That’s a pretty bold statement, I know. I eat about five every day (yes, every day – I brought a bag to Nicaragua) which equates to roughly 150 pounds a…

  • pumpkin profiteroles // quick cream puffs

    pumpkin profiteroles // quick cream puffs

    makes twenty-four profiteroles I really wanted to make sufganiyot tonight. Sufganiyot are Israeli confections – donuts that are deep-fried, filled with custard or (more commonly) jelly, and dusted with sugar. Unfortunately, my mom was set on making latkes and used up all the vegetable oil, so the sufganiyot will have to wait. Cream puffs (profiteroles and cream…

  • deep-dish granny smith chicken pot pie with a cheddar crust

    deep-dish granny smith chicken pot pie with a cheddar crust

    makes four servings This autumnal entrée takes everything you thought you knew about apple pie and throws it out the window. There’s no cinnamon, no nutmeg, no sprinkling of turbinado sugar to make for a caramelized crust. Instead, we’re taking onions, thyme, and sautéed chicken and sealing them in a flaky, buttery, made-from-scratch dough. I pressed the…

  • brownies with peanut butter frosting

    brownies with peanut butter frosting

    makes sixteen servings I know, I know. I’m stuck in a rut. Everything I’ve been making recently is the same color. The same flavors, too. Probably the same calorie count. So this is my last post like this for a while! Soon Lena’s Lunchbox will have dark leafy greens and citrus-y pale yellows and intense beetroot reds. These…

  • dark chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting

    dark chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting

    makes six servings Everything in moderation, right? It’s fine to eat a slice of this cake if as long as I balance it out with a hearty kale and cashew salad or something. Here’s the problem..this cake is actually physically impossible to eat in moderation. You’ll cut a sliver off, eat it in a few seconds, and…