Red Bean Pastries

My mom knows how to make just about anything Chinese, including these red bean pastries. Usually, if it's for me, we end up altering the ingredients and ratios to make the recipe healthier. In this case, the red beans had very little sugar and no oil, the flour was part whole wheat and spelt, and we did not use that much oil to make the flaky layers. These round little things are so cute, and very hearty and satisfying. I really like the dough! Of course, every once in awhile, I might indulge and get the super-buttery treats from a bakery, but that's just once in awhile...

Baked French Toast

I had all this bread leftover and just had to get rid of it... So bought some milk and eggs, looked up French toast recipes, and settled on this baked version, except I kept the toast whole as opposed to making them into small sticks. I completely left out the maple syrup, and used baking spray instead of butter. Conclusion? This thing is too sweet, even without the maple syrup! And also, I should have used butter because the baking spray totally does not contribute to the flavor =(. The toast came out pretty eggy and not soggy enough, in my opinion. Part of it may have been due to my using whole grain extra fiber bread, as opposed to the usual challah...

Hot Dogs

He he he! There was this USO (United Service Organizations) fundraiser at work from which I bought several beanie babies, including these two cute daschund twins. One is from a Valentine's collection and says "I LONG 4 U" on its side, and the other is basically a hot dog in a bun, complete with ketchup and mustard. How could you pass these up? The breed I plan to get in the future is actually not this one, but probably some sort of terrier mix, or a Westie, or possibly a Maltese mix...

Strawberry Smoothie

Strawberries are in season! I bought a bunch and froze them all so as to make refreshing smoothies later. My hand blender is not that powerful though, so I had to dice the berries into really small pieces. That was time consuming! For this particular smoothie, I just mixed strawberries and milk, but another simple go-to combination is strawberries with 100% pineapple juice (comes in convenient containers from TJ).