I hate to say it, but my day hasn’t begun until I’ve had my cup of coffee. I’ve turned into one of them... One of those sassy “don’t you DARE ask me anything until I have this cup’a joe in me” people. I’m not proud. 

Typically, I just go for the plain strong stuff. Little cream, lots of sugar. Every once in a while (and I mean a blue moon), I like a little bit of french vanilla syrup. SO WTF: can I have flavored coffee syrups, homemade-style? Yup. Equal parts sugar and water, boil it down then add your flavoring (vanilla beans, hazelnut or mint extract, etc.). 

Christmas is coming! CHRISTMAS IS COMING! And you don’t want to be that person who shows up at a party with yet another apple crisp. I thought of this idea because of my love for asian pears: they’re in season and a tart, delicious fruit that holds up so well when baking. So, get adventurous (or miss out on something awesome). 

3 medium asian pears, peeled, cored and sliced. 

About 2 cups of your favorite ginger snaps, crushed (I used Trader Joes’ Triple Gingers!) 

3 tbs. unsalted butter

1 tbs. flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. honey

1 tsp vanilla extract 

Juice from half of a lemon

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and . In a large bowl, mix sliced asian pears with flour, salt, honey and spices. Pour into 9x9 baking dish. Melt butter, and pour over ginger snap pieces. Top pears with mixture, then bake for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly. 

Note for the coolest crisp: So simple and delicious. So simple, I’m pretty sure anyone who has absolutely no baking experience could make it! Asian pears work well with the snaps because they’re really mild in flavor (the triple ginger-ness of them made me quite nervous, but it ended up working really well). Serve with whipped or ice cream!

Popcorn is my favorite snack (I know… that’s a bold statement). To boot, I like it best late at night, in my bed while watching a movie (and I pretty much watch a movie every night so this turns into a problem). SO WTF?! How to I make a healthier popcorn, that I can feel ok about eating before bed?

You air pop it. I know what you’re thinking, so I’ll get this out of the way: No, you don’t need a fancy air popper. All you need is corn, a pan and a fitted lid. 

Put your popcorn in your pan, put on the lid and turn it on medium-high. Hold the lid tight, then shakeshakeshake. Your popcorn should be done in under 2 minutes (the fact that people spend MONEY on an air-popper kinda blows my mind). Top with salt, nutritional yeast, or anything that suits your fancy. 

There are a lot of reasons why pears are one of my favorite fruits of all time; even as a little kid, I’d let them sit on the counter for far too long ensuring it would end up a drippy, fleshy mess by the end of first bite.

Their velvet consistency and sickly-sweetness have made pears a wonderful baking ingredient which is often overlooked. Maybe it’s because they share a season with the apple? Or maybe it’s because they are typically eaten canned by your grandmother… who knows. ALLS I KNOW: They’re freaking delicious and should be used more often.

1 c. whole wheat flour

3/4 c. white flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

3/4 c. sugar

1 1/2 c. grated pears (about 2 medium, skin on)

6 tbs. olive oil

1 large egg

1 tsp. grated ginger

1 tsp almond extract

1 tbs. lemon zest (about 1 lemon)

1 tbs. lemon juice

1/2 c. slivered almonds (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan (or whatever size you have). Sift first 7 ingredients together. In a separate bowl, whisk sugar, pears, olive oil, egg, ginger, vanilla, lemon zest and juice. Slowly add to dry mixture, and whisk until combined. Pour into your loaf pan, then sprinkle almonds on top. Cook for about 60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes clean!

Notes for perfect pear bread: WELL my experiment worked… olive oil not only makes things delicious, it dramatically lowers saturated and trans fat! Obviously, I wouldn’t recommend switching it out for, say, cake frosting. But if you’re making cake, quick breads or anything with flour I would highly recommend it! This loaf was super flavorful and quite light!