"Better Than Sex" Coconut Cake

Every Christmas my boyfriend's aunt would make a delicious coconut cake. Again, I was too shy to ask for the recipe, so I looked it up online. I guess there are lots of variations for the cake, but I think this recipe closest resembles her cake. She doesn't put pineapples on it, and personally, I think pineapples on this cake would be weird.

Tonkotsu Ramen With Braised Pork Belly

I basically have nothing great going on in my life so I made tonkotsu ramen with homemade broth. Tonkotsu ramen is pork bone ramen; that is, ramen noodle floating in broth made from freaking pork bones. Do not be confused with tonkatsu which is a pork cutlet which I have no idea how to make.

Thumbprint Cookies

These jam filled cookies are one of my favorites! Someone brought these cookies to our Christmas party and I had to make my own! I was too shy to ask this person for their recipe, so I found one from Land O'Lake Butter. :)

Diabetes Cookies

I attempt to end this year with a post so it doesn't seem like I was such a slacker. I present to you fatty butter and sugar cookies. This is the story of my end-of-the-year baking fuck up and how I give my friends diabetes for life!

Pulled Pork

First off, I have a few of apologies that I need to get out of the way; but I have a peace offering in the form of a cat picture.

1. I'm so sorry for neglecting this blog.

2. I'm so sorry for not having a pretty final product photo for this recipe. The reason being is that I was getting ready for finals, so I planned to cook a pot full of pulled pork to feed myself for at least 2 or 3 days. The way it actually turned out was that when it was finished, I got so hungry that I ate all of the pork in one day. Then I spent the other days starving.

3. I'm sorry, Helen, for making you do all of the updating!

Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

I love peanut butter and banana sandwiches; it's one of my all time favorite breakfast/snack foods. I remember when I first read about it in 3rd grade and we had to read this vampire bunny novel. The main character was making a banana peanut butter sandwich, and at first I was like, "Man, that sounds gross!" Of course I had to try it, right? And it turned out to be awesome. A few years ago I decided to add some honey on top, and it was marvelous. More recently I saw a photo from my friend where he sprinkled a bunch of cinnamon on top of it, and of course I had to try that too, and it was even more awesome! Anyways, I've decided to turn this awesomeness into cupcake form!

Spicy Italian Sausage & Lentil Soup

I was talking to the Chopping Block about lentil soup earlier and how we find it rather bland. So I decided to try to liven this soup up with some spice and lots and lots of meat. Okay, so maybe this is more like a hearty sausage soup with a dash of lentils, but whatever, it's all good. I made this soup twice, once with some Italian sausages from the butcher and once with some pre-cooked sausages from the deli aisle. I recommend the butcher stuff. The photo above was with the pre-cooked stuff.

Pumpkin Ginger Cupcakes with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting

Remember my last pumpkin cake post? Well I finally got myself a cupcake mold and a piping bag! Yay! Since it's still Fall, I wanted to make more pumpkin stuff! So like a few days ago over at My Baking Addiction, Jamie posted these cupcakes that sounded awesome! So that's what we have today, some awesome pumpkin ginger cupcakes.

Garlic Horseradish Mashed Potatoes

You know what I love? The Cheesecake Factory. I know, I know. The Cheesecake Factory is probably the worst food in the world, but who can resist their avocado eggroll appetizer or their delicious cheesecakes? You know what is one of my favorite things from them? Their mashed potatoes. With a little snooping around the internet, I found a little recipe (that I've adjusted) just floating around on a whole bunch of different sites. There seems to be some mixed reviews, but I can honestly say that this mashed potato recipe comes pretty darn close!

Beef Chuck Pot Roast

(Image courtesy of The Chopping Block)

The Chopping Block has been really nice to me (strange, right), so in return I invited her over for dinner along with our friend Brendan and my neighbor Chris. My sister and I went grocery shopping, and we got this four pound beef chuck, which is perfect for a beautiful pot roast!