Strawberry Summer Salad with Honey Lime Vinaigrette

Two posts in a row from Krisla! In the same weekend! What is this madness. Well, it’s called procrastination during a 3-day weekend. Also, the weather is amazing and my family is having a BBQ with some friends. The plan was to have 30 pounds of crawfish shipped up from Louisiana for the party, but it got lost. Actually, it was given to someone else by accident. Sad day:(

But anyways, I made use of the candied pecans to make a delicious summer salad. I made a sweet and tangy vinaigrette to pair with the crunchy nuts and lovely strawberries, my favorite fruit in the summer. Hope everyone has a fantastic Memorial Day Weekend!

Candied Pecans

I’m sorry. I’ve neglected you.

Baking was put on the back burner. I’ve been… busy and exhausted. My motivation to do anything went down the drain approximately 23 seconds after I took my MCAT exam. And I had a bunch of other crap to get done. But! My life has momentarily slowed down a little bit. I’m ready for ya, Hungry Gnomes readers.

I know what you’re thinking, “Excuses, excuses!” Which is why I’m making it up to you in the form of nuts. Yes. But these are special nuts. Candied nuts. “Pee-cans” to be exact. And they remind me of Christmas time. I know it’s a completely different holiday this weekend (Memorial Day), but who doesn’t like Christmas in May?! I’ll answer that. Nobody. Everyone loves Christmas in May. Okay, I don’t know that for sure, but it doesn’t matter.

These nuts are sweet and salty… in other words, delicious. And they would actually be great in a salad. I’m thinking a sweet summer salad… baby spinach leaves + raspberry vinaigrette + sliced strawberries + candied pecans + a little bit of crumbled feta. Mhmm.

Coconut Cashew Cream Tart with Strawberries

We’ve got a good-news, bad-news situation here.

Bad news: this is our first post of May, which means we are slackin’ food bloggers that’ve been eating their creations instead of sharing them (incidentally, our food-sharing might be more fulfilling to we, the bloggers, than to ye, the blog readers…but that is beside the point).

Good news: this is one g.d. tasty tart, and it is completely worth our worthlessness. I hope.

Sweet and Salty Fancy Bars

Now, when you hear the word “bars”, you might think “foolish health food” or “bland” or “$5 pitchers AND Tequila Tuesday”. Erase such thoughts. Well, it is Tuesday, so you may ponder tequila. But only for a moment! Then I strongly suggest you consider these sweet and salty fancy bars. A wonderful balance between nuts, grains and Mediterranean sea salt (fancy), plus chocolate, prunes and better-than-nutella…ahhhhh. They are a way back into love.

Please drink responsibly.

Here, have a coconut!

I actually don’t have any recipes for you today. Sorry about that. SOON! I made lavender lemon bars last week and was slightly dissatisfied. Also, I have been crunched on time lately (T-15 days til the MCAT. Yikes!).

So, I bring you a coconut. One of the perks of being Asian is that my mom always has us fully stocked with exotic fruits. Exhibit A: fresh(ish) young coconut. It’s super delicious, but extremely scary to chop open. Please be careful if you attempt to do this. And I’m just gonna say it right now, I am not liable for any missing fingers, toes, broken counter tops, etc.

Not amused with the coconut anecdote? Well, you’re in luck. I have compiled a neat list of lovely links/things that I have discovered this week while “studying”:

1. This lady is HI-larious. I’m kind of upset with myself that I found her just now. What have I been missing all this time?!
2. Bad day?
3. Bette Jane and I melt EVERY time we watch this.
4. Bless you, dear child. Someone give that kid a tissue.
5. I’m going on a mission trip this summer and I’ve been spending a lot of my free time preparing for a benefit dinner we’re having in a few weeks. Check us out!
6. For said benefit dinner, I will possibly be making this cake for the dessert auction! Pretty, eh?
7. Kids say the darnest things.
8. Maya Rudolph + Ellen!
9. Last but not least, a shoutout to That’s So Vegan for nominating Bette Jane and me for the Kreativ Blogger Award:)

I’ll be back soon:)

-Krisla