NOTE: Adapted from my now-defunct older blog. This pics are OLD but the recipe is still fire! I've always loved Valentine's Day. It's forever been a holiday I put WAY too much effort into, but one I've always enjoyed nonetheless. Perhaps one time in Middle School I had a bad year, where I painstakingly made handmade valentines and treat bags for everyone in the class and got a grand total of ONE in return, but that was simply a reinforcement that, with any holiday, it's not about what you get, it's about what you give. And I know I had some desperately single years, w ..read more

  I finally took the plunge and created a TikTok account. I know, I know. I'm an old millennial, I have no right. Actually, I lied. I made THREE TikTok accounts. Everything I do, I do big, apparently. Of course, RecipeTok was the first rabbit hole I went down. I'd heard of this viral TikTok Green Goddess Salad Dip before, but hadn't tried to make it. After all, how good could it be? Do you SEE how green it is? And how much oniony things... I hate oniony things. But reader, it was delicious. It just needed... something. So what did I do? I added something. A few somethings, i ..read more

It's been a long pandemic. I've been big on travel for most of my life, vowing to visit at LEAST two new cities a year for the past few years. While I've mostly kept to that pandemic nonwithstanding, it was limited to where I could drive within my new home state of California. However, with my most recent booster coupled with my light brush with the virus prior to that, I finally felt safe enough to do a bit of international travel. Mexico has been on my shortlist for YEARS, so I knew it was the perfect place to resurrect my travel bug. I figured Tulum would be the ideal adventure: not as c ..read more

Hey folks, it's certainly been a while! I have some upcoming posts where I'll explain in a bit more detail about where I've been (cross country move and divorce in a global pandemic can get a girl distracted!), but for now I wanted to get a real recipe out there because it truly is that good! Just because I haven't been blogging, doesn't mean I haven't been cooking. I came across this recipe on Buzzfeed for Florence Pugh's Butternut Squash Soup and was intrigued. I love butternut squash, and it's a staple on my Thanksgiving table. I've made butternut squash soup in the past, but it was simp ..read more

  One of the best things I've done for myself in the past year is to get a Six Flags Membership. This is different than the Season Pass, as you pay monthly instead of upfront. Yes, it does come out to a bit more $$ overall, but my Millennial budget is much more able to pay the equivalent of a Netflix subscription monthly for all the benefits the pass offers. The one wrinkle?--my newfound vegetarian lifestyle. Can you be vegetarian at Six Flags Magic Mountain? When one drives nearly two hours to the middle of nowhere to ride rollercoasters, you can't be too picky on what to eat. And who w ..read more

The Newly Vegetarian Survival Guide and Lentil “Beef” Recipe A few years ago I did something kind of crazy, especially for a self-described foodie and food blogger--I stopped eating land animals. Do y’all remember the Great Straw Debacle of 2017? When everyone stopped using plastic straws? I researched it a bit, and discovered individuals using straws didn’t make a huge impact on the environment, as our plastic problem is a bit more intense than that. So, what could a single person do to reduce their carbon footprint? The answer is simple--just reduce the amount of meat you eat.  I ..read more

 Hi, Friends. Dang, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? 2020 was a year that seemed like a decade. You would think all the time inside would give me ample time to develop recipes… right? Well, to put it simply, my photographer quit both the gig and our marriage. Naturally, this led to me not having much energy for anything, and my lack of photography skills kept me from really documenting the few things I managed to eat. And a breakup wasn't even the worst thing to happen to me in 2020! A host of deaths, drama, health issues, and more piled on me. I was in a depression hole, digging itself d ..read more

  These waffle things are all over Pinterest. I know. But they were too good NOT to try myself. And the pictures came out decent, so on the off chance someone hasn't tried these yet and needs some MORE convincing, here. Let me try to convince you. Tiny, crispy potato waffles, with melted cheese, sour cream, bacon, and chives. Delicious. The perfect party app. Then I got cocky--If I could do this with regular potatoes, IMAGINE what sweet potatoes would be like! I started fantasizing about the paleo-friendly treats I would soon create. ...Sweet potatoes = messy waffle iron, and burnt ..read more

I don't want to say it's tragic that Halloween falls on a Saturday the one year that we all cannot take advantage of the holiday, since the reason WHY it's a lame Halloween has resulted in so many more tragedies than missing out on a party, but it definitely is bumming me out. So, what to do when you're stuck inside on Halloween? Drink, of course. And don't just drink, make use of all that Halloween candy hanging around and do a fancy wine pairing! https://www.coravin.com/ I did this last year and it was pretty fun. I was super surprised at how the (cheap) candy and (cheap) wine enhanc ..read more

Though my can't-skip-it morning coffee is a recent development of my working life, I can't remember a time when I didn't love coffee. I can recall making my parents breakfast in bed, and mixing coffee crystals into tap water that was as hot I could get it and pouring a heavily sugared version for myself probably at age 6 or so. Little did 6-year-old Ashley know that there was a bigger, better world of coffee waiting. Lately I've been somewhat of a coffee snob, though I still enjoy a good instant from time to time! And what better pairing for a high quality brew than a coffee cake donut ..read more