You’ve probably figured out by now that I like switching things up. So when the idea came to me to rethink one of my breakfast favorites — oatmeal — I jumped on it. Savory oatmeal. What is this madness, you might ask? But think about it. Sometimes you wake up and don’t want sugary toast, sweet…
Tag: breakfast
Crispy Crunchy Wraps
You take a bite. The warm tortilla crunches soundly against your teeth, breaking into brittle shards as the delicious contents reveal themselves to your taste buds. This is the ideal wrap—crunchy and light, simple enough to make on a weekday but good enough to bring to a potluck. The best part is this: all you need…
Chocolate Biscotti
I always thought making biscotti would be complicated just because they were so classy. In my mind, biscotti were in the same category as croissants – a coffee shop delicacy that I could never recreate at home. You can imagine my delight when I found that this wasn’t the case at all! I think…
Sweet ‘n Crunchy Toast
If you haven’t had some version of sugary toast for breakfast lately, you’re missing out. Because you know, nothing beats warm toast for breakfast. It gives your taste buds that early-morning buzz. It gives your ego that early-morning boost (because toast + powdered sugar + strawberries is what a real adult professional would do)….
Try This: Baking Powder + Pancake Mix
Sometimes, you need pancake mix. It’s for those mornings when you don’t feel like beating together this many eggs and this much flour, then mixing (but not over mixing!) and then eating pancakes 20 minutes later, after which most have already cooled since you cooked them in separate batches. But the other option, pancake mix, gives…
Vanilla Crème Brioche
Perhaps the most fascinating thing about French cooking is the artistry. It’s all about the quality of ingredients, the slow simmers, the nuances of flavor. In a rushed world that often treats cooking as a chore, French cooking reminds us to pause and savor. And this is the perfect thing to savor – it’s buttery and…
Current Obsession: PB2
The three certainties in life are death, taxes, and the universal human experience of spooning peanut butter straight from the jar at 1:00am. And although peanut butter is packed with energy and “healthy” to people with self control (read: no one), it still has a lot of saturated fats and unnecessary calories. Which is why PB2…
Try This: Toasted Croissants
I realize that French food connoisseurs might have something against this, but for me, this is a way of living. I will never eat croissants the same way again. A flaky, buttery, warm, crunchy, delicious start to the day. It’s especially delicious when you use a big fluffy croissant, snatched right out of the glass…
Simple Onion and Bell Pepper Stir-Fry
This is the ultimate Asian comfort food: easy to make, simply delicious, and goes really well with plain white rice. It doesn’t get any easier than this. Stir-frying is already one of the simplest cooking techniques, and the onion-and-bell-pepper combo is one of my all-time favorites. The onion’s aroma mingles with the crispy freshness of the…
Try This: Easier Hard-Boiled Eggs
Have you been overcomplicating hard-boiled eggs? Probably. At first I thought Martha Stewart’s recipe was complicated just because she’s Martha Stewart. But then I found other recipes that called for the same kind of method: cover the eggs with one inch of water, leave on stove for exactly this many minutes, drain carefully, la la…
Crunchy Chewy Kitchen Sink Cookies
Oh wow. These turned out way better than I had anticipated, and I couldn’t wait to share this recipe with you! These cookies ate the perfect balance between crunch and munch: they’re crispy and golden brown on the edges, and melty-gooey in the center. Absolutely stunning, and absolutely killer with a glass of cold milk….
Two-Ingredient Microwave Fudge
Seriously, if this isn’t the simplest fudge you have ever encountered, I don’t know how I can help you. This one recipe inspired me to think about starting up a new section of this blog, called Kitchen Easy. Get it? It rhymes and it sounds like Kitchen Cici! Oh come on, don’t be stingy with…
Rosemary Cheese Bread
Carbs are delicious. Especially when they’re in the form of an imperfectly-formed, warm loaf of bread, inside of a crinkly and obnoxious paper bag fresh from the bakery. When it’s crispy and chewy on the outside, and moist and fluffy on the inside. When the dough has been aged just the right amount, giving it…
Easy One-Step Pumpkin Cake
It’s perfect timing, really. Now that Thanksgiving and the holidays are over, it’s high time to load up on some of those delicious grocery store sales. You know: the $1 festive cake mix, the 50¢ box of candy canes. This time, though, it was the $1.24 canned pumpkin that caught my eye. And then I wondered…
Scrumptious Oatmeal Carrot Muffins
Do you fear the muffin man? I used to. But these simple little muffins changed everything. Now, you might recall that in the Kitchen Cici episode “Seriously Amazing Blueberry Muffins,” there were quite a few careful steps. I mean, those amazing blueberry muffins took some real deep-seafood-fried cooking patience. I have no idea what I just said….
Sweet ‘n Buttery Carrots
What can you do when you wake up one day and find that 6 pounds of carrots have found their way into your fridge? Well, you could make carrot muffins, carrot cake, and carrot soup, but that will only get you so far. What you need to do is eat straight carrot. I’m sorry, there…
10-Minute Breakfast Platter
Scrumptious. Filling. Balanced. This is the perfect breakfast if you’re looking for something warm and decent 20 minutes before you must leave the house. As much as I love Cheerios, I simply can’t eat it every day. Okay that’s a lie. But let’s not talk about my addictions. Quick Breakfast Platter Ingredients 2 strips bacon…
Quick Caramel Pastries
This is so decadent yet so simple, I’m literally speechless. Which is why I’m literally still talking. But humor me for a second and close your eyes and just imagine. Delicious, golden-brown sweetness. Glorious, warm-and-sticky caramel. It’s like all of your sweet pastry dreams in one fantastic breakfast pastry. Now open your eyes. Ignore the paradoxical nature…
Wholesome Baked Eggs
Sometimes, you just want a simple, healthy breakfast. But you can’t muster the enthusiasm to fry eggs, and lord knows what would happen if you attempted eggs benedict after a solid 4.25 hours of sleep. Don’t try to visualize it. You have a situation on your hands. A dilemma. At this inhumanely early hour, you…
All-Natural Microwave Granola
You read that right. Crunchy granola in less than 5 minutes. No ovens involved. It’s pretty darn healthy too—none of that brown evaporated cane syrup rice juice business. I’ve actually been making it in my dorm room for quite some time, although I’m not entirely sure if my roommate approves of our room consistently smelling like…
Crispy Waffle Bits
Here’s a semi-good college cafeteria story: So in my school cafeteria there’s this breakfast bar, where you fill out an order form and they make pancakes/waffles/scrambled eggs on the spot. I’m a fan of breakfast, and a fan of ordering oversized plates of food, so it’s perfect. This was a Tuesday morning between the hours…
Dark Chocolate Nutella Without Oil
Let me brag about this first. This Nutella has 3.4 g of monounsaturated fat, 1.8g of protein, and 1.6g of fiber in every tablespoon. It also tastes like a darker cousin of your favorite why-do-I-even-need-toast-I’ll-just-eat-it-out-of-the-can hazelnut spread. It’s like that one time your cousin went to the beach and got ten shades tanner than you did…
Healthier Rocky Road
Today, I wanted to eat mass quantities of crunchy chocolate-covered objects without feeling like an elephant. I think that’s fair. Today was also the day I re-discovered the big box of plain shredded wheat that’s been loitering in the pantry for 5 months. I know it’s healthy and whole grains and fiber and love and…
Seriously Amazing Blueberry Muffins
If you’re going to save one muffin recipe, let this be it. Okay, that doesn’t quite cover my excitement. Hold on. (OH HEAVEN THESE ARE THE BEST MUFFINS I’VE EVER MADE NOM NOM NOM OH NO I JUST ATE THREE MUFFINS AND NOW I HAVE TO MAKE MORE GAH MUFFINS MUFFINS MUFFINS THEY’RE LIKE FINS…
Sweet & Tangy Blueberry Jam
If you’ve been buying store-bought jam, you’ve been missing out. Real blueberry jam is so ridiculously easy, you could make it every morning to go with your bagel, and then every afternoon to go with your PB&J. Seriously. Stop buying the jar stuff. It’s filled with weird ingredients, preservatives, and heaping amounts of sugar. Don’t…
The Best Scrambled Egg Method
“And if they make the perfect scrambled egg, you know they know how to cook properly.” — Gordon Ramsay Challenge. Accepted. There was just one problem. See, your usual “perfect scrambled eggs” is defined by a soft and very fluffy egg, one that is barely cooked, dangerously toeing the line between Raw and Done. As an Asian,…
Gloriously Fluffy Oatmeal
Is it possible? That a measly 1/4 cup of oatmeal can magically puff up to 1.5 cups of bliss? Yes. See, I don’t know if you’ve realized this, but oatmeal soaks up water. Bask in my intelligence. Normally when you’re cooking oatmeal in the morning (we’re talking old-fashioned oats here), the oatmeal doesn’t have enough…
Super Savory “Pancakes”
Flaky, savory, salty, and a little crunchy. You must try these. In Chinese, they’re called cong you bing, literally “Scallion oil pancake.” They look like pancakes, but they’re definitely not. Besides, looks don’t mean a thing in my kitchen. I wear ugly t-shirts on a daily basis. They’re a classic Chinese food, a snack flexible…
Asian-Inspired Guacamole
I’ve been eating this stuff for years, and I didn’t know it was guacamole. In our house, we just called it “avocado salad.” In our house, we ate it as a side dish. We ate it straight. On toast. On crackers. On cold spoons. Under the table. Inside the chicken coop. Upside down. Underwater. What. We…
Delicious Steamed Eggs
Eggs are amazing, don’t get me wrong. But sometimes you run out of stuff to do with them in the mornings. You’ve scrambled them, fried them, baked them, omeletted them. You need something else in your life. Something Asian-inspired. Kinda savory, kinda salty. Me. Ha! No. You need these … Asian Steamed Eggs Taste &…
KITCHEN CICI 