Lunchtime Links for August 31st, 2015

• Brown Eyed Baker: Baked Italian meatballs.
• My Baking Addiction: S'mores cookie cups.
• Averie Cooks: Balsamic roasted Brussels sprouts.
• The Kitchn: Sandwich-free lunches.
• Creme de la Crumb: Creamy Pesto chicken Lasagna rolls.

Momofuku Milk Bar at Target

I was very surprised to see these boxes on the shelf on a recent trip to Target! I love Momofuku Milk Bar cookies and always make it a point to buy them when I have access to any of them.  With these mixes at Target, it'll be easier than ever to make their cookies, or give them as a gift.  

The Target that I went to has the Funfetti Cookie, Compost Cookie, and Cornflake-chocolate-chip-marshmallow Cookie mixes.  I've had all of these flavors before, and they are all delicious!  The compost cookie might sound weird if you haven't had it before, but I assure you that it's super delicious, with pretzels, potato chips, coffee, oats, butterscotch, and chocolate chips packed in. So good!  Whether or not you've had Milk Bar cookies before, I would highly recommend picking up a box or two and making the cookies yourself!

Lunchtime Links for August 28th, 2015

• Dessert for Two: No bake milk chocolate cheesecakes.
• The Comfort of Cooking: Fluffy garlic butter breadsticks.
• Brown Eyed Baker: Salted chocolate caramel tart.
• Damn Delicious: Strawberry lemonade smoothie.
• Handle the Heat: M&M cake doughnuts.

Rice Cooker Cheesecake

I have previously posted my love of Japanese hot cakes made in the rice cooker, so when I saw that a cheesecake could also be made in a rice cooker I thought it was such a fun idea! 

This recipe wasn't the exact recipe link that I used when I made this, but the ingredients and process are pretty much identical as far as I can remember.  The cream cheese and lemon juice especially add that classic Japanese cheesecake flavor to this cake.  As you can see mine turned out a bit soft in the center, but it was still cooked through and settled a bit more once it had cooled.  I love the process of a one-bowl cake that basically cooks itself in a rice cooker, and the gigantic, round size is just crazy in the best way possible, haha! 

Lunchtime Links for August 27th, 2015

• Kirbie's Cravings: Churro waffles.
• Dessert for Two: Skillet Lasagna.
• The Kitchn: 2-ingredient Nutella brownies.
• Damn Delicious: Quick chicken and broccoli stir fry.
• Bakerella: Peanut butter brownie ripple ice cream.

Home Goods - Fall Items

It's no secret that I love fall - especially all of the pumpkin foods - and I am so happy to see that Home Goods has a LOT of fall-themed items in store!  

In addition to lots of pumpkin/leaves/apple dish towels, table runners, Halloween costumes, and flavored coffees, there are lots of adorable decorative items as well.  I really love the acorn container - the top comes off so you can fill it with candy or smaller decorative items.  The glass pumpkins were also everywhere around the store, in various colors and sizes.  If you're in the market for some fall pieces, or just want to feel surrounded by fall-themed items, be sure to check out Home Goods ASAP! 

Lunchtime Links for August 26th, 2015

• Averie Cooks: Easy cheese bomb bread.
• Brown Eyed Baker: Fudgy pudgy brownies.
• Kirbie's Cravings: Sesame cucumber noodle salad.
• A Kitchen Addiction: No-bake dark chocolate peanut butter s'mores bars.
• Bake at 350: Salted caramel chocolate chunk cookies.

Bath and Body Works- Fall Hand Soaps

I love Bath and Body Works candles and hand soaps pretty much year-round, but fall is really when they have SO many different scents that I love.  Not surprising, since their fall lineup consists mainly of pumpkin and apple products, which are always a welcome addition to my apartment.  The hand soaps especially go on sale fairly regularly (currently these are 5/$18) so it's a great way to try out some new scents.

These four bottles above are just a few of the new fall scents, and I love that there's a good mix of past favorites and some new ones as well.  The labels are also super cute, and they're a big part of how I celebrate my love of fall, haha.  If you're also a fan of fall scents, be sure to pick some up soon so you are all set for the fall season in your home as well! 

Lunchtime Links for August 25th, 2015

• Smitten Kitchen: Frozen hot chocolate.
• Dessert for Two: Creamy lobster and shells.
• Seasons and Suppers: Creme Brulee French toast.
• Crazy for Crust: Mini crumb cake bites.
• The Kitchn: No-knead garlic tear and share bread.

One Girl Cookies - Mini Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

My friend A sent me this lovely surprise package of mini pumpkin whoopie pies from Brooklyn's One Girl Cookies for my birthday, and they are SO delicious!  

As soon as I opened up the pretty wrapped gift box, the smell of pumpkin overload just hit me like a ton of bricks. It smelled SO good that I just couldn't stop smelling it like a total creep, haha.  Each bundle of three mini whoopie pies are wrapped with ribbon on each end, and would make it really easy to buy a box yourself to give away as mini gifts as well.  

They are smaller than standard whoopie pies, but I actually loved that they had a perfect ratio of cake to filling due to their small size.  They also freeze well, which is perfect because I can still enjoy them once fall actually comes around :o)  I would highly recommend One Girl Cookies' pumpkin whoopie pies for yourself or as a wonderful gift for any pumpkin lover!

Lunchtime Links for August 24th, 2015

• Averie Cooks: Parmesan and herb roasted potatoes. 
• The Kitchn: S'mores brownies.
• Gimme Some Oven: Chimichurri shrimp.
• Bake at 350: Mocha toffee brownies.
• Cookies and Cups: Buttermilk sheet cake.

Trader Joe's - Cookie Butter Cream Cheese

Trader Joe's recently came out with yet another amazing Speculoos-related item, woohoo!  This time it's a creamy, spreadable cookie butter cream cheese that is delicious on just about everything.

... and when I say just about everything, it also includes Brownie Batter Oreos.  Of course this is a sugar overload but sooooo delicious, and the cookie butter goes well with chocolate.  Like other cream cheese based dips, I think this would be tasty as a dip for fresh fruit as well!  It's always hard to tell how long products will stay on the shelves at Trader Joe's, so be sure to pick this up soon if you want to try it out! 

Lunchtime Links for August 21st, 2015

• Gimme Some Oven: Ravioli Lasagna.
• The Pioneer Woman: No-bake peanut butter bars.
• Oh, Sweet Basil: Nutella chocolate chip ice cream.
• The Kitchn: Healthy rice bowl.
• Kirbie's Cravings: Spanish Churros with chocolate.

Skoshbox - Glico Box

It's no secret that I love Japanese snacks and candies, and I also love trying out new and different products that come out.  While the crazy flavored Kit Kats might be the most well-known Japanese snacks, there are lots of other fun and delicious items that come out every day.  So when I heard about the Skoshbox subscription box recently, I thought it was a great way to get a sampling of Japanese snacks, especially ones that I might not be able to obtain in stores by me.

The Skoshbox comes in two sizes - the one I got (above) is the sample sized Skoshbox, and there's also a larger Dekabox that has more full sized items in addition to the other items.  You can choose from a single box, 6-month subscription, or a 12-month subscription for both types of boxes.  

The box that I got was a special Glico collaboration, which was really fun because I love Glico products.  Their most famous product is Pocky, which I think is sold all over the world these days.  The box came with a nice variety of chocolate, flavored chocolate, biscuits, and even two savory items - the tall boxes contain Sweet Corn and Tom Yum soup flavored biscuit sticks!  Of course I also loved the Glico stickers that came in the box as well, which were a cute bonus to the box.  I am looking forward to seeing what comes in my next box in September! 

Lunchtime Links for August 20th, 2015

• Gimme Some Oven: Chicken Caesar pasta salad.
• The First Year Blog: Pink confetti chocolate chip cake.
• Averie Cooks: Pumpkin macaroni and cheese.
• Picky Palate: Chocolate chip peanut butter truffle brookies.
• Creme de la Crumb: Salted caramel cheesecake bars.

Georgetown Cupcake - Raspberry Peach Cupcake

One of the special August flavors at Georgetown Cupcake is the Raspberry Peach cupcake, which I thought that I had already had before.   Once I read the current description on their website though, I wasn't sure that this was the same one that I had tried before, so of course I had to get it again, haha.

This current Raspberry Peach cupcake is a Classic Madagascar Bourbon vanilla cupcake baked with fresh peaches and raspberries, topped with a vanilla buttercream frosting and peach fondant flower.  The peach and raspberry pieces in the cake make this really pretty, with big dots of orange and pink scattered throughout the cake.  The frosting went perfectly with the fruit based cake, and overall it's a great seasonal flavor for celebrating summer.  If you're a fan of fruit-based baked goods then I'm sure you will enjoy it even more than I did!

Lunchtime Links for August 19th, 2015

• Kirbie's Cravings: Cinnamon roll mug cake.
• Table for Two: Corn and avocado salsa.
• Oh, Sweet Basil: Pancake recipes.
• The Comfort of Cooking: Pepperoni pizza potato skins.
• Picky Palate: Creamy taco grilled corn on the cob.

Brownie Batter Oreos

So, with today being my birthday, I thought it was only appropriate to talk about a new Oreo flavor, haha! These Brownie Batter Oreos came out fairly recently, and I've seen them at a few grocery stores and Target so they should be fairly easy to find.  Like the previous limited edition flavors, these come in a smaller square package, compared to the regular Oreo packages.

Right as I opened the package, I could tell that these were not just ordinary chocolate creme Oreos.  They really smell like brownie batter, a chocolate smell inside a bakery, and a very sweet chocolate frosting combined!  It's definitely an overload of chocolate in the best way possible, haha.  If you like chocolate and brownies, be sure to snap up a package before they leave the shelves! 

Lunchtime Links for August 17th, 2015

• Cookies and Cups: Dirty s'mores cookies.
• Kirbie's Cravings: Panko crusted grilled cheese sandwiches.
• Creme de la Crumb: Snickerdoodle waffle ice cream sandwiches.
• Love Swah: Single serve chocolate chip skillet cookie.
• Crazy for Crust: Caramel cheesecake dip.

Georgetown Cupcake - Apple Caramel Cupcake

This Apple Caramel cupcake from Georgetown Cupcake that I had a while back is perfect for anyone that likes apple baked goods!  The delicious apple cake base is generously frosted with caramel frosting and a drizzle of rich caramel as well.  The caramel frosting at Georgetown Cupcake is certainly sweet but not overwhelmingly heavy, and it's got the perfect light, almost whipped texture to it.  Anyone that likes caramel apples will love this one too! 

Lunchtime Links for August 14th, 2015

• I Heart Naptime: Roasted garlic tomato sauce.
• Brown Eyed Baker: Tiramisu trifle.
• Averie Cooks: Italian chicken pasta salad.
• Bakerella: Snoopy cake pops.
• Two Peas and Their Pod: Caprese avocado toast.

Shake Shack - Coffee and Doughnuts Concrete

Coffee, ice cream, and doughnuts blended together into a giant cup? Yes please! This is just one of the many reasons why I love Shake Shack, because this is oh so wrong but so right.  

I like to think that Shake Shack is offering the Coffee and Doughnuts concrete in August in honor of my birthday...which is completely not the case but I can just pretend it is, haha.  The concrete consists of "vanilla frozen custard blended with coffee marshmallow sauce and doughnuts from the finest local doughnut producers", and I really love that they utilize local doughnut shops for each of their locations.  The DC area Shake Shacks get the doughnuts from Astro Doughnuts, which are pretty fabulous on their own to begin with. The combination of the rich custard, coffee marshmallow sauce, and huge chunks of doughnuts make this an amazingly decadent treat! 

Lunchtime Links for August 13th, 2015

• Crazy for Crust: Gooey Oreo cookie bars.
• Oh, Sweet Basil: Flank steak.
• Handle the Heat: Brown butter triple chocolate blondies.
• Kirbie's Cravings: Tres Leches doughnuts.
• Warm Vanilla Sugar: French vanilla ice cream.

DSW - Mint New Balance Sneakers

DSW's Instagram account recently posted a photo of mint New Balance sneakers, and I thought they were super cute! I don't normally buy colorful shoes or sneakers, but they looked like the perfect light mint shade, perfect with a pair of jeans or leggings.  I was not able to find them on their website, but I happened to come across them in the clearance section of my local store, in my size to boot! I snapped these up quickly because they were very pretty in person, and comfortable as well.  I would highly recommend keeping an eye out for these at your local DSW store! 

Lunchtime Links for August 12th, 2015

• My Baking Addiction: Oreo pudding cookies.
• Love Swah: Black bottom peanut butter pie with a pretzel crust.
• The Comfort of Cooking: S'mores dipped strawberries.
• Warm Vanilla Sugar: Overnight cinnamon iced coffee.
• Picky Palate: Nutella butter cookie bars.

Georgetown Cupcake - Chocolate Sundae Cupcake

This festive little cupcake from Georgetown Cupcake is a variation of the popular Banana Split cupcake.  This version has a rich and delicious chocolate cake base to make it a Chocolate Sundae cupcake.  I love the colorful tiny sprinkles and of course the swirls of chocolate fudge on top.  It's no surprise that little kids love this flavor because it's so fun to look at, and even adults can feel like a kid again with this cupcake :o) 

Lunchtime Links for August 11th, 2015

• Crazy for Crust: Macadamia chocolate chip shortbread cookies.
• Creme de la Crumb: No churn salted caramel ice cream.
• Damn Delicious: Thai pineapple fried rice.
• My Baking Addiction: No-churn s'mores ice cream.
• Cookies & Cups: Stuffed garlic bread.

USPS - Summer Harvest Stamps

How cute are these Summer Harvest stamps from the USPS?  These came out in July, but I finally remembered to ask about them yesterday at the post office.  They look like vintage farm and produce advertisements and they add such a cute touch to your mail!  

Lunchtime Links for August 10th, 2015

• Oh, Sweet Basil: Creamy summer pasta with blackened chicken.
• Averie Cooks: Chocolate-covered pretzel brownies.
• Gimme Some Oven: Kung Pao chicken.
• Warm Vanilla Sugar: Malted chocolate chip cookie bars.
• Picky Palate: M&Ms cookie crusted peanut butter pie.

Georgetown Cupcake - Chocolate-dipped Orange Cupcake

So, it's a little hard to tell from the photo because you can't really see the cake, but this is the Chocolate-dipped Orange cupcake that was a free secret flavor at Georgetown Cupcake.  The orange cake base is coated with their glossy chocolate ganache, and really reminded me of those chocolate oranges that are usually sold during the holidays.  I have to admit that I prefer oranges and chocolate separately rather than together like this, but if you like them together you will love this flavor! 

Lunchtime Links for August 7th, 2015

• Brown Eyed Baker: Ice cream sandwich sundae icebox cake.
• Crazy for Crust: Pumpkin Nutella cookie bars.
• Warm Vanilla Sugar: Avocado and roasted corn salsa.
• The Kitchn: Funnel cakes.
• Two Peas and Their Pod: Skillet chocolate chip cookie.

Santouka Ramen - Tsukemen

I'm a big fan of the ramen at Santouka in Bellevue, WA, and try to go there at least once when I visit my family.  I normally stick with one of the ramen choices on the menu, but on my last visit in July I decided to try out their Tsukemen, where the noodles are in a separate bowl, and they get dipped into the slightly thicker broth.

I'm really happy that I tried out the Tsukemen at Santouka - it was DELICIOUS!  Because the broth is thicker, it really coats the noodles well and still maintains the chewy texture of the thick noodles.  The broth bowl included most of the toppings that the regular ramen does, so there's a lot to eat in the thick broth.  From what I recall, it includes the chashu (pork), menma (bamboo shoots), negi (green onion) and the best part, the aji-tama (marinated soft-boiled egg).  Seriously though, I don't even like most preparations of eggs but the aji-tama gets me every time, it's so so good. Some people might be thrown off by the thick broth compared to "regular" ramen, but I really love the strong flavor in every bite!  I will definitely be including the Tsukemen to my regular rotation whenever I go to Santouka moving forward :o)    

Hokkaido Ramen Santouka - Bellevue

103 Bellevue Way NE

Suite 3 

Bellevue, WA 98004

Lunchtime Links for August 6th, 2015

• Picky Palate: Bacon Parmesan summer pasta.
• The First Year Blog: Mocha Buster bars.
• Brown Eyed Baker: S'mores cookies.
• Serious Eats: Milkshake recipes.
• Kirbie's Cravings: Crunchy French toast.

Georgetown Cupcake - Key Lime Cheesecake

This summery cheesecake is the Key Lime Cheesecake from Georgetown Cupcake, which was offered in July.   The Key Lime Cheesecake is a key lime cheesecake cupcake with a graham cracker crust, topped with a key lime frosting and a candied lime. 

I'm a big fan of Georgetown Cupcake's cheesecakes, and I really enjoyed the sweet/tart combination of this one.  The graham cracker crumb crust is buttery and pairs perfectly with the creamy lime cheesecake.  The flecks of lime zest in the frosting make it really pretty to look at as well! 

Lunchtime Links for August 5th, 2015

• Oh, Sweet Basil: Hoisin pork and cucumber pitas.
• Brown Eyed Baker: Peanut butter layer cake with chocolate frosting.
• The Kitchn: Homemade marshmallow fluff.
• Warm Vanilla Sugar: Peanut butter and honey banana bread.
• My Baking Addiction: Peanut butter cup eclair cake.

Forever 21 - Recent Finds

I don't really shop at Forever 21 often, but I passed by the store at the mall recently and thought I'd pop in to see what they have.  Of course that means I walked out with these totally unnecessary but fun items, haha.  

They have a lot of super cute socks, including these doughnut and panda ones.  The panda ones have a terry lining, so they are extra cushy to wear - perfect for the upcoming boot season.  And, clearly with the doughnut socks I had to get the matching doughnut coin purse, haha.  I actually like having smaller pouches like this to throw into bigger purses that don't have pockets, to keep everything organized.  All in all a successful and fun shopping trip!

Lunchtime Links for August 4th, 2015

• Damn Delicious: Grapefruit Mimosas.
• How Sweet It Is: Heirloom tomato, avocado, and Burrata salad on grilled garlic toast.
• Handle the Heat: Cheesecake filled chocolate Bundt cake.
• Kirbie's Cravings: Baked Churro ice cream sandwiches.
• Love and Olive Oil: Chocolate chip banana bread Blondies.

Georgetown Cupcake - August Cupcakes

There are three special flavors available at Georgetown Cupcake this month, with lots of summery flavors incorporated in them.  If you're a fan of fruit in your cupcakes you will love the last two!

Banana Split: Fresh banana cupcake with a fudge core topped with a vanilla cream cheese frosting, a fudge drizzle, hazelnuts, rainbow bobbles, and a maraschino cherry

Blueberry Cheesecake: Blueberry cheesecake cupcake with a graham cracker crust, topped with a vanilla frosting and a blue fondant flower

Raspberry Peach: Classic Madagascar Bourbon vanilla cupcake baked with fresh peaches and raspberries, topped with a vanilla buttercream frosting and peach fondant flower 

(note: this sounds different than a previous secret flavor Raspberry Peach cupcake, so I'll have to get this one to investigate, haha)

Lunchtime Links for August 3rd, 2015

• Averie Cooks: One-skillet orange chicken with vegetables.
• Handle the Heat: Fudge filled cookies. 
• Brown Eyed Baker: Ice cream cone cupcakes.
• Damn Delicious: Thai shrimp noodles.
• I Heart Naptime: Ricotta cheese cookies.

Shake Shack - August Custard Flavors

This month, because of how the days in August line up, we get FIVE flavors of custard from Shake Shack, woo!

08/01 - 02: Salted Buttery Caramel
08/03 - 09: Blueberry Sweet Corn
08/10 - 16: Caramel Pretzel
08/17 - 23: Buttery Black Raspberry
08/24 - 30: Miso Caramel
08/31: Banana Pudding