annie katrina Lee

Bad hair day? No problem.

I’m totally jealous of how perfectly the scarf is wrapped on her head. My odd shaped head refuses to oblige, but I’m determined to make it work. Helloooo, bobby pins!

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Birds are always taking a leap of faith in Caye Caulker, Belize.  Taken with my Nikon D60 with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR lens, no edits. View more photos on Flickr and instagram.

This is what you’ve been waiting for.

The sun is out and blazing in Seattle, which means I will be outdoors in a hot minute.  I’ve been cooking up a storm this past week, mostly because I still had leftover arugula from the breakfast and chicken wraps.  Well friends, when you have nothing to eat and one measly ingredient leftover, you pair it with garlic and BAM—you have yourself a savory candidate for grilled cheese sandwich.

Slice sourdough bread into 1/2 or 3/4 inch pieces. For extra flavor, feel free to spread a thin layer of butter on each side. Add shredded cheese onto one side of bread and place in the oven at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

While the bread is toasting and melting cheese, prepare the arugula.  They cook fairly quickly, so you can whip it up in a cinch.  Saute arugula with olive oil and garlic until leaves turn darker, or for about 5-7 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to to taste.

Place the arugula mix in a bowl.  Use the same pan to “mold” your grilled cheese.  Take your toasted bread and place them in your pan.  Add your arugula mixture and close your sandwich with the second slice of bread.

If you have a panini press, that is a better option, but if you have ghetto kitchenware like me, you can take something heavy and place it on top of your sandwich.  I used my Pyrex glass tupperware with something in it, haha.  Cook each side for a couple of minutes or until golden brown.

Take a bite, sit back, and enjoy.  And if you still have leftover arugula too, here is a sneak peak at the next recipe to come (homemade yam gnocchi)!

Garlic Arugula Grilled Cheese
Serves 2-4

+ 1 loaf of sourdough bread
+ 3 cups of arugula
+ 1 garlic bulb (yes, lots of garlic!)
+ 1 cup of aged white cheddar cheese, shredded
+ salt and pepper to taste

Breakfast. The most important meal of your day.

Happy Cinco de Mayo weekend, friends!

After a fun Friday night reconnecting with old Microsoft friends, I woke up this morning ravenous.  Looking in my fridge, I realized there were only leftover ingredients from this recipe and a carton of eggs, so I decided to whip up a last minute breakfast recipe.

Recycling your ingredients is a green way to avoid food waste.  I try to make a habit of using everything in my fridge to help make every dollar go an extra meal and you don’t have to feel guilty for being wasteful.

Another perk about this recipe is that it’s really simple.  First, warm your flatbread pita bread in the toaster oven for about 5 minutes at 300 degrees.  In a separate pan, lightly heat chopped chicken in olive oil for a couple of minutes (assuming you are using ready-made chicken, otherwise cook longer as needed), then add 1-2 eggs.  Cook for approximately 3 minutes, then flip your egg and chicken “flat omelet” concoction to cook the other side.

Add the flat omelet onto your flatbread or pita bread.  While you’re feeling good about re-using ingredients, make your recipe even more green with arugula, green onions, and guacamole.  Green foods = super foods, which you can use to fight those wrinkles early on.  Plus, they just taste really good.

Enjoy your green and healthy breakfast to kick off your Saturday doing whatever it is that you love to do.  I like to use my Saturday mornings to catch up on my reading next to this snooch.

And because it’s Cindo de Mayo, you can pair with this amazing rose from Tavosa in lieu of mimosas.  Weekends are so fun, aren’t they?

Green Breakfast Wraps
Serves 2

+ 2 pieces of flatbread or pita bread
+ 4-5 strips of ready-made chicken breast from Trader Joes
+ 2-4 eggs (1 or 2 eggs per serving)
+ 1/4 cup green onion
+ 1/2 cup arugula
+ guacamole (recipe here)

This makes me want to crawl in with a book and wander off to Narnia.

Vacation is over. I’m rejuvenated, tired, happy, thankful, blessed, and my pants don’t fit. Clearly, it was a success.

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Easy, cheap, and healthy. A perfect meal for a busy week!

Hi! I’m still on vacation. But I haven’t forgotten about you.

The past few days have been a happy whirlwind. One of my very dearest friends from college got married on Saturday. The ceremony was held the Mission Church at Santa Clara University (fellow Jesuit education, FTW!), followed by a beautiful reception at the Palmdale Estates. The bride’s impeccable taste was sprinkled throughout the day, which was almost a living replica of a Pinterest feed.

We finished off the weekend with a fun 8-mile bike ride to Sausalito, SF’s best ramen at Katana-Ya, and the most amazing crab pappardelle dish at Hudson. Now we are heading south for more wedding extravaganza and the happiest place on Earth. But in the meantime, hope you enjoy this simple recipe to get you through the week!

Get choppy with green onions, cilantro, garlic, and ginger.

Lightly saute the ginger and garlic in olive oil for 5 minutes on medium heat.

Add ground meat (chicken or turkey or your choice) with condiments. When fully cooked, top it off with cilantro and green onions. Cook for an additional 5-7 minutes. Serve with fresh lettuce for a healthy and low-carb meal!

Sorry for the terrible lighting of this picture. To make it up to you, here are some fun pics from the weekend

Chicken or Turkey Lettuce Wraps
Serves 4

+ 2 lbs of ground chicken or turkey
+ 2 bunches of green onion, chopped
+  3/4 cup of cilantro, chopped
+ 5 cloves of garlic, chopped
+ small ginger, minced
+ olive oil, use liberally
+ 4 tbsp. soy sauce (add more if needed)
+ 2 tbsp. oyster sauce
+ pepper for flavor

What’s not to love about this combo?

VACATION!!!!  Is almost here.  And we can’t wait to witness two of our wonderful couples get hitched.

Love is truly a wonderful thing.

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Jenna is the author of food blog Eat, Live, Run and offers her culinary voice as a guest on Social // Potato Chips! You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter @EatLiveRun.

Hi everyone! This is Jenna from Eat, Live, Run and I’m super excited to be guest posting for Annie today! I met Annie three years ago when we were both finalists for a social media position with Murphy-Goode Winery. It goes without saying that neither of us actually got that job, but we both have gone on to do other cool things! On Eat, Live, Run, you’ll find three new family-friendly recipes a week, plus food and travel tales. Stop on by—I’d love to have ya!

Today though, I’m excited to share one of my favorite easy dessert recipes that really gets me in the mood for summer. Is it really only April? Guess I’m hoping summer comes fast….but aren’t we all?

These mixed berry hand pies come together easily with the help of frozen puff pastry and frozen berries if fresh berries aren’t accessible to you right now. However, if you are tasting the same sweet, juicy blackberries that I’ve been tasting here in California, you should totally use fresh instead!

If working with puff pastry scares you, don’t worry! It’s totally easy, just be sure to let it defrost thoroughly so there won’t be any ripping action going on.

Serve these hand pies with big scoops of vanilla ice cream! You’re going to love them.

Mixed Berry Hand Pies
Makes 12 small pies

+ 1 box frozen puff pastry, defrosted in fridge
+ 1 16-oz bag frozen mixed berries
+ juice of 1 lemon
+ 1/2 cup sugar + more for sprinkling
+2 T cornstarch + 2 T cold water
+1 egg and 1 T warm water

Whisk together the cold water and cornstarch in a small bowl until all the cornstarch is dissolved. Set aside.

Combine the berries, lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan and heat over medium high on the stove. Once the berries have burst and the mixture has started to simmer, slowly drizzle in the cornstarch/water and stir constantly while bringing up to a boil. Boil until thick, about 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool while you prepare the pastry.

Preheat oven to 375.

Working with one piece of puff pastry at a time, roll out to smooth edges and then slice into six equal sized squares. Place squares on a lined baking sheet.

Place 1-2 tbsp berry mixture onto half of the pastry. Carefully fold over pastry and pinch all edges together well. Make three small slits into the top of each.

Whisk together the egg and water well then brush on each pie. Sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar over each.

Bake for 30 minute until golden brown.

You have more control over things than you think.

Happy hump day

A little bit of healthy, a little bit of comfort.

Happy Monday! It’s a warm spring in Seattle, and I’m excited to kick off the week with a new recipe that has made it onto Steve’s list of favorite dishes. In our mission to eat healthy, I found a happy medium with leftover gruyère cheese from this quiche recipe.

We have a long month ahead of us, filled with more weddings in California, a mini-vacay to Whistler, and most importantly, DISNEYLAND. That’s right folks, the magical land of turkey legs (think dinner scene from The Hook), Little Mermaid, and happy people. And I’m especially excited because I’m a Disney virgin. All my life, I grew up wishing to visit Disneyland, but it was too far to travel from Hawai’i.  And now, my real-life prince charming is going to make my dream come true. Churros, here we come!

But first, let’s talk dinner. This chicken recipe is super easy and will give you enough portions to keep the rest of your week almost cooking-free. Take your first bowl and mix the olive oil with garlic. In your second bowl, mix bread crumbs with shredded gruyère cheese. Dip the chicken breast in the oil/garlic mix, then cover with bread crumb/cheese. Place in 8×12 baking dish, drizzle a little more olive oil, and bake for 30-35 minutes at 425 degrees (preheated).

While the chicken is baking, prepare your salad. Boil some water and naturally “nuke” your broccoli, ever so lightly. Really, all you need to do is submerge your greens in hot water for about 30 seconds, drain, and set aside. In a separate pan, saute chopped onions in olive oil for about 2-3 minutes.

Add some avocados. Cut them into cubes and turn them inside out. Why? Because it’s fun.

Mix broccoli, onions, black beans, corn, and avocados in a bowl. I wasn’t smart enough to think of it while at the grocery store but next time, I’d add cilantro. Create flavor with balsamic vinegar, salt, and black pepper.

Dinner is ready. For the next several days. Do the happy dance!

Gruyère Garlic Chicken & Southwest Salad
Serves 6-8

+ 4 boneless chicken breast halves
+ 1/4 cup olive oil
+ 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
+ 1/4 cup grated Gruyère cheese
+ 1 whole garlic, crushed or chopped
+ 1 can, black beans
+ 1 can, sweet corn
+ 1 onion
+ 1/8 cup cilantro, chopped
+ 2 large avocados
+ 1 bag of broccoli
+ 3 tbsp. balsamic vinaigrette
+ 1 tbsp. black pepper
+ 1 tsps salt