Cake Over Steak | Page 2 | An Illustrated Food Blog

Crispy Baked Pumpkin Wings

October 23, 2017 58 Comments

Welcome to the 3rd annual Virtual Pumpkin Party! It’s that special time of year when everyone goes crazy for pumpkin, so a bunch of food bloggers have joined me in running with that theme – over 75 bloggers from across the globe are sharing pumpkin recipes today. We’ve got everything from cocktails to nachos to blondies to a pumpkin bread bake-off. What’s great about the pumpkin party is that it goes WAY beyond pumpkin spice. So if pumpkin spice ain’t your thang, we’ve probably still got something pumpkin-y that will get you interested. You can find all the participating recipes from this year AND past years over on my brand-new Virtual Pumpkin Party page. [Read more…]

The Feast of St. Pizza: Lancaster Edition

October 5, 2017 20 Comments

If you’re new to the Feast of St. Pizza, I suggest going back to check out the posts from year one (Lebanon, PA) and year two (Philadelphia). To quickly fill you in, the Feast of St. Pizza is an event I adopted from these guys after hearing about it on a podcast. The first year I kept it in my hometown of Lebanon, PA, the second year (last year) we did it in Philly, and this year we took it to Lancaster, PA. What happens during the Feast of St. Pizza is you grab a bunch of friends and then eat a slice of pizza at ten different places in one city, all in one day. It’s always a load of fun, it’s a great way to explore a familiar or unfamiliar city in a new way, and we’ve discovered that we always walk away from it with a greater appreciation for the amazing food that is pizza. God bless. [Read more…]

Spring 2017 Cookbooks

August 9, 2017 28 Comments

If you’ve spent any time on this blog you know that I LOVE COOKBOOKS. They bring me endless amounts of joy – I love to hold them, flip through them, read them from cover to cover, and try out as many recipes from them as I can manage (which is often way less than I would like). This year there were so many good ones coming out, quite a few of them from my blogging friends, so I just had to do a full-blown cookbook roundup post. (I also recently discussed my top cookbooks for weeknight cooking and my top baking cookbooks on an episode of the Gatherings podcast, which you can find here.) This post was supposed to come out about 2 months ago, but then I went and bought a house unexpectedly. Life happens. Better late than never, here are some of my favorites from the spring season: [Read more…]

Tahini Kale Caesar Salad with Cornbread Croutons

July 17, 2017 32 Comments

I’m back! After the craziness of our recent move (we bought a house … ah!) and a family vacation, it feels good to finally have my computer set up at my desk in the new house and to be working on this blog again. I have been wanting to tell you guys about this recipe for SO LONG. It’s from the new book, Love Real Food, by Kathryne Taylor of the blog Cookie and Kate. I did some recipe testing for the book and I’ve been stoked about its release ever since. The recipes I tested for Kate became instant hits in our household and now that I have the complete book in my hands, I know it’s going to become a staple in my kitchen. [Read more…]

Coffee Crème Brûlée for Two

May 11, 2017 31 Comments

I used to always believe that when it comes to baking, bigger = better. If I’m taking the time to bake something, I want a lot of it. That way I can share it with friends, take it into work, feed a party, etc. While that line of thinking has its place (and I live by it often), a new book has changed my mind on the subject. [Read more…]

Pink Lady Apple Margarita

May 5, 2017 12 Comments

It’s one of my favorite weeks of the year – Margarita Week! This beautiful internet creation is hosted by Kate from Hola Jalapeño. (Thanks, Kate!) Last year I shared a guava margarita, and I’ve got a new fruity one to share with you today. Over the last few years I’ve discovered that my two favorite forms of alcohol are whiskey and tequila. As we slip into fall and winter I find myself craving whiskey 100% of the time, but as the weather warms up I start to crave that tequila instead. So testing the recipe for this post came at the perfect time as the weather has been heating up here. I’m ready for tequila season! [Read more…]

Brown Butter Bourbon and Pear Cocktail

April 28, 2017 6 Comments

Earlier this week I shared a recap post about my visit to NYC with Robert, Kelsey and Abby. One of the places we visited that quickly rose to the top of our favorites list was Butter and Scotch, a bar and bakery in Brooklyn. Abby, Kelsey and I were all in heaven at that place. It was so fun and laid back, the whiskey was flowing, we were gorging on impeccable desserts, the music was fitting my mood, the bartenders were badass ladies having a great time at their job … You get the picture. Kelsey and I purchased their cookbook while we were there, and that just helped to fuel our love for the place. [Read more…]

A New York City Weekend

April 25, 2017 25 Comments

At the beginning of March I spent a weekend in NYC with Robert and two of my blogging besties: Abby of Heart of a Baker and Kelsey of Appeasing a Food Geek. That weekend developed because Abby and I made plans to see a live episode of the My Favorite Murder Podcast. Once that was finalized, I pulled Robert into the fun and we reached out to Kelsey since she lives nearby in Long Island. Before we knew it we were planning for an epic weekend of drinking and eating all the things together. In fact, we got so sucked into our planning that Abby and I kept forgetting the original reason for the trip: the podcast. Ha! But can you blame some food bloggers for getting overly excited about a food-filled weekend in NYC? [Read more…]

Peanut Butter Chicken and Broccoli Sheet Pan Dinner

March 15, 2017 48 Comments

When it comes to making dinner, one thing I absolutely love is a meal where you can focus all your efforts in one direction (like pasta or a big salad or a casserole, etc.). I do love to EAT meals with various components (like a roast chicken with mashed potatoes and other sides) so I can try a little bit of everything, but when you’re trying to throw dinner together on a weeknight, it’s just so much easier to focus on one idea – and it’s even better when it’s made in one pan. That’s why I love Molly Gilbert’s book Sheet Pan Suppers, as well as her newest book, One Pan and Done. [Read more…]

Things I’m Loving: Winter 2017

March 3, 2017 18 Comments

How are you guys doin? I don’t know about you, but I’ve been STRESSED. With everything that’s been going on in this world, I feel at least a little bit crazy all the time. I’m even starting to think that the stress from our current political climate is at least partly to blame for my chronic eczema. It’s no fun. But then I have days where I wake up feeling mostly normal and calm, and so I feel guilty for not being a hot mess. Then I have to remind myself that it’s good to let that part of my brain shut down sometimes. You know why? It’s EXHAUSTING to feel this way all the time. I think we need to find that middle ground where we don’t normalize everything and become complacent, but we also don’t go off the deep end. And that’s why I think self-care is more important than ever these days. For me, self-care looks like getting plenty of sleep, sticking to my exercise routine and trying to eat a healthy diet as much as possible. I also listen to a ton of political podcasts because being informed makes me feel like I have some sense of control. I included a lot of political podcasts on this list, but two new favorites are The Daily (by The New York Times) and Pod Save America. [Read more…]