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…]
Peanut Butter Chicken and Broccoli Sheet Pan Dinner
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…]
Brussels Sprouts and Bacon Pasta with Orange Balsamic Sauce
It was a Thursday night, shortly after I had moved in with Robert. I was stressing out because we needed to throw dinner together but we also needed to clean the apartment since we had weekend guests arriving right after work the next day. That morning I had mentioned dinner to him and we decided that with a box of pasta in the pantry and some brussels sprouts and bacon in the fridge, we could put together a decent pasta dish. I was just starting to get the hang of how Robert and I could put a meal together with various ingredients we had lying around, as opposed to following a full-blown recipe. (My father-in-law is a chef, so Robert grew up with thrown-together dinners all the time, whereas my mom always follows a recipe.) While I was already on my path to becoming a more adventurous cook, I was still learning. [Read more…]
Fig Pizza with Goat Cheese, Pistachios and Honey
As I mentioned in my Paris post, the fig pizza we had at Pink Flamingo was one of our favorite meals of our honeymoon. Despite the fact that we were in France, our favorite meals in Paris included that pizza and the sushi at Miss Ko. Honestly, the French probably should have kicked us out of the city. They didn’t, thank goodness. But anyway – our first wedding anniversary is on Sunday, so I thought recreating that pizza would be a great way for me to celebrate on the blog. [Read more…]
A “Date Night In” With My Husband (And Mango-Raspberry Champagne Floats)
When I first heard that Ashley Rodriguez was working on a cookbook memoir based on her popular blog series titled “Dating My Husband,” I could hardly contain my excitement. This was during the time when Cake Over Steak was merely a brain-child of mine, and it was bloggers like Ashley and posts like her Dating My Husband series that truly inspired me to create my own space on the internet. They lit a fire in me that made me want to share my own story, weaving tales of love, marriage, family, friendships, fears, etc. into the story of a recipe that makes you want to spend the rest of the day in your kitchen. I made a vow to myself that this blog would be up and running by the time her book came out so I could write about it on here. Little did I know that I would also have a husband of my very own by the time that day rolled around. [Read more…]
Overnight Pancakes with The Ultimate Pancake Syrup
Since I’m a crazy person who tries to schedule every minute of her days, I don’t usually end up with a spare moment to read cookbooks until the few minutes before I go to sleep. But – this actually gives me a solid way of judging how good a cookbook is: In those brief moments before I get too drowsy to continue reading, how hungry does it make me? With Joy Wilson’s new book, Homemade Decadence, I would not be hungry at all when I got into bed, but then suddenly be starving and have to put the book down so I wouldn’t be forced to escape to the kitchen to eat an entire jar of peanut butter. Those nights I went to bed dreaming of chocolate peanut butter pretzel cakes, sausage and blackberry breakfast pizza, and bourbon chocolate pecan pie bars. One night it went so far that, while I was half asleep, I asked Robert what kinds of pies he was making and if there was any left. Clearly this book went to my head. [Read more…]
Lemon Ricotta Pasta with Parsley and Chives
Since hearing of pasta recipes like this one, I’ve been very intrigued. I love the idea of a pasta dish that merely requires you to mix some things in a bowl, toss in the cooked pasta (and some reserved pasta cooking liquid), garnish with some cheese, and serve. If you have access to fresh and flavorful ingredients, it’s the best solution for a quick and satisfying meal. [Read more…]