Cake Over Steak

This is my place to share the recipes from the Internet that I actually get around to making, as opposed to just pinning on Pinterest. Please visit my illustrated food blog at CakeOverSteak.com (link below).

[cakeoversteak]

Tahini Zucchini Noodles

We received our Spiralizer the other day and we broke it in with this Tahini Zucchini Noodles recipe from Love and Lemons. 

(image via Love and Lemons)

First of all, that Spiralizer thing is awesome. We created noodles out of two zucchinis in like one minute flat. It's ridiculously satisfying, and the zucchini ends up resembling actual noodles, unlike when you shred it up with a julienne peeler (which can also take a bit of time and get kind of messy).

We followed this recipe fairly loosely, especially for the sauce. I was low on soy sauce so I didn't use as much, and I used shredded parmesan instead of the nutritional yeast. We topped ours with fresh basil, chopped peanuts and bean sprouts. It was delicious and we have some leftover tahini sauce waiting to be used up in our fridge. This is definitely a winner that we will turn to again.

[cakeoversteak]

"Genius" Blondies

I think I had bookmarked these Genius Blondies (from Cook's Illustrated, as featured on Food52) back in May? And then they floated around my to-do list for several weeks, got pushed to the back burner, and then I finally made them recently for a casual potluck dinner. 

(photo via Food52)

They are truly a solid recipe. I went with full-on chocolate chips in mine, so they turned out very much like a chocolate chip cookie in bar form. But - it still had the nice, dense chewiness of a blondie or brownie that you're looking for. I don't usually like nuts in my brownies or chocolate chip cookies, but the toasted pecans in this really added something special.

These will definitely be made again. They're easy to throw together and they are baked in a large pan which means they're good for a crowd. If I'm feeling adventurous I'm going to brown the butter for them next time.

[cakeoversteak]

Salmon with Coconut Rice, Coconut Kale and Sweet Potatoes

I've had this recipe for Crispy Coconut Kale with Roasted Salmon and Coconut Rice from Food52 filed away for some time now, and we finally got around to making it last night.

(image via Food52)

It did not disappoint. We thought it was delicious, and for a meal with multiple components it came together fairly quickly. (It obviously helped that we had two people working in the kitchen.) 

I think one of my favorite things about this recipe was that the timing was spot-on for me. The rice came out perfectly (I let it steam for 5 minutes after the initial 15 of simmering) - it was wonderfully creamy and the coconut milk added something interesting for sure. The sweet potatoes were perfect after 30 minutes, and the salmon and kale were perfect after cooking them for the last 15 minutes of the sweet potatoes. (I moved our sweet potatoes to the bottom rack when the kale and salmon went in.) 

The roasted coconut flakes added some great texture and flavor to the overall mix. The whole combination of salmon, creamy rice, roasted sweet potatoes, crispy kale and crunchy coconut was just plain awesome. We're excited for our leftovers this evening, and that's always a win.

[cakeoversteak]

Salty Honey and Crack Pies

I've never been big on pies, always leaning more towards cakes and cookies, brownies, etc. But this holiday season I decided to get into the pie spirit. I started by making pie crust from scratch for the first time ever by myself, and made two pies from the Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book. The crowd favorite, which is one of their most popular pies at the shop, was the Salty Honey Pie.

(image via Joy the Baker)

I have their gorgeous pie book (and I highly recommend it), but you can also find the recipe at Joy the Baker or Lottie and Doof, as well as plenty of other sites. You can find their pie crust recipe on Food52. I topped my version of the pie with some homemade vanilla salt. 

Then for New Year's Eve I made the infamous Crack Pie from Momofuku Milk Bar in NYC. You can find that recipe at Bon Appetit.

(image via my Instagram)

Rather than a typical pie crust, this recipe requires you to bake an enormous oatmeal cookie which you then crumble up and turn into a crust for the pie. 

Both of these pies were excellent, and kind of similar as they both feature sweet, gooey, custardy fillings. Both are fantastic cold, and work best if you make them over the course of two days. That requires some planning ahead, but also allows you to break up the work time into shorter segments. I would recommend both of these whole-heartedly, and I will definitely be making them again.

[cakeoversteak]

Pumpkin Spice Oat Waffles

I won't say tooooo much about these Pumpkin Spice Waffles from Cookie and Kate except that they're delicious and you should make them.

(image via my Instagram)

I really enjoyed the texture and flavor the oat flour added to these. I pulsed old fashioned oats in my coffee grinder in several batches to make my oat flour. That could possibly sound intimidating or annoying, but it only added about two minutes to my prep process. Minimal effort for maximum reward. Other than that it's your standard dump and stir kind of recipe, with no whipping of egg whites or anything like that. 

I made these on Sunday morning during a quiet moment by myself in the kitchen as Robert continued to sleep and I sipped on a homemade Nutella cappuccino, listening to Christmas music. Not a bad way to start my Sunday, and now I've been enjoying leftover waffles all week.

[cakeoversteak]

Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal and Roasted Veggie Wraps

The other night I tried out two new recipes, both from The Fauxmartha. Let's start with breakfast. I've been craving warm, comforting meals to go along with this cold weather we've been experiencing, so I made a pan of her Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal.

(image via The Fauxmartha)

This definitely hit the spot. I baked it in an 8x8 pan, so my baking time was longer - closer to 30 or 40 minutes. I actually would go a little longer the next time around. In the morning I just heat a piece of this up in the microwave and pour a tiny bit of milk over it. It has a wonderful, cozy flavor, and the dried cranberries add a nice touch of tartness. I would make this again for sure!

The other recipe I tried was her Roasted Veggie Wraps. I really just used this as a jumping off point to prep some veggies for quick, packable lunches. It also gave me a way to use up lingering veggies from our CSA. I ended up roasting FOUR WHOLE PANS of vegetables - rutabaga, carrots, onion, red pepper, beets and cauliflower. Her dressing for the vegetables gave them a lovely flavor that will go with just about anything.

(image via The Fauxmartha)

It took quite a bit of time to prep all of these vegetables (and I made way more than was necessary for the recipe), but it also made for a relaxing evening in the kitchen, and now packing my lunch every evening is a breeze. I've been eating the vegetables in a pita with a smear of hummus and some feta cheese - nothing fancy at all, but so delicious. Robert ate some last night with leftover rice and some sauce from our Chinese takeout leftovers. These roasted veggies could also easily be thrown into a frittata or pasta, and might end up on a homemade pizza this evening. 

Thanks, Melissa, for some great recipes! 

[cakeoversteak]

Pumpkin Beer Cheese Soup

Last weekend my friend made this Pumpkin Beer Cheese Soup for our annual pumpkin party (yes, that's a thing), and it was SO AMAZING. It was so good that I had to make it again for myself, and more importantly for Robert, since he was not able to be at the party and try it himself.

(image via Spoon Fork Bacon)

I ended up using a butternut squash instead of a pumpkin because our grocery store didn't have any of those small pumpkins used for cooking at the time when I was gathering my ingredients. The difference in flavor was negligible, so that's a good option if you should run into the same problem.

Otherwise, we stuck pretty close to the recipe and used the Shipyard Pumpkinhead for our beer, which worked very well. My friend made her croutons in the oven, and I followed her example to make that part a little more hands-off. I kind of flew by the seat of my pants on that step, but I would recommend toasting them in a 375-400 degree oven, flipping them every 5 minutes until they look golden and toasty to your liking. BUT - whatever you do, DON'T skip the homemade garlic butter croutons. They really pull this whole thing together.

As with most soups, there is a decent amount of chopping and prep involved, but it was pretty easy and didn't have to simmer as long as other soups. I roasted my butternut squash the day before, which helped a lot, and then just threw that in with the onion/broth mixture a little before adding the cheese mixture. It also goes very quickly if you drink some pumpkin beer while making it.

[cakeoversteak]

Apple Pie Biscuits and Roasted Sausage with Broccoli and Fennel

I think I searched "fennel" on my pinterest page because I needed a way to use up the fennel from our CSA, and that's how I rediscovered this first recipe for Roasted Sausage with Broccoli and Fennel from Food52. This would use up our fennel, PLUS that little head of broccoli from the CSA, give me an excuse to eat sausage for dinner, was super quick and easy, AND sounded delicious? Holy heck yes, please sign us up! 

(image via Food52)

I'm not going to say much else about this except that it's delicious and you should make it. We swapped the lemon for orange, which ended up being wonderful, and we went with half whole grain mustard and half honey mustard (at Robert's request). Actually, we both ended up OVEReating, which we don't normally do with a weeknight meal at home. We got a little carried away with our seconds. Oh, I also added some extra sausage (about 16 oz. instead of 12) so our leftovers would stretch a little farther.

I also made these Apple Pie Biscuits from Joy the Baker as part of her #bakingbootcamp with King Arthur Flour. I already had plans to make these this week, but I thought they would go well with our dinner. These are also delicious and came together pretty quickly. It's a little messy, of course, but definitely worth the cleanup. Plus you can clean up while the sausage and everything is in the oven. (Another bonus about that meal! I love being able to clean up WHILE dinner is cooking.) 

(image via my Instagram)

I ended up with really saucy apples, so I probably could have let that cook down a little more, or you could reduce the amount of sugar, etc. with the apples. But that stuff is also quite tasty so you could hang onto it and dip something in it or just eat it with a spoon. Whatever. 

Bottom line: Both of these recipes are keepers. (And they happen to cook at the same temperature.)

[cakeoversteak]

Single Serving Chocolate Chip Cookie

Pinterest showed me this recipe the other day for a "Single Serving" Chocolate Chip Cookie from Cooking Classy, so clearly I had to make it that very same day. When life presents you with a recipe that is this amazing and non-time-consuming, you better listen and drop what you're doing.

(photo via Cooking Classy)

Although, now I'm a little scared that I am in possession of this knowledge. This cookie is too tasty and too easy to make. Also, even though it's one cookie, it's more like 2 servings. But who are we kidding - are we really going to share this thing? I think not. Robert is lucky I saved him as much as I did (which wasn't a lot).

I didn't change too much about this recipe. I used canola oil instead of butter to make it slightly healthier and because I was too lazy to melt butter. And then I used milk chocolate chips and sprinkled it with Maldon sea salt because I'm classy like that with my single serving chocolate chip cookies.

Mine only took about ten minutes in the oven. It came out perfectly crispy on the edges and wonderfully gooey and chewy in the center. Watch out, because you might want to make this every day for the rest of your life.

[cakeoversteak]

Brown Sugar Butter Roasted Chicken

On Saturday we roasted our very first chicken! Should I be embarrassed to admit that? Rotisserie chickens from the grocery store are just so easy, but we wanted to really do it up for once. We went with this Brown Sugar Butter Roasted Chicken from How Sweet It Is, a recipe I've been wanting to make for some time that happened to appear on my Chicken Wish List.

(photo via How Sweet It Is)

Sadly our chicken was ready to go around 8 pm on Saturday night, and our kitchen does not provide the best lighting in the evening for a decent photo.

This thing was really delicious. After it had rested, we took a taste and almost ended up eating the whole thing while we stood over it like scavengers. That skin!!! Ugh, so good. (It was covered in brown sugar and butter, so it's not surprising.)

For dinner that night we put some of this chicken on an amazing pizza: Tiny bit of tomato sauce, mozzarella, some other Italian cheeses, fresh figs, caramelized onions, shredded chicken, honey, and then topped with chopped pistachios and a balsamic drizzle. We ate that and split a bottle of Muscat. That's perfection right there. 

Obviously we took the chicken bones, etc. and turned that into a ridiculous chicken stock. So then last night we made a soup with some of it. Pureed butternut squash soup acted as our base, and we threw in some sautéed onions, sweet corn, roasted potatoes and chicken (obviously). This is what is so great about a good roasted chicken - you can use it in so many ways!

[cakeoversteak]

Soy-Braised Tofu

When Robert and I attended an awesome food blogger picnic back in June, Cynthia from Two Red Bowls brought this amazing tofu. Neither one of us is a huge fan of tofu, but we LOVED this tofu that Cynthia made. Luckily for us, she shared the recipe for it over on the blog With Food and Love! So we made it for dinner last night.

(photo by Cynthia of Two Red Bowls)

We only made two minor tweaks: I left out the red pepper flakes since we don't do spicy food, and I didn't have scallions so I used up half of a white onion I had instead. It was delicious! Our tofu was sticking to the pan a little bit in the beginning, so I'm wondering if we either didn't have enough oil in the pan, or if our pan wasn't hot enough. But once we put in the sauce, we had no issues with it. Other than that, this dish is super easy, fast AND tasty. We had ours with sides of roasted corn on the cob, and maple-balsamic roasted brussels sprouts. This complemented the brussels sprouts particularly well. If you think you're not a fan of tofu, you should definitely try this recipe. Plus, leftovers get better in the fridge!

[cakeoversteak]

Maple-Sweetened Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Cookies!!! I wanted to take some cookies into work for a meeting, but I also wanted to bake something that wasn't overly-indulgent ... Enter these cookies by the lovely Cookie and Kate! 

(image via Cookie and Kate)

I only changed two small things in this recipe: I swapped out coconut oil for the butter, and I used a combination of semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips (to empty out my random stash). These have a really nice combination of flavors, and they were a hit at work. They're also the ultimate EASY cookie, since you just have to stir a bunch of stuff together. Definitely a crowd-pleaser, especially since they are pretty easily adaptable to more strict diets. I would highly recommend them. 

[cakeoversteak]

Baked Herb and Pistachio Falafel

I've been getting falafel recently from the farmer's market across the street, which inspired me to try making my own. With some leftover tzatziki sauce in the fridge, last night seemed like the perfect opportunity. I saw in an interview with Dana of Minimalist Baker that this recipe from Sprouted Kitchen was one of her favorites, so I decided to give it a shot.

(image via Sprouted Kitchen)

Sprouted Kitchen is one of my favorite blogs, and the cookbook of the same name is one of my favorites as well, so I was not surprised that we thoroughly enjoyed this falafel.

Instead of mint and cilantro I used mint and basil. (We actually don't like cilantro over here ...) For the chickpeas, I just used one whole can. I left out the cumin and threw in a paprika spice blend thing we have instead. The pistachios I used were salted, so I left the extra salt out of mine, and they were fine.

My small food processor was a little too small for this, so I ended up blending up the first few ingredients in there (as the instructions tell you to do), but could not fit the rest of the ingredients in there and actually have it still function. I gave it one or two quick, crowded pulses, then dumped everything into a big bowl, mixed it around really well, and then processed it the rest of the way in two batches. I then mixed the two batches together before forming the falafel balls.

These were delicious, and they come together pretty quickly since the food processor does the bulk of the chopping for you. I love the flavor of them - you could really call these "pistachio pesto chickpea balls." But maybe that's not as appetizing? What are the requirements of something being called "falafel," anyway? Either way, these are worth making again.

[cakeoversteak]

Chard Gratin

Needing to use up some swiss chard from our CSA and looking for new ways to cook with it, I tried the Chard Gratin from Food52 last night. 

(photo via Food52)

This was a whole new technique for me; I haven't experimented a whole lot with cooked greens, especially in a gratin format. That said, we really enjoyed this! The hardest part is waiting for water to boil so you can blanch the stems and leaves, and otherwise you just dump some things into a pan and wait for it to bake. 

I used half and half instead of heavy cream because I had some that needed to be used up in the fridge (and no heavy cream). Since I only had slightly over half a pound of chard, I cut the cream amount to 1 cup and did half a tablespoon of the mustard. 

While we really enjoyed this, we wished our chard had more of a bite to it when it was done. It was rainbow chard and it was fairly tender, so I think next time around I will try it without blanching them first, which just makes this recipe that much easier anyway. This would go great with some grilled meat as a side dish - it is fairly heavy from the sauce created by the cream, so I would pair it with something lighter.

[cakeoversteak]

Caramelized Peach Pancakes

The main thing I need to say about these Caramelized Peach Pancakes from Food52 is that you should be making them this weekend. 

(image via my Instagram)

I made a few slight edits while making them: I used more fresh ginger than it called for (probably about twice as much), and I used maple-flavored (regular) yogurt rather than plain Greek yogurt. They turned out wonderfully. The recipe made exactly 8 pancakes, and it made a fantastic breakfast for Robert and me. We ate them with extra chopped peaches on top. Seriously - make them this weekend (if you can wait that long).

[cakeoversteak]

Avocado Summer Rolls with Peanut Sauce

Wow, I haven't posted on here in a while. Between wedding preparations and blogging, we haven't had a whole lot of time to try out new recipes. (I've also been recipe testing for an upcoming cookbook, which I will talk about on the "real blog" soon.) Furthermore, during CSA season we don't often make actual recipes, but rather just kind of throw together a salad, pasta or stir fry kind of situation with whatever we have on hand. 

But last night we used this recipe for Avocado Summer Rolls from The Tart Tart to clean out our fridge a little bit from our overflow of CSA produce. 

(image via The Tart Tart)

We just used Linda's overall method for making them, and used some things we had on hand. Ours included: avocado, shredded carrot, mushroom, cucumber, swiss chard, cabbage and butter lettuce. They were surprisingly easy to make! We also made the peanut sauce from this post by Erika of The Pancake Princess. I'm glad we went through the experience of making them, so now it will be that much easier the next time. (ps - I would not recommend saving these as leftovers. Mine got all slimy and gross on the bottom. While the insides were mostly fine, I couldn't quite get past the slimy texture.)

[cakeoversteak]

A Lovely Salad and Killer Margaritas

Sometimes on a Friday night I like to pick a new recipe to try, as well as a fancy new cocktail, and spend a leisurely evening putting it all together. It's a nice change from the normal weeknights where I try to get dinner ready as fast as possible. This past weekend I tried a new salad: the Heirloom Tomato and Avocado Salad from Love and Lemons, and a seasonal version of one of my favorite drinks: the Balsamic Roasted Strawberry Margarita from London Bakes.

(image via Love and Lemons)

I used the salad recipe as more of a guide as we were making this. We swapped the arugula for baby spinach, and kept everything separate from the spinach until we made our own plates, expecting leftovers and not wanting things to get soggy. We fell in love with this salad immediately, eating most of it as we were cooking and cleaning up the kitchen. I love the combination of the fresh vegetables and basil, chickpeas, orzo and pine nuts. The dressing is bright and refreshing. We finished the leftovers on Saturday afternoon, standing at the kitchen counter with two forks and eating out of the tupperware container.

(image via London Bakes)

Again, I used this recipe as more of a guide. I roasted the strawberries according to the instructions and pureed them in my food processor. Then I used my standard margarita recipe (3 parts tequila, 2 parts triple sec, 1 part lime juice), and added some of the strawberry puree. I think I ended up with 4-5 parts strawberry puree. Mine were probably a little stronger than Kathryn's. These were obnoxiously good and I might make them again next weekend at the beach for my family. My friend finished her first one accidentally on purpose in about four minutes flat. So watch out!