Figuring out what to do with the surplus of apples from the U-pick orchard is quickly becoming a fall tradition in our household, as I gather is the case in many other households as well. This year, we timed our visits (that’s right, plural) at the right time to pick both Fuji apples (my personal favorite for snacking) and Granny Smith apples (my personal favorite for baking, so that means we ...
dairy-free
Moroccan Apricot Couscous
Do you ever find yourself in a side-dish dilemma? I bet you know what I'm talking about: dinnertime is drawing near, you’ve got the main dish covered, but you still need something more to complete the meal. I often find myself in this predicament. While there’s no shame in plunking down a few random veggies or a dinner roll and calling it a side, these last-minute additions can sometimes feel ...
Pumpkin Carrot Cake Muffins
Apparently, I missed the memo that carrot cake is a springtime thing. My first carrot cake recipe appeared in the summer and I shared an updated version this past winter, so it seems only fitting that I should once again post about carrot cake in fall, the last of the carrot cake off-seasons. This recipe, however, is totally outfitted for fall: these are pumpkin carrot cake muffins! ...
Chocolate Zucchini Banana Bread
After doing a quick poll on Facebook the other day about people’s favorite bread (zucchini, banana, or pumpkin) and seeing no clear consensus, I decided to try making a combination of two of the breads in the running. Since it’s still technically August and I try to resist baking with pumpkin until at least mid-September, I went with banana and zucchini. ...
Strawberry Peach Upside-Down Cornbread Cake
Let’s just get this out of the way up front: this cornbread is not what you’d serve alongside ribs, chili, or fried chicken. It could very well be what you’d serve afterward, though, because this strawberry peach upside-down cornbread cake—whew, what a mouthful, huh?—belongs solidly in the dessert category. Or possibly brunch. In my mind, there’s only a fine line between dessert and brunch: if it ...
BBQ Chipotle Turkey Meatballs
For some reason, I seem to have it in my head that foods like meatballs and meatloaf are particularly time and labor-intensive, and so I seldom make them. In reality, they’re pretty much the easiest thing you can do with ground meat, other than just cooking it up and tossing it into a sauce. In fact, the most involved step of making these BBQ chipotle turkey meatballs is cooking the ...
Strawberry Rhubarb Vinaigrette
It has been almost five years since I moved from California, and you know what I’m still not used to? Summer rainstorms and the staggering attendant humidity. Snow and the bitter cold I can handle – although I’ll gripe about it along with everyone else, for sure! At least I was mentally prepared for the cold. I mean, it’s all anyone talks about when you say that you’re moving to Michigan. ...
Mimosa Coffee Cake
This post has been a long time in the making. For one thing, I had intended to make a mimosa-inspired coffeecake for New Year’s Day this past holiday season, but as is the case with many people (or so I suspect), I was overly ambitious in estimating what I’d have time/energy to do and ended up having to ignore half of my holiday to-do list. C’est la vie. Secondly, I’d been meaning to take the ...
Thai Peanut Quinoa Salad
Last week, my boyfriend and I were eating this Thai-inspired peanut quinoa salad for dinner and watching an old episode of Modern Family. In the episode, Jay is trying to convince Manny to try pickles, and Gloria jumps in and suggests that in exchange, Jay should try blood sausage. As someone who doesn’t eat a lot of meat in the first place (and who has always been somewhat of a picky eater), ...
Peanut Butter Pumpkin Cookies for Dogs
I don’t know exactly when Phoebe’s birthday is. I adopted her from a rescue group, which took in her litter from a high-kill shelter in another state, and no one knew the details of the puppies’ early life. While it’d be nice to know her actual birthday, I think the uncertainty of it just makes her adoptiversary that much more special and fun to celebrate! This week, we’re celebrating her second ...