There are times when I really just need to get into the kitchen and bake something. It helps me take my mind off other, more stressful things, and it’s always nice to fill the apartment with warm, comforting smells of cinnamon and chocolate, you know? ...
dairy-free
Apple Cider Pumpkin Butter
Happy first (official) day of fall! As much as I enjoy summer and feel a sense of panic as it leaves us each year, I really do love fall. The crisp mornings, the bright splash of color in the trees, the pumpkin patches, the cider mills… ...
Lemon Cherry (or Blueberry) Cake Bars
Food is a pretty amazing thing, if you take the time to think about it. It nourishes the mind, body, and soul, and it has the ability to transport us to faraway places or times past that exist now only in the depths of our memories. ...
Classic Tart Cherry Pie
Last week, my parents came to visit and we took a short trip up to northern Michigan. We spent some time on Mackinaw Island (more on that later!) and in Traverse City, and before heading back south, we stopped by King Orchards to do some cherry picking! I’ve always wanted to bake a pie with fruit I picked from the tree myself, so I was elated to find that our trip coincided with the short two-week ...
Cherry Poppy Seed Chicken Salad
Happy Monday! Today, I'm bringing you another recipe along the same lines as last week's cherry cornmeal buckle, to continue taking advantage of cherry season: cherry poppy seed chicken salad! ...
Cherry Cornmeal Buckle
I usually try not to post two dessert/dessert-like recipes in a row, BUT I decided it just wasn’t fair to deprive you of this amazeballs cherry cornmeal buckle ANY longer than absolutely necessary. Plus, cherry season doesn’t last forever, so you gotta snap them up while you can! Carpe diem, right? Well actually, more like carpe fructum (“seize the fruit”), but let’s not get technical. ...
Rajma Quinoa (Indian-style kidney beans)
Hello there! I hope you all had a lovely holiday weekend! My apologies for the blog silence lately - I had actually wanted to post this recipe last week, but felt that it might not be very relevant to post an Indian food dish in the days leading up to the Fourth of July. Everyone else seemed to be posting traditional American recipes and fun red, white, and blue foods, and I'd be ...
Apricot Rhubarb Crumble
Warning: this apricot rhubarb crumble is not for the faint of heart – if you don’t like tart desserts, this is not your cup of tea dish of crumble. If you do, keep reading! And if you’re on the fence, serve it with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream! Actually, even if you’re not on the fence, putting ice cream on top still sounds like a good idea… ...
Mango Thai Chicken Salad with Peanut Dressing
It has been a crazy couple of weeks over here in the Cake Pants household. Final exams (both to study for and to grade), term papers to write, a wedding to attend on the opposite side of the country, a two-day professional workshop, and up next, another trip across the country for a graduation ceremony, and then a set of PhD exams at the end of the month…whew! Anyhow, it’s always difficult to plan ...
Cinco de Mayo Breakfast Tacos
In honor of Cinco de Mayo coming up in the near future, I wanted to bring you all another Mexican food recipe! One of the things I miss most about living in California (aside from being close to my family) is the preponderance of good authentic Mexican food. There are, of course, good Mexican places elsewhere, but they’re significantly more difficult to find. Two places in particular on the east ...