Thanksgiving is only a few days away. It is time to finalize that holiday menu, or, if you are not hosting, to decide on the perfect dish to bring as your contribution to the feast. Let me take this opportunity to remind hosts and guests alike that every Thanksgiving table needs something fresh and crunchy to contrast with all that stuffing and ...
Thanksgiving Sides: Parmesan Fennel Gratin
Turkey is fine and everything, but what really excites me about Thanksgiving is the opportunity to make all kinds of vegetable side dishes. While dishes like green bean casserole (never eaten it) and sweet potatoes with marshmallows on them (not this one either) are Thanksgiving traditions for many (not me), I know plenty of families who look to ...
Mashed Potatoes with Parsnips
I don't know about you, but I am constantly tinkering with the recipe for my Thanksgiving mashed potatoes. I’ve tried garlic mashed potatoes, horseradish mashed potatoes and every other trendy version of this classic dish. (The garlic mashed potatoes went by the wayside when we began inviting a friend with a garlic allergy to our feast.) You know ...
Tilapia with Lemon, Pepper & Herbs on Crispy Potato Pancakes
A delicate tilapia filet, seasoned with lemon and fresh herbs, atop a crisp, lacy potato pancake. That's a pretty elegant dinner, if I do say so myself. Yet, it is so quick and easy to prepare, you can make it for your family any night of the week, even during this busy holiday season. My secret to this weeknight seafood dinner in a flash ...
Chocolate Raspberry Rugelach
Has holiday baking season officially begun? I declare that it has. If, like me, you are planning to give edible gifts this holiday season, you have to start sooner rather than later or else your kitchen will become a round-the-clock production facility. There are countless kinds of Christmas cookies from Swedish gingersnaps to German lekuchen to ...
Thanksgiving Dessert: Caramel Apple Tart
I love apple pie as much as the next girl, but what really gets my heart racing is the thought of tender apple slices drizzled with warm caramel on a flaky, all-butter crust. And, because you only have to roll out one crust, this recipe is less work than your typical, double-crusted apple pie. (Although the recipe gives you enough crust for two ...
All-American Cornbread Stuffing
Because Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday, I like my menu to reflect our country’s culinary heritage. That means cornbread stuffing, thank you very much. For what is more American than cornbread? But America is a big country. If you start with cornbread from the South, you also want to make sure you include up north and out west. ...
Thanksgiving Dessert: Maple Buttermilk Pie
It's officially November which means that it's time to plan your Thanksgiving menu. If you're like me, menu planning begins with dessert. (Wait, not everyone does that?) When it comes to Thanksgiving, you know you're going to make turkey, cranberry relish, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. The menu makes itself! So, we might as well talk about ...
Cranberry Lime Curd
I created this recipe and blog post as an entry in the Davidson's Safest Choice Eggs Blogger Recipe contest. All opinions expressed herein are entirely my own. Fall is cranberry's time to shine. The season for these tart, scarlet-hued berries is now and trust me, they can do so much more than sit next to your turkey on Thanksgiving. Such as, ...
Candy Bar Skillet Cookie
Leftover Halloween candy. Never used to be a problem. Until January of this year, we lived in a house that received hundreds upon hundreds of Trick-or-Treaters every October 31. To be perfectly candid, the reason was because we live in the part of our really nice town that bordered a less affluent town. Families often came from the less prosperous ...
Pumpkin Seed Bark
It’s almost Halloween and that means that a lot of families will be carving their pumpkins into scary or funny or ironic jack-o-lanterns. This year, Zuzu insisted on a good, old-fashioned face with triangle eyes and nose and a large, gaping mouth and indeed proudly carved her own pumpkin. JR has requested a Pokemon-themed jack-o-lantern, so wish me ...
Bleu Cheese and Apple Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Do you like to use fruit in savory dishes? I love to. This week, I made a delicious fall supper of chicken sausages roasted with apples and pears -- both of which are at their peak right now -- in a white wine and orange sauce. The chicken sausage was a bit smoky, the fruit a bit sweet and the sauce a bit sour so that the overall flavors were ...
Parmesan Pepper Gougeres
I am super-excited to announce that as of this month, I am a brand ambassador for Parmigiano Reggiano, the King of Cheese. Parmigiano Reggiano is one of my favorite ways to add richness and depth, umami if you will, to dishes -- everything from salads to soups to, of course, pasta. I always seek out the true Parmesan cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano, ...
Thanksgiving Cranberry Relish
Fall is the season for cranberries and they are available now at the farmers’ market. Cranberries freeze like a dream, so buy them while they are in season to enjoy all winter long. I adore baking with cranberries because they retain their shape so well. The tart flavor of these scarlet-hued berries pairs well with oranges and another great fall ...
Deluxe Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
Is there anything better than a chocolate cookie? I would argue that there is and it's a chocolate sandwich cookie stuffed with vanilla creme. Now, don't get me wrong: I love chocolate as much as anyone. Probably more than most people, in fact. But I always prefer treats that offer two flavors instead of just one. I'd rather have a cream cheese ...
Butternut Squash and Kale Quiche for Fall
There can be no doubt that fall has arrived and my weekly visit to the farmers market is tinged with bitterness as I count the weeks until the market closes for another year. This weekend, I made sure to stock up on green tomatoes -- and expect an unusual green tomato recipe later this week -- apples, pears and other seasonal produce. Around ...
Homemade Minestrone
Could you use a nice, comforting bowl of soup right now? I know I could. I spent the last three weekends -- three! -- traveling and the end result of six plane rides, two hotel stays, several early mornings and too many late nights is that I'm sick. I have an awful chest cold and cough and basically sound like a Brontë sister. Hack, cough, hack, ...
Pumpkin Apple Bread with Garam Masala
October means two things to me: pumpkin and apple. Luckily, those ingredients actually go together! Like in this Pumpkin Apple Bread. You use canned pumpkin in the batter -- although have you seen those articles that say that canned pumpkin is really squash? The horror! -- and then fold in chunks of delicious, diced apple right before baking. I ...
Autumn Farro Salad with Poached Pears
The other night my family went out to dinner, intended to hit up the local Vietnamese place for some pho and banh mi. Yet somehow we ended up at the restaurant next door, a new place, that describes itself using every possible restaurant cliché of the moment. Chef-driven, locally sourced, seasonally inspired, blah, blah, blah. Between the ...
Apple Streusel Tart
Rosh Hashanah may be over, but it is still apple season. Whether you visit an apple orchard to pick your own or stock up on heirloom varieties at a local farmers market, now is the time to enjoy the tremendous variety of cooking, baking and eating apples. Goodness knows I love a trip to the apple orchard, but when busy schedules do not allow for ...
Applesauce Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting
So much of my Rosh Hashanah menu is set in stone. We have to start the meal with kreplach in chicken soup. The main course is brisket obviously. And a beautiful braided round challah is the centerpiece of the table. But what about dessert? I have never quite found the Rosh Hashanah dessert. The one I want to serve year after year. The ...
Chicken-Stuffed Kreplach
I have extolled the virtues of kreplach, a Jewish meat-filled pasta dumpling usually served in soup, on this site several times before. They are, in fact, one of my favorite traditional Jewish foods not only because they are delicious, but also because they remind me of my grandmother, Hortense Paster, who was a marvelous cook. Grandma made ...
Sweet Noodle Kugel
I am not trying to freak you out, but do you realize that the High Holidays are right around the corner? Rosh Hashanah is a week from Monday. A week from Monday, people! Okay, maybe I am trying to freak you out. I am more than a little freaked out myself because I have so much to do between now and October 2, which is Erev Rosh Hashanah, or the ...
Coconut Sugar Peach Jam for Breakfast (Two Ways)
Today’s post is sponsored by Stonyfield Organic and Bob's Red Mill. As always, all opinions are my own. Are you a yogurt-for-breakfast type? Tart and tangy is how you like it - maybe with just a swirl of jam or a sprinkle of granola to take the edge off. Probiotics + protein? It's hard to imagine a better way to start the day, especially ...
Double Ginger Molasses Cookies from Dorie Greenspan
A new cookbook from baking guru Dorie Greenspan is always cause for celebration. And when that cookbook is all about cookies? Well, all I can say is preheat the oven and soften some butter. Because it is time to bake. Every year in September, National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, housewares giant OXO supports Cookies for Kids Cancer, a ...