Homemade Mac & Cheese
It bubbles and beckons and, come on, it’s covered in bacon if you allow it. This is pure lovin’ from the oven. Give it a whirl. And remember, there is no such thing as too much cheese.
Salted Fudge Nut Brownies
It’s really hard to look at these brownies and not make (and devour) them right now. This here is the perfect brownie recipe. They are fudgey and beautiful and ridiculous. Try to eat just one.
Carrot Ginger Soup
Fall and Winter are Soup Season! Here’s one of my favorites, Carrot Ginger Soup. It tastes fresh and fancy but is super simple to make and sooo good for you! Great with crusty bread! Enjoy.
Gobbles: Your New Favorite Cookie!
If you love Italian anginetti cookies (you know, the ones that look like this but usually have little multicolored round sprinkles on top and taste like lemon??) you will swoon for Gobbles, our hand-hewn, almond-essence (here, Thanksgiving and Valentine themed) version. Of course, these work with any kind or colored sprinkles and any color icing… please don’t wait for next Thanksgiving or Valentine’s Day to make them! You and your family will gobble them, no matter what the season. I’ll be making them again with red sprinkles for Christmas, pastel for Easter, and SuperBowl colors too!
Gobbles was an invention born of an afternoon baking session with my best girl, Elizabeth, and now reigns as my family’s favorite cookie. They are so cake-y and dense, just sweet enough and are perfectly paired with a cup of tea, milk or scotch, depending on whom you ask. If you are blessed to have a baking buddy like Elizabeth, make these together and they will bear the hallmark of that secret ingredient that goes into every recipe (love)!
These photos are from our most recent Fall Baking Day (November 12, 2016). Elizabeth flew across the country from Tucson, Arizona, just to join me in some therapeutic baking, and you know what? It worked. Those smiles are real and rare. It was the best day ever. You can see that we also made Snicker Doodles and Peanut Butter Blossoms, and we were visited by such happiness and joy, in the form of my beautiful sisters, niece, and ought-to-be-famous mom!
Although I am a devoted double-or-triple-it kind of girl, this recipe actually makes about 40 cookies, so by all means, go right ahead and double it if you have time to roll and bake them all. But be judicious about doubling this one, especially if you have other cookies/baking to make/do!
Lentil Salad
This salad is an excellent jack-of-all-trades. It can be your protein, it can be your veggies, and it can be your grains! It’s crunchy, tangy and satisfying. Modify the amount to suit your needs, but make sure you make enough to carry you through the week. We like it on top of greens, under steak or chicken, and standing alone for lunch. If you make several quarts on a weekend, you’ll be eating healthy all week without any effort at all.
Crock Pot Applesauce
It’s Fall! Apple season! Cooking season! If you want the world’s healthiest Fall snack AND you want your whole house to smell like apple pie, make Crock Pot Applesauce.
You don’t have to pick your own apples.
But if you DO pick your own apples and the awesomeness of the sunny, crisp fall day gets the better of you, and you end up with more apples than would seem reasonable, applesauce is a perfect use for them! I usually only pick them myself once per year. The rest of the time, I buy bags of apples from the grocery store… the beauty of applesauce is that the apples can be slightly bruised, mushy, imperfect, etc., and you can get away with buying the least expensive varieties.