Vegetarian Chili

Since I posted my Warm You Up Chili recipe, I’ve had several requests for the Chili-Cookoff-winning vegetarian version I mentioned. I made a batch of Vegetarian Chili this weekend — it was drizzly and gray and chili was just what the day ordered. It worked its magic as usual — filling the house with the satisfying smells of cuminContinue reading “Vegetarian Chili”

Carrot and Cranberry Stuffed Acorn Squash

All fall long and well into the winter, produce from the amazing squash family is abundant in gardens and grocery stores, food stands and farmers markets. Beside the best-known pumpkins and butternut squash, there are cushaws and delicatas, acorn squash and spaghetti squash, Hubbard and Kabocha — all slightly different in taste and texture andContinue reading “Carrot and Cranberry Stuffed Acorn Squash”

Harvest Trail Mix

We all need snacks, right? Something to get us through an afternoon slump or the mid-morning tummy growlings. But we also all know that helping ourselves to the doughnut tray or seeking out a Snickers isn’t really the way to go. Enter: trail mix. With an investment of just a few minutes, anyone can stirContinue reading “Harvest Trail Mix”

Not Your Mother’s Green Bean Casserole

  Our garden gives us green beans. We blanch and freeze them. Then, come Thanksgiving, we’ve got what we need for that holiday staple, Green Bean Casserole. But it seems a shame to slather our garden bounty with a can of condensed mushroom soup. So here’s what I make instead. It’s so flavorful, you’ll beContinue reading “Not Your Mother’s Green Bean Casserole”

Carrot-Chip Sheet Cake

Some of my kids’ favorite muffins are chock full of carrots, pineapple and coconut. So it stands to reason that they’d like carrots in their desserts, too. This recipe is one part sheet cake, one part quick bread. It’s carrot cake without the cream cheese icing. Any way you slice it, though, it’s all around delicious. MakesContinue reading “Carrot-Chip Sheet Cake”

Sweet Potato Hash

A little sweet, a little heat, with an egg on top. Oh yeah. This recipe is flavorful and filling. Serve it as a side to some pan fried pork chops or heap it on your plate with a slice of toast and a dish of homemade applesauce. In the fall of the year, after theContinue reading “Sweet Potato Hash”

Roasted Sweet Potato Fries

  I’ve heard raves of my Paprika Potatoes recipe ever since I posted it. So now here’s an equally easy, equally tasty, nutritionally even better recipe using sweet potatoes. You know what makes this recipe stand out? You get to leave the potato skins on, saving minutes and increasing goodness. Time to fire up that oven.Continue reading “Roasted Sweet Potato Fries”

Warm You Up Chili

I once won a neighborhood Chili Cook-Off with my vegetarian chili recipe, which mixes bulgar wheat with the typical kidney beans and tomatoes to give a chewy, filling feel. These days I’m cooking with meat and chili is a great one-pot meal that can feed a crowd, but I’ve struggled to find a recipe I was happy with. SoContinue reading “Warm You Up Chili”

Celebrating the Season

For my family, this week began with Halloween, continued with two kid birthdays and will end with back-to-back parties on Friday and Saturday. And, as we all know, it only gets crazier from here. I have, pretty much every year, dreaded these busy months of travel and connections, of events and hosting, of anticipation and tears andContinue reading “Celebrating the Season”

Let Us Eat Pumpkin

With Jack O’ Lantern carving at Halloween and the absolute necessity of a pumpkin pie on the Thanksgiving sideboard, pumpkins have long been central to fall. But does anyone else find it ironic that while pumpkin pie flavor has found its way into absolutely everything (Oreos! Pop-Tarts! Twizzlers!), pumpkins themselves are still considered more decor than food?Continue reading “Let Us Eat Pumpkin”