Mini Chocolate Chip Cheesecakes

I’ve made plenty of cupcakes over the years, as well as my share of sheet cakes and cookie cakes. But mini cheesecakes just might take the cake as my favorite celebratory sweet. As Valentine’s Day and my birthday are just around the corner, seems like just the right moment to stir up a batch. MyContinue reading “Mini Chocolate Chip Cheesecakes”

Lentil Cornbread Dinner

I came across a version of this recipe when I was first married and looking for easy, one-dish meals that I could put together in the morning and cook when I got home from work. With lentils as the main ingredient, I didn’t count on this being a big hit, but my husband loved it. And so didContinue reading “Lentil Cornbread Dinner”

Pizza Dough Primer

  From-scratch pizza is pretty much a weekly occurrence in our house. It’s beloved by everyone, can be partly made ahead and takes less than 30 minutes from rolling out the dough to sitting down to dinner — all plusses in our busy day-to-day. It’s also a basic framework to eat whatever’s in season. RightContinue reading “Pizza Dough Primer”

Chicken Wings With Honey Yogurt Sauce

Wings are fun, festive, quick to make and delicious. Perfect as apps before your holiday party or as a simple dinner paired with mashed potatoes and salad. When my family last bought a batch of local chicken, we picked up six fresh whole chickens and cut them into parts before we froze them — ziplockContinue reading “Chicken Wings With Honey Yogurt Sauce”

Mashed Butternut Squash

We grow our own butternuts and often we buy them in bulk, as well. So you’d think we cooked these amazingly nutritious root veggies in all kinds of ways. But in reality, not so much. We do love this Thai Butternut Squash Soup. Occasionally, we’ll stuff and bake them. And they do wind up inContinue reading “Mashed Butternut Squash”

Crab Cakes with Hot Pepper Aioli

I know, I know. Everybody’s got their own favorite crab cakes, whether from a restaurant or a secret recipe they make at home. It’s like barbecue, right? It just tastes wrong if you mess with those familiar flavors. So I — not so much of a seafood girl myself — am certainly not here toContinue reading “Crab Cakes with Hot Pepper Aioli”

Pear Spice Muffins

Every fall I pick and buy local apples by the box. But this year when area farmers were offering pears in bulk, I decided to give them a try too. Let me say that it’s a little scary to haul home 25 pounds of Asian pears — or beautifully sweet carrots or luscious ears ofContinue reading “Pear Spice Muffins”

Simple Slow Cooker Applesauce

This recipe couldn’t be easier. But you wouldn’t believe how many people ooh and ahh over homemade applesauce. It’s so different from anything you pour from a jar. Following these steps will give you a sauce that lets the many, lovely flavors of apples truly shine — the cinnamon only works to bring out theContinue reading “Simple Slow Cooker Applesauce”

Apple Oat Scones

For the month of September I search and tasted and tested, every apple combination I could think of. I wish I could say they were all delicious. (They weren’t.) But this recipe was like: Walk away before you eat them all. People grabbed them for breakfasts, lunch boxes, snacks and desserts. I’m sure it helpedContinue reading “Apple Oat Scones”

Doe Creek Farm Apple Pie

I recently wrote a magazine story about Georgia Haverty, who worked on her family’s apple farm in the early ‘80s and then returned to her land in the beautiful Virginia mountains in 2011 to start a pick-your-own operation. When I showed up to interview her, she was making crockpot apple butter and had a loaf ofContinue reading “Doe Creek Farm Apple Pie”