Cinnamon Applesauce & Raisin Rye Muffins

These cinnamon applesauce and raisin muffins make a fast, easy, and delicious breakfast treat. Plus, they are made with whole rye flour along with all purpose flour. 

These muffins are soft and moist, and taste just like cinnamon applesauce. 

Homemade Turkey Soup

Homemade turkey soup filled with vegetables, herbs, garlic, and other seasonings, all in a long simmered homemade stock. 

This homemade turkey soup will become your new post-holiday tradition. 

Homemade Fish Crackers with Cheddar and Whole Wheat

These homemade fish crackers with cheddar and whole wheat are a wonderful treat for both kids and grown ups. 

Aren't these little fish crackers cute? They are also really tasty .... they are flaky, crispy, and tender, and they make you look so clever. 

Ham and Black-Eyed Pea Soup

This ham and black-eyed pea soup is the quintessential New Year's Day good luck meal. With ham, collard greens, and black-eyed peas, this soup represents ingredients to celebrate the New Year. 

In the Southern part of the United States, having black-eyed peas on New Year's Day is thought to bring good fortune for the coming year. If you eat 365 black-eyed peas, you will have good fortune each day of the year. 

Baked Pear Dessert

 This baked pear dessert is such a light and and delicious twist on baked apples. 

Serve these baked pears topped with a scoop of ice cream for a refreshing after dinner treat. 

Air Fryer Chicken Nuggets with Two Dipping Sauces

These air fryer chicken nuggets are made with chicken breasts coated in panko bread crumbs and then air-fried until crispy, juicy, and golden. 

The best part about making these chicken nuggets, besides the fact that they are juicy and incredibly delicious, is that you assemble them in advance, freeze them, and then air fry them whenever you get a craving. You can make as many or as few as you like. 

Nutmeg Custard Cake Doughnuts

These custard cake doughnuts, flavored with nutmeg and frosted with a custard glaze, are so much easier to make than fried doughnuts. 

Don't get me wrong. I love making fried doughnuts, but sometimes you just want something easy. I finally got a couple of doughnut pans for making baked doughnuts and couldn't be happier with them. Plus, my doughnut loving grandsons love them too. 

Cranberry Negroni

This cranberry Negroni cocktail recipe takes the classic bittersweet Italian cocktail and adds the sweet-tart flavor of cranberry sauce. 

A traditional Negroni is made with equal parts gin, Campari, and red vermouth. It's typically served before dinner over rocks with an orange garnish. 

Chicken and Rice Soup with Cabbage

This Chicken and rice soup with Napa cabbage is infused with the Asian flavors of black bean garlic sauce and chili bean sauce. This recipe is succulent and delicious, and the ingredients mimic the results of a long simmered soup. 

This quick throw it together soup gets its beautiful richness from added gelatin to imitate the the richness of long simmered chicken broth. 

Egg and Tapenade Toasts with Anchovies

These little bite-sized toast canapés are a wonderful combination of flavors. The tapenade, egg, and tomato toppings combine with the anchovies to make a tasty treat. 

These egg and tapenade toasts are easy to put together and are the perfect little bites to go with a cocktail or a glass of sparkling wine. You can make your own tapenade or use jarred or fresh tapenade from the grocery store or deli. 

Swedish-Style Saffron Buns

These Swedish-style saffron buns are wonderful for breakfast, especially served warm from the oven with jam. 

These saffron buns are light and slightly sweet and sprinkled with Swedish pearl sugar. They are made with a dough for St. Lucia buns (or lussekatter), which are normally shaped into an "S" and studded with raisins or currants. 

French Bread Cheese Puffs

These French bread cheese puffs are a completely poppable appetizer made with bread cubes dunked in a mixture of cheeses and whipped egg whites, frozen, and then baked into a delicious cheesy appetizer. 

This is a throw back recipe from the 1970s. My mom gave me this recipe, along with a appetizer recipes such as "mushroom roll ups, tostada pie, ham walnut spread, and salmon party ball." 

Creamed Spinach Gratin

This spinach gratin recipe is comprised of an already tasty creamed spinach topped with Gruyere and Parmesan, and then baked. The top is crispy and cheesy, and the inside is creamy and seriously flavorful.

 

 I have made this spinach many times, especially on holidays to accompany roast beef. It kind of reminds me of the side dishes, e.g. creamed corn and Yorkshire pudding, that would be served in the old traditional prime rib restaurants.

Grape Snack Cake with Winter Crunch Grapes

This grape snacking cake is super easy to make, plus, it is topped with delicious, plump, and juicy seedless red grapes. 

Baking with grapes? Actually, they're pretty amazing when they are baked. The grapes get all roasty and even sweeter, and the juices permeate the cake to add an amazing layer of sweetness. 

Emergency Salad from All Stirred Up

The story about emergency salad, according to the book, All Stirred Up: Suffrage Cookbooks, Food, and the Battle for Women's Right to Vote by my friend Laura Kumin, is that this recipe first appeared in the Washington Women's Cookbook, published by the Washington Equal Suffrage Association. 

According to the book All Stirred Up, the name Emergency Salad was a common term in the early 1900s. There are versions with onions, apple, and chopped cabbage. There are also versions of emergency salads with cabbage, cucumber, lettuce, and French dressing. 

Buttery Soft Pull-Apart Dinner Rolls

These super soft pull-apart dinner rolls, baked in a cast iron pan, are light as a feather, airy, and layered with lots and lots of herby butter. 

Serve these buttery rolls straight from your cast iron skillet. I guarantee these rolls will be the most popular thing on your table. 

Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies with Nutella Filling

 If you are looking for cookies for Santa, these Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies with Nutella Filling would totally fit the bill. 

These little hazelnut shortbread sandwich cookies are fabulously easy. Just make the dough, form it into a log, refrigerate it, and, when you are ready to make them, slice the dough and bake. Next, sandwich the cookies together with a dollop of Nutella in the center. 

Marbled Rye Bagels

These marbled rye bagels, with their wonderful hearty flavor, are the perfect vehicle for deli meats, smoked salmon, and delicious cheeses. 

I love bagels. I've posted lots of bagels here, including New York Water Bagels, Egg Bagels, Asiago Cheese Bagels, and Onion Bagels. Bagels are a wonderful bread with lots of tradition. They are typically made from a lean, stiff dough. 

Cranberry Orange Muffins

These cranberry orange muffins are a wonderful breakfast treat. The batter is flavored with orange juice and orange zest, and the muffins are filled with chopped cranberries. 

I'm always drawn to cranberries in muffins because I love the tartness of the cranberries balanced with the sweetness of the muffins. Some of my favorites include sourdough cranberry muffins and sourdough date nut cranberry muffins. 

Puff Pastry Tomato and Goat Cheese Pizzettes

These puff pastry tomato and goat cheese pizzettes are little flavorful two-inch rounds of tasty deliciousness. 

These little puff pastry tomato and goat cheese pizzettes are only about two inches across, are super light, and are wonderful as appetizers.

No Knead Rye Bread

This no knead rye bread is a great way to try your hand at baking with rye. It can be a tricky flour to work with, but this no knead recipe for rye bread is easy. 

This bread is hearty and delicious, but still light enough for sandwiches. You can make this bread with or without caraway seeds, which give this bread a more "deli rye" flavor. 

Parker House Rolls

 These Parker House Rolls are soft and fluffy, and wonderful served with your holiday dinner. 

 I've always wanted to try making Parker House Rolls. They are an American classic, originally recorded in the Fannie Farmer Boston Cooking School Cookbook, published in 1933. The rolls are soft and airy, and most of all, buttery.

Colombian Chicken and Potato Soup (Ajiaco)

Ajiaco, a chicken and potato soup from Colombia. It's typically served in a clay pot accompanied by avocado, crema, capers and corn on the cob. 

Ajiaco is a specialty of Bogotá, and typically includes three kinds of potatoes, including papas criollas, which are small yellow potatoes. They are hard to find outside of Colombia, so small Yukon gold or Dutch baby potatoes are good substitutes. 

Double Ginger & Grapefruit Cakes

These double ginger and grapefruit cakes start with super gingery cakes with a touch of grapefruit zest which are then topped with a sweet/tart grapefruit curd buttercream. 

The double ginger cakelets are super moist, plus, they stay fresh and moist for several days in an airtight container. 

Shrimp Mini Quiche Appetizers

These little shrimp mini quiches are the the perfect appetizer for any holiday gathering, including Thanksgiving. 

Mini quiches make an excellent appetizer, especially with cocktails. Some of my favorites including mini quiche Lorraine and bacon, leek, and cheddar mini quiches. Serve them with a little bubbly or cocktails before dinner. 

Cranberry Apple Crisp

 This cranberry apple crisp combines cranberries with both tart and sweet apples for a sweet/tart delicious dessert. It's topped with a nutritious topping of oats and pecans with some added golden flax seeds. 

Whenever fresh cranberries start showing up in the grocery store I am always inclined to toss a few bags into my shopping card, some to use right away, and some to freeze for all year long. They freeze so well! 

Broccoli Salad with Almonds and Cranberries

 This broccoli salad with almonds and cranberries is a crunchy and delicious addition to a Sunday picnic or family reunion. 

This broccoli salad is so nutritious. It's not the sugar, mayonnaise, and bacon version of a broccoli salad (although I luuurve that version). Instead, this broccoli salad is tossed with an avocado, lemon, and garlic dressing that lets the flavors of the broccoli, almonds, and cranberries shine through. 

Potato Focaccine

Potato focaccine is a version of an Italian snacking bread. Focaccines are mini focaccias, and can contain any typical focaccia ingredients and extras. 

The dough for these focaccine includes over a 35 percent potatoes to flour, which makes them less airy than most focaccia. They are soft and moist, and delicious for snacking. 

Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs

This Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs recipe is so easy to make and is such a delicious meal. Spaghetti and meatballs is such a throw back comfort dish, and making it from scratch in a multi-cooker is a cinch.

This spaghetti and meatball dish is made entirely in the Instant Pot/Multicooker. The only other dish you will get dirty is the bowl in which you mix the meatball ingredients. 

No Knead Whole Wheat Bread

This whole wheat no knead bread is hearty and delicious and it's an easy bread for beginners. 

 This bread is 1/3 whole wheat and 2/3 bread flour. Plus, there's some lager beer in there to add some extra oomph to the yeast and vinegar to add some extra sour flavor to the dough.

Maple Sugar Cookies

 These maple sugar cookies are extra special. They include maple syrup and vanilla in both the cookies and the icing that you drizzle over the top of the cookies. They are thin, soft, chewy, and delicious. 

This post is part of Christmas Cookies Week. I received product to use for this post. As always, all opinions are my own. 

These sugar cookies have a lovely maple and vanilla flavor an the dough is so easy to pull together. The cookies are soft and chewy, and the maple icing is such a delicious finishing touch. 

Sweet Potato Pecan Cookies

 These sweet potato pecan cookies with maple cream cheese frosting are soft and fluffy and flavored with cinnamon and vanilla. 

These cookies take the flavors of a sweet potato casserole and rolls them up into a soft fluffy cake-like cookie. It's a great way to get your vegetables.... in a cookie! 

Ricotta Calzones with Spinach and Sausage

These calzones are stuffed with a mixture of ricotta, spinach, and hot Italian sausage. The filling reminds me of the filling for ravioli, with three cheeses, garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. The results are amazing. 

This ricotta calzone also includes Parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese, which all come together to form a melty and delicious filling. It's kind of like an outside in pizza. 

Melting Snowman Cookies

 These melting snowman cookies are totally fun to make, and the combination of peanut butter and chocolate is so tasty. 

Everyone who tried these cookies all agreed that they were both adorable and delicious. Between the Peanut Butter Cup hat and the soft chocolate and peanut butter cookie base, these were a huge hit. 

Hearty Slow Fermented Rustic Bread

This hearty loaf, made with bread flour, whole wheat flour, and a paté fermentée, is slowly fermented in the refrigerator to develop maximum flavor. 

The formula for this bread begins with a pâte fermentée, which is a mix of flour, water, salt, and yeast that is mixed about 8 to 24 hours before before you bake your bread. 

Thanksgiving Leftover Mashed Potatoes and Stuffing Pancakes

Thanksgiving leftover mashed potatoes and stuffing pancakes - little pan-fried cakes of mashed potatoes infused with your favorite stuffing.

 I love making Thanksgiving dinner for my family. First, it's just us, our kids, and my grandkids, so the audience is always accepting, and my single oven can handle the meal.

Wild Rice and Broccoli Casserole

 This wild rice and broccoli casserole is such a glorious side dish for the holidays. 

This broccoli and rice casserole is packed with flavor. It begins with a blend of wild, red, brown, and white rice, which is mixed with blanched broccoli and an amazing homemade cream of mushroom soup. 

Beef Satay with Peanut Sauce

This beef satay with peanut sauce is a great appetizer. Everyone loves food on sticks, right? The beef is thinly sliced and cooked over high heat and then dipped in the most flavorful peanut sauce. 

These skewers of flavorful beef are so easy to make and so crave worthy. Between the marinated beef and the sweet and spicy peanut sauce, you will adore the flavors in this easy to make dish. 

No Knead Cloverleaf Dinner Rolls

 These no knead cloverleaf dinner rolls are perfect for pulling from the oven and immediately turning out into the bread basket for holiday dinners. 

I absolutely love warm dinner rolls for the holidays, as you can tell by the number of times I've posted dinner roll recipes. I've got recipes for big batch dinner rolls, make-ahead buttermilk dinner rolls (which are so convenient). no knead rustic dinner rolls, and par-baked dinner rolls (also super convenient). 

Roasted Pear, Parmesan, and Spiced Pecan Salad

This roasted pear, Parmesan, and spiced pecan salad is so refreshing, and it was the perfect dinner this weekend when I wanted something light. It's a tasty combination of sweet pears, salty cheese, peppery arugula, and spicy pecans.

I found some huge Asian pears in my local grocery store. They may be a bit pricey, but they were perfect for roasting, and just burst with juice when we sliced into them. In addition, I found some authentic Parmigiano Reggiano yesterday that I couldn't resist.

Potato Stacks with Herbs and Cheese

 These creamy potato stacks are infused with garlic and thyme and topped with melty Gruyère cheese. 

These little potato stacks with herbs and cheese are tiny potato casseroles perfectly sized for individual servings. They are wonderful as a holiday side dish, breakfast potatoes with eggs and bacon, and especially as a hearty appetizer for a cocktail party. 

Corn and Jalapeño Rolls

These corn and jalapeño rolls are soft, slightly sweet, and have a little kick from the jalapeño. 

These rolls are really special. They are a little bit sweet, completely soft, and wonderful paired with chili or used as sandwich or burger buns. You can even make them a little smaller for sliders! 

Date, Prune, and Dried Cherry Muffins

These dried fruit muffins are loaded with dates, prunes, and dried cherries that have been macerated in warm apple juice to make the fruit soft and juicy. 

If you're looking for a fruit-filled muffin to start your day, these muffins are for you. Plus, these muffins were a great way to clear out some dried fruit that I had in my pantry from other recipes. I had dates leftover from making a date and roiboos cake, and prunes leftover from making a slow cooker Chicken Marbella. 

The Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

This wedge salad recipe, with one of the most amazing Danish blue cheese dressings, will take you back to the 1950s and 1960s. It begins with a wedge of iceberg lettuce, which is surrounded by bacon and tomatoes, and drizzled with an amazing blue cheese dressing. 

 

Iceberg wedges with blue cheese and bacon were common on restaurant menus in the 1950s and 1960s, but kind of fell out of favor in the 1970s, when darker, more delicate leafy greens were recognized as more nutritious. 

Slow Cooker Chile Verde with Pork

This slow cooker chile verde, pork shoulder slow simmered in a sauce of tomatillos and a variety of roasted chiles, is so good. 

Serve this delicious pork chile verde stew alongside rice and beans and warm tortillas. It's a classic Mexican dish. 

Malted Chocolate Cake with Bailey's Irish Cream Ganache

This malted chocolate cake with Baileys Irish Cream ganache was a little bit of work, but still, it was fun to make. Plus, it's coated in a chocolatey ganache. 

The cake is flavored with dark chocolate and malted milk powder, just like the Ovaltine you remember from your childhood. 

Air Fryer Pork and Vegetable Spring Rolls

If you are not a fan of deep frying, try making these air fryer pork and vegetable spring rolls. They are absolutely wonderful and crispy good. 

I recently made some deep fried vegetarian Chinese spring rolls with an online group of friends, and one of our members tried making them in an air fryer. I was totally intrigued. Besides, I had a lot of napa cabbage in my refrigerator. 

Garlic Soup with Gruyère Cheese Toast

This creamy soup is the garlicky version of French onion soup. Even though it is loaded with garlic and onions, the flavor is mellow, smooth, and beyond tasty. 

This soup has so much garlic that you can rest assured that the vampires won't be knocking on your door. 

Nebraskan Runzas

Runzas are a pocket sandwich where a filling of ground beef, cabbage, and onions are baked in a yeasted dough. They are also known as bierocks and krautburgers. 

 

The theory of their origination is that they are from Russia or Germany, and came to the U.S. via the Volga Germans who settled in Nebraska, Kansas, and North and South Dakota in the 1900s. 

Creamy Crab Soup

 Creamy crab soup loaded with chopped vegetables and lots of crab meat. 

This crab soup is a combination of elegance and comfort in a bowl. Plus, even though this soup is creamy, it is actually fairly light. There is only a half cup of cream in the six cups of liquid. Instead, the soup is also thickened with some dissolved cornstarch or arrowroot.