Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes

I have always thought that pancakes were the most overrated breakfast food.  There’s nothing objectionable about them, but given the choice between those and other breakfast goodies – waffles, and omelets, and bagels with lox, pancakes just always have seemed boring to me. I may be coming around though because these were delicious.  Something about [...]

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Dark Days Week 12 – Pear and Autumn Vegetable Soup

A slightly more sophisticated looking dinner than last week, using very similar ingredients. And, this soup rocked.  Butternut squash, pear, and turnip?  Yes, please.  I already had one standard butternut squash soup recipe, but now it has competition in the rotation.  You can definitely taste the pear in it, though the spicy turnip balances everything [...]

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Cranberry Thing

I wanted to make a cranberry dessert for a Thanksgiving potluck.  Martha Stewart had this recipe for a New England Cranberry Duff. I am from New England and have never heard of a duff before.  After playing around with The Google and learning way more about this dude than I have ever cared to know, I learned that it’s usually made with [...]

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Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Apple Cider Sauce

I really like gnocchi.  I usually cheat when I eat it, and use a package from Trader Joe’s.  I made ricotta gnocchi once, and while it was good, it was too rich for me to want to eat regularly. This gnocchi recipe, however, is awesome.  I want to make it all the time.    It’s labor intensive, but totally worth [...]

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The Perfect Meal

Every now and then, I see a recipe and it looks so perfect that I must make it immediately.   October’s Martha Stewart contained one of those.   The recipe takes a bit of time, but it’s completely worth it.  It’s delicious, it’s cheap, it uses a lot of ingredients that I keep in the pantry, it’s [...]

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Sunny Cupcakes

I should have known from the moment I saw these in the February 2009 Martha Stewart Living, that they would be another labor of love.  But I’m a sucker for pretty foods and I didn’t listen to the little voice in my head telling me that my cupcakes would never be as gorgeous as Martha’s. [...]

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Butternut Squash Risotto

Our CSA has given us a ton of butternut squash this year.  It started back in October or November, and we’ve gotten one or two in almost every single box since then.  I hadn’t cooked much of it in my life, just a soup or two really, but now I’m a pro.   And, it’s been [...]

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Easiest Appetizers Ever

I have found that the vast majority of fun appetizer recipes involve carbs with a topping.  Canapes, bruschetta, and even just a cheese tray are all essentially the same thing.  Crackers or bread with stuff on them.  Which is fine, but when you are serving pizza for dinner, bruschetta is a pretty lame appetizer. This [...]

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Saffron-Scented Pear Upside-Down Cake

Pears + Saffron + Ginger = Heaven And, this cake is really easy to make. Ingredients Vegetable oil cooking spray Pinch of saffron threads 1 cup sugar 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened 2 Comice pears, (6 to 7 ounces each) 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon ground [...]

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Apple Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Buttercream

Yum. These cupcakes were so good. They are pure Martha Magic. They are not too sweet and incredibly moist. They taste like apple cider. The buttercream works perfectly with them, though they would probably be good on their own with just a dusting of powdered sugar. To Make the Cupcakes Makes 2 Dozen Ingredients 2 [...]

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