Most of our mothers served us chicken noodle or chicken and rice soup when we weren’t feeling so hot as kids. Creamy, salty, soothing and fortifying, a hearty and yet light soup like this is guaranteed to make you feel better. And the good news is, you don’t have to pretend you’re too sick to go to school these days in order to find yourself gratefully slurping up a bowl.
It’s officially autumn, and it finally feels like it: the nip in the air, the toasty smell of changing leaves on the wind, the shorter days and chillier nights. This is the time of year when we’re blessed with abundant butternut squash. One of my favorite ways to enjoy this squash is blended into a smooth, naturally creamy soup. Hearty and surprisingly rich, a
Pumpkin is one of those ingredients that we go absolutely nuts for during the few months of the year when it’s available. These delectable, tender, buttery pancakes make excellent use of this seasonal specialty. The spiced maple syrup is just the icing on the (pan)cake! These are perfect for making a holiday breakfast truly special.
Sometimes there’s nothing better than a simple, buttery, tender sugar cookie. And no bakery can replicate the pure perfection of these delicate, flaky cookies. Flavorful and sweet from the addition of both vanilla and almond extracts, a little bit soft and a little bit crunchy from the decorating sugar on top, these are a cinch to whip up. But you don’t have to tell your sweetheart that. Place a cooled stack of these cookies in a celophane bag and tie with a ribbon to present to your loved one (or your girlfriends if you’re boycotting Valentine’s Day this year — it happens, and it doesn’t mean that you should be deprived of cookies this good and so addictive that yours truly recently downed eight in the course of a single evening… in the name of research, of course.)
Happy Valentine’s Day.