We are getting into the cooler months around here which means hot breakfasts are becoming the norm again. Lately I’ve been on a french toast kick and have been having fun making this slow cooker version. It is super easy to prepare ahead of time and guarantees a delicious breakfast each morning.

The basic gist of this recipe is that a delicious challah bread pudding is prepared in a slow cooker and left to cook in low heat overnight. In the morning it is sliced up and served with fresh bananas and maple syrup. It honestly couldn’t be easier.

When people ask me for the simplest side dish on the planet, I recommend baked potatoes. There is hardly anything easier than baking a potato and slathering it with some butter for a quick bite. Sometimes, I like to take them up a notch and fill them with seasoned vegetables and a little cheese. This way, they can either be a heartier side dish or a small meal on their own. Here is how I do it:

Apple Pie Tacos

4-Ingredient Candy Corn Fudge

Holiday Moscow Mule: Cranberry Ginger Fizz

Pretzel Bowls with Cheddar Bacon Dip

51 Delicious Recipes to Make with a Can of Pumpkin

Time to end the week on a sweet note. These soft gooey cookies are just the thing to kick off your fall baking fun. I made them last week when my daughter requested a change from everyday chocolate chip. The batter comes together in a snap and tastes even better if you are able to let it rest overnight before baking it. We used butterscotch chips because they are a recent favorite of ours. These are best enjoyed with a big glass of milk!

Fall and winter are my favorite seasons for baking. I love it when my kitchen is filled with the aroma of warm spices and sweet nibbles. In fact, it won’t be too long before I start making and freezing cookie dough for our Christmas cookie platters this year. It is one of my favorite ways to get a jump start on the season and it always puts me in the holiday mood. (More tips about that in my book!) Here is some of my favorite fall baking gear:

Pumpkin loaf pan for making the cutest loaves of banana and pumpkin bread. (Williams-Sonoma, $26)

A gorgeous stoneware tart pan so you can go from oven to buffet in style. (Food52 Shop, $75)

Fall is the start of soup season in our house. Out goes gazpacho and in comes cozy smooth soups full of texture in flavor. This is the season I also find myself ordering soup when I am at restaurants in lieu of a starter salad. I love how it warms me up and prepares my palate for an exciting meal.

A recent decrease in temperature motivated me to make my first soup of the season. The recipe was inspired by a cup of San Marzano tomato soup I enjoyed at Bouchon Bakery when we were in Napa last spring. The flavors were bright and clear with lots of sweet tomato and a hint of basil. Since I had some fennel on hand I also decided to add it to the recipe to give it a woodsy undertone. I opted out of the grilled cheese croutons, but they would be delicious if you wanted to add them for crunch! The resulting soup was a fantastic treat we were pleased to slurp down on a cool fall day. I even added meatballs to it the next day for a simple lunch.

My friend Jocelyn has the coolest blog called Grandbaby Cakes. If you haven’t read it before, go over and read it right away. It is full of warmth and love and amazing recipes! This year she also came out with her first book, Grandbaby Cakes: Modern Recipes, Vintage Charm, Soulful Memories. It is chock full of recipes for cakes inspired by her family, specifically her grandparents, and they all look so delicious and lovely I want to make every single one. Today I am thrilled to share a little chat I had with Jocelyn and give away a copy of her book!

1) This is the warmest, most soulful baking book I’ve read in a long time. How did you come to writing a baking book full of new takes on family recipes? There are so many good ones, your whole family must bake!

First of all thank you so so much for the compliment.  When thinking about the process of creating this book, I realized there were soooo many recipes in my family that ranged from sweet to savory.  My publisher and I thought it would be great to start with my roots and give people some idea of what Grandbaby Cakes is all about so that’s why we narrowed in on cakes specifically.  I also wanted to make sure that the book wasn’t just a collection of old recipes that many people may already have enough of.  My intention was to create new classics with my funky hip sensibilities, modern flavors and a lot of soul so I really hope I did that.

My friend Lauren and her husband recently gave their old house a modern makeover. I particularly love their kitchen because it both perfectly reflects their minimal modern style and is completely functional. Sometimes I find the prettiest kitchens are not the easiest for cooking in, but this is not the case here! They have three young children and an active dog so making a space that could handles spills, dings, and noise was of paramount importance. I think they did a wonderful job. Come take a look:

Here is a photo of the space before the renovation. It was small and cramped and didn’t reflect their modern style. The first thing they did was knock down walls and expand the kitchen footprint to form the current space.

When I was at General Mills last week I had the best time baking up a storm in the Betty Crocker Test Kitchens. I was so happy to be there I would’ve made just about anything that wanted me to. But this time they had a challenge for us: bake a new breakfast food with cereal. It is always a fun challenge to be forced to think outside the box, especially since I usually just eat cereal in the bowl or tossed on top of yogurt.

Last week I spent an inspiring two days at the General Mills headquarters in Minneapolis, MN. I have a long history as a Cheerios eater and have bought their cereals for my children for many years. While I express concern in general about things like artificial colors and ingredients, I don’t worry about their line of cereals. This recent announcement put my mind at ease.

Still, I was so curious to learn more about General Mills since it a big food company which can be a bit mysterious and hard to crack. Here a few things that I learned and came to love about the company: