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I make lots of homemade tomato sauce, especially in the cooler months. Pasta is one of my family’s favorites and I prefer to make tasteful, healthy sauce from scratch since we eat it so frequently. There are several ways to make tomato sauce and I’ve highlighted my favorite recipes here in the past. But recently I’ve discovered this cool trick to making the sauce super duper silky.

I think roasted delicata squash rings are better than steak fries. Those words carry weight, my friends, because I love steak fries. But delicata rise above the fried potato for me because they are simply more flavorful, easier to make at home, and much healthier for you in a baked-not-fried way. Making them doesn’t require any fancy technique or crazy recipe, but it bears reviewing now and again. I like to add a splash of balsamic syrup to mine for a little extra flavor and color, but you can leave them plain if you want. Here is how I make them and a fun way to serve them:

There is no limit to the amount of apples I want to cook/eat/bake this time of year. We’ve even been working double-time to acquire them. I’ve been buying them up at the grocery store and farmer’s market, and picking them straight from the source. I would worry that we are drowning in apples if I didn’t have some many things to make with them. So far I’ve revisited a few old favorites and made this new one. It is a simple apple loaf studded with a brown sugar streusel. But instead of being flavored with chopped apples throughout, the apples are spread in one even layer near the top of the loaf. So when you cut into it and find the apple layer it is like a sweet little surprise inside.

One of the few kitchen appliances I’ve never purchased is a rice cooker. I am pretty good at cooking rice on the stovetop so it never seemed crucial to have one. Would we eat more rice if I had one at the ready all the time? Probably. So when Panasonic asked me to test out a SR-DF101 rice cooker and participate in their #RiseandShine Better Breakfast Month I figured it was a good idea. It was the perfect opportunity to finally test this appliance everyone loves and see just how versatile it is.

As I mentioned this summer, I am slowly dipping my toe into wine writing and have been teaching myself about wine bit by bit. It is so much fun, but also very hard. Sometimes I fall so in love with a wine that I want to serve it with everything I make forever and ever. I have to force myself to take a break from it, move on, and try something new. Not always easy! Tasting wine is all about detecting nuances in flavor and texture which, I find, can be so much harder than declaring a recipe a success or failure. I am loving the new challenge and doing my best to keep track of my tasting notes. Here are a few new favorites I’ve been loving so far this fall:

We are huge pancake fans and this fall I’ve been all about flavoring mine with fresh fruit. So far I’ve made them with strawberries, blueberries, and pumpkin. And now I’m addicted to my newest favorite: grated pear. These easy to make breakfast cakes are simply awesome for fall. They taste just like a pie and feature all of my favorite warm spices of these season.

This is a short post today because I am still all blissed on my birthday week high. (As I’ve said before, I am not one to shy away from getting older!) Over the weekend I enjoyed my yearly tradition of baking my own birthday cake. My daughter served as my trusty sous chef while I baked up this delicious treat. It is rich chocolate cake frosted with chocolate peppermint glaze. In short, it is like an inside out peppermint patty, or like a soft thin mint cookie. Take your pick. In short, it is chocolate mint heaven. If you have a birthday coming up soon I highly recommend baking this up and serving everyone you love a thick slice!

I am still getting used to quinoa. It is a not a food I grew up eating. In fact, I didn’t really try it until maybe five years ago. It wasn’t because I was purposely trying to avoid it, it was just so off the beaten path. And, to be honest, I didn’t think I’d have time to master it given that I was still on baby #1 and trying to get quick meals on table. Fast forward a few years and now I am braver and more intrigued. I like quinoa. It serves a great backdrop to lots of flavorful healthy foods and can be used in so many dishes. I still, however, look for recipes using quinoa for ideas on what to make. I am not a pro at whipping up amazing quinoa salads with no guidance whatsoever. So when I saw this recipe on Megan’s website I knew I had to try it. It was full of flavor and green vegetables and perfect for getting on the table in a jiffy.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending an event to kick-off Childhood Cancer Awareness Month at OXO in New York City. The evening featured the fantastically talented, and one of my most favorite food writers, Dorie Greenspan. She is working with OXO and Gretchen Witt to raise awareness for the Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, a charity I love and have written about before. So, basically this event combined three of my favorite things: Dorie + Cookies for Kids’ Cancer + OXO. It was a total win.

Not only does back-to-school season necessitate lots of new lunchbox packing ideas, it also calls for easy, family-pleasing weeknight meal recipes. My family loves pizza in all shapes and sizes, so we took our love for pizza one step further this fall with these cool pizza pockets. I use fresh store-bought pizza dough from our local pizza parlor, lots of naturally delicious Arla Dofino cheese, pizza sauce and any other toppings we want to try.