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Right after we moved my friends at T-Fal sent me a new Wolfgang Puck Oven for our new kitchen. I was so excited to try it out because I needed a countertop oven to help me with recipe testing. Plus, I like using countertop ovens to reheat food. The interesting thing about this oven is that not only can you bake small trays of cookies and cook everyday chicken, you can also use it as a pressure oven. I did not have a lot of experience with a pressure oven when I go it, but I do now and it is great!

I have to admit, my favorite thing about Thanksgiving isn’t the turkey, it’s the side dishes. I love the potatoes, green beans, hot rolls, squash, and just about anything else that is surrounding the bird. During the fall I don’t find myself experimenting with turkey recipes, I focus on new side dish ideas. I am always looking for new favorites, ways to prepare a soup or vegetable I haven’t tried before. This year my latest favorite is this cheesy butternut squash casserole. It is salt, sweet, and hearty enough to be a side dish at one of the biggest meals of the year.

Now that we are finally getting settled in we are talking about hosting our first party in our new house. I imagine it will be sometime this winter and we’ll serve up cold-weather comfort food, wine, and a great cocktail. Maybe we’ll have a chili party or something fun like that! One thing that is without a doubt is that we’ll be serving this simple dip. I love making it for all sorts of occasions and I expect I’ll even be making it later this month for Thanksgiving. It is that good.

It is not an exaggeration for me to say that Dorie Greenspan is my baking idol. And I am not saying that because I want to win any sort of contest. It is the honest to goodness truth that I love her writing and her work and deeply admire her dedication baking in the home kitchen. So, when I was invited to join in the Cookie Rumble with Dorie, Jacques Torres, and Fonseca BIN 71, I couldn’t say no! For my entry I am submitting these tasty salted butter blondies topped with figs poached in port and a brown sugar streusel.

With the holidays coming up I am starting to think about feeding a crowd in our new house. I like to try to make our festive meals from scratch and it is always a bit of a juggling act with only one oven. When I think about my dream kitchen renovation one of the things I want to build in is a double wall oven. I’ve never had a double oven and it seems like it would make cooking for a crowd a million times easier. How great would it be to be able to roast a turkey in one oven while baking all the side dishes in the other?!  Two ovens would also make recipe testing easier. I could make dinner while still working on a new cake recipe. Here is what I am thinking:

Today I am working with my friends at King Arthur Flour to do a fun fall baking giveaway and to talk quick breads. As you know, I am huge fan of quick breads. I love making them for school snack, serving them up on weekend mornings, and taking them to friends just because. What is not to love about a slice of warm bread with a cup of hot tea on a chilly fall day?!

After my trip to the Greenwich Food + Wine Festival I got thinking more about weeknight meals. I loved Sara Moulton’s and Richard Blais’ presentations, but they didn’t really feature a lot of cheese. However, the dishes they made could feature plenty of cheese. In my year of working with Sargento I have had a lot of fun documenting the popular food trends of food trucks and mushrooms but it really all comes back to the cheese. I am no stranger to cheesy weeknight meals and I wondered if I could take Sara’s and Richard’s dishes and make them a little cheesier, so to speak.

Today I am stopping in with a quick, healthy fall snack I think you will love. In keeping with pumpkin obsession this month, the other day I made this delicious fall flavored hummus. It was a great new twist on our regular homemade hummus and paired beautifully with salty cracker and crudite. We loved the overtones of pumpkin in the silky smooth dip. I added a little extra olive oil on top for an extra-decadent touch, but you can decide if you want to do that once you’ve made it. While I can’t exactly hand this out on Halloween night, I can definitely pack it in my daughter’s lunchboxl. It will be terrific paired with some salty pepitas and her favorite carrot sticks in a fall snack.

We love grilling even when the temperatures begins to drop. However, we do draw the line at grilling when there is actual snow outside. Since the move our grill has been sitting in the basement. We plan to get it out again soon, but that is pretty far down our to-do list at this point. Instead, as luck would have it, I was sent a new OptiGrill in the mail to try at home and that is what we have been using. It ideal for indoor grilling any night of the week. I find it especially easy since it means I don’t have to run outside and light the coals while I juggle the kids dinner time as well.

It is finally (finally!) pumpkin season and I am having a blast baking up sweet treats. First up, I made two batches of pumpkin bars back-to-back last weekend. The recipe is in the book. Honestly, it is such a great recipe it is worth buying the book just for that! Then, over the weekend, my daughter and I baked up this sweet loaf and added a generous swath of cream cheese frosting for good measure.

There comes a time every fall when I feel I must, simply must, have a cheesy casserole for dinner. It kind of like the way I crave soup the second I see snow, and want fresh pesto the moment spring flowers bloom. This year I decided to take my craving to the meatless side and make a decadent mac and cheese ramped up with the addition of sweet caramelized onions and earthy mushrooms.

The first thing I cooked in our new home was acorn squash. When I wandered into Whole Foods, exhausted from unpacking, I immediately spotted the seasonal vegetable display and instantly knew that is what I needed to make. Squash is one of our favorite fall vegetables and I cook it as often as possible when it is available. I like to prepare it simply, roasted with oil and sprinkled with a little browned butter and Parmesan. I love the sweet flavor and autumnal aroma that wafts through the kitchen as it roasts.