Buckwheat Pancakes

Nutty and funky, buckwheat adds extra flavor to your morning pancakes

Ready for some pancakes (aka griddlecakes)? Now’s the perfect season. Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras) is next week – and pancakes traditionally are on the menu.

These buckwheat beauties take pancakes up a notch. Because we like to buck the trend.

Pumpkin Pancakes

Top with butter and maple syrup for a breakfast blowout

Looking to feed a breakfast crowd on Thanksgiving morning? Or maybe the day after? We’ve got you covered.

Canned pumpkin purée provides the base flavor for these Pumpkin Pancakes. Then we add pumpkin-pie spices for extra zest. It all makes for an exceptionally tasty treat.

So maybe prepare an extra big batch? Because these will go like, well, hotcakes.

Southwest-Style Chicken (or Turkey) Chowder

A quick and delicious way to use leftover cooked poultry

Have leftover cooked chicken or turkey? Need a warming, comforting dish to chase away the chill? Try this chowder. It’s a spicy mix of ingredients that you may already have on hand. Perfect pantry cooking!

Best thing about this dish is it’s ready in under an hour, start to finish. And you can freeze leftovers, so you’ll have another meal ready to go in minutes.

Winter never tasted so good.

Kentucky Hot Brown Sandwich

This legendary dish is the perfect home for leftover turkey

Thanksgiving dinner is grand. But then come the leftovers. Turkey again?

No worries. Give those stray slices some swagger in this scrumptious sandwich.

The Kentucky Hot Brown (aka Hot Brown, aka Louisville Hot Brown) is an open-faced turkey sandwich smothered in tangy, cheesy Mornay sauce.

It’s quick and easy to make. So you can get out of the kitchen in plenty of time for those Black Friday sales.

Chicken or Turkey Tetrazzini

This baked pasta favorite will liven up your leftovers

It’s November, so there may be turkey in your future. Which means turkey leftovers. Give them a home in this traditional pasta dish and no one will complain about eating remakes. 

And you don’t need to stop with turkey. Tetrazzini works with chicken too. Not to mention seafood and ham.

You may even want to save some leftovers and make this dish for dinner guests. That’s our favorite kind of recycling.

Corned Beef, Cabbage, and Potato Gratin

This easy casserole makes a one-dish St. Patrick’s Day meal

Ready for St. Pat’s Day? Craving some corned beef and cabbage, but don’t have the time to make it? We’ve got the solution.

This dish combines the three most popular elements of a traditional St. Patrick’s Day dinner – corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes – into one scrumptious dish. And you can use deli corned beef rather than cooking your own – a real time saver.

So you’ll have more time to celebrate. You lucky leprechaun, you.

The Milk Punch Cocktail

What Santa really wants you to leave out for him

Milk and cookies—that’s what kids will be setting out for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. But we think ol’ Saint Nick might prefer something with a bit more, um, substance.

Enter the Milk Punch Cocktail: All the goodness of milk. All the fun of booze.

You can serve this drink chilled, or warm up the milk and serve it hot on a snowy evening. Best of all, the Milk Punch Cocktail is refreshing, and not too heavy—just what Santa needs. After all, you want him to be able to get back up the chimney.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

A perfect starter for festive winter meals

December means parties, entertaining, and festive events all around. So we need to whip up some guest-pleasing delights—especially if we’re hosting big dinners.

Main courses always seem to sort themselves out, but what about starters? We want something hearty (to take the edge off those winter appetites). Something out of the ordinary, too—but not difficult to make.

So how about cooking up some homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup? It’s rich and delicious, but not time-consuming.

Once you try it, you’ll never go back to the canned stuff. Ever.

Blueberry Flaugnarde (Flan)

This classic French dessert is a simple (yet elegant) way to enjoy summer blueberries

We’ve been enjoying sensational blueberries in our part of the world for the past several weeks. We eat them as snacks, mixed into salads, doused in cream—and of course baked into desserts.

Speaking of which, one of the best desserts we’ve made this year is Blueberry Flaugnarde, a classic French dish. It’s quick and easy to make, and the blueberries just sing with flavor.

Blueberry Flaugnarde is also reasonably light, so it won’t weigh you down during these last hot days of summer. And it’s good hot from the oven, chilled from the fridge, or at room temperature. Perfect for a Labor Day cookout, don’t you think?

Celery, Corn, and Bacon Chowder

Celery takes the lead role in this hearty dish

We all have celery in the fridge, right? Usually a wilted, half-used head buried deep in the vegetable bin. 

Most of us wouldn’t even think of using celery as a main ingredient. But I say it’s about time this shy veggie got some love.

Our Celery, Corn, and Bacon Chowder highlights the flavor of celery—in a warming comfort food. And with the cold, snowy weather we’ve been having in most of the US lately, I need all the warming comfort I can get.

Winter Squash, Corn, and Bacon Chowder

Perfect for those who think they don’t like winter squash

Chowder? Isn’t that about seafood?

Well, yes, often it is. But “chowder” is really just a generic name for a type of hearty stew—usually one that’s cream- or milk-based, and typically thickened with potatoes or crackers.

So why not a chowder built around winter squash? Squash has great flavor and is abundant in grocery stores throughout the US this time of year. Mix in some corn and bacon, and you’ve got a dish with magical flavor.

Dished up in quantity, this chowder makes a great main course for weekday dining. Ladled out by the cupful, it’s a starter you’d be proud to serve to company. No clams needed.

Grape Flaugnarde (Flan)

An Elegant (But Light and Easy) French Dessert That’s Perfect for Entertaining

Grape flaugnarde is a pie-shaped French dessert that’s nothing more than grapes covered with a flavorful custard, and baked until it achieves a flan-like consistency. (Some people might call this dessert a clafoutis, though that’s technically incorrect, as we discuss below.)

Outside of fancy restaurants, most people in the US would probably just call this a flan because it looks and tastes like, well, flan. With grapes baked into it.

Whatever you call it, this is a great dessert to serve with an elaborate meal — the type of festive fare you might make for company. After a rich dinner, the last thing I want is a heavy dessert. Which is why this dish fits in so perfectly:  It’s fairly light, and not overly sweet.

Although not a heavy dish, it packs tremendous flavor into each slice. And it’s so good that your guests might forget about that big meal they’ve just had, and request a second slice of flaugnarde.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Gratin Dauphinois

French for Fancy Scalloped Potatoes

OK, there’s a slight difference:  Scalloped Potatoes often are sliced more thickly, and the dish can be made without cheese.  Gratin Dauphinois always contains cheese — which helps make it rich and creamy.

But if you know how to make Scalloped Potatoes, you already know how to make Gratin Dauphinois.  And even if you don’t know how to make Scalloped Potatoes, no worries:  This is an easy dish.

When you bring your Scalloped Potatoes Gratin Dauphinois to the table and tell your guests what you’re serving, they’ll be impressed.  What a fancy dish!  French, too.  Who knew you were such an accomplished cook? 

But just wait until they taste it.  You’ll want to cover your ears, because their cheering will be that loud.

Best Chocolate Drop Cookie Ever

My Great-Grandmother’s Recipe Delivers Moist Richness

Who doesn’t like chocolate?  And who doesn’t like a good chocolate cookie?

The trouble is, a really delicious chocolate cookie can be hard to find.  A lot of chocolate cookies look great.  But when you bite into them?  Meh.  Dull flavor.  Chalky texture.   Sometimes acidic or bitter undertones.

So let me introduce my great-grandmother.  She baked one of the best chocolate cookies ever.  They’re moist and rich, with a deep chocolate flavor.

Rich & Easy Bread Pudding

Eggy Goodness Lurks Beneath a Crisp Crust  

Bread pudding is right up there on my list of comfort foods.  Lots of smooth custardy carbs sharpened by raisin and cinnamon highlights.  A touch of dark rum (some prefer bourbon) to provide a bass note.  Maybe a bit of powdered sugar on top for extra decadence.  What’s not to like?

Well, all that great flavor does pack a few calories.  And my scale groans a bit if I overindulge.  So bread pudding is an occasional treat for me (and, I suspect, for many of us).  Which means when we have this dish, we want it to be really, really good.

Fortunately, Mrs. Kitchen Riffs — who is the dessert supremo in our household — has a deft hand when it comes to mixing up a batch of bread pudding.

Make that a mean batch of bread pudding.