To my mind, brown betties belong to that same class of obscure and creatively-named Early American fruit desserts as crisps, cobblers, and pandowdies. But the key ingredient in the case of a brown betty is not flaky pie crust or rich cake or even dollops of biscuit. No, for a brown betty, you need plain old sandwich bread. More

Since Thanksgiving is virtually around the corner, and now is the time for orange vegetables to assert their place, I felt it was high time to re-introduce you to my favorite sweet potato gratin recipe. This is a smoky, rich gratin, with a streak of caramelized onions and garlic sandwiched between layers of sweet potatoes baked in cream. I hate to sound like I am bragging, but just to put it in perspective, every time I have served this, grownups have literally licked their plates and groaned aloud.

What I can say? It's the power of sweet potatoes in cream. More

Last week Sara Kate showed you her favorite way to use up a lot of odds and ends from the pantry and fridge: Free-form soup. Here's one more way to use up little scraps of cheese, vegetables, herbs, nuts, and even beans that you would like to sweep out of your pantry. Pasta casserole! More

Lasagna is the quintessential easy–to–throw–together, comforting, affordable and satisfying dish to serve a crowd. Think of the bubbly cheesiness being cut through by bright tomato sauce and perfectly cooked noodles. It's the perfect food!

This recipe also includes my secret weapon ingredient, which lightens the richness up a smidge and no one will ever know. Can you guess what this mystery item is? Don't knock it till you try it! More

One of the things I love most about pasta is how accommodating it is to any time schedule. Have a weekend to roll homemade dough and stuff pockets of ravioli with hand-pulled mozzarella? Go for it, baby. Have an afternoon to slow-cook a perfect meaty ragù? The rewards will be rich.

But let's say you need to prep dinner in 10 minutes or less. You can't even boil a pot of water in that amount of time — but pasta is still your friend! Meet the no-boil pasta bake. More

I am definitely a cold weather cook. Even in the spring and summer I can't seem to stop braising meats and baking casseroles. Comfort food is definitely a major theme in my kitchen. And while exploring Southern cuisine — which is the ultimate comfort food in my book — is my passion, I also enjoy exploring the comfort foods of other nations. More

Homemade macaroni and cheese is almost always a Good Thing, but is Martha Stewart's recipe perhaps the best of all? Food52 has declared it a "genius recipe" and explains why this version of mac and cheese — creamy, sharp and capped with a layer of crunchy croutons — is a keeper. More

I love sweet potato casserole, but not the overly sweet brown sugar and marshmallow versions found on many Thanksgiving tables in the United States. The sweet potato dish I'm interested in is closer to a gratin, with a big push towards the savory to play off of the natural sweetness of the potatoes. To do this I use herbs, garlic, parmesan cheese and smoked paprika (or chipotle if I'm in the mood to add heat.) Read on for my recipe! More

I live on big, hearty salads in the summer. Dinners just seem to make themselves with farmers' market tomatoes, greens, little potatoes and corn. But as evenings get cooler, I turn to meals that are heartier and often warm but still feature seasonal greens — like a casserole made with collard greens and cornmeal biscuits, or another made from baked polenta! More

This, if you can't tell, is an enormous zucchini. It's the the type that shows up this time of year, somehow having hid beneath leaves all summer long until reaching proportions too gargantuan to ignore. There's only one thing to do with a zucchini of this size: stuff it. More