Home cooks have to be a careful when it comes to a cookbook written by a restaurant chef. There often can be a disconnect between what it takes to get restaurant food onto our home tables when we don't have exotic ingredients flown to our doors and a dozen employees to prep them, not to mention years of professional training and the extraordinarily high btu's of a huge, multi-burner professional stove. So when I picked up San Francisco chef Mitch Rosenthal's new cookbook Cooking My Way Back Home, I'll admit I was a little cautious. Was this going to be one of those books that frustrated me with hours of prep work, and too many ingredients and complicated techniques? Read on for what I discovered. More

I am newbie to the immersion blender fan club, and I'm still consistently surprised by what a versatile and all-around awesome tool it is. Just the other day, I was innocently drooling over Tracy from Shutterbean's recipe for Cardamom Pear Butter, when her unexpected use of an immersion blender to puree the fruit just about made me fall off my chair. More

I have been hoarding a platter of yellow quinces on my desk for the past few weeks, not because these knobbly fruits are especially beautiful to look at but rather as a source of deep olfactory pleasure. Tantalized by their fruity-floral aroma of pineapple, pear, and roses, I was almost convinced that cooking the quinces would be a shame ... until I got them into a pot and onto a spoon. More

There is one product I buy in multiples when it hits the shelves around this time of year: Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter. This spiced and lightly sweetened spread adds a warm, autumnal flavor to everything from yogurt to pound cake, and transforms buttered toast into a special treat. More

In an interview with The Guardian a few years back, Nigel Slater spoke poetically about quince: "The quince is the fruit of frosty mornings and blackened leaves, keeping in sound condition through the cold months." Slater thinks of the fruit as a gem, and yet so many folks don't quite know what to do with it. Using the late fall fruit alongside apples in pie or other fall desserts is a common route, but quince are quite wonderful in savory recipes, too. More

Looking for a fresh accompaniment to autumn's rich braises and stews, or a sweet-and-savory dessert? Make a batch of pickled fruit! Simmered with spices and vinegar, fruits like grapes, pears and plums take on a whole new dimension. More

You know how when you buy a jar of natural peanut butter, the oil separates out on top? And then you have to work your arm like a crank to stir it back in? Last week on her Spilled Milk podcast, Molly Wizenberg of Orangette shared a tip for making this task much easier on ourselves. More

Have you ever made warm, silky, cinnamon-spiked applesauce? It's the simplest thing in the world, and it's a good way to use up windfall apples, or ones with brown spots on the edge of going bad.

If you've never tried this simple cooking DIY, then why not celebrate fall with a little pot of applesauce this week? You only need apples, water, a bit of citrus peel (if you want) and cinnamon (if you're so inclined). You don't need a huge pan or a whole weekend; a small, quick batch of applesauce takes less than half an hour from start to finish, and you don't even have to stir the pot. More

Take this as a public service announcement: pass on your family food traditions now. Don't wait. I say this because my mother was this close to giving away our family's long-held tradition of making apple butter, including my great-grandmother's battered enamel pans, my grandmother's trusty food mill, and the family recipe itself. Her response when I squawked in protest: "I didn't think you were interested!" More

Printable Custom Canning Jar Toppers from River Dog Prints

• $15
• RiverDog Prints

Even a simple Mason jar of homemade pickles or flavored oil becomes pretty as a present when topped with one of these custom printable jar toppers. You tell Cyn what you'd like printed on your toppers; she sends you back a PDF you can use as often as you like. Then put on top of your jar lid and screw on the ring. Simple and pretty!
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