Recipes
Candied Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows and Pecans
This deliciously sweet and tasty side dish is a wonderful comfort food at any point throughout the winter. The orange zest, juice, maple syrup, and spices really heighten the flavor of the sweet potatoes, and makes this dish an excellent accompaniment to a wide range of proteins and entrées.
Mary’s Classic Shepherd’s Pie with Ground Lamb
My recipe features a nice rich mix of traditional root vegetables—turnips, parsnips and carrots—as well as a wonderful pop of taste from sweet potatoes and a little bit of sherry, vermouth, or white wine. This dish also serves as an excellent alternative to corn beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day!
Nutella®-Stuffed, Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries for Valentine's Day
This recipe combines these three wonderful tastes into one delicious, decadent morsel: a juicy ripe strawberry, chocolate, and hazelnuts all in one delicious bite! The luxurious combination makes for a wonderful treat any time of the year, but are especially fun to share on special occasions like Valentine’s Day.
Homemade: Individual Chocolate Lava Cakes à la DiSomma
Even if baking is not your forte, preparing a delicious lava chocolate cake is within your culinary grasp. These rich, decadent treats ooze melted chocolate with the first bite. And this recipe, made for two, will make a perfect chocolatey conclusion for a stay-at-home Valentine’s Day dinner.
Mary’s Beet and Goat Cheese Salad with Pickled Montmorency Sour Cherries and Cherry Port Vinaigrette
This bright and tasty salad is good for adding a vivid pop of color and flavor to your family meal in the winter, but will taste just as great in spring, summer, or fall. Plus, the nutritional benefits of beets are well documented: they’re packed full of essential vitamins and minerals such as folate (vitamin B9), manganese, and potassium.
Beef Barley Soup with Bone Marrow
We Midwesterners have gotten pretty good at making hearty and heartwarming comfort food—such as this robust and satisfying vegetable and grain soup that’s packed with vegetables and fortified with bone broth—to get us through those months when we’re waiting for spring to break.
Lucky Black-Eyed Pea Salad with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
Featuring black-eyed peas, peppers, arugula, plenty of fresh oregano along with a tasty vinaigrette dressing, this tasty salad recipe will help you to kick off your New Year with a healthy dose of fiber and flavor!
Homemade Rainbow Celebration Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Candy Inside
Full of layers of color, this wonderful confection has an added bonus: a center filled with candies that pour out to surprise your guests! This tasty and vibrant cake should rise to any occasion.
Holiday Favorites: Pistachio Almond Amaretto Sandwich Cookies
As beautiful as they are delicious, these elegant Pistachio Almond Amaretto Sandwich Cookies offer a wonderfully balanced taste, and are the perfect treat to kick off your baking journey in 2021!
Mary’s Traditional Moist Fruitcake with Candied Fruit and Brandy
While the fruitcake is a much maligned holiday staple, my family is so crazy about this version, making five of them. This recipe is my mother’s and she had to hide the end result on the top of the refrigerator to keep us from demolishing it before Christmas day.
Easy Homemade Country Biscuits
My easy recipe for country biscuits is great for soaking up any gravies, sauces, or other gastronomic survivors from your big turkey-day meal.
Pumpkin Turkey Cake
A Thanksgiving tradition, my pumpkin cake made the holiday all the more special thanks to a delightful turkey-shaped baking pan. Includes instructions for a delectable frosting.