This recipe is very easy, can be prepared ahead and can be frozen. Great party recipe. The meatballs are the usual mix of ground beef, grated onion, and bread crumbs. Shape into bite size meatballs. The sauce couldn't be easier or more delicious. Combine 1 lb can jellied cranberry sauce, a 12 oz bottle of chili sauce, 2 TBS brown sugar and 1 TBS lemon juice or to taste. After combining sauce mixture and bringing to a simmer, add uncooked meatballs and simmer until meatballs are cooked and sauce is thickened. The recipe says to simmer for 2 1/2 hours which seems a little excessive to me. I made this many years ago and can't remember exactly how long I simmered it. My daughter has made it for several of her parties. Serve in a chafing dish with picks for spearing.

Yes, this is another cake mix cake. But what a cake! At least in our family it is known as The Chocolate Cake. Easy. You bet. But very, very delicious. I substitute Kahlua for the 1/2 cup dark rum in the recipe and I think that makes the difference. Ingredients: Devil's Food cake mix, instant chocolate pudding mix, 1/2 cup espresso coffee, sour cream chocolate chips and the Kahlua. I bake it in a bundt pan for 55 minutes in a 350 degree oven. I have been making this for years and often on demand 3 or 4 times a year.

These Golden Creamed Onions have been on our Thanksgiving table since this book was published. In fact the book automatically opens to this page. No unusual ingredients here. Just simple perfection. We first used pearl onions but soon realized that baby boiling onions are much better. For years I was the cook for this dish but when one daughter married several years ago, she claimed the onion dish as hers. It isn't fast. You can't just put it on the stove and forget about it. My daughter comes over early to help with dinner but she keeps her eye on me so that I don't interfere with her onions. Don't forget the parsley at the end because it gives a touch of elegance to the creamy colored onions. As the recipe says, you can make it ahead but I don't recommend it. If we are lucky to have any leftovers, they taste OK reheated but you know the dish has now lost its perfection.

When I received my Gourmet magazine in the summer of 1988, I thought they were psychic when I saw their beautiful photo of this ice-cream bombe because I had just bought a melon mold at a thrift shop. It takes time but not much effort to make. You puree the cantaloupe and chill it in the fridge. While it is chilling, you put your mold in the freezer. Freeze the cantaloupe mixture in an ice-cream maker and when it is frozen but still malleable, spread the sorbet on the bottom and sides of your mold. Freeze the mold at least 1 hour before filling the cavity with store-bought vanilla ice cream and freeze the bombe at least 2 hours before unmolding and serving. Impressive and delicious.

This is really delicious. It is what I call a pantry recipe because I keep frozen shrimp always available. I reduce the amout of shrimp to serve two but make the whole sauce recipe. I usee dry vermouth for white wine

I have made this or similar recipes from Cooks Illustrated in the summer to take for our family's week at the beach. You use lasagna no-boil noodles rather than boxed manicotti noodles which are easier to use and are more tender when cooked. The manicotti can be prepared but not cooked and covered with a sheet of parchment paper, wrapped in aluminum foil, and refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month. I freeze mine in a disposable lasagna pan several days before beach time. On the morning of departure, the frozen pan is put in the ice chest for the long trip to the beach. It is partially defrosted by the time we are in our rented house and ready for dinner. I follow the cooking directions but may have to add extra oven time depending on defrosted the maniccoti was. This is just one of several ahead of times frozen dishes that I take for the first night. We have a large group for our family beach week so food is never wased.

I have made this lasagna twice for two summers beach vacations. First I must warn that most children probably will not even try this lasagna nor will some adults who are wary of out of the ordinary foods. The cheeses include Gruyère, Parmesan, fontina, and Gorgonzola cheese. Even though the web site does not list instructions for freezing the lasagna unbaked, either the magazine does (I don't have it in front of me) but I just follow the same instructions that I list for their Baked Manicotti with Sausage. I freeze mine in a disposable lasagna pan several days before beach time. On the morning of departure, the frozen pan is put in the ice chest for the long trip to the beach. It is partially defrosted by the time we are in our rented house and ready for dinner. I follow the cooking directions but may have to add extra oven time depending on defrosted the lasagna.

I have been making this pie dough at least once a year for Cook's Illustrated Fresh Strawberry Pie. A grandson asks for the pie rather than a birthday cake. Since I can not claim to be a great baker, even this recipe is not foolproof for me. My problem is that the dough seem to melt down from the top edge. Of course, I went right ahead and filled with whipping cream and strawberries to hide the crust. Grandmothers have their tricks.

But this year someone's blog came to my rescue. My note just says "Blog". Duh. Anyway these are the wonderful instructions: After you have rolled out the pie dough and fitted into a pie dish, refrigerate for 40 minutes and then freeze for 20 minutes. Cover with heavy alum foil pressed down onto crust and bake. The blogger didn't add this, but I fill the foil covered crust with a layer of pennies, put in preheated 450 degree oven on lowest rack for 15 minutes, remove from oven and remove foil and pennies. (In fact I have a pizza stone on the lowest rack, so I put the pie dish on a pizza pan and put that on top of the stone) Return to oven for 5 to 10 minutes or until browned to your taste. This worked perfectly for me.

This granola is so much work and takes a lot of time. But no matter how often I try other recipes, I always come back to this one. It is the best as far as I am concerned. David makes many suggestions for substitutions but thank goodness there is no chocolate, no m&m's, no candy of any kind. Even though it takes up much of my morning to make, since I am the only one eating, I keep it in the fridge for many breakfasts. It is delicious with yogurt.

If you prefer Philadelphia style ice cream to rich egg based ice cream as I do, this strawberry ice cream is for you. Very easy, too, especially if you substitute frozen strawberries for fresh. Chef John used a pint of fresh strawberries, 12 oz. Even so, he said he was not able to fit the full recipe in his ice cream maker. My machine makes a quart so I gambled on using 16 oz of frozen berries. It was close but I used the full amount. Perhaps the defrosted strawberries result in more liquid than the fresh berries but the good news is that by the time the berries defrost, you add the sugar and then blend together the berries, milk, and cream. everything is very cold and can go immediately into your ice cream maker. Not too sweet but just right for me.

This is an easy, delicious tomato soup. I used a can of crushed fire roasted tomatoes because that was in my pantry. I followed the chef's instructions in the video which are easy but not necessarily quick. First you saute chopped onions and celery with garlic added near the end. Then you add the canned tomatoes, chicken broth, and seasonings and simmer on low for 35 to 45 minutes. Chef John warns you to carefully taste the soup because you will probably need to add sugar. I added a heaping teaspoon of sugar which really tamed the acidic tomatoes. Using a hand blender, the soup became smooth and beautiful. Cream was added before serving. Next time I may omit the cream and let each person add sour cream to taste. I think you can easily substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth

This shellfish dish has been on our Christmas Eve dinner table for many years. The shellfish choices have changed but now we have settled on canned minced clams added to the sauce but the main shellfish is sea scallops. The cheese sauce is very rich and delicious but doesn't overwhelm the scallops. You could serve this as a first course using clam shells as containers. Very impressive. But we are now a many ages family so use one shallow casserole. Easier for the cook. Recipe serves 4 but can easily be increased.

You must go to the web site to see a picture of the darling mice cookies. I made these mice cookies for my daughter's annual Christmas party. My cookies looked exactly like the photo and tasted good. I followed the recipe exactly and the dough was very easy to handle. In fact any child who is good with play dough would have no problem forming the mice. I found it easiest to first roll the dough into balls in my hands and then slightly elongate the balls into ovals. I found that giving a slight pinch at one end helped define the face. I had trouble with the tiny mini-chocolate chip eyes but a child would probably handle them more easily. Next stick on the chow mein noodle tails and last the sliced almond ears. The ears are the most easily broken especially if you have to pack the mice in storage boxes. I overcooked my first mice slightly so I next followed the 15 minutes baking. Really cute and easy. My daughter not only had the cookies on a plate but also scattered the mice around the table as a decoration.