Plum (Pear) Torte

Recipe: Plum Torte // Smitten Kitchen
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I used tiny pears that I bought at the farmers market instead of plums. My guess is that plums would be jucier, but this was still delicious. A quick and easy dessert for any time of year!

Pumpkin Pie

Recipe: Libby's Pumpkin Pie // Can of Libby's Pumpkin
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My sister visited last weekend and she made a pie in celebration of fall. I love pumpkin pie, but this one just wasn't as delicious as the ones my mom makes (sorry Anna). I think it tasted more sugary and less pumpkin-y. The recipe made two pies, which is too much for my small household. In the future, I'd cut the recipe in half unless I was planning on guests.

Marble Chocolate Pumpkin Bread

Recipe: Marble Chocolate Pumpkin Bread // Serious Eats
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This was a treat. I especially like it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. We weren't finishing the loaf in a timely fashion, so I froze half of it.

Chicken in Pan Sauce & Sweet Potato Fries

Recipe: Chicken with Pan Sauce // Mark Bittman via Serious Eats
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Side Recipe: Baked Sweet Potato Fries // Serious Eats
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We've made (and probably featured) this chicken before. I love it. The sweet potato recipe was new, and we enjoyed it!

Basic Cheese Quiche

Recipe: Basic Cheese Quiche // How to Cook Everything

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The last time I made quiche, I added a lot of extra fillings and removed one egg. Turns out ALL the eggs are needed for the quiche to set properly. And a variety of fillings really didn't taste as a good as a basic one- or two-ingredient quiche. Bittman mentions this in his book, so I should have known better. Anyway, this one had only cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, pecorino) and sauteed mushrooms. It turned out quite well.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

Recipe: Pumpkin Spice Pancakes // Annie's Eats
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Yum. These pancakes had just the right amount of pumpkin flavor. We served them with PA Maple Syrup. The texture of the finished pancake is a little wet, but I think it's just the pumpkin puree makes it less cake-y. We cooked our pancakes slowly on a medium temperature, and I didn't mind the texture. We didn't have any dried ginger on hand, so we omitted it from the recipe.

Spicy Sesame Chicken & Couscous

Recipe: Spicy Sesame Chicken // What's Cooking Chicken
Side Recipe: Couscous // Seth's Grandma

Rating:

This was nice! The chicken recipe called for curry paste, which we did not have. We substituted some Dinosaur BBQ dry rub seasoning. The dish was pretty mild overall, not really spicy. I might have liked the flavor of the curry. We added parsley to the couscous, which I enjoyed.