• rpepper on April 16, 2016

  Marinated Beets These beets have a wonderful orange flavor. I've made them a number of times and people always ask how to make them.

• rpepper on April 16, 2016

  Tomato Sauce This is my go-to spaghetti sauce recipe.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Jack's buttermilk pancakes

  • Arishell on July 31, 2025

    I think the dry to wet ratio is off on this recipe. The batter was very thin which resulted in thin pancakes. The flavor was good but not sure I would make them again.

• Grandma Z.'s coffeecake

  • laurenlangston on April 16, 2017

    Changes I made: added 1 teaspoon cardamom instead of 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (not enough), about a tablespoon of orange zest instead of lemon, frozen mango instead of frozen blueberries. Recipe says bake 20-25 minutes at 375F; mine was finally done after 50 minutes at 375F fan. Nice texture, but I personally prefer a chunkier crumble. By no means a failure, especially in the cake crumb, but I'd like to keep tweaking flavors and toppings.

• Curry tofu salad

  • innerharbors on January 13, 2024

    Not a quick recipe, but a nice alternative to tuna and chicken salad. Personally I think it needs a tiny flavor boost via a bit more curry powder.

• Lemonade

  • heatherknape on February 15, 2013

    Good recipe, but be sure to stir the icy lemonade before pouring it - my kids and I found that some of the more flavorful parts got trapped under the ice otherwise, and we would pour glasses full of lightly flavored water instead.

• White bean gratin with fennel

  • MMarlean on October 03, 2010

    None of the 4 trying this recipe liked it. One commented that the sage made it taste a bit like a stuffing recipe. The pepper flakes added to it, but even with the bit of hotness, it tasted rather bland. Probably won't make again.

• Parsnip soup with toasted almond olive oil

  • innerharbors on January 09, 2024

    If you enjoy the flavor of parsnips, this is the easy soup recipe for you. The almond pesto topping is a must.

• Scallion-buttermilk potatoes

  • Christine on July 24, 2014

    I like trying new flavors & variations of mashed potatoes, but am quite stubborn when it comes to the basic method -- skin-on red potatoes, steamed rather than boiled. I followed the rest of this recipe's instructions as written for flavoring the potatoes with the scallions and buttermilk and they came out really well. I did also use milk instead of half and half. A perfect use for scallions lingering in the fridge from our CSA box.

• Apple, ginger, and walnut crisp

  • karyanca on November 20, 2013

    Needed to use a lot of apples - Braeburn, Macintosh and Granny Smith. Things I did differently from the recipe: (a) no lemon - omitted but soaked sliced apples in lemon water; (b) sliced apples very thinly but did not peel (except Granny Smith which was not organic and had a waxy feel to the peel). Lovely combination of sweet and tart. Will try again using lemon.

• Boston Globe by T. Susan Chang

  ...common-sense way of coaxing flavor into and from ingredients, which gives his book something of an edge over many similar basic cookbooks...I found myself warming to his slightly offbeat techniques

  Full review