It’s hard to improve mashed potatoes, I mean they’re carbs mixed with butter, so basically perfection in a side dish! I love to experiment with little tweaks to my favorite Thanksgiving dishes and had the zany idea to give my classic mashed potato recipe a Cacio e Pepe twist! I started with peeled russet potatoes and cooked them until they’re tender, while reserving a bit of the starchy potato water. When you make cacio e pepe, the starchy pasta water is key to a silky sauce! In a pan of melted butter and lots of cracked black pepper, I whisked in fresh parmesan cheese with the starchy potato water and a tiny bit of heavy cream to create a gooey, nutty, cheesy sauce that gets poured over the hot potatoes and mashed together. Mashing the potatoes by hand is KEY to getting them light and fluffy (I use this masher). In a recipe like this where the ingredients are so simple, quality makes a big difference – spring for good parmesan cheese and a high-quality butter (I like Kerrygold!), they’ll add so much flavor to the dish! Get the full recipe below:
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Raise your hand if you have 25 apples sitting on your counter from your autumn apple-picking excursions? Me too, which can only mean one thing: it’s pie season! And pie season is the perfect time to share my go-to classic pie crust recipe. I use it for my holiday pie recipes as well as for all sorts of seasonal summer hand pies. My favorite way to use it is to top a piping-hot chicken pot pie. It’s a super simple recipe and versatile enough to work with sweet or savory pies. I recommend using a pastry cutter and blending the ingredients by hand to keep the butter from getting to warm; cold butter is the key to a flaky crust. Keep this one in your back pocket for Thanksgiving prep; you can double the recipe and keep the dough tightly wrapped in the fridge for about a week. Get the recipe below: 
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I’ve got a cute little trick for dressing up my favorite Trader Joe’s pumpkin muffin mix, that makes for a fun, kid-friendly snack! I make the pumpkin muffin mix as directed – use your favorite recipe or mix – and then let the muffins cool completely. Then I break up some pretzels and use the curved bottom of the pretzel knot to push in a sage leaf. Leave some of the pretzel out to look like the stem of the pumpkin. (My husband thought they were supposed to look like apples, to which I say, great idea – this would work with an apple muffin mix too!). A two-minute decoration that makes these muffins look perfectly seasonal for fall entertaining! 
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Tis’ the season for all things pumpkin! I love sneaking this seasonal flavor into dishes this time of year. I am partnering with my friends at Little Leaf Farms to share a few of my favorite ways to incorporate pumpkin into your salads, from savory roasted pumpkin to salty pumpkin seeds, pumpkin goat cheese, even a pumpkin vinaigrette. I love that you can pick one of these pumpkin-flavored ingredients for a hint of pumpkin to your crisp, fresh Little Leaf Farms greens or combine them all together for a pumpkin-packed salad experience! Get all the ideas below:
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I’ve got an easy little hack for dressing up a box of brownie mix to make a festive holiday treat! I start with my favorite boxed brownie mix (ghiradelli dark chocolate!) and make the batter as directed on the box. Then I bake the brownies about 3/4 of the way, and then take them out to add my own festive toppings like candy eyes, Reese’s Pieces, halloween sprinkles and candy corn. Then I place them back in the oven for the rest of the cooking time to set the toppings but not fully melt them. It’s one additional quick step to the brownie making process and the result is a fun and spooky dessert for your Halloween celebrations! 
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I love to mix up a signature drink when I entertain, and with the change of the seasons I’ve been adding to my cocktail repertoire with some fresh takes on classic recipes. Moscow mules are one of my favorite drinks for the fall, it’s a great in-between-drink when you’re done with summer but not quite ready to dive into the mulled wine territory. Moscow Mules have a bit of warmth and spice from the ginger beer and still feel crisp from the vodka and citrus. This version gets an extra boost of flavor from a homemade blackberry cardamom simple syrup, which smells just as good as it tastes from all of the fragrant flavor notes. Get the recipe below: 
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Roasted butternut squash is one of my favorite fall treats, it’s like an autumnal harvest in every single bite! I’ve wanted to try a stuffed version that turns this sweet and savory squash into an entree and packed to the brim with even more seasonal flavors. This recipe brings together fragrant shallots, crumbled sausage, mushrooms, Swiss chard and quinoa for a hearty addition to the butternut squash. You can also leave out the sausage to make it a meat-free dish, I think this would be a lovely dish for a vegetarian Thanksgiving! Get the full recipe below:
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I’ve been experimenting with cocktail shrubs lately and landed on the most delightfully fall-flavored concoction for this cocktail recipe. What exactly is a shrub? It’s a syrup made of a combination of fruits, aromatics, sugar, and vinegar. The version I made here has grated red apples (a nice way to use up all that apple-picking bounty!), apple cider vinegar, sugar, and the loose tea leaves from a chai tea bag. A few cinnamon sticks get added to the mixture for more spice, and then it hangs out in the fridge for a few days to let the flavors combine and become a syrup-y texture. Once the shrub is ready, you strain out the aromatics and combine it with bourbon and Prosecco for a sparkling, autumnal drink! Get the full recipe below:
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There is something so exciting about a simple recipe that works, and this one is as simple as it gets: just 5 ingredients and takes about 10 minutes from start to finish. These “homemade” Orange Cinnamon Glazed Donuts are made from store-bought flaky biscuit dough, stamped with a donut cutter, and quickly cooked in the air fryer. When they come out, they get a flavorful, buttery glaze with orange-cinnamon notes. It’s such a quick way to get a special fall-flavored treat on the table for breakfast. Get the easy recipe below: 
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A big, one-pot lobster bake is on my summer bucket list every year! This year, I got an awesome opportunity to take my one-pot lobster bake on the road and cook and style it up in Maine with my friend @JackieGreaney for the Vineyard Vines Fall catalog. My lobster bake recipe takes inspiration from the tradition and ingredients of a classic New England clambake, but differs a bit in the execution. Instead of digging a big pit in the sand, I layer all the ingredients in a large lobster pot that heats on a propane-fueled heating element and steams all the ingredients in much less time.
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