Very Merry One-Pot Pasta

By Katie Barreira

It’s lovely to go about making everything merry and bright, but it sure takes a lot of huffing and puffing. Here’s a weeknight meal that’s perfect for the holiday season: filling, festive and on the table in 15 minutes flat.

Ruby Pasta
Add a few glugs of red wine to your pasta pot and turn ho-hum into ho-ho-ho! Choose an inky, jewel-toned red, like Garnacha or Tempranillo, and trim the plate with a dash of greenery and a flurry of cheese.

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Pizza Redux: From Crust to Filling

By Katie Barreira

A few weeks back, we stretched pizza dough and ever since, that beautiful, but lonely crust has vexed me like a hanging chad. So here’s a hearty pizza topper the will fill up winter bellies and empty crusts, along with the best technique for baking crisp crust at home if you don’t have a pizza stone.

Super Baa-d Pizza
I love the rich, mildly gamey flavor of lamb meat. Pair it with a smooth and tangy sheep’s milk cheese and you’ve got a double delicious pizza.

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Make Your Dough Stretch

By Katie Barreira

Whether it’s from the freezer section at the supermarket or your local pizzeria, a ball of fresh pizza dough is easy to come by and makes the base of a fun and easy dinner. That is, if the dough behaves itself.

On the subject of dough stretching, our test kitchen director Tracey likes to tell the story of coaching her daughter through a “whose-kid-can-make- the-best-pizza” competition at a friend’s dinner party. With words that will be familiar to every parent, Tracey urged Margot to, “just stop touching it!” This hands-off approach paid off and Margot’s tender, evenly shaped pie took the cake.

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Turn Leftover Halloween Candy into Dinner

By Katie Barreira

In his stand-up comedy, Bill Cosby does a bit about the morning that his wife tasked him with feeding the children breakfast. His brood, seeing this changing of the guard as an opportunity, asks Dad for chocolate cake. Considering the request, Cosby ticks off the ingredients in chocolate cake…eggs, milk, wheat… “That’s nutrition!” he concludes.

And so, the giddy children sit down to a breakfast of chocolate cake. “And then,” says Cosby in his best ghost story voice, “she came downstairs.” You can guess who that she might be, and how thrilled she was to discover her little hens shoveling down dessert at 7 a.m.

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B,L,D,D Apple Fondue

By Katie Barreira

Whether you’re picking from the tree or the produce aisle, apples are in abundance and fondue is a fun and easy way to eat ‘em up. So dunk your favorite variety into a cauldron of steaming sauce for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert!

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