Golden Roasted Roots

Tired of the same old vegetables on your table? Try this medley of the season's finest root vegetables. A simple roasted garlic vinaigrette adds flavour while preserving the natural sweetness of each vegetable. Use a high-quality heavy baking sheet for roasting the vegetables because it holds an even heat and helps give them a nice golden colour. 

New York Style Cheesecake With Pineapple Rum Sauce

This tall, creamy cheesecake has a delightfully retro feel. A pinch of allspice in the batter adds a hint of the tropics. The pineapple topping is best if made just before serving.

Sweet-and-Sour Chicken Stir-Fry with Bean Sprouts

A little chicken goes a long way with a wealth of healthy vegetables that kids will gobble up. They'll love the sweet-and-sour flavours of this nice gloppy sauce, which is perfect over rice. If you don't have a microwave oven, serve the crunchy bean sprouts raw.

Make-Ahead Beef Enchiladas

Slow-cooker dishes like these hearty enchiladas are real lifesavers during the lead-up to the holidays. The filling simmers away untended in the slow cooker all day, which frees you up for other things (or gives you a much-needed night off!).

Slow Cooker Carrot Cake

Nothing beats a classic carrot cake with cream cheese icing. When tracing the parchment paper outline, add an extra 2 inches (5 cm) to the circumference of the slow cooker; this extra buffer will help you lift the cake out of the insert with ease. Cost: $0.70/serving

Bonnie Stern's S'mores Chocolate Bark

There are many recipes and sophisticated variations for chocolate bark, some mentioned below, but I have found over and over again that this riff on s'mores is the one people can't resist. (Not sure if that is good or bad.) The better the quality of chocolate you use, the better the results.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cheesecake Squares

A smooth and silky no-bake filling comes together in a matter of minutes for this easy crowd-pleasing treat. Be sure to top the squares with peanuts quickly, before the chocolate sets.

Gooey Peanut Butter Squares

These layered bars are like three desserts in one! Using a candy thermometer ensures you have the right consistency of caramel (not too soft and not too hard).

Ground Beef Pide

A delicious alternative to traditional pizza, pide is a Turkish flatbread shaped as a boat and baked in a brick or stone oven. Here we serve up a ground beef pide, but the options are limitless!

Toppings vary widely but most often include ground meat with onion, tomato, parsley and spices, as well as cheese, eggs, mushrooms, peppers, spinach and sausage.

Cardamom Butter Cookies

Clarified butter — which is made by melting butter and removing the milk solids - gives these Middle Eastern cookies a crisp texture that's perfect for dipping into tea.