Great Make-Together Recipes
Jim’s Texas Chili
The tradition of chili on Halloween started with my parents when my sister and I were growing up. It is the perfect meal before or after (or both!) trick-or-treating on a cold October night. Made in the afternoon, the chili stays on the stove and can be reheated...
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Neopolitan Pizza Crust
This pizza crust is crunchy with just a little chew and wonderfully versatile! It is a family affair when we make extra crusts and freeze them for easy weeknight meals. Kids love the dough toss step and this has even been a popular birthday party activity! From a...
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Coconut Macaroons
These melt-in-your-mouth meringues are a super easy to make and always a big hit for coconut lovers! (If you're like Grandma Izzie, who wouldn't touch the stuff, these are not for you. As the story goes, she and her brother, Great Uncle George, swiped a whole pound of...
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Madeline’s Quarantine Pot Pie
Quarantine met school work (and dinner) when Madeline received this Practical Living Class assignment to make a one pot meal. We are grocery shopping only once every two weeks while sheltering-in-place and, I will confess, we were nearing the end of the second week...
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Cheese Puffs
A family favorite, these cheese puffs are on the appetizer table at every holiday gathering in our house. They are easy to make and even easier to eat! They can be made ahead and frozen in larger batches so you can keep them coming. From frozen, heat at 375° for 8 to...
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Shepherd’s Pie
We look forward to this Shepherd's Pie made from leftover roast and mashed potatoes almost as much as the roast meal itself! It is great served up in a larger baking dish, but we like to portion it out into individual size crocks. To do so, form the mashed potatoes by...
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Mom’s Spaghetti Sauce
This is a favorite weeknight meal at our house! If you already have Jim's Italian Sausage and Sicilian Tomato Sauce on hand, it is quite easy to put together and goes a long way (two nights for us). You can certainly get a very tasty result with your favorite sausage...
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Nonna’s Meatball Soup
This soup is the ultimate in comfort food! Similar recipes instruct you to cook the noodles in the soup, but we prefer to cook them ahead, setting them aside to add at serving time. This way, any extra soup doesn't end up with mushy noodles and extra starch in it....
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Festive Holiday Pretzels
For many years our annual family Christmas cookie baking day was interjected with great drama regarding these holiday pretzels. First, the original recipe used small round pretzels, which were only available at one store on the other side of town. In order to add the...
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Pumpkin Cheesecake Layer Pie (No Bake)
There are never enough ovens on Thanksgiving Day, so I love to make this easy, no-bake pumpkin pie! I adapted the recipe from one I got from my aunt many years ago. Mostly, what has changed is the elimination of as much of the processed ingredients as possible. The...
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Autumn Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
These cookies are an original EATS Together recipe inspired by a cherry chocolate oatmeal cookie that we have been making for years. I wanted to incorporate fall flavors and Jim's love of cranberries inspired me to try them, along with a few fall spices and white...
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Pork Scallopini with Marsala Mushroom Gravy
This is a hearty, flavorful dish that offers the satisfaction of comfort food without packing on a ton of fat and calories. We like to serve it with "Kluski" noodles or spaetzle (when we have time to make them). Add a vegetable or salad side, and you have a...
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Salzbrezeln
These "Salzbrezeln" (salted pretzels) are fun to make-together any time of the year, but are particularly necessary at our house around Oktoberfest. They can be tricky to roll out, but even the youngest pretzel-makers say they're worth it in the end. Enjoy with your...
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Homemade Salsa
One of our favorite summer indulgences – when we have lots of fresh, ripe tomatoes in our garden – is to make homemade salsa. We find it is tastiest straight from the bowl we mix it in. Even after refrigeration, it is far superior to any store-bought, jarred version....
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Chop, Mash, In-A-Flash Guacamole
Talk about "super foods" and avocados are way up there on the list. They're delicious, they are available all year-round and they pack a nutritional wallop! And this isn't news to anyone. While these days we tend to associate guacamole with Mexican dishes, it actually...
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Turkey Oven Sandwiches
These Turkey Oven Sandwiches are a great weeknight meal. We like to cook one pan the night we make them and save the other for the next night in the refrigerator. They can also be frozen for an easy meal in the further future. Distributing tomatoes and celery for...
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Chicken Lasagna
This is one of our favorite make ahead meals. It heats great from frozen and the investment of one afternoon yields at least four meals. For our small family, it's more like 8. Sometimes, for Sunday dinner with Gogo and Papa, one 8" x 8" pan serves 4 adults and 1 kid...
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Basic Bread from Starter (Yum!)
We make this bread at least once a month. It makes four medium size loaves. We usually eat one on the day we make it and freeze the other three. It is a perfect bread sliced in a basket for a side at the dinner table, but we also use it instead of pastry puffs and in...
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Schiacciata (with roasted red onions and Gruyere)
A Florentine version of Focaccia, the name for this favorite in our household, SCHIACCIATA, translates as "squashed" bread. The sweetness of the roasted red onion partnered with sharp Gruyere and a touch of salt produce a remarkably delicious treat. You can skip...
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Baked Potato Soup
Baked potato soup with all the fixings makes a fantastic meal on a cold winter night. This recipe is also great for parties or to take to potlucks because it works well in a slow cooker on a low setting. It does not have any meat in it to get dry and the base does not...
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Pierogi
These Polish dumplings are the ultimate in comfort food around our house! We always enjoy making them together, too. They freeze well, which gives us several easier future meals in the freezer. Sometimes we indulge in a carbohydrate overload and just eat them as a...
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After Church Chicken (or Turkey) Salad
It's just a fairly straightforward chicken salad recipe that we have tweaked to our liking over the years. It became "After Church" salad when we realized it sized up well to make LOTS of sandwiches for our hospitality gatherings after 10 a.m. services on Sunday....
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Basil Pesto
This pesto recipe is very versatile. It is pictured here with Cavatappi pasta, cherry tomatoes and some fresh mozzarella. We like to make lots of pesto in the summer when fresh basil is readily available and freeze it for use throughout the year. Having pesto on hand...
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Italian Sausage and Cheese (Not) Stuffed Manicotti
These "not stuffed" manicotti may be a little easier to make than the traditional filled pasta tubes we're used to, but this recipe still requires an investment of time. Luckily, once you are committed, you might as well make enough for the future. Recruit the family...
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Inside Out Cookies
Sporting a chocolate cookie and white chocolate chips, we've always called these "Inside Out Cookies." We enjoy them throughout the year, but also always have them on the Christmas cookie tray to satisfy the many chocoholics we know and love! Ingredients for Inside...
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Snowball Cookies
Snowballs, Sandies, Italian Wedding Cookies...the list can go on and on. This popular cookie comes with many names and in many shapes. We like making small balls that you can pop in your mouth in one bite. Grandmommie used to use the same recipe, but shaped them into...
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Tomorrow’s Nutty Banana Bread
This banana bread is worth the wait, though it smells so good in the oven that it's hard to hold out as the recipe (and tradition) dictates! Adding some whole wheat flour, pecans, a touch of nutmeg and a hint of vanilla helps create the nutty flavor that perfectly...
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Grandma’s Cranberry Bread
This delicious cranberry bread was adapted from one of our favorite Thanksgiving storybooks, Cranberrry Thanksgiving. We continue to make it throughout the holiday season and are often nibbling a slice as we open our Christmas gifts. (And by the way, it also makes a...
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Irish Boxty
These traditional Irish potato pancakes are a little firmer than other varieties because they are made with both mashed and grated potatoes. While the recipe is 100% authentic Irish, our favorite way to eat them strays a bit from tradition. We cook up some turkey...
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Dinner Rolls
Only second to eating them, Madeline loves to make these traditional dinner rolls with me. When I was learning to make them with Grandma Izzy, she would recite a story about my uncle as a boy snatching a roll to eat while they were still proofing. Every time, she'd...
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Sicilian Tomato Sauce
I'll put it to you straight: this is NOT a fast recipe. However, it is beyond worth the time to make and save for quick meals in the future. It is delicious, versatile and best of all, you know what's in it. (Many commercial tomato sauces have as much as 16 teaspoons...
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Meatballs
These savory meatballs are fun to make together and delicious for dinner tonight or next week! Ingredients for Meatballs 3/4 lb Ground Beef 3/4 lb. Ground Pork 1/2 Cup Toasted Bread Crumbs 2/3 Cup Milk 1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt 1.5 Teaspoons Fresh Thyme, chopped 2 Egg...
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