It felt calmer in the kitchen this past week. I hit my goal of seven recipes without any extras and instead enjoyed plenty of my mom’s Thanksgiving cooking. My sister and her kids, Nico and Lucia, came over, and they’re in such a fun, playful stage right now. We spent a memorable afternoon making cut-out cookies. I had prepped the dough and icing in advance, so when they arrived, it was all about picking animal-shaped cookie cutters 🦊🐻and adding colors to the icing. I love watching them grow—though part of me wants them to stay little forever—and teaching them new things or just being a kid alongside them🤸‍♀️.

I also had pumpkin bread ready for my sister🎃🍞. Lucia, my sister, and I enjoyed it so much (see the picture below). Afterward, we ran around the pool and laughed until we were out of breath. Nico had a blast playing with H and the pool robots🤖. I’m already looking forward to their next visit and another round of baking adventures🥄🍪.

New feature: H helped add a comment section to the online post. To leave your thoughts, click “Read Online” at the top right of this email, then scroll to the bottom💬🔽.

Recipes Made So Far This Year:

Goal: To try seven new recipes each week 🗓️, aiming for 365 this year!

 Number of Recipes Made this Week: 7 ✅ 

Number of New Recipes Tested as of 12/1: 413 🌟

Weeks Achieving Seven or More New Recipes: 46 out of 48

This Week’s Recipe Test Summary

Impress Someone🌟

My Mom’s Famous Pumpkin Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting from @callascleaneats | Instagram Reel 🍁

My sister sent me this one, and since she was visiting, I whipped it up for her. She handled the cream cheese frosting while we worked on cookies. We both loved it, and I might tweak the sugar levels next time. Lucia agreed it was a hit. Definitely a new favorite.

Would Make Again 👍

Oatmeal and Apple Butter Bars from Food. 🍎🧈

I couldn’t find pumpkin butter, so I went with apple butter and this recipe turned out to be a delightful breakfast shortbread cookie-style treat. Simple and satisfying. 

Would Not Make Again 👎

These recipes didn’t live up to expectations or weren’t to my taste

The Best Cut Out Sugar Cookie from Joy Food Sunshine🍪

Good, but I think there’s a better recipe out there.

Cinnamon Sugar Swirled Apple Butter Bread from Half Baked Harvest 🍞🍎

This one didn’t work out.

Apple Crumble Chia Pudding from @plantbasedrd | Instagram Reel 

This was just okay.

Creamy Scalloped Potatoes by Martha Stewart 🥔

The mac and cheese and scalloped potatoes were good, but I had better.

Our Favorite Mac and Cheese from epicurious🧀

I’d love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, or any recipe requests you might have. Just respond directly to this email.

See you next week. Keep cooking! 👋 

Vale from ValeCooks