Making your own granola is dead-simple to do, and the end-result leaves you with a snack you can alway feel better about munching on than any old bag of chips or that roll of little chocolate donuts from slot AA5 in the break room vending machine. For this recipe, I've used a foundation of whole-grain oats, as a toasted, crunchy canvas for the decadent flavors of a sweet strawberry dipped in rich dark chocolate, then drizzled with creamy white chocolate (Hey, who says good-for-you granola gotta be all about gnawing on sticks and twigs?).

I can't stand going to restaurants that half-ass their appetizers. It just sets the tone for the entire meal. Case in point: Don't ever serve me hummus with tortilla chips; that is unless the hummus was made for tortilla chips. By using smoky-spicy chipotle, tangy lime, a Southwest spice-set and splitting the legume difference with black-eyed peas, I've crafted a hummus that is totally tortilla chip-appropriate. Even if you don't happen to be looking for an appetizer to put out for that perfect spread during the big game, this chipotle-lime hummus with black-eyed peas is a winner (did I mention it's vegan too?).

I learned a lot about cooking from my Grandma. She had some truly outstanding recipes, but there were also a few that I never quite understood. Her take on posole, that spicy Mexican/Native American soup rich with pork, chile and hominy corn, was always lacking; so when I got my mitts on her source recipe, I made it a point to break it down to understand what had been amiss with Grandma's cooking. Was this a recipe that was too fussy for a home cook to do it right? Heck no! Turns out, once you take posole to the Crock Pot, it gets impossibly easy; and its simplicity absolutely belies the complexity of slow-simmered flavor. Grandma was always keen to do posole her way, but I'd like to think that after a few well-placed swear words with respect to my irreverence, that she'd have ultimately approved of my take on this Southwest-style soup.

Beta recipes are my own experiments that I've only tried once. Usually palatable, they often could be better with a little tweaking - So please do, and let me know what works!

I just don't understand how folks could possibly have a difficult time getting rid of turkey leftovers. If I had to pick just one critter to eat henceforth, Ben Franklin's favorite avian dinosaur might be it. I smoked a bird for holiday nosh, and with what was relegated to leftovers, I decided to make soup. This turkey tortilla soup starts with  homemade turkey stock that's been infused with herbs, spices, onion, garlic, and ancho chile. To make it hearty, the broth is liberally garnished with smoked turkey, black beans, and diced tomatoes and chiles. And because it wouldn't be tortilla soup without the tortillas, we're frying up thin strips of soft corn tortilla that are then seasoned with lime salt. If you're looking to use up what remains of your turkey and you don't mind the wait, a rich and tasty soup doesn't get much more easy than this.

When I first started baking cookies for Christmas, I got a hold of a recipe for Chocolate Cookies topped with a melted Andes Mint humbly titled "Best Chocolate Mint Cookies". Humility aside, it truly is a good cookie. Imagine the penultimate edge of a brownie put into convenient cookie form, smeared with a cool, creamy, Andes Mint. At our house, this is a Holiday cookie on the "must bake" list. A list of only nine ingredients makes it easy, and this is a recipe that makes plenty so they're great for sharing too!

Sometimes where cookies are concerned, it feels like it's all been done. So, when I found a recipe for a cookie that bakes in a waffle iron, I knew I had to try it. The original recipe for this Pennsylvania Dutch Cinnamon Waffle Cookie or "zimmet waffle" was pretty lean on description and accurate measurements, so I took it upon myself to reconstruct this relatively simple recipe so that the buttery, spicy goodness that is this cookie recipe might be properly shared. And, because it's seldom in my nature to leave well enough alone, I concocted a glaze using real maple syrup to compliment the fragrant, floral spiciness of the cinnamon. With a little trial and error, vague measurements and instructions from the original recipe were nailed down, resulting in a quick cookie recipe that comes together with only six basic ingredients (ok, well eight if you count the icing).

A warm fire, a brilliant Christmas tree, good company, and full bottle of cinnamon schnapps. It's just not the Holidays around here without cinnamon schnapps to sip on; and the best kind of schnapps is the kind you make yourself! With a few simple ingredients and some careful attention, a big ol' bottle of spicy-smooth homemade cinnamon schnapps can be made for pennies on the dollar. Also makes a thoughtful gift for those on your list who like to imbibe!

Every year, I do my Thanksgiving turkey a bit different. A good gobbler is high art as far as I'm concerned, I am a fool for smoked turkey. It may just be one of the world's most perfect foods. Now that I've indoctrinated myself into the cult of 'que, there was no way that I wasn't going to show my Thanksgiving turkey the smoke. This smoked turkey starts with brine that infuses said poultry with all the flavors of fall, and finishes its journey in my barbeque basted inside and out with a Bourbon whiskey apple butter mop.

Finally, a food gift that can be given without fear of rejection (or even worse, regifting). Homemade smoked salt is a DIY food gift you can feel good about giving, as it's gluten-free, vegan and all-natural. It's a seasoning that no self-respecting foodie's kitchen should be without, and assuming you've got a means to smoke, it's a cheap and easy solution for holiday gift-giving.

There's a new caffeinated beverage in town, and this one's got everything you want, and none of what you don't. Zoom Water is an all-natural spring water from the mountains of Idaho that's been bolstered with the zing of naturally-sourced caffeine. The good folks who make Zoom Water have taken the time to answer all of my questions about their appropriately-named beverage, and even gave me a few to try for myself. So does Zoom Water really taste as clean and refreshing as the all-natural mountain spring water that it's sourced from? Follow along, good reader, and find out!

"Cheesecake." Just saying the word will cause some folks to gain two or three pounds. The rich, indulgent decadence of cheesecake is my dessert Achilles' Heel; If I'm in for one piece, I'm usually in for two. With Thanksgiving and Christmas on deck, I'm ready to focus my baking on what I'll be serving at a holiday table; and this pumpkin cheesecake tops the list. Sure cheesecake by itself is all kinds of exorbitant, but this pumpkin cheesecake adds the bite of a gingersnap crust and is frosted with a sour cream and chile chocolate ganache to add insult to caloric injury. All the same, even if this recipe seems a bit over-the-top for your liking, I think this read might be worth your time if you are a friend of cheesecake and you're looking for sure-fire ways to avoid that dreaded cracked top that is the bane of cheesecake bakers everywhere.

Can someone tell me why what is obviously a pumpkin snack cake, gets the label of "Pumpkin Bars" in every cookbook I've ever laid eyes on? Etymological semantics aside, I wanted to bake me some pumpkin bars, but wanted to make darn sure what was going into the oven didn't come out too much like a cake. After finding the best traditional pumpkin bar recipe in my pile of community cookbooks, I proceeded to ruin it by swapping out for ingredients like olive oil, brown sugar, and whole wheat flower that would be certain to mitigate any notions this baked good may have had of true cakeitude. The substitutions don't come at a cost of simplicity either; this easy to bake recipe still results in a crazy-moist, cake-like bar that hints of complexity in an otherwise standard flavor set. And because it just wouldn't be fair to not fiddle with the frosting as well, we went ahead and spiked our cream cheese frosting with Bourboun punctuated by flecks of real Madagascar vanilla bean.

One pot, stove top macaroni and cheese. If you've got kids, I reckon you're all too familiar with this [side]dish. You might even be to the point where you're content to roll with the stuff in the blue box; or if you have a coupon and you're feeling like some serious "haute cuisine", maybe you're buying that mix with the "cheese" sauce in the pouch. ;-p

But hey, I'm not here to judge; I'm here to help. Making mac and cheese on the stove from scratch is downright simple, but like most good comfort food, easy doesn't mean lazy. By paying attention to weights and measures and being mindful of ingredients, the next bowl of mac and cheese you whip up for your kids might actually be one you don't mind eating yourself.

I love me some county style pork ribs; and what's not to love? It's a relatively cheap cut of meat that's high on flavor and forgiving to cook. However most recipes for country style ribs depend on the crock pot, or only see the grill for a finishing step after spending time in a pot of simmering water. I say why boil when you can barbeque? By taking country style ribs to the charcoal, and treating them like the roast they are, this economical piece of pork is able to achieve that rich, smoky, pull-apart tender BBQ status.

Doing brats on the grill can be a high maintenance affair if you're looking for perfection. The ordeal usually involves a simmer in beer or a slow and low smoke, often followed by a quick sear to get those sexy grill marks that everyone loves to see. This totally flies in the face of the simplicity portrayed in all those cookout commercials that the wizards of the advertising world would have you succumb to; and I believe the root of the problem has everything to do with the casing that holds the sausage together. If I may make a suggestion, a homemade brat patty is actually more forgiving to cook than any link could ever hope to be, and those coveted grill marks are practically guaranteed. Using a quality locally-sourced pork and a homemade seasoning blend that contains readily identifiable ingredients might just elevate a brat burger to top sausage at your next cookout!

If your garden and/or CSA has benevolently blessed you with a mountain of yellow crookneck squash, and you're looking to dispatch them expeditiously, this cold soup is the answer. This recipe for summer squash gazpacho is beyond easy to make, and has a rich yellow hue that provides a bright and sunny contrast to whatever garnish you decide to top it with. And hey, as it's served cold, you're looking at a do-ahead that'll make for one less thing to worry about when it's time to plate up tomorrow's dinner.

If you ask someone from around where I live where the best peaches come from, They're not gonna tell you "South Carolina"; and "Georgia" certainly won't be on their mind. For us folks in Western Kansas, the best peaches come from our neighbors further West in Colorado. I was fortunate enough to acquire a whole box of gigantic, juicy Colorado Angelus Peaches - a peach that really shines in raw applications. To best showcase the flavor of this fantastic fruit, there's probably no better recipe than a chipotle-spiked peach salsa.

I don't grow cucumbers in my garden, but given that just about everyone I know with a well cared for patch of dirt does, pickling fodder is never hard to come by in the summer. When four pounds of large cucumbers were entrusted to my care, I could think of no better use than bread and butter pickles. My twist on bread and butter pickles uses fresh ginger and ancho chile to cut the sweetness and to play counterpoint to the tang of cider vinegar. Don't even bother sealing up that first jar; these pickles are so irresistible that you'll bury the first one single-handedly in an afternoon's time.