Having a hot and melty breakfast casserole ready for your crew before they head off to a long day of school makes them feel special in the very same way. Breakfast casseroles are so easy and so beloved it’s a no-brainer to do the work up front and enjoy the rewards all week long. Here are a few ways to pull it off for hectic school mornings: Assemble the casserole the night before, wrap in foil, and refrigerate....

You want a strong punch of coffee, a lingering warmth from the Irish whiskey, a touch of sweetness, and some cream to bring it all together. Why Brown Sugar? Keeping this desire for simplicity in mind, one change that I’ve made to make my Irish coffee special is to use brown sugar in place of white. Its musky, molasses-y flavor bolsters the coffee and lends the whiskey a bit more heft....

“Buffalo” Wings Once in my early twenties, I happened to be in Buffalo, New York for a wedding of a dear friend. On our site-seeing day, the gang of us revelers happened to drive right by the Anchor Bar, home of the “Original Buffalo Chicken Wings.” Did you know that Buffalo wings are so called because they were first invented in Buffalo, NY? I didn’t, and it had always been one of those oddities that gnawed at the back of my brain during these beer filled nights....

Despite my love for making and eating truffles, I don’t really love rolling them into little balls. It’s just one of those kitchen tasks that I try to avoid (we all have them, right?). So instead of making truffle balls, I make my truffles slightly firmer in texture and then slice them into cubes. They lose the roly-poly truffle look, but something about the neat edges feels so festive to me....

If you’ve ever had leftover Champagne (yes, some people do!) it seems a crime to pour it down the sink once it has gone flat. What to do? Make this luxurious sauce. It’s a riff off a classic French Champagne sauce, enriched with dried porcini mushrooms, butter and stock. Making the sauce is not terribly difficult, but you do need three pans to do it right: one for some stock and the mushrooms, one for the Champagne and one to make a roux, which is a combination of butter and flour....

These chewy almond squares fit the bill! They’re basically blondies, but made with almond extract instead of vanilla, and with chopped toasted almonds mixed in instead of butterscotch. A big thank you to commenter Chris who made these substitutions on our blondie recipe and shared how well they turned out! No need for a mixer for this recipe, all you need is a whisk and a strong spoon. You can easily double this recipe....

That’s where wraps come in. They’re infinitely adaptable to the odds and ends you already have in your fridge. In fact, I always keep some extra tortillas in the freezer to pull out and make use of last night’s supper. This recipe is basically a blueprint for as many variations you can dream up. The only limit is your imagination! Use Store-bought or Leftover Shredded Chicken In this recipe, store-bought rotisserie chicken or last night’s homemade roast chicken is the star....

I grew up loving the chiles rellenos my mother made for us. The only problem is that they are a bit tricky to make; they can sometimes get soggy with the oil. And they can be a bit rich with all that frying. How To Make an Easy Chile Relleno Casserole This recipe for a chile relleno casserole skips the steps of dipping in batter and frying, and instead bakes the stuffed chiles in an egg batter....

This Coconut Banana Cream Pie, a hybrid of coconut cream pie and banana cream pie, is Since this Coconut Banana Cream Pie is actually two-for-one deal—coconut cream pie and banana cream pie—it’s perfect for those of us (ahem, me) who want a little bite of every holiday dessert offering. I love both coconut and banana cream pies. If you have ever made either, you know that the recipes are pretty much interchangeable—swap banana for coconut or vice versa....

I developed this Crab Salad panini to celebrate the epic match-up between Baltimore and San Francisco in the 47th Superbowl. What better way to do that than with a crab salad panini! Both Baltimore and San Francisco are known for their local crab. In Baltimore it’s blue crab, in San Francisco, Dungeness. The crab salad itself is made with fresh, sweet lump crab meat, parsley, green onion, lemon, mayo, and Tabasco....

Some of my favorite dishes are from Indian cuisine (Indian spiced dishes are like comfort food for me) and these vegetarian lentil burgers are packed with ginger, coriander, turmeric, and cumin. When the craving for Indian flavors strikes, these burgers hit the spot. For this recipe, I broil the patties but you can also fry them. Either approach will yield a burger that is crisp on the outside and soft inside....

I can just imagine some deviled ham canapés being served at one of those 60s parties. Being just a kid during that time I would more likely have found a deviled ham sandwich along with carrot sticks and a thermos, packed in my metal Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea lunch box. Unlike many retro foods that have happily skipped their way into the sunset (I’m talking about you, green jello salad), deviled ham is one that deserves to stick around....

A Favorite Fantasy Fudge Recipe Turns out the recipe comes from the back of a seven-ounce jar of Kraft’s marshmallow creme. It is known as “fantasy fudge” and is just as good as I remember it. The recipe makes about three pounds of fudge, so I can see why he hasn’t made it in a while; that’s a lot of fudge! If I make this again I think I will double the amount of walnuts, and substitute almond extract for the vanilla just to see how it goes....

I lean to the “best thing ever” side of the debate, but I can’t drink too much eggnog all by itself because it’s too rich on its own for my palate. However, I can have endless amounts of things made with eggnog, such as this Eggnog French Toast! How to Make Eggnog French Toast Classic French toast is fairly simple to make, and eggnog French toast is just as easy....

This drink, containing both coffee liqueur and fresh espresso, has enough caffeine to perk you up at any time, day or night. It’s also much sweeter than a typical martini. In addition to its vodka and espresso base, an espresso martini includes the addition of coffee liqueur and crème de cacao. The History of an Espresso Martini The espresso martini, originally called the vodka espresso, was invented in the early 1980s in London by Dick Bradsell at the Soho Brasserie....

In its basic form, a gin and tonic balances both the woodsy juniper berry flavor found in a London Dry style gin with the slightly sweet and bitter flavor of tonic water. It’s served in a highball glass, which holds around 10 ounces, and usually includes a squeeze of lime. London Dry Gin Vs. American-Style Gin Order a G&T while you’re out and typically you’ll be served one made with a London Dry-style gin....

A gin fizz is meant to be a quick sipper, not a cocktail to be savored leisurely. The way it’s made promotes that: gin, lemon juice, and a sweetener are shaken with ice and then poured into a short glass with club soda. Without ice, the drink warms quickly, and the bubbles turn flat if left in the glass for too long. It’s the perfect pick-me-up, sometimes consumed a few in a row....