Spinach-Ricotta Pinwheel Lasagna with Simple Tomato Sauce Serves 8 8 ounces ripple-style oven-ready lasagna noodles 8 garlic cloves, minced, divided 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided 2 cans (28 ounces each) crushed tomatoes 2 teaspoons dried basil leaves 1 bag (16 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry Salt and ground black pepper 2 cups

When serving a crowd, lasagna often springs to mind, but I often I dismiss it because I want to wow my guests and slab of lasagna isn’t all that attractive. By halving no-bake lasagna noodles lengthwise and rolling a little filling in each strip, this dish morphs from functional to fun. Serving’s easier too!

Fried Apple Hand Pies Makes 16 pies For the ambitious looking to make their own pie dough, you can find my recipe in Sharon’s Perfect Apple Crumble Pie.  If you don’t have the right size cookie cutter, there are plenty of tops around the house that are the about the same size.  The tops to

My grandmother was a good country cook. She was the one who taught me to fry chicken and make biscuits, but she had another specialty I never learned—fried pies. She made them peach in the summer and apple the rest of the year

Update: Congratulations to Debbie H. who has been named the winner of this contest!  She likes her coffee “strong, with a hint of sweet.” In the past few months Kirsty Hughan has become a great friend and colleague to Three Many Cooks.  As we relaunch you’ll be seeing more of her work.  Coming soon you

Serves up to 12 This was the only dish I made for the pig roast. (Thankfully we made it potluck.) I’ve been dying to share this recipe since everyone who tastes it says it’s the best they’ve ever had. 1 can (16 ounces) refried beans (traditional variety) 1 can (4.5 ounces) chopped green chiles, undrained

The idea for a pig roast was born in a hot tub at my nephew’s high school graduation party. His dad (my husband’s brother, John) had recently gotten a very impressive smoker, which John quickly took to like pig to mud. Which was apparently all the two brothers needed to decide they were going to

You know what they say about eating an apple every day and this little roasting technique transforms apple eating from dutiful to pleasurable. Just a small amount of butter and brown sugar mean this apple works any time of day. Served with a dollop of low-fat Greek yogurt and a sprinkling of nuts or granola,

Serves 8 3 tablespoons butter 4 firm, crisp apples halved and seeded 1/2 cup brown sugar 4 cinnamon sticks (about 4 inches each) halved Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Place butter in a 13- by 9-inch baking pan and set it in preheating oven to melt while preparing

While my husband David and I were on a run yesterday morning he said, “Not too long until fall.” His observation made me aware. As I looked down, sure enough there was a smattering of red and yellow leaves here and there

Serves 4 as a main course and up to 8 as an appetizer 1 cup part-skim ricotta, thinned with 2 tablespoons milk 2  large garlic cloves, minced 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, plus extra leaves for garnish Salt and ground black pepper 1 pound bag store-bought pizza dough 1 jar (12 ounces) fried peppers or

A chef friend of mine once said, “Anybody can make a dish taste good with butter and cream.” He’s right. So in developing this corn chowder recipe I gave myself the challenge: make it creamy and flavorful…. without cream. Pureed corn not only made it possible to eliminate dairy, it also meant I didn’t need

This time of year I’m reminded of Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegone tale. There’s so much late-summer zucchini in this small town that, under cover of night, people are surreptitiously leaving big paper bags of it on people’s porches. You walk out to get the paper in the morning—and you’ve been zucchini-ed. Sometimes I get the

Serves 4 12 ounces thin spaghetti 8 Italian plum tomatoes, halved 2 medium-large zucchini, cut into rounds on a slight diagonal 1 large red onion, cut into thick slabs 1 small whole garlic head 1/4 cup olive oil, divided 2 teaspoons dried oregano Salt and ground black pepper 1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives 1/2 cup