American

Silver Palate Sour Cream Apple Pie was the most popular apple pie at The Silver Palate, the gourmet take-out shop that Julee Rosso and I opened in New York City in 1977. This pie will win raves in your home too! When chopping the walnuts, make sure they're not too fine.

Veggie crumbles, a savory blend of vegetable and grain proteins, lend this chili a hearty, ground beef flavor. Look for it in the frozen foods section of the supermarket. To go with the chili, warm some of the new flavored tortillas, and add a composed salad of jicama and red onion with poppy seed ranch dressing. Then splurge with banana splits.

Madeira, shiitake mushrooms and hot pepper sauce make the gravy in this dish from Jack Fry's something special. It's great for brunch.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Serve grated cheese, sour cream, guacamole and salsa with the fajitas. Begin with Margaritas, and finish with coffee ice cream drizzled with Kahlúa.

The mashed sweet potatoes with sage butter are a great side dish for calf's liver. We recommend asking the butcher for the freshest calf's liver available, since it can vary in quality. Soaking the liver in milk, a method typically used for pork liver, helps soften and mellow its flavor.

The combination of anise seed and basil in the following recipe may seem unusual, but it enhances the faint licorice flavor in basil.

In addition to being great with milk at breakfast time, this is nice sprinkled over yogurt, fruit or ice cream, or baked into your favorite granola cookies or bars.

Using canned yams in this old-fashioned pie makes it especially easy to prepare.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Fresh cherries take center stage in this version of an old favorite.

Because the more traditional dark fruitcakes aren't really to her liking, senior editor Sarah Belk created this one, filled with her favorite nuts and dried fruits. To make these gifts even more festive, she suggest decorating the glazed cakes with additional dried fruits and nuts.