Bagels are king in our house. Far more appreciated—and eaten—than doughnuts and gooey pastries. This is an adapted recipe, a melding of one from Taste of Home Cooking School Cookbook and the one included with my bread maker. Yes, I used the bread maker for the kneading, so this recipe is geared toward placing the ingredients in that, but you could surely make them without one.

Seems every chef west of the Mississippi has a bean-tomato-corn-avocado concoction in his or her repertoire. Most call it Cowboy Caviar. I call mine Colorado Caviar... and here's how it goes:

I make muffins a couple of times a month. These are my chocoholic husband's favorite.

I've seen several variations of this kind of cracker on Pinterest. For my version, I tweaked the ingredients a bit and used oyster crackers, making them a savory snack you can easily pop in your mouth — by the handfuls, if so inclined. (I'm pretty sure you'll be so inclined... or so my oldest and youngest daughters tell me.)

My daughters and I are huge fans of cheesecake...but not so much of the graham cracker crust usually associated with cheesecake. We like ours without the crust, which is why this is the perfect cheesecake for us. Maybe for you, too. Top it any way you like—such as with fresh or canned fruit or this toffee-topped version—or savor it sans any topping at all. It's delicious either way.

I've made a Heath Bar Coffee Cake for decades, but it was only upon Brianna's request for her 30th birthday cake that I attempted this, a blending of her favorite cake (cheesecake) and one of her favorite candies (Heath bars). Once the candles were blown out and the cake sampled, we all agreed: This toffee-topped cheesecake is pretty darn delicious.

I love, love, love apple cobbler hot from the oven and served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream on top. I may be partial, but I think this recipe—one I cobbled together myself—is the best I've ever had.

I don't recall where or how I came up with this recipe, but I do recall many compliments from the girls and guests on how delicious the meal is. And it's so unbelievably easy!

Fall is for apples and this dip is for apples. Of course, you can eat this dip on anything -- it's especially yummy with graham cracker sticks -- but it's the absolute perfect complement to crisp and crunchy fall apples. Or apples any time of the year. Beware, though: It's also pretty darn good by itself, and that can be dangerous ... for your hips.

For years and years and years ... and years ... I made roasted pumpkin seeds from the pumpkins the family carved for Halloween the same ol' basic way: rinse, spread on a cookies sheet, salt, bake at 350 degrees til crispy. Then I found this recipe in the recipe-focused newspaper insert, Relish. I'll never go back to plain pumpkin seeds again. The best part: picking through the bowl of seeds to find the ones with the biggest glops of crunchy, salty sweetness to pop into your mouth before someone else nabs them. Here's my slightly altered version:

I first made this coffee cake nearly 30 years ago, after wrangling the recipe out of one of my coworkers. It was back in the day when I worked in the mortgage industry ... before the real estate crash ... the crash of the '80s. (Now I feel old!) It's been a staple of workplace potlucks and family gatherings ever since.