I love to cook, but I’m a not-great food photographer at the best of times, and usually end up with my finished product at night anyway without my greatest ally, natural light. But I actually made something kind of cute during the day yesterday afternoon, so I thought I’d share my vegetarian pigs in blankets to kick off a recipe-roundup post!

This could not be simpler, and I’m sure you don’t actually need the “recipe” to whip them up, but just in case, here’s mine: cut 4 Yves jumbo vegetarian hot dogs in half and slice 8 small pieces of sharp cheddar cheese, too. Open and unroll a package of crescent roll dough and wrap a triangle of it around each paired cheese-hot dog, starting with the wide end and finishing with the skinny tip. Bake it the way the roll package says to and there you go!

I thought I’d share a list of my favorite recipes lately, with links if I have them (and just a few photos here and there). I love to see what other people are cooking and baking and I get lots of ideas from craft and of course cooking blogs, so here are mine if you’re interested! These are all copied into my family cookbook and they are my go-tos for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, holidays and beyond!

1. Sweet Potato Gnocchi with spinach and mushrooms, Sunset – this is probably my favorite recipe of all. I have made it about seven or eight times now and it’s such a nice holiday or dinner-party meal, and not that time-consuming if you make the gnocchi dough the day before (or well in advance and freeze it). I love rolling out and cutting the little gnocchis, too.

2. Cabbage and Mushroom Galette, Smitten Kitchen – really wonderful, and again, much quicker if you make the galette dough the day before. I make a double batch, usually, so I can make two galettes in the same week – total luxury.

3. Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onions Galette, Smitten Kitchen – I also like this one, but lately I’ve been switching it up with sweet potatoes instead of squash and shallots instead of onions. It’s richer and more dessert-like than the cabbage version, any way I’ve made it, so we don’t have it as often.

4. Squash, Bean and Cheese Enchiladas with Green Chile + Green Tomato Sauce, the Oregonian – pretty much out of season at the moment, but this is amazing for that late-summer green tomato craziness, I make a double batch and freeze half. I have also made the delicious enchilada recipe they include (homemade beans and butternut squash, yay) with store-bought sauce and it was fantastic.

5. Sesame-Crusted Albacore, Andrew and I made this one up after having it at my favorite restaurant in LA, the Kitchen. Pretty darn good if you’re not in Los Feliz.

6. Salmon Grilled on a Bed of Herbs, from Grill Every Day. Love this, especially since we have thyme and rosemary right outside in my herb garden.

7. New Year’s Day Black-Eyed Peas – I make these all the time, and freeze half (are you sensing a pattern here?). Love black-eyed peas.

8. Chile-Roasted Acorn Squash, Sunset – easy and amazing. I love chipotle and that sweet-spicy glaze with the afterburn is very nice.

9. Pink Soup – flexible, easy, delicious, and best of all, a pretty color.

10. Artisan Bread, from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day – I love the basic version most but I also add dried herbs sometimes, and make the deli-style rye sometimes. I’m sure the recipe is online somewhere (probably lots of somewheres) but I have the book and copied it by hand right into my own cookbook so that’s what I use.

11. Blueberry Boy Bait, Pillsbury Bake-Off via Smitten Kitchen – wow, one of my favorite desserts ever. We freeze tons of fresh blueberries in the summer and this is a perfect way to enjoy them. And the story behind the recipe is so good!

12. My Mee-Mee’s Pound Cake – so rich and delicious. I add cherries and pecans sometimes and keep it plain other times – that hint of almond is all you really need. This was my birthday cake this year (with chocolate chips and almonds, actually) – perfect.

13. Martha’s Chocolate Cupcakes, from Everyday Food – pretty much the perfect birthday cupcake in my opinion, and easy too. I also made these for the Button It Up parties last year.

14. Cheesecake-Marbled Brownies, also from Smitten Kitchen – rich and wonderful and my go-to for bringing to holiday parties.

Okay, I think I’ll stop at fourteen (fifteen, if you count the pigs in blankets)! I could go on all day, and just realized that I haven’t even mentioned slow cooker stuff. I guess that could be its own post – with no photos, I promise… nothing from a crockpot ever looks very good, no matter how delicious it might be.

I would love to hear a favorite recipe of yours if you have one to share!