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My wife is a Hallmark Club Gold Member. She mails thank you cards to our friends just for having us over for a beer.
I have been faithful to her for three decades. I just spent $5 on a stupid Valentine's greeting card, and still have to buy her a gift. If I don't, she'll put me out ant night with the cat. W-I-L-M-A!

Add me to the muffaletta club. I made enough for 24 people. Sadly, with so much food at my friend's party, half the sandwiches did not get eaten.
My buddy made crostini topped with gorgonzola, filet mignon, and caramelized onions, and Buffalo turkey meatballs, among other things. One highlight of the evening was the cheese plate, with an interesting aged white cheddar laced with chocolate. And, a champagne toast, after our boys pulled out another sweet victory over pretty-boy Brady and Co. Take that, Giselle!

You have to try this meatloaf recipe

A lot of it depends on the variety of apple, and how you cook them and/or bake the pie, also on your personal taste. I like a tart apple pie, and I also like the apples to retain some of their texture, so I always use fresh Granny Smiths (in season), andI don't pre-cook the filling.
I do add a secret ingredient, which greatly intensifies the apple flavor, Woods Boiled Cider reduction:

http://www.woodscidermill.com/PRODUCTS.html

10 inch pie plate, or 9 inch deep dish pie plate
1/2 tbsp. butter (for greasing plate)
2 disks Kenji's all-butter pie crust, chilled and rolled out
3-1/2 lbs fresh Granny Smith apples
1/3 cup Woods boiled cider
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp. Minute tapioca, powdered in a clean coffee grinder
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1 tbsp. turbinado sugar, for garnish

Peel, core, then slice the apples lengthwise, then into 1/4 inch slices. Place in a large bowl. Drizzle with the cider syrup, and toss. Mix the powdered tapioca thickener, granulated sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and a pinch of salt together, then sprinkle over the apple slices, and toss until coated.
Layer the filling into your rolled-out bottom crust, cover with top crust, trim and crimp edges, cut a few air vents with a paring knife. Dampen the top crust with water, and sprinkle the turbinado sugar topping.
Bake at 400 F for one hour, then cool on a wire rack for 4 hours.

If you have a Cuisinart food processor, consider the accessory 1mm ultra-thin slicing disk instead.

Bake at 350F

I do have a stand mixer, but I make a challah recipe in my Cuisinart with the plastic dough blade.
After the dough is mixed, which only takes a few seconds, it is also kneaded by hand briefly, then allowed to rise two times before it is baked. It always comes out well.

I got a typical gift from someone who does not cook. It is Zyliss plastic gadget that is supposed to peel oranges and kiwi fruits, but it looks more like some sort of alien gynecological instrument. I'm sure I will never use it.

Alternately, use fresh blackberries:

1 lb. fresh blackberries
1 tbsp. lemon juice
pinch salt
4 extra large egg yolks
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. Chambord liqueur (optional, but it helps)

Equipment:
Ice cream maker
2 qt. saucepan
potato masher
coarse mesh sieve
quart-size pyrex measuring cup

Combine berries, 1 tbsp. sugar, and lemon juice in the saucepan. Simmer over medium heat, and mash until they break down. Using the back of a large kitchen spoon, force through the mesh sieve to make a coulis, then discard the seed residue.
Whisk the egg yolks in a small bowl. Combine the cream, milk, salt, and remaining sugar in the saucepan, and heat to a simmer.
Temper the egg yolks slowly with the hot cream. Transfer back into the saucepan, and cook over medium heat, stirring continuously, until the custard begins to thicken. Strain the custard into the pyrex cup. Whisk in the berry puree. Place cup in an ice bath to cool down, then cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
Stir in the vanilla extract and the Chambord. Churn in the ice cream maker. Transfer the ice cream to a 6 cup plastic container. Chill in freezer several hours before serving.

How about pasta pizza?
There's a place near me that makes "baked ziti pizza". First they boil dried pasta, then they top a raw pizza with it, and bake it at 500 degrees, then it sits on the counter and dries out, until you buy a slice, which is then reheated in the oven for at least a third time.
Ever see rawhide dog chews? Even a pit bull terrier has trouble with those, right? That's what you'll get on a paper plate.

This year ushers in a new era, insofar as I will no longer be subjected to eat my MIL’s traditional holiday meal of either-overcooked-or-raw roasted mystery meat, steamed-for-an-hour broccoli mush, unseasoned mashed potatoes, and burnt cookies.
The catch is that my wife has volunteered me to cook and bring the entire meal to MIL’s house. Yay! No problem!

None of the contestants this season are the least bit interesting or memorable. I'm a die-hard fan of Top Chef, but, like most TV shows, the formula is getting old and repititious, and the series is running out of steam.
I hate to say it here, but I think the whole gourmet food-on-TV trend is starting to wane.

I interpreted the question differently. What foods have be ruined by the manufacturers alteration the recipe, i.e. HFCS substituted for cane sugar, discontinued use of hydrogenated oils, etc. The list is long.
A big disappointment for me was when Tastykake stopped using lard in their fruit pie crusts, substituting vegetable shortening instead. Not to mention the ever-growing list of preservatives and chemicals also added to increase shelf life.