baking

Today I've been baking up a storm which in turn has increased the temperature in our apartment to 80 degrees! Did you know that in old pre-war buildings you can't control the heat, so even when it is 60 degrees outside in November the heat blares through those darn radiators! I baked 6 batches of cookies today for an exciting project that I will let you in on when it is published. In the meantime, if I were thinking about stocking up on baking essentials for the holidays, these are a few things that I would make sure to have on hand.
Cookie Scoop Nothing makes me happier that perfectly proportioned cookies that bake up evenly.
Bench Scraper Excellent for getting those pie crusts and homemade breads to come together nicely when making by hand and also great for portioning scones and such.
Timer Ok, so you may have a functioning timer on your oven, but let's be honest, is there a better time of year to splurge on something like this?
Parchment Paper Clean up is a cinch with parchment paper and is also great for even baking.
Mini-Spatula Not sure why I love this one so much, but I swear that I'm always looking for my petite spatula to dish up brownies, cookies or something else delicious.

let's have dinner together

Would you like to have dinner together in NYC? Translated...would you like to win a free trip to New York to tour the Food Network test kitchens, read leisurely from Food Network magazine for a year, and dine with yours truly?

I hope your answer is YES! Pyrex is sponsoring the Party App-titude challenge over at Food 2 and I would really love for you to enter. All you need to do is come up with your best appetizer, snap a photo, send the recipe, and cross your fingers that you will be the winner.

Just to help get the wheels turning, check out some of my favorite appetizer recipes here.

photos: sister kylie

dish this

This is not the first time this bookshelf turned dish hutch has made an online debut, but I love the idea so much that I wanted to share it one more time. I have a "thing" for dishes and couldn't bear placing them behind plain old cupboard doors. This piece was sold as a children's bookshelf for $59.00 at IKEA but has never stored anything but dishes. I owe my love for dishes to my mother who seems to have the perfect set for every occasion.

cranberries

I'm once again getting a bit creative with disposable holiday decor thanks to lack of storage. These lovelies are providing the perfect pop of color for the holidays that are just around the corner. Thanks to the new Costco that is on 20 blocks away (yay!) I bought an extra large bag of cranberries for under $5.00 and filled my "ever-so-versatile" old milk bottles with something very cheery. I think these would be beautiful as a centerpiece for the Thanksgiving table as well.

apple pie

I'm thrilled that a few people have responded to my cookbook question below. I think the cookbooks you cook from say a lot about the kind of person you are. I agree with a lot of your favorites. If only my whole cookbook collection would have been able to make the cross country move...oh well. Lauren mentioned Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. Excellent book. In fact, I read this book cover to cover several times and cooked religiously from it while preparing for my Next Food Network Star adventure. You can't beat the basics of cooking.
One of his more recent publications is Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express. The recipe format is very loose yet straightforward. This book consists of 404 seasonal recipes that can be prepared in 20 minutes or less. The best part is that they are all written in paragraph form, just like your mom is teaching you over your shoulder. The measurements are flexible making this style of cooking really free and easy. As much as I like this "from the gut cooking," I still find comfort in classic recipe format with yield, ingredients, and directions.

In an effort to compliment this book that I have enjoyed cooking from so much, here is my rendition of apple pie...Bittman style.Easy Apple Pie Yield: 1 pie

Peel and slice 5-6 medium Granny Smith Apples. In a large bowl, toss chopped apples with about 1 cup of white sugar and a little bit of brown sugar. Add a teaspoon or two of cinnamon & nutmeg. To thicken the apple filling, add 1/2 cup flour. Set aside while you prepare your favorite pastry crust. (grandma's is usually best) After fitting bottom crust in pie pan, turn in apple mixture and dot with butter. Create a lattice on top or put additional pastry on top of filling and crimp edges of crust together. Using either an egg wash or water, dampen top of pie crust and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15 minutes at 450 then reduce heat to 350 for another 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly.

cookbook lovin'

I'm curious...which cookbooks make your kitchen dance? Are you a fan of old classics like The Joy of Cooking or do you find yourself cooking from the Food Network lineup of Ina, Giada, or Bobby?

funny food

No kiddos at our dinner table yet, but if Robby starts throwing a fit about eating his vegetables, I may have to invite these playful plates to dinner. Thanks for the tip Betsy!