How to make the best use of holiday leftovers

November 25, 2021 by
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Yesterday I learned that the average American eats 4,000 calories on Thanksgiving, an astonishing amount of food. Even after stuffing ourselves many of us have plenty of leftovers, and while turkey sandwiches are great you can only eat so many before you tire of them. It pays to look beyond the sandwich to find tasty options for those Thanksgiving leftovers.… read more

The Great Big 2021 Holiday Baking – Cookie Roundup

November 24, 2021 by
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On Sunday, I shared my gift guide with ideas for the cooks and bakers in our lives. But not every gift needs to be purchased, we can bake something homemade for our friends and family. Every year, I love to search out all the holiday cookie contests from newspapers around the globe. In my sleuthing, I've found some great unusual… read more

2021 Gift Guide for the Cookbook Lover, Cook and Baker

November 21, 2021 by
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This year has been a whirlwind of activity. Here we are a little over a month before the holidays and I keep thinking "I wish it were September." Today's gift guide will feature products that I love (and bought myself) and other products which I have reviewed or have been provided a sample of for upcoming promos. (Not everything I… read more

Kicking off fruitcake season

November 8, 2021 by
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Fruitcake has gotten a bad rap here in the US, becoming the butt of jokes and something to dread rather than celebrate. One big reason so many people say they hate fruitcake is because they have never tasted one that has been properly made. As Eater's Dayna Evans explains, if you make fruitcake for yourself, you may come to appreciate… read more

The foods of Diwali

November 4, 2021 by
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Today marks the beginning of Diwali - known as Deepavali in south India - a five-day festival of lights celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains across the world that celebrates new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness. Diwali celebrations frequently include fireworks, candles, and other forms of light displays. As with many holidays around the… read more

Día de Muertos celebrations

November 1, 2021 by
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Today marks the Mexican celebration Día de Muertos or Day of the Dead, celebrated November 1-2 each year. Day of the Dead celebrations date back to the ancient Aztecs, who felt that instead of mourning the deceased, people should celebrate their lives and welcome their spirits back to the land of the living once a year. Spanish conquistadors brought Catholic missionaries who… read more

Early birds get the turkey

October 20, 2021 by
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Photos of bare supermarket shelves in the UK have been flooding social media feeds. Some folks have gone online to mock stores that have filled their bare spots with an odd assortment of items. On the other side of the globe, images of cargo ships dotting the seascape outside of the US's busiest port have also been making the rounds.… read more

Giving thanks in 2021

October 7, 2021 by
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Canadian Thanksgiving is October 11 and the US holiday follows, landing this year on November 25. As many of us gather again after a year or more with no large get togethers, we have extra reason to be thankful. Thanksgiving also means it is time to gather recipes for family favorites as well as check out new items for this… read more

Father’s Day recipes

September 3, 2021 by
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Sunday is Father's Day in Australia and New Zealand, but even if you don't live in those countries, it's a good excuse to celebrate the special men or father figures in your life. If you plan on making something special but are out of ideas, head over to Australian Gourmet Traveller, as they have assembled dozens of Father's Day recipes… read more

Kid-friendly Father’s Day recipes

June 17, 2021 by
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strawberries in a colander
Sunday is Father’s Day in many countries and for a lot of families that means outdoor cooking, meat on the grill, and picnic fare. No doubt millions of burgers and steaks will find their way onto plates, but kids might want to make their dad a special dish themselves, and that's where America's Test Kitchen steps in. They have a… read more

Traditional foods of Juneteenth

June 14, 2021 by
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The upcoming celebration of Juneteenth was first celebrated in Texas, where on June 19, 1865, in the aftermath of the bloody U.S. Civil War, slaves were declared free under the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation. One year after the announcement, freedmen in Texas organized the first of what became an annual celebration, known then as Jubilee Day. By the 1890s, the holiday… read more

The best cookbooks for newlyweds

May 13, 2021 by
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This summer is shaping up to be a big one for weddings, as many people who put off tying the knot due to pandemic are preparing to do it now. Florists, wedding venues, caterers, and bridal stores are gearing up for the rush, and it seems like the first large gathering many of us will be attending could be a… read more

Ramadan recipes at the ready

April 12, 2021 by
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Tonight marks the start of Ramadan, which runs through May 12 this year. During this month of spiritual reflection and self-improvement, Muslims will abstain from both food and drink from dawn to sunset. As with most religious holidays, traditional foods play an important role, both for pre-dawn meal (suhoor) and the meal consumed after sunset (iftar). There are a variety… read more

‘Fooling’ around with food

April 1, 2021 by
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Normally we would feature a blog post for April Fools' Day that shared the funniest or most clever pranks that food websites or celebrities pulled on their fans. It seems that there are far fewer of these in 2021, perhaps because it seems wrong to try to fool us after everything we have been through in the past year. Instead,… read more

Foods to celebrate Nowruz

March 18, 2021 by
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March 20 marks the beginning of Nowruz, the traditional Persian New Year festival celebrated in Iran, Afghanistan, and the Kurdish regions of Iraq, Turkey and Syria, throughout Central Asia, and by members of the diaspora worldwide. Coinciding with the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, Nowruz is a two-week celebration that centers on visiting relatives, picnicking, travelling, and eating traditional… read more

Mother’s Day recipe ideas

March 10, 2021 by
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Mother's Day is this Sunday in the UK (it's May 9 in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand). A great way to honor the person who likely did most of the cooking for you during your childhood is to make a special treat for her on this special occasion. Whether that means a full meal (if you are able to… read more

Celebrate Welsh food on St. David’s Day

March 1, 2021 by
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March 1 is St. David's Day, which celebrates the 6th century patron saint of Wales. This holiday may not have the strongest food tradition, but it does offer an opportunity to explore Welsh food. Traditional festivities for the day, also known as The Feast of St. David, include wearing daffodils and leeks, both symbols of Wales. The leek is associated with the… read more

Celebrating National Pancake Day

February 15, 2021 by
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February 16 (Shrove Tuesday) is National Pancake Day. The Tuesday before Lent begins is a traditional day for eating pancakes, hearkening back to a time when any remaining rich foods were eaten prior to fasting. Traditions aside, this food 'holiday' is a perfect excuse to make breakfast for dinner. Jenny has previously posted all about the best pancake recipes, including Ebelskivers… read more

Celebrating the year of the ox

February 10, 2021 by
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February 12 marks the beginning of a very special time for the Chinese and several other cultures, as it is the beginning of the lunar new year. This year ushers in the Year of the Ox, but there is more than just the return of this second animal zodiac symbol at play, as CNN explains. In addition to the 12-year… read more

Celebrating Mardi Gras at home

February 6, 2021 by
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Every February, hundreds of thousands of people make the trek to New Orleans to celebrate Mardi Gras, the festival that begins at Epiphany and culminates on the day before Ash Wednesday, which is known as Shrove Tuesday. The festival includes parades, copious amounts of eating and drinking, and general revelry 24 hours a day. But not in 2021 - the… read more

Valentine’s Gift Guide for the Cookbook Lover

February 1, 2021 by
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I'm a bit of a practical person - if practical is defined as owning 5,000 cookbooks, never saying no to a piece of cookware and having more baking tins/gadgets than a full fledged bakery. Yes, my practicality runs in the form of enjoying practical things - I am not a flowers, chocolate or expensive dinner out type of person. Yes,… read more

It’s not too late to celebrate National Pie Day!

January 23, 2021 by
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Once again, National Pie Day has snuck up on me. This 'official' national food holiday allows me to celebrate Pie Day twice each year, because I will always believe the logical choice for the day is 3.14. Although the day is touted as a 'national' event in the US, I have noticed that people from around the world have joined in… read more

Lucky foods for the new year

December 31, 2020 by
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Eating traditional foods that are thought to bring good luck seems more necessary than ever today as the world rings in 2021. Which foods are considered lucky varies from country to country and even from region to region. Grapes play an important role in Spain, where revelers consume 12 grapes just as the clock strikes midnight, each grape representing a… read more

More gingerbread house eye candy

December 19, 2020 by
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I just can't resist posting one last item about gingerbread houses. This one comes from an annual contest hosted by The Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina (incidentally, one of my all-time favorite cities in the US). This year the contest was virtual, like so many others, but that did not limit the creativity or excellence of the… read more

Cookies from around the world or around the block

December 15, 2020 by
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For a few years, the term procrastibaking has been employed to describe any time someone bakes when they should be doing something else such as working or doing the laundry. Today, I've been working on promotions and end of the month posts and my thoughts kept wandering to other fun things I want to do such as decorate the tree… read more
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