Apartment Dining

My aunt makes an amazing Cranberry Apple Relish every year for Thanksgiving. Although it’s meant as a small side, I can eat it by the bowl full and usually do for breakfast in the mornings following the holiday (I finished off this Thanksgiving’s batch this morning). This relish would also make a great addition to dinner table for any of the holiday meals coming up. » Read the rest of this entry «

I spent Thanksgiving at my mother’s house upstate in Lake George. Her house is surrounded by snow-covered mountains and evergreen trees (as you can see in the post below), making it a perfect escape from the city. I am also envious of her large kitchen with countertop space to spare and a window overlooking a forest above the sink. Photos of Thanksgiving preparations and giblet gravy after the jump. » Read the rest of this entry «

I’m taking a short break from peeling potatoes, simmering cranberries, and sneaking bites of roast chestnut stuffing from the stove here in the Adirondack Mountains. It looks like this outside:
 

Thanksgiving recap will come later.

I think that I’m a healthy eater. I enjoy organic produce, meals with little dairy and low on bad fats, very few processed foods, and I can count the number of times I’ve consumed fast food in the past year on one hand (usually french fries at a rest stop on I-87 where my food options were limited). I’m not bringing this up to make myself sound like a food snob, rather, I’m trying to balance out the Thanksgiving food tradition I’m about to discuss: Mangan Family-Style Turkey Giblet Gravy. (Vegetarian readers may want to bail before the jump.) » Read the rest of this entry «

A curry is a perfect way to enjoy all of the vegetables in your kitchen when you realize you went a bit overboard at the farmer’s market, but you don’t want to waste any fresh, delicious produce. It does call for a bit of chopping time, but once everything is in the pan, an occasional stir is all it needs until the vegetables are tender. It also tastes great the following day for lunch at work. Here’s the recipe: » Read the rest of this entry «

Last spring, I decided to take pictures of my dinners for a month, give or take a few days that I forgot to take a picture until after I finished eating. I decided to continue the experiment in real time by creating an Apartment Dining Twitter feed devoted to every meal, dessert, and snack I consume. I’m really interested to see what this snapshot looks like, and while I considered just doing it in a journal, I decided that since I have this blog, why not update a Twitter account by phone a few times a day?

You can find the latest update from the feed in the top right corner of the sidebar, but if you’re on Twitter (or even if you’re not), you can follow me here.

I promise this will be my last post about muffins for a while. (They’re just so easy to make and delicious.) Last weekend called for some cranberry muffins made with fresh cranberries, seeing as they are easily available with Thanksgiving just over a week away. Fresh cranberries also add an extra bite without adding too much sweetness, while it can be hard to find dried unsweetened cranberries. » Read the rest of this entry «

At the farmers’ market last Saturday, I almost tripped over a crate of sweet potatoes and decided it was a sign from the food powers that be: it was time for some smashed sweet potatoes. I picked up about two pounds and took them home, wondering if there was anything that I could add to them to mix things up a bit. 

I rummaged through my spice cupboard and came across a left over vanilla bean from the poached Drunken Pears from a few weeks ago. I then remembered seeing a recipe at 101 Cookbooks for Vanilla Mashed Sweet Potatoes, but lacked the majority of ingredients and sizable food processor. The answer was this simplified recipe. » Read the rest of this entry «

I’ve decided to challenge myself by creating a dish every few weeks that requires five ingredients or less (not counting salt, pepper, and olive oil). It tends to save time, and as we continue to slog through these tough economic times, recipes with sprawling ingredient lists are becoming much less appealing. 

The first installment in this series is mushroom tacos. They are a satisfying and quick meal, especially when paired with some Spanish rice (not counted in list of five ingredients). » Read the rest of this entry «

Bread is just about as basic as it comes, and yet people are scared to make it. They think it’s going to be a lengthy, complicated process, but in reality, it requires a small amount of prep time and a bit of waiting around. You probably already have all of the ingredients sitting in your kitchen, just waiting around. Really, when was the last time you used any of the yeast from that three pack of Fleischmann’s you decided to pick up a few months ago? 

If you’re looking to make a lot of dough and have it at the ready for two weeks or more in the fridge, I highly recommend the Simple Crusty Bread recipe, featured here in the NYT, but originally from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. If you only want to make a plain white loaf the old-school way, tea towel and all, here’s a simple recipe. » Read the rest of this entry «