Yes, it's only November 1, but it's never too early to start thinking about what you'd like to eat during the holiday season.
The Sun Chronicle is publishing its Festive Foods special section and we're looking for cooks, both experienced and novice, to share their favorite recipes with other readers.
Send us your appetizer, main dish, soup, salad, side dish, and, of course, dessert and cookie recipes. Don’t forget to submit a photo, too, if you have one.
You can send us your submission by reg…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on November 1, 2009 at 5:30pm —
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After reading "My Life In France" by Julia Child - who if you've read before - is a favorite of mine, I really wanted to read "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." The way she describes what it took to create the cookbook in her memoir just seemed to make it a must read for me. I had planned on buying it for mys…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on August 27, 2009 at 1:56pm —
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Thanks to Mike Gelbwasser for sending me the link to this
blog , Cake Wrecks.
It shows photos of many cakes gone wrong, and some just funny confections. It's worth a click.
Especially notable is the YouTube video on Aug. 8th's entry of the Swedish Chef baking a cake. For those who don't know, the Swedish Chef is my all-time favorite Muppet. While his cooking methods are unconventional, the poor guy gets thrown things like talking ca…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on August 16, 2009 at 8:30pm —
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Oysters are a relatively new vice of mine. I once wouldn't even think about eating anything raw - and the thought of slurping raw oysters made my stomach turn. But now, I find myself craving them from time to time.
It all started at
Jasper White's Summer Shack at Mohegan Sun. Adam's father, now my father-in-law, bought me one to try. Always the skeptic, but curious, I accepted the oyster, held my breath and slid it from the she…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on August 16, 2009 at 8:28pm —
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What do those three things have in common? You can find all of them in Hawaii, which is where I've spent the last two weeks on my honeymoon. Yes, my sous chef, Adam, is now my husband/sous chef :)
When you think about Hawaii, you don't usually think about food other than maybe roast pork at a luau. You really should, though, because the islands have some spectacular restaurants with equally spectacular views. While some tend to be pricey, including those near or in resort areas, if you ask arou…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on August 12, 2009 at 4:15pm —
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After work this evening, I was lucky enough to arrive home to find my sous chef Adam had prepped the peppers, shrimp, onions and brown rice for our supper - a spicy shrimp over rice with spinach that sounded good and healthy. All I had to do was turn on the heat, saute some garlic and crushed red pepper in peanut oil, add the peppers and onions, then some plum sauce and let it cook for about 3 minutes. I added the shrimp, waited until that was warmed through (I had bought the pre-cooked shrimp a…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on June 18, 2009 at 9:19pm —
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Sure you know Washington, DC as the country's center of power, home of numerous monuments, and generally historic place, but did you know that the restaurant scene there is pretty monumental as well? I got a little taste of it this weekend while in the city for a wedding on Saturday.
The food foray started on Friday when after landing in Baltimore and getting the rental car to drive to our hotel right outside DC, Adam and I realized that we were starving. Our plane landed right in time for lunc…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on June 7, 2009 at 9:40pm —
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Even though I had a busy, but productive, week and weekend, I found the time to cook more than I had in the past month! There was the old favorite of the pork stirfry on Wednesday night, followed by some chicken soup - on one of the warmest days of the year - Friday, a Funfetti cake on Saturday afternoon, and believe it or not, I actually made my first successful batch of scrambled eggs on Sunday morning. I have photos of all these things, plus recipes and recipe variations on the soup and eggs,…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on May 25, 2009 at 12:07am —
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My apologies for being so remiss in letting you readers know about my eating whereabouts in the month of April. It was quite the busy month where I didn't cook a lot, Adam took over that duty almost exclusively, but I did have some fantastic meals both at home and out.
One of the most memorable was at
Mill's Tavern in Providence. Adam and I went there to treat ourselves and it was delicious from start to finish. After a local oyster appetizer…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on May 7, 2009 at 12:00pm —
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Two of my favorite things: Italian food and eggs benedict. I've never eaten them at the same time, but I did have some of each this weekend.
My dad celebrated his 63rd birthday this weekend and my mom, Adam and I went to Bella Pasta in Pawtucket to mark the day. We got there at 6:30, saw a cousin we hadn't seen in awhile, and waited. And waited. It was a good thing that there were fellow table-waiters to keep things interesting because the quote hour wait was exactly that. However, the atmosphe…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on March 30, 2009 at 12:22am —
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Even though St. Patrick's Day was a week ago, I'm beginning to think that corned beef is one of those things that should be eaten year round, not just pushed with potatoes on March 17.
I was lucky enough to have two corned beef dinners within a week. The first was at my friends' Lauren…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on March 23, 2009 at 7:15pm —
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I used to hate beans - any kind of bean - string, wax, baked, kidney - I hated them all. I could have possibly been one of the pickiest eaters when I was younger, which still prompts my mother to say that I don't eat vegetables, which is totally false. I eat lots of vegetables now, but…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on March 23, 2009 at 7:00pm —
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What do all of the things in my title have in common? I ate them all over the course of a weekend in Clayton, North Carolina a few weeks ago while visiting friends that moved to the area from Rhode Island.
The Arby's roast beef sandwich was on an onion roll with melted cheddar cheese. Yum. The only thing I didn't like was the color of the roast beef, which was a peachy tan. It wasn't red, it wasn't brown and it was a little odd and quite salty. Nonetheless, I hadn't had one in quite some time,…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on February 19, 2009 at 4:29pm —
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I certainly do! In fact, I'm eating a great one made by yours truly as I write this. I used sourdough bread, a few slices of low sodium turkey breast, a slice of Vermont cheddar cheese with lettuce and tomato, a little bit of Miracle Whip and some Jack Daniels-flavored brown mustard. A sandwich masterpiece.
One of the things I actually do really well is make sandwiches. I think it's an inherited trait from my dad as he makes sandwiches out of anything. Most amusing is when he's eating dinner an…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on January 13, 2009 at 12:50pm —
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Thanks to a wonderful invitation from Adam's uncle, he and I were able to spend Friday night in what is quickly becoming one of my favorite cities, New York (no worries, I'm
absolutely not becoming a Yankees fan.) What does this have to do with food?
I was able to have my favorite fettuccine alfredo from…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on January 4, 2009 at 11:30pm —
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I found a nice surprise on my desk this afternoon when I got to work: A cookbook from Chef Demming Rocker at the Plainville Truck Stop in Plainville. Chef Rocker's book, "Smell What Rock's Cooking! Truck Stop Cookbook" is full of his favorite recipes for appetizers, soups, salads, vegetables, side dishes, main dishes, breads and rolls, desserts and cookies and candy.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Chef Rock when I was compiling recipes for the Festive Foods tab published earlier in Decembe…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on December 30, 2008 at 12:28am —
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Yes, it's been awhile since Thanksgiving and I haven't issued my turkey r…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on December 13, 2008 at 10:06am —
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I wasn't going to pick up my turkey from Willow Tree until tonight, but I saw my opening driving by on my way to work this morning (an actual spot in the parking lot.) I went in, saw that it was already quite busy inside, and got my 16 1/2 pound turkey. I ran it over to my mom's house for safekeeping while I'm at work and plan on picking it up on my way home.
I found a recipe for reduced-fat sausage stuffing, but while shopping replaced all the lower fat ingredients with their regular fat count…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on November 26, 2008 at 10:13am —
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Yes, I've been entrusted with Thanksgiving this year. Yes, I'm nervous, which is why I made a practice turkey.
Actually, Adam and I are making Thanksgiving dinner for his parents, brothers and sister-in-law, and we're quite excited to do so. I was nervous because, before last Friday, I h…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on November 12, 2008 at 11:14am —
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Yes, I've seen it and in a most unusual place. I had the happy opportunity to eat at Pizzeria Regina twice since my visit in late May, but unhappily, the grated parmesan cheese on the tables had been replaced by something that looked like flour. I looked at it suspiciously, but Adam went ahead and sprinkled some on his slice to discover that it was powdered parmesan cheese.
It was probably a cost cutting measure, as it barely smelled like parmesan. Adam said it tasted "OK," but when I tasted a…
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Added by Jessica Kosowski on October 15, 2008 at 5:09pm —
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