What I Keep in My Secret Snack Box for Surprise Guests — The Hospitable Host

A few months ago, after the umpteenth time my husband ran to the store to pick up crackers and good cheese before another impromptu home dinner with friends, I had a revelation: Why were we never prepared for this? We have people over enough that we should never not be without snacks and nibbles to serve, and yet here we were, again.

Something had to change, especially with the holidays coming up, if we didn’t want to scramble for snacks every time we had dinner guests. That’s how I came to have a “For Them, Not You” box in my pantry, and here’s what it holds.

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Cluster Candies & Pecan Pie: How Tucker Pecan Turns Nuts Into Sweet Tradition — Maker Tour

Who: Tucker Pecan Company
What: Southern pecans
Where: Montgomery, Alabama

Whether you pronounce it pee-can or puh-con, there’s a good chance you’ll be enjoying this nut, native to the South, in at least a few sweet treats as we approach the holiday season. Pecans and chocolate (or caramel, or honey) are great together. At Tucker Pecan Company, they’re a match made in heaven.

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Recipe: One-Dish Chocolate Cake — 5 Comfort Food Recipes from Alana Chernila

When my daughter Sadie turned nine, she asked if she could have a weekly cooking night. Thursday nights became Sadie’s territory, and as is our habit, I knew we’d work out the details as we went.

When Sadie plans her dinner menu, she always includes dessert. This is her favorite chocolate cake, adapted from a recipe from one of the first books she took into the kitchen, Mollie Katzen’s Honest Pretzels.

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The Best Foods to Donate to Food Banks During the Holidays — Expert Interview

In the United States, one in seven people struggles with hunger, and many rely on food from local food banks to help feed their families. The holiday season is an especially difficult time to live with food insecurity — that is, not knowing when you will get your next meal — and many of us think about making food donations to local food banks at this time of year.

But what types of donations help most? And what kinds of food should you avoid donating? I spoke with representatives from food banks around the U.S. to find out the best ways to help hungry families in your community.

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date, feta and red cabbage salad

date, feta and red cabbage salad

Sara Jenkins is famous for making the Italian roasted pork street food known as porchetta trendy in New York. She’s also known for her way with pasta (and has a new book out with her famed food writer mom celebrating it). She’s had turns at a handful of great Italian restaurants in New York, earning them stars and accolades and has written at length for The Atlantic about Italian food. And almost all I ever want to talk about here? Her salads.

what we'll use
very thinly sliced red cabbage

I can’t help it — they’re riveting, and while I will forever love roasted pork and pasta, in my life, nothing fills the inspiration deficit that accumulates from the daily repetition of cooking that real life requires like chefs that have a way with vegetables — ways we can take back home and eat food we’re more excited about. It began the first time we went to Porsena nearly 5 years ago, when I fell in love with a green bean salad busy with pickled onions, fried almonds, thinly sliced fennel and celery, which I’m of the opinion never gets enough praise. Crunchy and bright, I became obsessed and made it again and again at home. Last week, we were back for an early Sunday night dinner with our menagerie of mini-humans (fine, just two, but it feels like a lot!) and the giant shells with kale pesto were excellent, my son’s thousand-layer deeply broiled duck lasagna was otherworldly, my husband has nothing but good things to say about the linguine with clams, but the only thing I spent the next week babbling on about was the salad I had with dates, feta and radicchio.

bulgarian feta, our favorite

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The 5 Things I’m Buying Now to Get Ready for Holiday Hosting — The Hospitable Host

From now until the end of the year, our homes can feel like one giant swinging door, with family and friends shuffling in and out for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and holiday parties. If you’re hosting, you have to think about cooking, cleaning, and those little things that make guests feel awesome. That’s a lot to handle — which is why realizing at the last minute that you’re out of toilet paper is enough to send even the calmest host over the edge. (I believe “ARGH!” is the going phrase at that point.)

I know I’m never going to be able to plan for every possible contingency, but at least I can be somewhat prepared by stocking up on these five things now.

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