This week we invited a few friends to share little projects to make your kitchen cozier, warmer, and happier — ready for winter cooking. Here they all are in one place!
5 Tiny Projects for a Cozy Kitchen
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Category Archives: News
Grown-Up Tater-Tots, Mississippi Delta Tamales, White Hot Chocolate, Italian Wedding Soup & Meatball Sliders — New Recipes from The Kitchn
Cold January days definitely call for some extra-cozy recipes to warm us up, and it doesn’t get much better than our Caramelized White Hot Chocolate from this past week. Doesn’t a mug of that sound like the perfect way to end a day of sledding? We’ve also got steamed Mississippi Delta Tamales and Italian Wedding Soup for dinner, as well as a new Downton Abbey cocktail to sip afterwards. As a bonus, check out the fantastic appetizers and fizzy mocktail from our Winter Glam Cocktail Party shared over the break!
Lentils: The New Gravy — Old Ingredient New Trick
As with eye cream and good wine, I didn’t begin to appreciate lentils until I got older. For a long time, their dull colors and mushy texture scared me. But I’ve come to realize that it’s exactly this — the mushiness — that gives lentils so much “swap potential” in the kitchen.
An Architect and a Floral Designer Find a Sweet Mix in San Francisco — Kitchen Spotlight
Seth is an architect and favors “clean, modern, precise and particular.” His wife Natalie is a floral designer, and leans “more organic and earthy” while still appreciating clean lines. Their two sensibilities meld beautifully in their Presidio Heights, San Francisco kitchen. It has a slightly retro vibe, but still feels fresh.
The Nightcap: An Old-Fashioned Ritual
“How about a nightcap?” We’ve heard these words uttered dozens of times in movies, perhaps most memorably in The Graduate between Ben and Mr. Robinson. But what is a nightcap really, and why doesn’t anyone have one anymore?
Make the Kitchen Cozy with an Easy Stovetop Potpourri — Tiny Projects for a Cozy Kitchen
While my apartment is spacious enough, the kitchen is small and one of the first rooms visitors see when they enter. One of my go-to methods for drawing attention away from the limited space is to put the emphasis on another aspect.
Appealing to other senses, whether through the sound of soothing music or the scent of freshly baked cookies, shifts the focus from the size of a space and makes the room more comfortable and welcoming.
How Can I Make Thicker Tomato Sauce? — Good Questions
Q: How do I make my tomato-based pasta sauces thicker? I usually start with whole peeled canned tomatoes, and then go from there, but I never have that thick texture that coats the sauce the way I want it too.
What’s Cooking This Weekend? — Weekend of January 11-12, 2014
Happy weekend everyone! What’s cooking? The Kitchn editors are at my house in Ohio this week, cooking up ideas and plans for the new year. We’re having so much fun — want to see some photos of our pasta-making adventure last night? We made noodles, meatballs, and a big pot of greens, and we ate it all up with some convivial bottles of red wine. (If you’d like to see us rolling the pasta, click through and watch Emma shaping cavatelli!)
What about you? Do you have any big cooking plans this weekend?
Recipe: Italian Wedding Soup — Recipes from The Kitchn
When it comes to soups, I can easily say I have a hands-down favorite: Italian Wedding Soup. My experience of it is neither particularly Italian, nor is it matrimonial, rather it was one of the first real meals my mother fed me when I was a baby. The legend is that I’d slurp it loudly, humming, and the broth would dribble down my neck, soaking the neck of my shirt.
The Best Baked Goods to Freeze — Freezer Friendly from Jessica Fisher
My Gramma John was a tremendous baker. A farm wife and mother to eight kids, she spent her fair share of time in the kitchen. But she loved every minute of it, baking until the very day she passed away. I have great memories of spending time with her in the kitchen.
Nowadays with my own small army of children, I love to bake as well. They love it even more. I love that I can tailor my baking for food allergies as well as dietary preferences. This ensures us a safe, quality baked good that tastes great.