After record highs and pouring rain, plummeting temperatures and falling snow have settled in. How do you respond to such a strange switch in the weather? With comforting chocolate, of course. It's time to make hot chocolate and enjoy a few fun twists on the tried and true standby. After all, watching the snow fall with a cup of cocoa in your hands makes it all better!
Archive
Every year since 1998, Seasoned Cooking has posted over a hundred articles each year. Do the math and you're looking at thousands of articles chock full of all manner of recipes, tips, and ingredient & kitchen tool focuses that help you in your culinary adventures and beyond. And while it's all searchable and there's even a clever multi-select tool to help you find the perfect recipe for your needs, sometimes we all just want to take a stroll down memory lane.
That's where this Archive comes in. Just click on any year and drill down by clicking on any month within that year. Before you know it, you'll be seeing that July 1999 had us taking a tour of Chinese cuisine and March 2013 treated us to sliders with an Irish twist! So if a little wander through the site is just your speed, we have a whole lot of paths for you to take on your journey. Enjoy!
Record temperatures bringing ongoing rain and fog leave lots of room for comfort food menus. Mine includes a creamy chowder that's chock full of vegetables, turkey, and a creamy broth. Float a slice of crusty bread in the center of your bowl and you've got a great lunch or dinner for any day of the week.
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Sure, beets are great roasted and sliced into salad or pickled and served alongside fish, but in dessert? I've found adding grated beets to a basic chocolate cakes takes it from nice to outstanding without adding any fat. Beyond that, you find yourself with a cake that just doesn't dry out and seems to taste better with every day … if it manages to last at all!
Mushrooms are super anytime of the year, but winter affords us an opportunity to pair them with intense ingredients like blue cheese and serve them alongside everything from roasted meat to slow-cooked soups. What's more, if you happen to have a gluten allergy, this approach doesn't leave you in appetizer limbo since they are entirely gluten free!
Crockpot cooking is one way to keep your family all warm and well-fed during the cold winter months, and planning a weekly menu keeps you out of the cold and icy weather more often. By planning just one weekly shopping day with one goal in mind - creating enough crockpot meals for a week - you can feed your family hearty meals and stay toasty warm indoors, coming home to those wonderful aromas of a delicious, slow cooked meal all ready for you and your family to enjoy.
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Dried beans are inexpensive, healthy, and usually annoying to use in cooking. Between soaking overnight and hours and hours of cooking time, most people just opt to use canned versions of the same. But if you have a heavy, lidded pot and a working oven, you can take advantage of dried beans without all the fuss. And you can enjoy South American Black Bean Soup on a day when winter has you chilled to the bone.
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Did your resolutions this year include making better use of your space? The kitchen is a great place to start with that and we're helping you out with some great ideas for doing just that! Pick one or two ideas or get great space-saving by mixing and matching lots of options.
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When the season of many pumpkins continues, it's time for the pooch to get involved. And, if there are going to be puppy treats, we might as well go all out and make them dog biscuits made with the puppy's own cookie cutters. What? Are you saying your dogs don't have their own cookie cutters? Okay … maybe he's a little spoiled. Still, make these fun dog biscuits for your furry friend and you'll be rewarded with canine adoration.
When we decide it's time to celebrate at our home, we find ways to take it to a delightful level of deliciousness. Whether that means topping our seared steaks with creamy blue cheese or sipping port with fresh berries, enjoying flavors is just part of living in my sphere. So when a birthday presents itself and the birthday boy loves mint and chocolate, it is only appropriate that a cheesecake featuring both flavors takes center stage.
As the holiday season wanes, people think about finding healthier foods for their tables. But you need not do so at the expense of flavor. In a fun recipe featuring roasted vegetables and tahini, a side dish come salad option shows off versatility, health value, and incredible taste. What's more, the dressing for it is so addictive, I've taken to drizzling it over everything from bread to omelets!
Eating vegetarian meals, or simply increasing the amount of vegetables and legumes while also decreasing the amount of meat in your diet can be a great choice for your overall health. However, if you think your wallet cannot handle such a decision, you simply need to consider what vegetarian cooking means to you and how you can approach this diet without adding a lot of expensive, fad foods to your grocery cart.