Falling for Hot Mulled Cider

I hear today, September 30, is National Hot Mulled Cider Day … What a great excuse to celebrate the (finally!) crisp air of fall and crack open your first pint of apple cider.  And don’t forget how to make basic apple cider even better with a little Red Hots action.  Believe me, it’s fantastic. 

Some other classic additions to hot apple cider:
* Cinnamon stick
* Orange peel
* A mulled spice sachet or teabag
* Cranberry or pineapple juice
* Brandy or rum

So cozy up with a hot mug and enjoy!

A Tasty Way to Eat Your Veggies: Roasted

There’s something about seeing the rows and rows of squash varietals at the supermarket and in bushels at roadside stands that just screams fall to me. Aren’t these roasted butternut squash just gorgeous?

Roasted Butternut Squash

I made them today with the intentions of a roasted butternut squash and garlic lasagna tomorrow. I LURVE roasted vegetables, and they couldn’t be easier. I heard someone once say that roasting vegetables in the fall and winter is what grilling vegetables is to the spring and summer. The perfect preparation to bring you into season.

My Can’t-Live-Without Cooking Tool

Mini Spatula Set

Last night I was making a big (honestly, enormous) batch of vegetarian chili, and after washing it for the n-teenth time, realized just how much I rely on my mini silicone spatula. I know, it seems so bizarre that something so small could be so endlessly useful, but it truly is good for so many things. Maybe it’s because my hands are small and I have a lot of control with it.

I’m still using one I received from my Williams-Sonoma wedding registry more than five years ago, and have since added another to the arsenal. (I think it was a thoughtful stocking-stuffer from my husband a few years back.)

Roll Me Over This Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving, I’ve been assigned to bring the dinner rolls.  While it was quite kind of my aunt to give the “new mother” this charge, as I could easily head out to Servatti’s or Busken (maybe even Costco?) and buy a bundle of quality rolls.  I even did a little research, and found This Article from The Cincinnati Enquirer a few years back that taste-tested the best Thanksgiving dinner rolls from bakeries around town, where Regina Bakery’s butterbits rolls came out on top. (I’ve never heard of Regina Bakery, but anything named “butterbits” HAS to be good, right?)

Improving Apple Cider

I love apple cider. All hot and steamy with that tinge of a tart afterbite.  It’s easily one of the best things about fall.

This weekend at a family gathering my Aunt wowed me with a way to make it even tastier. Her secret?

Red Hots.

Ohmigoodness. Those tiny red cinnamon candies you see around Valentine’s Day take perfectly yummy cider to glorious new heights.

Heat 4-6 cups of cider with 1/4 cup of Red Hots; stir. Snap!

If you make it (and for your sake, I hope you do), let me know what you think.