{from scratch holidays} A Spicy Thanksgiving

By the time the Puritan Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, there were actually many settlements already established by the Spanish in what would eventually be considered the United States, like Santa Fe NM, El Paso TX and St Augustine FL. So what and where was the first Thanksgiving in the United States? Was it the…

{fsc podcast} Episode 8: The Homemade Pantry

Those of you following along with the blog or the FSC Book Club know that we love Alana Chernila and her cookbook, The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying & Start Making. So it should come as no surprise that we are absolutely thrilled to bring you a fascinating, in-depth interview with Alana during…

{scaling the northeast grain system} Fall Plantings & Rotation

When I first started gardening, I couldn’t imagine planting anything in the fall. Sure, I knew about tulip bulbs, but I thought of putting them in the ground as winter storage, kind of like keeping your sweaters safe from moths in summer. I couldn’t wrap my head around plants that didn’t follow the path of…

{from scratch holidays} Bourbon Brown Butter Sweet Potatoes

The leaves are on the ground, pumpkins on every doorstep and the crazy holiday season is creeping up on us. I love this time of year and I tend to cook more intensely during this season. The crisp freshness of summer foods usually cooks quickly and effortlessly. This time of year food slows down and…

{from scratch holidays} Quick-Braised Carrots

For the holidays, we totally don’t go for traditional recipes. This is due partially to me remembering jello salads and various different riffs on Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup from my childhood. This is also partially because of my husband’s opinion that turkey is really dry no matter what, and usually requires way more effort…

{edible gift} D.I.Y. Cocktail Bitters

My friend Julie turned me on to homemade infusions years ago. She has a big shelf in her amazing kitchen/dining room filled with homemade bitters, digestifs, infusions, shrubs, and the like. It’s like walking into a delicious apothecary. Julie recently attended the FSC Schenectady Food Swap and brought with her a bunch of her homemade bitters…

{recipe recap} From Scratch Holidays

I know, I know. Halloween was only yesterday. BUT like magazines, we want to be weeks ahead of the game so you have time to prepare, shop for & create dishes for your Thanksgiving meal, appetizers for a your holiday party, and cocktail suggestions for a New Years Celebration. We also strive to provide you…

{giveaway} Holiday Stories From Your Kitchen

The good, the bad, the ugly, the amazing, the laughable. Kitchen highlights, lowlights, disasters and award-winning triumphs. For our December Episode of the FSC Podcast, Christine & I are producing a very special episode, Holiday Stories from your Kitchen, filled with the ups, downs, the sweat, the tears and panic with holiday home cooking. Come…

{the honeybee saga} Of Honey & Hope

As I write this I’m certain one of my hives has hive beetles and there’s a hurricane that might hit us early this week (Editor’s Update: 10/30/12 Hurricane Sandy did not hit us as expected in Upstate New York, but others in CT, NJ, PA, and of course NYC & the 5 boroughs where not so…

{home wheat production} Crackers From Scratch

We have been wandering in the desert of home wheat production for three years now.  We could see the mountaintop, but were not sure we could get there.  Although it is not that hard to grow wheat, harvesting, threshing and milling all present real technical problems to overcome for home growers. We learned how to scythe, then…

{giveaway follow-up} Eat Your Books Winner Is…

The winner of the lifetime membership to EYB goes to……. Clare October 7, 2012 at 5:15 am “I have been an Eat Your Books member almost since the beginning and adore it- EYB allows me to recoup the investment I make in cookbooks by ensuring I actually use them. Perhaps my fav thing is that it makes me try…

{recipe recap} S is for Squash

Before we get our Squash-on, I wanted to announce a fun event tonight. During the monthly city-wide event: Troy Night Out, I and many of the FSC Academy teachers will be hanging out in The Art Center of the Capital Region’s kitchen from 5:30-8:30 hosting demos and chatting about our classes we teach at the…

{recipe} Calabaza en Tacha (Candied Pumpkin)

Editor’s Note: Swapper Becky H wowed us with her piece on The Simplicity of Coconut Butter and now she’s back as a regular monthly contributor! I’m excited to have Becky join the team because she will bring something new, as a native of The Rio Grande Valley,  she will be featuring recipes & stories influenced by…

{recipe} Gluten-Free Crispy Treat Pops

Hi Folks! I’m thrilled Christina asked me to contribute to the FSC blog. For my first entry, I thought I’d share a bit of a culinary confession. Ready? I don’t like…cake pops. It’s not that I don’t think they’re adorable, I do! It’s just that I find the interior of the pops, usually a mixture…

{recipe} Apple Spice Whoopie Pies with Cider Frosting

Growing up in New Hampshire, I was fortunate to experience the beauty of the autumn leaves year after year. The changing colors, decorating the sky and then blanketing the ground, still amaze me with their brilliance, even all these years later.  Although I do not live in NH any longer, as I moved to New…