These almonds from Trader Joe's are my secret snack weapon. They come bundled into individual packages so you can throw a few in your bag on your way out. Then, when you realize you spent, oh, say, three more hours than you intended looking though the dresses at Nordstrom Rack you will have the fuel to keep you upright in the outrageously long line for the dressing room. They also help me from buying the nearest bag of chips when I'm dreading getting stuck in traffic on the way home. They also help me from being tempted to eat peanut butter out of the jar as a snack when I'm at home. They are awesome. Why did it take me so long to find them?

I though I would find them bland as they are unsalted, but I don't. Each packet is just over 200 calories.

While I'm talking about Trader Joe's I just want to mention that their frozen Chicken Serenada entree has become a regular backup meal in our fridge. Seriously, we buy them by the dozen. (Don't get confused and buy the Ensenada, it's not as good, trust me.) Each serves two and takes precisely long to heat in the oven as it takes to cook rice. I don't own a microwave, our kitchen is tiny, but they are also microwaveable.

Gem Candy · Edible Crafts @ CraftGossip.

spinning-jennie ::: Nut Butter Overthrow. A recommendation for Trader Joe's almond butter, I've been eating more almonds lately and will have to grab some of this next time we're there.

French in a Flash: Boeuf aux Carottes | Serious Eats : Recipes.

Farmers Market Coming to Georgetown, Hopefully - Seattle Restaurants and Dining - Voracious.

What Ball-Shaped Foods Can I Take to a Theme Party? Good Questions | Apartment Therapy The Kitchn.

Roasting coffee at home: a DIY coffee bean cooler - Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories.

French Friday: Steak au Poivre « Pink of Perfection.

Are Heirloom Wheat Varieties the Next Big Baking Trend? | Serious Eats.

Our Best Bites: Stuffed Pizza Rolls. These look delicious and charming. I found them after a discussion with friends about how we were all craving frozen pizza rolls but were too grown up to let ourselves eat them. The obvious solution? Make some from scratch!

Craftzine.com blog : How-To: Homemade Gummi Candy.

Joy the Baker » Chickpea, Mint, and Parsley Spread. Num.

Hot Cocoa Treats · Edible Crafts. Little chocolate boats that hold whipped cream that you float in your hot chocolate. I could die with joy.

All You Can Eat | Pizza flour: what to use at home? Depends on who's baking. | Seattle Times Newspaper. It starts with this request: "Long ago, there was a John Hinterberger column where he told the story of how he found the best flour to make pizza crust. Unfortunately the smallest unit of flour he could buy was a 50 pound sack."

Orangette: The very definition. Oatmeal Pancakes Adapted from the Inn at Fordhook Farm.

Easy Curries - Bitten Blog - NYTimes.com.

10 Common Ordering Mistakes People Make in Paris - David Lebovitz.

Every once in a while I make something to eat that I fear will make my serious food friends shun me forever.

This is one of those things.

I had been musing on how odd a name Chicken In A Biskit is for crackers. My thought process went something like this: Chicken In A Biskit - mmm chicken - chicken and dumplings - ooh chicken IN dumplings. Lo and behold, there is actually a recipe for this. I was sitting in my car in the parking lot of the grocery store looking up recipes on my iPhone when I discovered it. (I mention this as a possible explanation of my next action, which was to buy the ingredients and make this for dinner.)

At the very least I actually got to use our soup plates for something soup related:

Looking at the recipe you immediately know this was some sort of Pillsbury recipe contest entry, and some Googling that I cannot seem to replicate suggested it might be from 1971. I could be mistaken.

It is chicken and mushrooms mixed with chive cream cheese and butter, wrapped in premade croissant dough, dipped in more butter, rolled in chopped walnuts and crushed, uncooked herb stuffing mix and served smothered in cream of chicken soup. I know, right? I didn't really realize what I was making until I got all the ingredients home, and while it was cooking we practiced having heart attacks. Here are some cooked cream cheese and chicken pods:

But, you ask, how was it? The first bite was really yummy, salty, crunchy and mushy. Perfect comfort food trajectory. The second bite was mostly just salty, with the tang of "it's not necessarily good but it's nostalgic" flavor of cream of chicken soup. The remaining bites alternated between the soup or the croissant dough dominating. But I can see the recipes intent and I applaud it. I'm left feeling a little woozy from the sodium and with the flavor of chives lingering in my mouth winning over the wine I'm attempting to eradicate it with. So, no, I don't really recommend this recipe.

That said, it was really very fun to make.

update: In the comments Jeanmarie pointed me towards this recipe for Cheesy Chicken Muffins made by wrapping dough around chicken and cream cheese filling and baking them in muffin tins. I must make these soon!

It's rare that I make dinner without much of a recipe and it turns out pretty good. This was so much pretty good that we made it again a few nights later. This is a basic beef stew, the cubes were dredged in flour and browned before being put in a crock pot on low with red wine, an onion and fresh thyme (which, shockingly, I had on hand). The second time we made this I cut the onion into rings which were no longer recognizable as rings by the end of the cooking. But it was amusing for a few seconds there.

The potatoes are Russian Banana Fingerlings and were oddly more delicious than other fingering potatoes. They were steamed, then tossed with butter and salt.

The carrots were tossed with olive oil, ginger, cumin and cayenne and roasted, then sprinkled with dill and tarragon. I was going off of this recipe for Spicy Roasted Baby Carrots but only used the spices I had in the house. Still really yummy, and if you get the chance I really think you should try this carrot recipe sometime soon.

And the peas were the strangest of all, but my most favorite. Simply, these were canned peas (the young, off-green sort) that were whipped, or really put through my mini Cuisinart (which was part of the BlogHer Food conference loot). I've been meaning to do this for years since Will on Will&Grace made it for a dinner party. I know it's more baby food than fancy food but I have to say in the middle of a nearly-always-raining January it's become my favorite comfort food. And it made a disturbing Gremlins splat inside the Cuisinart.

Serve with red wine, try to ignore the fact that it's distressingly dark and still raining outside.

Non-Sugary Cookies | Ask MetaFilter.

everybody likes sandwiches: fill'er up: cinnamon oatmeal waffles.

shelterrific » Blog Archive » spring wedding? try appetizers in the garden.

What tastes like black tea or pure tobacco? | Ask MetaFilter.

Cinnamon Toast Recipe | Simply Recipes. It seems obvious, but I can tell you my family did this: butter the bread, sprinkle on a 1:6 cinnamon:sugar mixture, then broil until the sugar is just starting to melt. Crunchy cinnamon toast with a still soft underbelly was very good indeed.

How to Learn Something New Everyday « Pink of Perfection. Just before I read this post I was listening to a lecture on the radio. It was a lecture given, for free, at the Seattle Town Hall and I was thinking I should up my smarts by attending them. I feel smarter already.

The Best Kitchen Gadgets of the Year: bonappetit.com.

Delicious Low-Calorie Chicken Dinner: bonappetit.com. I'm looking for something that will be like Trader Joe's frozen Chicken Serenada entrees that have become a staple lazy night dinner in our house.

7*7 Favorites of 2009: No.2 – New Kitchen tools » delicious:days.

La Cerise: The croquembouche project.

What to Drink in 2010 : A wine, beer, and cocktail forecast - CHOW. Two recommendations for Washington wines that are note "jammy, overripe bludgeons". Thank you.

Cakespy: Deep-Fried Cupcakes on a Stick | Serious Eats : Recipes.

Maybe I don't need a pizza stone after all. Last night we made pizza and since I really, really wanted to make sure the dough cooked all the way through (this time) I decided to cook it in our large cast iron skillet that had I heated in the oven and slid the pizza into to cook, around 450 degrees. I was thinking of Cinnamon as I was pulling out the skillet as she is currently doing the final edits on her cast iron cook book. (You go!)

This pizza is spicy Italian sausage, kale and leftover fresh mozzarella. It could have used a bit more garlic, a note for next time.

What can I add to my spaghetti? | Ask MetaFilter. Some fantastic spaghetti 101 in here.

How to Make Grenadine and Why You Should Bother ~ Cupcake Project, via Suburban Bliss, whose recipe for The 7 O'Clock Bedtime you should use it in.

twelve22, using a wax stamp to make a chocolate seal, this attempt didn't work out but it's a great idea.

How Candy Canes Are Made [video] – Eat Me Daily.

Cakespy: Holiday Eggnog Nanaimo Bars | Serious Eats. I had some of these and they were oustandingly yum.

I made tiny gingerbread houses that are meant to be perched on the edge of a mug of hot chocolate.

I had been thinking about those sugar cubes that hook on the rim of a teacup earlier this month, and I was also thinking about 3-D cookies and how they fit together and figured it would be pretty neat to make cookies that hang on the edge of a mug. I thought I was being so brilliant but it only took a few seconds to discover that a flat cookie on the edge of a mug has already been done. So I started wondering what else I could do. At the time I was making a bunch of gingerbread recipes trying to find one that would hold up for my partridge in a pear tree cookie, so a gingerbread house was on my mind.

I made a few versions to figure out how to make one that wasn't so top heavy that it would flip off the mug, and how small I could get away with and still fit on both large and small cups. I generally followed the size of my The Mini Gingerbread House Kit (though, those pieces don't fit together as nicely as I'd have liked).

I've made a PDF pattern of gingerbread house pieces which you can open or download right here. My only instruction is that you should make sure that the wall pieces are to be sandwiched on the inside of the door pieces, that way the roof fits on properly. I included two door pieces you can choose from, one at 3/8ths inch wide and one at 1/2 inch wide. I found that a 3/8ths inch door, or slot, fits most mugs but the 1/2 can be used for your really big and heavy mugs. I traced the pieces onto this template page at 9:54 in the evening, please forgive the sloppiness but I'm getting tired, let's just call the untidy lines charming.

I used the Gingerbread Snowflake and the Royal Icing recipes from marthastewart.com.

I rolled it out onto a sheet of tin foil at 1/8th inch thick. I skipped a silicone mat because I use a paring knife for the corner details and didn't want to accidentally cut down to the layers of glass fibers, and after some trial I found that parchment paper will warp after being chilled and then stuck in an oven which can distort some shapes.

I used a dull sewing pattern roller (like a small pizza cutter) to go around most sides. You can do all of one side than turn the entire sheet of tin foil 90 degrees to do all of the next side, this makes the process go a bit faster. Try to fit all the pieces for each individual house in the same batch, I found my batches browned differently from each other. Lift the excess dough up from the tin foil, not moving your cut out shapes at all, this will help them keep their shape. Then slide the tin foil sheet onto a cookie sheet and put both in the freezer for about 15 minutes, you want the dough really well chilled before baking.

I used a (well cleaned) flat head screwdriver to get in the detail around the doors, then a paring knife to make sure the corners are cut cleanly.

Here are some tips, most of these are in the recipe but I don't want you to overlook them:

• After making it divide the dough into thirds (I made half a recipe) wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least an hour, preferably overnight. Make the royal icing while it's chilling, you'll need it before you make all the gingerbread you are planning on.
• Roll the dough out to 1/8th of an inch. It seems impossibly thin but you be cutting the shapes and pulling the excess dough from around them so your pieces won't be too disturbed. Feel free to nudge your shapes back into squares before chilling them again.
• Preheat the oven, roll the dough out on tin foil, cut your shapes and lift off the excess dough, slide the tin foil onto your cookie sheet, now put the cookie sheet into the freezer for at least 15 minutes before baking. This will keep the gingerbread from spreading too much.
• Make a single test house with your chosen door width. This sounds like a pita, and it will be, but it will be far less trouble than the frustration of finding none of your finished houses fit on mugs. Knowing now that you need to cut a wider door is worth it.
• I found that dough chilled for only an hour puffed up quite a bit, but didn't necessarily spread if the cut out shapes were chilled in the freezer. Dough that had been in the fridge overnight, or even the second day (it'll keep for a few days) puffed up quite a bit less, perhaps because the baking powder had lost it's mojo by this time?
• If you suspect your intended mugs are thicker and sturdier than usual grab some cardstock or a magazine insert and cut a few different slots -- 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 inch wide, about two inches deep (or tall). The one that slides easily onto the edge of you mug and even has a little wiggle room is the width you want for your door.
• If your gingerbread should spread and the doors look too narrow to you, you can trim them when the gingerbread is just out of the oven before it sets and cools too much. I suggest a paring knife and trimming just a bit from either side of the door.

I decided to only decorate the roofs for now. I might make these again next year and get more detailed with the decorations. I used a variety of sugars and sprinkles. One note, I discovered that candy cane dust will stick together so well that it will not show any piping detail beneath it. I liked the way regular sanding sugar made the roof sparkle a bit, though I couldn't capture the cuteness in my pictures.

Don't fill your mug of hot chocolate too full, you don't want the bottom of your gingerbread house to get soggy.

Can you tell the crushed candy cane one was my favorite?

I would be these would be fantastic made out of sugar cookie or shortbread dough. You could certainly leave them undecorated, or perhaps press sanding sugar into the roof pieces before baking. On the other hand I'm curious to see what one would look like covered in pieces of tiny candies. I'm also planning on making house-shaped marshmallows that will fit on the edge of the mug.

update: I made a few variations including a chimney and a version made out of sugar cookie dough which you might be interested in.

The Beer with the Green Label : Sierra Nevada tries to reclaim its cred - CHOW.

Suburban Bliss:: Did They Eat It: Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos. We will be trying this soon. I'm so over that whole thing where the process of cooking stands in my immediate way of getting to eat.

Alcademics.com: Making Clear Ice by Releasing Trapped Air.

cream biscuits | smitten kitchen.

S’mores Pops · Edible Crafts.

D.I.Y. Peppermint Schnapps, at Outblush.

Dinner Tonight: Orecchiette with Braised Kale and Cauliflower | Serious Eats. Some of my favorite things all together!

shutterbean » Earl Grey Tea Cookies. These look absolutely delicious.

Sorghum, the New Pancake Pour - CHOW.

What is the best thing you ever found in your Chex Mix? | Ask MetaFilter.

Not your grandmother’s Chex Mix « The Foodie Scientist.

Slow-poached eggs. Made from the Momofuku cookbook.

Pasta with Butternut Parmesan Sauce Recipe | Simply Recipes.

Straining Ladle | Incredible Things. Like that scoop and strain As Seen on TV, but not plastic. I might get this.

What to drink on Thanksgiving: Napa cabernet - Slate Magazine. I have been avoiding Napa cabernets for the reasons outlined in this article, but the author gives us some ones to try that never gave in to trying to please wine critics.

Why Does Pumpkin Pie Weep? : Because it's sad that you're overcooking it - CHOW.

Savory Onion and Leek Tart Recipe by - CHOW.

The Lowly Côtes du Rhône : Châteauneuf-du-Pape, watch your back - CHOW.

Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef: gluten-free pie crust.

Tea Spot NYC: Whole-Wheat Farro Bread. As I recently discovered how much I like farro, I must try this bread.

New Finds: Glass Drinking Straws - Blog - CHOW.

MUJI Ice Maker. A newer version of the Muji ice ball maker I have, this one looks quite sleek.

Ramos Gin Fizz « SpiritsAndCocktails.com.

LAST WORD « SpiritsAndCocktails.com.

How do I roast chestnuts so that they're easy to peel? | Ask Metafilter.

Peppermint Sticks and more delicious recipes, smart cooking tips, and video demonstrations on marthastewart.com. Via Not Without Salt.

I just ate a pasta dish that was saturated with garlic. Help me get rid of the taste! | Ask Metafilter.

I love, love this cleverly disguised Extreme Pumpkin Pie over at Extreme Holiday Ideas. (Whom you might recognize from long running Extreme Pumpkins fame.) The layers of this pie are propped up in a very clever way, using lengths of Pirouette cookies.

The The Pumpkin-Apple-Pecan Pie made by Cakespy is fun, and would make sure that everybody's pie needs are filled if your gathering isn't three full-sized pies large.

And the Pumpkin Pie Bites from Bakerella are adorable and I want to make them immediately. See also the Thanksgiving mini pies made by Rakka Deer.

I also wanted to give a shout out (shout back?) for some pies baked in jars love from Bakerella and Brownies For Dinner (I wish I'd used larger jars too!).

I hope you all have a very yummy Thanksgiving!

Flipping through a Williams-Sonoma catalog I saw something familiar, they used a bacon lattice as the topping for their Home Skillet Frittata. The bacon lattice you might know as the Bacon Mat at Instructables, the inspiration for my Bacon Cups. Neat.

While I'm talking about Williams-Sonoma, did you see the Giant Sandwich Cookie Cake Pan? Or the Snowy Village Cakelet Pan? I want both, I need neither.