Have you ever wondered what to do with the rest of the apples after you’ve gone apple picking, baked apple pies, and tried to consume as many apples as possible? Well, Zoe and I came up with a few fun ideas after our apple picking trip!

Last week we went to the Barden Family Orchard, a lovely orchard twenty minutes away from Brown’s campus. Somehow we decided that two bags filled to the brim with apples would be just enough for us to bake with, with a couple of apples left over for us to eat during the …

**Giveaway Closed - 11/1/11**

Jessie Oleson and I could be best friends. We both are obsessed with sweets; we both could eat dessert any time of the day; and we both hate to see any desserts go uneaten. Where Jessie and I differ, however, is our dessert imagination. While the majority of my treat ideas have remained sweet dreams, Jessie, aka Cakespy, is not afraid to transform such dreams into reality.

Author of the blog Cakespy, Jessie has become renowned on the blogosphere for indulging our collective fantasies with mouth-watering, over the top recipes. Now with the release of …

My mom is an accountant. All day at work she stares at spreadsheets, calculating numbers and making sure everything is in order. If one number is wrong, then she risks drawing incorrect conclusions. Because of her job’s strong emphasis on numerical accuracy, for a long time she avoided the kitchen. As an accountant, she had this idea in her head that anytime she cooked from a recipe she had to follow it to a T. This meant dirtying multiple measuring containers, buying the exact listed ingredients and avoiding any recipes with complicated directions or unfamiliar items. As a result, simple things like chicken fingers, hot dogs and tacos dominated the family menu.

Fall’s here, you guys, and I don’t have any new cozy imagery for you — yes, yes the chunky sweaters, the pumpkin spice lattes, people who wear scarves all year round will finally be justified in doing so… One new thing I do have to share is the combination of balsamic vinegar and maple syrup, which I discovered as a dipping sauce for chicken and waffles at Buttermilk Channel on my recent visit to New York. This new (to me) duo can be applied to one of fall’s finest treasures: butternut squash, the sweetest and one of …

Italy is known for foods such as Pizza Margarita, prosciutto, mozzarella, panini, pesto, gnocchi, and, of course, Spaghetti Bolognese. But too often is one of Italy’s most delicious (and easy-to-make) foods left unnoticed: caponata! Caponata is originally a Sicilian dish, and is pretty much the Italian, sweet-and-sour version of the French ratatouille. The main ingredients are eggplant and a variety of your favorite, in-season vegetables. Caponata is traditionally made with eggplants, capers, tomatoes, green olives, celery, sugar, and vinegar. However, as caponata made its way north and across borders, different regions started to adapt …

No one ever really wants to take classes on a Friday afternoon. It’s already the end of the week and it’s time to relax. But how are you supposed to spend your time when a) you don’t want to do work, b) its too early to rage, and c) you don’t really want to be SO unproductive that you truly waste away your whole afternoon. Well, that’s an easy one: cook!

This past Friday before the long weekend (aka Columbus Day weekend; Canadian Thanksgiving), I decided to spend my whole afternoon making ravioli and meat sauce from scratch.

Cooking my …

If I had to list my most commonly used kitchen ingredients, olive oil would top the list every time. When recipes call for canola or vegetable oil, I whip out the olive oil. If a cake recipe says to use butter, I’ll swap in olive oil. Olive oil is a staple in my house. I honestly don’t think I could live without it.

If I could, I would bathe in olive oil. I was more than happy to slather argan oil all over my body in Marrakech, so olive oil would be a natural progression. While I do love it, …

Moving to a new country, the simplest things have become challenges. Doing laundry, buying necessities (from course books to contact solution), finding public restrooms – all tests encountered on a daily basis.

Food, surprisingly, has been one of the biggest challenges. You wouldn’t think that in Paris - land of macarons, baguettes, cheese, and picturesque bistros – eating would be hard. But for a student on a strict budget, it is!

First, shopping for food. The grocery store does exist in Paris, but the French do some things very differently. Sometimes you must weigh your produce before going to the …

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm…sometimes savory can be so much better than sweet. Just imagine it: melty cheese, golden onions, and flaky pastry. Tell me you aren’t drooling. Caramelized onion tart is one of my favorite things to make for dinner parties. I can’t remember if I’ve told you or not, but every week I host Sunday Supper.

Each Sunday, a big group of my friends and I gather together, lately out in the grassy courtyard outside of my dorm, and eat. I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than eat a delicious meal with all of my friends in the …

Who says you can’t have a three course meal at the cafeteria? This is a well-rounded and totally achievable menu, even from the dining hall. Start off your meal with a flavor burst of pepperjack cheese over mushrooms. For the main dish, the hearty richness of the beef and creamy, milky, salty cheese create the perfect umami base for refreshing broccoli and savory earthy mushrooms. And for dessert, the assertive flavors of balsamic and honey are smoothed out by bright notes of vanilla and the warm crunch of pepitas. Bon appetit!

Creamy Pepperjack Mushrooms (recipe follows)

Slow-Roasted Beef with Garden …