apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Do you make your pies from scratch? Making the crust and figuring out the filling can feel pretty overwhelming if you're not in the habit. Before you give in to holiday pressure and pick up a store-bought crust, take a look at our helpful tips for making pies yourself!

We think there's no better way to end a big meal or even a simple gathering of friends than with a nice warm cup of coffee! Not only is it exactly what we want after eating a lot of rich food, but it's a way to slowly wind down the festivities and signal the evening's end. Do you like serving coffee and tea after dinner?

We love bringing quick breads and pound cakes to holiday gatherings, but struggle with ways to make them look pretty when we present them to our hosts. The folks at King Arthur Flour are way ahead of us!

Our craving for popovers last week brought back another craving: honey butter. As kids, this was the must-have accompaniment to popovers in our house. It's so simple to make and yet so completely addictive that it's a wonder we didn't beg for it on everything!

The moment inevitably arrives when the torch gets passed and hosting the Thanksgiving feast shifts from being someone else's honor (and possible burden!) to become our own. When this moment comes, the question is "Which traditions do you keep and which new ones can you wiggle in?!"

With so many beautiful and unusual squashes available right now, we can't seem to come home from the market without at least one new variety to try! Happily, stuffed squash is one dish that will work for just about any squash we happen to pick up. We don't really need a recipe - just a few basic steps and dinner almost makes itself!

Getting the sweetest sweet potatoes isn't about picking out the ripest or most promising potatoes in the bunch. Nope! Rather, a little culinary magic trick will transform your toughest tubers into delicious treats. Here's how!

Behind every good cook is a good knife! As we mentioned yesterday, our own beloved santoku knife almost never makes it into a drawer because we use it so much. As one of our most-used kitchen tools, our knives also become one of our most-cleaned kitchen tools. Do you know the best way to clean your knife?

We picked up this beer from Great Divide Brewing Company last weekend because we were intrigued by the idea of using rice as one of the primary grains during brewing. Ok, well first we picked it up because we thought the label was pretty and then we bought it because we were curious about the rice! Can you blame us?

Faith wasn't kidding - it's really hard to pick out your ten most-used kitchen tools! Can we really say that our sheet pans get more play time than our favorite whisk? Or our mixing bowl more than our cutting board? Still, we managed to narrow it down, and here they are!

Unless you do a lot of gluten-free baking, you might not have come across xanthan gum before - at least not in a recipe. Flip over a jar of salad dressing or a carton of ice cream to read the ingredients, and you'll likely find xanthan gum listed there, too! So is this a safe ingredient for a gluten-free diet or an industrial additive to be avoided?

Feel like shaking things up this year? Here are six decidedly non-traditional pies that would nonetheless look perfectly at home on your Thanksgiving table!

Reach a certain elevation, and suddenly cakes turn out dry, cookies won't set, and quick breads won't rise. Home bakers who live in the mountains should start their own support group! We have a few tips for baking at high altitudes, but we'd love to hear your firsthand experiences. Any advice?

Whisper-thin and incredibly delicate, fine china dishes instantly transform a table into a beautiful and elegant landscape. We know this from holiday dinners at our grandparent's house when we gazed longingly from the kid's table! Do you have any fine china yourself?