Craft Gossip

Independent craft blog since 2007

Let the Hosts of ABC’s ‘The Chew’ Help You Plan Your Party

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If you’re a fan of ABC’s hit show The Chew, you’ll love The Chew: An Essential Guide to Cooking and Entertaining. This new release cookbook is full of crowd pleasing recipes, as well as fun anecdotes and show photos from Mario Batali, Carla Hall, Clinton Kelly, Daphne Oz, and Michael Symon. It’s the fourth in a series of cookbooks from the show’s hosts.

What I like most about this book is the fact that all the recipes use simple ingredients and are clearly labeled with make ahead, slow cooker swap, on the lighter side, or time saver icons. This makes it easy to find recipes that suit your particular cooking style, although I should point out that the book only lists prep time and cook time for each dish. It does not provide nutritional information for the recipes. (If you’re on a restricted diet, this could be a problem.)

On the Disney Publishing website, you can review three great sample recipes to try, as well as an online shopping link.

  • Cheesy Pull Apart Pesto Bread: A yummy appetizer to get things started from Carla made with store bought ingredients to save time
  • Sheet Pan Chicken Thighs with Fingerling Potatoes: An affordable main dish from Daphne that’s also flavorful, quick, and low stress
  • Dad’s Death by Chocolate: A decadent party dessert from Michael based on his favorite childhood treat

Disclaimer: A review copy was provided by the publisher.

Have you read?

Beyond Basic Pumpkin Knitting Patterns

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork. 

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn. 

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look. 

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me. 

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. 

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.