Craft Gossip

Independent craft blog since 2007

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

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The-Chew_Essentials_cover

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.

Read These Next

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Cross Stitch Ice Cream and Frozen Treats

Summer is the time for sweet treats, whether eating them or stitching them. This collection of patterns is full of designs that are good enough to eat. Almost. 

This year of ice creams from Simone Balman Art is lots of fun, and you could also stitch up these treats individually if you’d rather. The full piece is 210 by 300 stitches, though it’s not full coverage. It uses 25 colors and comes out to 13.6 by 20.1 inches, or 34.5 by 51.2 cm, as shown on 14 count fabric. 

These mini Popsicles from Mariana Gonclaves ART as super sweet and quick to stitch. These would also be a fun border to another summer project. The full design is 43 by 46 stitches, which is 3.1 by 3.3 inches, or 7.8 by 8.3 cm, on 14 count fabric. 

Sam X Stitch has this fun sweet treat sampler, which again would be fun to stitch as individual pieces (maybe on napkins?). In all it calls for 18 colors and measures 153 by 153 stitches. That comes out to 10.93 inches or 27.75 cm on 14 count fabric. 

Another great sampler is this one with ice cream and other sweet treats from Cute Patterns by Maria. At 119 by 132 stitches total, working the full pattern would be about 8.6 by 9.4 inches, or 22 by 24 cm on 14 count fabric, and it uses 33 colors. You can also stitch individual designs, which range in height from 35 to 45 stitches, and in width from 11 to 28. 

This collection of four sundae patterns from Stichrovia would be fun to make for a kitchen or a teen’s room. Each pattern is around 40 by 50 stitches, so they should fit in a four or five inch hoop if worked on 14 count fabric. 

Or stitch up one of the treats from Stitch Chart Studio‘s collection of seven ice cream cross stitch patterns. These range in size and in number of colors needed, but most would fit in a five or six in hoop (and one in a four inch hoop).