Study these birds carefully, then figure out what to do. That's what Tricia did.

Friends of ours make jewelry and so Trish thought it would be a good idea to throw a martini/jewelry party today to give everyone a head start on their holiday shopping.

Choosing the signature martini of the day was easy: Fall Harvest Martinis (recipe to follow in another post). But picking the right appetizers to serve took some time. Trish found this idea for penguin olives. It didn’t come with any instructions so she studied the photo and then used her imagination to assemble them herself.

She bought extra-large pitted olives and small pitted olives to make the body; stuffed the extra-large olives with cream cheese; cut feet and beak out of carrots; and tied a scarf with chives. And the whole thing is held together with toothpicks.

Twenty-five years ago hummus was not readily available in most supermarkets so I used to make it myself. The home-made is better.

For the hummus, I decided to go old school. In the ’80s before hummus was readily available at most supermarkets I used to make my own following a recipe from Gourmet Magazine. I also made my own pita chips. Both taste better than store bought and are worth the effort.

TO MAKE THE PITA CHIPS:

For the pita chips split pita bread into two large rounds, brush on some extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Cut them up into triangles, put them on a cookie sheet and cook at 400 degrees in an oven for about five minutes. Make sure you cut them up into triangles before you cook them. If you try doing it after they’re cooked, they’ll crumble.

Check on them every minute or so as they tend to burn quickly.

TO MAKE THE HUMMUS:

For the hummus, follow this recipe from the October, 1988 edition of Gourmet Magazine.

The recipe for the Fall Harvest Martinis will be posted in the next few days.

Find more recipes in the Recipe section.

My brother, Pete, used a vampire from Burger King, owned by 3G Capital, to decorate this dessert.

It’s scary, I know: a recipe from a gigantic food conglomerate.

The man wants to sell more Cool Whip so he relies on creative to come up with a recipe millions will be forced to make, at least once each year. My brother is one of those millions who makes this dessert each year. However, he’s no tool. His is much better than the original recipe served up by Kraft, Inc.

Instead of “CAMEO creme sandwich cookies” as recommended by the man. He gets radical and used Milano Cookies from Pepperidge Farm, which is owned by the Campbell Soup Company.

Yes, “To Serve Man” is a cookbook.

Get the recipe here.

Last month  I posted a recipe for roasted applesauce as part of a class project at Northeastern University. The project started with a single photograph that had to show “transformation.” It then progressed to taking that one photo and adding more photographs to create a sequence. That’s why last month’s recipe was accompanied by an audio slideshow.

Today, the project continues with the assignment being to create two Vine videos: one that extends the concept in a Vine video; and another that demonstrates a change in POV: not the camera angle point of view, but the perspective in how the author (me) wants the audience (you) to feel about the subject.

VINE VIDEO ONE: Features a mad chef chopping apples to make applesauce from scratch.

VINE VIDEO TWO: Features a prissy man opening store-bought applesauce and tasting it to his displeasure.

After browning the chicken I poured the grease into a baking dish and roasted potatoes, carrots, parsnips and apples for a side dish.

This was a pretty simple recipe, albeit an odd one. You basically put a chicken in a pot, brown it on all sides, remove the grease and then add milk, lemon zest and a cinnamon stick. The result is a tender, juicy and sweet, chicken with some unexpected flavors. I’d definitely make it again.

The recipe came from Jamie Oliver. I followed that recipe but took the advice of another cook who recommended cooking it covered for the first hour. Get the recipe here.

Find more recipes in the Food section.

Click on image to watch an audio slideshow on how to make roasted applesauce from scratch.

Not sure what to do with all of this season’s apples? Make applesauce. Not sure what to do with all that applesauce?

Put it on pork chops. Mix it in yogurt. Add it to oatmeal. Swap it for oil in box cake-mixes. Swap it for sugar in recipes and save about 670 calories per cup. Toss it in a smoothie. Pour some in pancake batter. Spread it on a cracker, a piece of toast, plain bread, or a peanut butter sandwich. Freeze it for later. Eat it with a spoon. Dab a little behind your ear instead of perfume.

OK. The last one is a joke. But you get the point. Applesauce is versatile. And here’s an easy recipe that includes using the skins: the most nutritious part of the fruit that will help keep the doctor away. Read over the recipe below and watch the audio slideshow (above) before you start chopping all of those apples.

Ingredients:

• Large apples: 9. Try using three different varieties for a more complex flavor.
• Brown Sugar: 2-3 tablespoons.
• Cinnamon: 1 tablespoon.
• Lemon Juice: About 1/4 cup.
• Brandy: One shot.

What I did:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Wash apples. Cut into quarters and core.

Place apples cut-side down on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

Bake in oven for about 30 minutes or until apples begin to turn to mush.

Let apples cool for about 10 minutes and then put them in a food processor.

Add brown sugar and cinnamon and pulse in food processor until well blended.

Add lemon juice and brandy and pulverize in food processor until well whipped and skins disappear.

Refrigerate until ready to use.

Nepitella is a natural with mushrooms.

It came to me in a dream: nepitella pesto. I thought that maybe I had invented the idea but a quick search online turned up one reference to it at a restaurant in New York called Osteria Morini.

There they team nepitella pesto with buffalo mozzarella on crostini or with fresh whipped ricotta topped with peas and asparagus. I’m sure that doesn’t taste bad, but what were they thinking? Everyone knows nepitella pairs perfectly with mushrooms and artichokes: everyone, in the small minority of people in this country who have heard of nepitella.

So let me let you in on the secret. Nepitella is an herb that grows wild in Tuscany (and in my driveway after I transplanted a small plant from my grandmother’s garden about 15 years ago). Some describe it as a cross between oregano and mint, but I believe it’s more like a cross between basil and mint. And I wouldn’t think of cooking mushrooms or artichokes without it.

So when I was inspired to try to make nepitella pesto the logical use for it was to stuff mushrooms with it. And the result was perfect.

The pesto by itself, without any cooking, was much stronger than a basil pesto: more earthy and with a sharp bite, almost spicy flavor. But when it cooked inside the mushrooms, the taste mellowed into a more mild buttery flavor: still very earthy but without the sharpness of the raw nepitella pesto.

If you’d like to try this, finding nepitella will be a challenge, but a search online revealed a few places that sell the plant. Or just stop by my driveway: there this evasive plant grows wild in cracks and along narrow dirt patches along the fence.

NEPITELLA PESTO:

Ingredients:

• Nepitella leaves (washed, about a half a cup)
• Pignoli nuts (about 1/4 cup)
• Garlic (4-6 cloves)
• Extra-virgin olive oil (about 1/2 cup)
• Parmesan cheese (About 1/4- 1/2 cup; Imported, freshly grated. Don’t use the stuff they sell in a jar; Or use freshly grated Romano and/or Pecorino if you’d like to save some money.)
• Kosher salt and pepper.

What I did:

Put nuts and garlic in food processor with a steel blade and process for about 15 seconds.

Add nepitella leaves, salt and pepper.

With processor running slowly add the olive oil until it’s completely pureed.

Add cheese and process for another minute.

If you don’t use it right away, put in refrigerator with plastic wrap touching the top or with a film of olive oil on top. This will prevent discoloring.

To Stuff Mushrooms:

Pull off stems, clean caps with paper towel.

Put clean caps in a baking dish that has been greased with a small amount of olive oil.

Spoon in nepitella pesto and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes.

You can serve it as is or with a shaved piece of parmesan cheese on top and/or a pignoli nut.