Ideas & Tips — Seasonal

'Tis the season for hot chocolate, and if you're a real fiend for sweet, hot beverages, you can find a way to fit it into almost any situation. Need something to wake you up in the morning? Dark hot chocolate will do the trick. Looking for an easy dessert? You guessed it, hot chocolate. Here are just a few of the many variations on the hot chocolate theme. See how many you can make before the new year: Milk chocolate peanut butter hot chocolate: For those times when you want to eat a peanut butter cup, but don't want to go...

Fall is the perfect time to experiment with making different homemade soups. Soups are an especially good food to make at home because you can easily double the recipe and store leftovers in your freezer. Just make sure to cool your soup in the fridge before freezing it. Kristen Eppich of Chatelaine offers some other helpful tips for making this classic (and good for you!) comfort food: Sweat your vegetables: An integral element of any good recipe is accentuating the flavors. "Vegetables like onion, garlic, celery and carrots–referred to as 'aromatics'–are part of most soup recipes for this very reason, sautéed...

In many parts of the country, a hint of fall crispness is already in the air. If you are excited about the changing seasons, now is a great time to start packing away your summer decor and preparing your home for autumn. One of the most elegant ways to observe the arrival of fall is to throw a themed dinner party. Here are some tips for setting an autumnal table: Centerpieces: Arrange a selection of small pumpkins and other brightly colored squash in our lovely stainless steel wire basket for a seasonally appropriate centerpiece. You can also place branches of...

We all know that James Bond takes his martini shaken, not stirred, but which other drinks achieve their maximum tastiness when shaken? Certain drinks benefit from the oxidation process that comes with shaking, while others are too sensitive and can actually be ruined by shaking. To help you know when to impress your friends with the classic tumbler shake of a drink that makes you look oh-so-professional serving it up, we've compiled this list of shake-loving cocktails from around the web: Margarita: This famous tequila drink gains extra sweetness and pungency from a good shake, and on top of that, a...

Are you feeling the urge to sleep under the stars but don't have time to spend a whole weekend camping? Why not pitch a tent right in your own backyard? At-home camping is fun for the whole family and you won't even have to skip a shower. Here are some tips for throwing a successful backyard camp-out: Explore: Martha Stewart suggests encouraging kids to explore the wilderness at home! Equip them with binoculars, a compass and a field journal so that they can make notes about plants, birds, squirrels and any other animals that they might see.  Make s'mores: Of course,...