Photo: Martha Stewart

Food News, Things I Crave, Green Your Eats, Tips, Tools & Techniques, and the Weekly Roundtable (a roundup of the most recent ChowMama posts).

I’m going to take next Thursday and Friday off, so no digest next week. This is the last one until after the holiday. So, before we dive in, in honor of Thanksgiving, I want to say THANK YOU for reading and supporting ChowMama. A long, strange and sometimes very challenging journey brought me to ChowMama—and I couldn’t be happier that it did. I’m excited to keep growing and, in an effort to give you the most valuable resource possible, I will share an exciting update come the new year.

Also, I’ve decided to skip “Things I Crave” this week. As much as this girl loves to shop (especially for food and cooking related items!), I wanted to find a small way to express my gratitude for the things that I have. I’m lucky, thankful and know that, when it comes down to it, I don’t need anything more than what I’ve already got. I hope you feel the same. Have a great holiday!

Food News

• A Thanksgiving food history (via Slashfood)
• What you need to know about genetically engineered food (via Civil Eats)
• Pesticide use has risen dramatically over the last 13 years along with genetically engineered crops (via Chews Wise)
• The November 23rd issue of The New Yorker is the annual food issue and includes, among many other things, a series of vignettes on individual ingredients: Heston Blumenthal on duck, Anthony Lane on eggs, Jhumpa Lahiri on rice, and Judith Thurman on aspic (via Eat Me Daily)
• Parade Magazine just ran a food heavy issue including a feature by A.J. Jacobs who attempts to recreate the first Thanksgiving, including lobster, venison, and eel (via Eat Me Daily)
• An interview with Jonathan Safran Foer on his new book Eating Animals (mentioned in last week’s digest) (via Eating Liberally)

Green Your Eats

• Willing to give up the Thanksgiving bird? If so, here’s a tofu-less vegetarian main entree option that sounds great (via Blue Kitchen)

Tips, Tools & Techniques

• Anthony Bourdain’s turkey tips—worth watching just to see the hot man cooking (via Eat Me Daily)
• Thanksgiving table settings on Martha Stewart’s Everything Thanksgiving
• A frugal foodie resource for Thanksgiving (via San Francisco Chronicle)
• A guide to gravy!! (via Serious Eats)
• Thanksgiving talk with Food 52’s Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs (via Serious Eats)
• When the cupboard is bare—how to make dinner out of (almost) nothing (via Stonesoup)

The Weekly Roundtable

• I substituted sweet potato for pumpkin in these tasty little morsels: Sweet Potato Mini Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling
• I vented about breast feeding and YOU offered so much support (THANK YOU!)… oh yea, and we discussed these yummy cookies: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Scotchies
• I declared my love for avocado and hoped to inspire you to use more of the nutritious fruit: More Avocado Please! 6 Easy Ways to Use the Green Wonder