Faith Middleton

On this final edition of my daily show, now in its 36th year on WNPR, I start a new chapter as full-time host and executive producer of the expanded Faith Middleton Food Schmooze® Party. Who doesn't need a little more party?

Guittard Chocolate Cookbook gives us a piece of heaven with its recipe for chocolate mousse pie featuring a chocolate cookie crust. We think it's a winner for Thanksgiving or anytime. Please check out our 2015 Best Ever Thanksgiving Recipe Kit… and hot tips to help you beat Thanksgiving stress—honestly, they really will…

Thanksgiving is on the way and our Food Schmooze® Recipe Kit is ready, including Barbara Kafka's Incredible Melting Potatoes… Chris Prosperi's Easy Make-Ahead Turkey and Gravy… Ina Garten's Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes stuffed with glorious things… and mouth-watering Crispy Brussels Sprouts, Pears, Shallots, and Prosciutto, so easy a child could make them! Plus a bargain red wine, a steal at $16, and it goes with everything on your Thanksgiving table… and a delicious Pear-Basil Sour cocktail to ease you into the big day…

If you like the fun, flavor, the passion of good food and conversation, party with us on this bonus edition of The Food Schmooze®. It is a call-in on that crispy, heaven-sent wafer, the potato chip.

No surgery. No medication. No drastic measures. Just healthy joints—for life!

In Healthy Joints for Life, leading orthopedic surgeon and former NFL player Richard Diana, M.D., applies his unique experience and training to tackle joint pain. Based on cutting-edge research that has clarified the crucial role of a molecule known as NFkB in regulating inflammation, Dr. Diana's proven eight-week program teaches you to harness the power of this research to reduce inflammation, relieve pain, and rejuvenate your joints.

These sensational pancakes are to-die-for… crispy edges, golden brown, and light as air... and the genius part is that you whip them up in a blender. We like them for breakfast, lunch, brunch, or dinner. They're that good. Even our pancake-hater said these are delicious. This recipe and others appear in the new book Citrus, featuring lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruit, and clementines.

In its new handbook for happiness, the Mayo Clinic says new research shows that about 50 percent of our happiness rests on the deliberate decisions we make day after day. Yet we all know in this busy, demanding world, it can be difficult to step back and act with intention. The author of The Mayo Clinic Handbook for Happiness, Dr. Amit Sood, hopes to give you skills that become habits, increasing your happiness quotient.

Thai basil chicken… joyful chocolate almond bars… no-bake cake… sweet potato and ground turkey shepherd's pie… it's all in the new book The Science of Skinny Cookbook, produced by the scientist Dee McCaffrey, who eliminated synthetic chemicals from her diet and went from obese to slender. Now she offers the recipes that have made her plan a success…

Dr. Mel Pohl, a medical specialist who works with chronic pain sufferers, says pain is REAL. That's his key point, and that there are ways to reclaim your life by avoiding addiction to opioids that often INCREASE pain without patients being aware of it. 

In its new handbook for happiness, the Mayo Clinic says new research shows that about 50 percent of our happiness rests on the deliberate decisions we make day after day. Yet we all know in this busy, demanding world, it can be difficult to step back and act with intention. The author of The Mayo Clinic Handbook for Happiness, Dr. Amit Sood, hopes to give you skills that become habits, increasing your happiness quotient.

Food Schmooze® party guest Katie Workman, author of Dinner Solved!, tells us how to make quick lemony parmesan artichoke dip… prosciutto-wrapped shrimp with smoked paprika… mustard-maple glazed pork loin… spanish lemon-garlic pork chops… chicken in orange-honey soy sauce… and caesar roasted salmon… 

Repair and boost the bacteria in the gut with the right food, prebiotics and probiotics, and you'll feel better and lose weight. That's the theory of Dr. Raphael Kellman of New York, author of The Microbiome Diet.

Thai basil chicken… joyful chocolate almond bars… no-bake cake… sweet potato and ground turkey shepherd's pie… it's all in the new book The Science of Skinny Cookbook, produced by the scientist Dee McCaffrey, who eliminated synthetic chemicals from her diet and went from obese to slender. Now she offers the recipes that have made her plan a success…

Yale professor Paul Anastas says it isn't enough to know that environmental chemicals are making us fat and sick. Anastas directs a department that is working on redesigning chemicals in our food and many products we rely on so that they do not threaten our health.

Jacques Pépin's apple galette using store-bought pizza dough… the cinnamon toast cocktail from Anthony DeSerio… oven-roasted cranberry compote from Fine Cooking… Ina's parsnip and pear gratin… the easy, dry-brined turkey with extra-crispy skin… and, don't throw away that turkey carcass -- it's really tasty...

A man named Billy Williams became a legend during World War II, but not only for his heroic actions; Williams, stationed in Burma, became an elephant "whisperer." The book Elephant Company describes the man's exceptional ability to understand the elephants around him, and the stunning ability of the elephants to understand and communicate with him, in return.

This hour, Faith and long-time contributor Bruce Clements discuss how we think and feel about physical touch.

Dive into this insanely good and easy recipe for shrimp-stuffed swordfish rolls sprinkled with crisp, lemony breadcrumbs… Our experiment: can we make wine taste better at home by mixing two bottles together? Yes we can!… Linda Giuca gives us ideas for energizing back to work and school snacks…

Recently Yale economist Robert Shiller said in an essay in The New York Times that no one can say for certain what the stock market drop means. He did, however, say we'd all be right to exercise great caution now.

It's a thrilling chilled cocktail, the New York Sour, all velvety in the mouth… try a fast and dreamy pasta of fresh tomatoes, garlic, parmesan, and chopped fresh arugula… don't give away the zucchini until you try our recipe for it stuffed with shrimp, feta, and fennel… or grill it using Alex Province's recipe for zucchini slathered with mayo to make it brown and gorgeous…

For some time, I've been interested in the thoughtful and caring work of psychologist Dr. Anthony Puliafico, who sees clients in Westchester, New York, especially children who experience anxiety and OCD.

Our healthy frozen piña colada is a terrific taste treat thanks to contributor Anthony DeSerio… dirty steak from contributor Alex Province is a "how-to" on cooking steak right on top of the lump charcoal… enjoy our pesto chicken potato salad from scratch or the easy way… and fresh bluefish fillets get the citrus treatment…   

Sitting around the studio recently, we recalled how much more freedom we had than today's children do. In fact, Chris Prosperi, Alex Province, and I realized our parents might have been arrested if today's standards were in effect back then. What has changed?

I'll take it as a given that you like food. But no matter what your style of eating and cooking is, I'm betting the complexity of the American food system can leave you confused, judgmental, guilty, apathetic, or overwhelmed. If that's true, here's some good news: Once in a while an original voice comes along and breaks through to offer clarity and a new way to conceive of something.

The sexy, Mexican paloma cocktail pairs tequila and grapefruit juice… we have a shortbread style, gluten-free pie crust… the Bastianiches have an Italian, raw-tomato, pasta sauce—all you do is boil water—oh, boy, is this making use of great fresh tomatoes… and a white Bordeaux under $20 for August cheer…

My motto on The Book Show is: Life is short, but it can be ever so wide.

Join me and my book buddies for a call-in show recommending terrific books to read in all categories. If you're in a book club, please tell us what you've read and enjoyed.

It's a salad celebration… The BLT... the super fast and easy buffalo chicken… crab Louis… Moroccan chicken with pan-fried, pistachio-crusted goat cheese… salads for all tastes… salads designed to make you happy!

I've just had a crash course on how to get rid of stuff because I'm in the middle of moving to, wow, three separate locations in Connecticut, New York City, and Orient Point on The North Fork of Long Island.

That's what led me to a consignment expert, and a de-cluttering expert, who we lined up for today's show in case you face your own "transition situation."

In Connecticut and across the nation, students of all ages can now enroll in college courses online for free, and receive credit for them in many places. How can universities afford to do this?