Food Hacks: Page 16

Guacamole is one of those things that tastes far better than it looks. To someone who isn't a huge fan of avocados, guacamole's texture can appear slimy, and on top of that, its chunky green appearance brings up visions of Nickelodeon-style slime.

Pickles are one of those rare foods that most people love, but never even think of making. Most home cooks shy away from making pickles because they take time and patience, and because the grocery store option is both cheap and delicious.

Ah, bello risotto. There are few comfort foods in the world that provide the same savory creaminess. Yet for all its simplicity, risotto has gotten a bad rap as a difficult dish to cook. In actuality, nothing is further from the truth.

It happens to even the most avid cereal eaters: sooner or later you open a box, unfurl the crinkled plastic bag, and find that the cereal inside is stale. Maybe you forgot about it, maybe you ate it too slowly, or maybe you just found a new, better cereal and left it behind like Andy left Woody. Either way, the crunchy goodness is now stale, and you grab the box and walk to the trash can. Stop!

CHOW presents a guide that may stir up a little competition for our nation's young Girl Scouts. Prefer homemade to preservatives? Then check out CHOW's spin on three classic Girl Scout cookie recipes below.

If you have an outdoor grill, you know what a pain they can be to clean, let alone disinfect. But there is a little trick to cleaning and disinfecting gas or charcoal grills. Watch this video for the quick solution.

I'm a sucker for snacks. The way I see it, why not eat throughout the day, when you can eat throughout the day? Snacks come in all shapes and sizes, but the best ones fit these criteria: they're packed with flavor, they're not horrible for you, and they're easy to make.

Practical tips to make eating gluten-free abroad easier. Pick up tips for planning your trip, find out the best shops to visit, and learn key phrases for eating out safely in popular destinations around the world.

Beef: it's what for dinner. And if you really like the taste of it, it can be what you season the rest of your dinner with, too.

There are a lot of frustrations when you're dealing with cramped living quarters, but you can do a lot of good cooking in your tiny kitchen if you make the most of your space. These storage hacks will make it easy to cook delicious meals, no matter how limited your square footage.

Everyone has the same five spirits in their bar: vodka, rum, whiskey, tequila, and gin. They're all great, but every so often the mood strikes to try a cocktail with a little something different. We'd like you to meet three spirits from South America that would make a welcome addition to your next cocktail party.

Just like skinning a cat, there's more than one way to sharpen a knife (disclaimer: while I advocate sharpening your knives daily, please don't ever even consider skinning a cat). There's a stone, for an uber-sharp finish; the underside of a mug, for an awesome makeshift sharpening tool; the chef's daily ritual, honing with a sharpening steel; and then there's the remarkably simple, old-school Japanese trick—using a newspaper.

Confession: I love bagels. I love to make them, but above all, I love to eat them. In college I ran a mini-bagel business from my kitchen, and on bagel-making day, it wasn't uncommon for me to eat the circular goodies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Poor chickens. Bacon fat is revered (and justifiably so), and duck fat is a staple at most fine grocers. Marbles of fat make a steak divine, and goose fat is the holy grail of fatty goodness. Yet chicken fat is usually thrown away.

Lemonade is the perfect summer drink, but you can go broke buying all of the lemons you will need to make a whole jug! In this tutorial, learn how to get the most from your lemons and juice every last bit of liquid out of them, with one easy step.Coax more juice from lemons by microwaving them for five seconds and then rolling them on a countertop before you cut them open!

Canned pumpkin is something I always stock up on and keep in my pantry, because it's endlessly useful when cooking or baking. Sweet, creamy, and mild, pumpkin can be folded into baked goods and savory dishes with ease.

Do you want to learn how to cut a pineapple the quick and easy way. This video will show you how easy this is to do.

One of the great joys of cooking is taking the most basic of foods and preparing them in new and exciting ways. About two years ago, my wife opened my eyes to a delicious staple of Indian and Moroccan cuisine that is made in a very elementary way, the preserved lemon.

If you're anything like me, you probably think it's borderline sacrilege to even think about a sandwich or a burger that doesn't have a layer of smooth mayonnaise. But I don't just keep a jar of it in my fridge for lunch—it's also there for practical purposes.

Ah, the art of the April Fool's Day prank. It has to walk a fine line: not enough prankish flair and the joke falls flat. If it's too mean, then you've just bummed everybody out.

Is there anything more emblematic of Easter than marshmallow peeps? And yet, despite their popularity...does anyone actually like eating them?

Greasy fast food. Snacks. Candy. Empty stomachs. What do these all have in common? They're all things that people commonly have for lunch during the week, because it beats the hassle of having to plan, make, and pack lunches before their workday.

As a lover of food, I'm often asked, "If you could only have one food the rest of your life, what would it be?" My answer is always the same: sourdough bread. (Okay, it's not always the same... I usually cheat and say sourdough, fancy cheese, and a good beer.)

There are lots of great reasons for going out to a fantastic coffee shop for a cuppa. Coffee shops have a lovely ambiance, are a perfect place to meet with friends or do some work, and are a great excuse to get out of the house. Seeking out a perfect cup of coffee, however, shouldn't be one of the reasons that you hit up your local café.

Poaching, the cooking method that gently cooks food at the barest simmer, is awesome because it keeps in moisture and flavor. The no-cook poaching method is even better, because you don't add heat to your kitchen on hot days, and you don't have to watch the pot.

Staying at a hotel for business? You probably think that traveling means you can't cook, right? Wrong. There are lots of ways to make delicious dishes if you're inventive (and we're not just talking about heating things up in the microwave, guys and gals).

While Kobe beef cows get massaged, American dairy cows are taking a real beating. Many people are cutting back on dairy while a growing number of people are discovering that they're lactose intolerant. As the public's disdain of cow's milk grows, milk sales themselves are at a forty-year low.

Bacon isn't hard to cook on the stovetop, but every cook who's been hit by splattering fat knows it's not the most pleasant kitchen task to tackle. If you're cooking bacon for a lot of people, you can avoid this by cooking it in the oven on a roasting rack, DIY or otherwise.

Corned beef and cabbage is rarely eaten in Ireland (or at least America's version of the dish), but on St. Patrick's Day, many Irish Americans and wannabe Irish Americans will head to the bar to eat sloshy, poorly cooked versions of corned beef and cabbage while downing some jolly green ale.

Coconut oil must be sent from the gods themselves, because this stuff is made of miracles. If you ever wondered why your mother always has it around, it's because she's smart enough to know the countless uses for it.

Tater tots have a bad rap as a soggy cafeteria staple, but bake them at home and they crisp up nicely in the oven. Drain any unwanted oil from them on paper towels and they become perfectly crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

Those ordinary green zucchini you see in the market are hiding a lovely, delicious secret:

Eggs are incredibly important to cooks, and not just because they're tasty and a complete protein (many erratic genius/artist types make a point of eating an egg or two for breakfast). Yes, they are great when perfectly poached, scrambled, hard-boiled, and even scram-boiled, but they serve literally dozens of functions when used in recipes, especially baked goods.

Using spaghetti squash "noodles" for a healthy, low-carb meal seems like such a great idea, but as many of us know, turning this vegetable into a decent pasta facsimile usually has less-than-satisfying results. The usual method is to cut the squash lengthwise and roast, microwave, or steam it. Often, it comes out overcooked and underwhelming.

There's nothing in this life that we love more than making one ingredient or one food tool do multiple things. It saves money! It saves time! It makes us look smart at cocktail parties!

One of the best things about summertime is that there's lots of outdoor cooking, whether you're on a camping trip or grilling. And what better way to end your meal than with the classic dessert, s'mores?

Your waffle maker might just be the most underutilized tool in your kitchen. This one appliance can make bacon, eggs, hash browns, cupcakes, falafel, mac and cheese, and cinnamon rolls much more quickly and with less mess than traditional methods. Plus, the results all come out waffle-shaped—what's not to love?

Marmite: either you love the stuff or hate it. ("Love" meaning you are British and grew up eating it, and "hate" meaning you are everyone else.)

Removing the thin aluminum foil wrapping from a Hershey Kiss isn't necessarily a difficult thing, but even the easiest of things can be annoying sometimes. For instance, getting chocolate under your fingernail when you're trying to peel the wrapper off, or making a wrapper mess.

Using breadcrumbs in the kitchen is the perfect way to add crisp and crunch to the usual salad, entrée, or dessert. As chef and media personality Mario Batali once said, "There's almost nothing I wouldn't put homemade breadcrumbs on."