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How To: 10 Reasons You Need to Add Cinnamon to Your Coffee
Creamer, milk (whole or skim), sugar, or even butter—you've probably added at least one of these to your coffee to improve its taste at some point. If you're looking for something different, though, try a new twist with a dash of cinnamon. This sweet, sharp spice can do so much more than improve coffee's taste, and I've got 10 examples for you to consider.
How To: These Easy Hacks Transform Trader Joe's Frozen Foods into Gourmet Feasts
If you have a local Trader Joe's, you know first-hand how enchanting the frozen aisles are—almost every item offers the promise of a delicious meal or dessert. (We're always tempted to open the package and eat the cookie butter cheesecake, stat.)
How To: It's Actually Really Simple to Make Fritos, Doritos, & Tostitos at Home
Chips are one of the most overpriced snacks on the market, and they're wildly unhealthy... even though they don't need to be.
How To: Make All-Natural Green Food Dye for St. Patrick's Day
When we were kids, Saint Patrick's Day was a green-hued holiday that promised green eggs in the morning and green mashed potatoes in the evening... along with some traditional corned beef and cabbage, of course.
How To: Making Reese's Peanut Butter Cups at Home Is Super Simple
Rich, creamy chocolate cups stuffed with smooth, salty-sweet peanut butter in a bite-sized package—yep, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are an amazing fix for your sweet tooth at best, and a guilty pleasure at worst. It's easy enough to buy them on a whim at the local grocery store, but it's even easier than you might think to make them right at home.
How To: 10 Reasons to Drag Your Egg Slicer Out of the Back of Your Drawer
I have to confess: my egg slicer has been neglected ever since I bought it. I had ambitious dreams of using it to slice perfectly symmetrical slivers of hard-boiled egg into my salads... but the truth is, once I tucked it into a kitchen drawer, I completely forgot about it. That is, until recently when I discovered that it can be used to slice way more than just eggs.
How To: Cooking in Parchment Paper Is Easier & Tastier Than You Thought
En papillote may sound like a difficult French cooking method you'd never use at home, but don't be fooled by its fancy name—it's actually a really easy way to cook food that is moist and flavorful, and all you need is some parchment paper and your oven.
How To: Toss It or Freeze It? The Ultimate Guide to Refrigerated Meats
When to throw meat away is a common question, and one I often ask when faced with meat sitting in the fridge after a few days. With vegetables, you can usually tell on sight (or with this guide) when they're past due, but meat is not as simple.
How To: These Impressive Pastries Are Actually Super Easy to Make at Home
If you've ever found yourself staring at intricately woven pastries at your local bakery and wondered how they do it, you'd be surprised to know it's not all that difficult. Those pastries with differing shapes and lovely lattice work may scream endless preparation and meticulous attention to detail, but they're actually quite easy to make at home.
How To: 20 Easy Dips You Can Make in 5 Minutes or Less Using Your Food Processor
Hands down, chips and dip are the best entertainment foods to ever exist. This fact can be confirmed in an instant by any grocery shopper strolling down the chip isle on Super Bowl Sunday or New Year's Eve. However, you may want to hold off on buying those standard salsas or dips at the store—especially if you own a food processor.
How To: 5 Fantastic Ways to Cook with Leftover Lemon Peels
Lemon peels have long been known for their ability to be home remedies for cleaning and medicinal needs. In the kitchen, they are equally as useful and can transform many common dishes and drinks into more memorable ones with just a hint of citrus. To give you some ideas, below are five ways that lemon peels can spruce up your recipes.
How To: Prep Oats Overnight for Easy Grab-&-Go Breakfasts All Week
Many of us are guilty of sacrificing a delicious breakfast for a few extra minutes of sleep in the morning during the busy work week. Grab-and-go breakfasts are definitely timesavers, but granola bars and other packaged items often lack the fresh breakfast feel that makes the first meal of the day so great.
How To: 10 Amazing Reasons to Dust Off Your Ice Cream Maker
My Cuisinart ice cream maker was a wedding gift; it wasn't something on my list, but I jumped up and down with delight when I unwrapped it. I never would've purchased this appliance on my own because it didn't seem practical, yet I loved the idea of making homemade ice cream.
How To: 7 Sweet & Savory Ways to Use Pancake Batter
In my household, we are frugal and somewhat picky eaters, so we have to be a little creative with the things we buy. We like to purchase items that can be used in multiple dishes to reduce cost—and because it's just more practical. Pancake mix is a favorite because it can be used in various dishes where any type of breading may be involved. To help inspire you, here are some of my favorite ways to use pancake batter at home.
How To: Make Jamba Juice's 5 Best 'Secret' Smoothies at Home
Whenever I go to Jamba Juice, I usually gravitate towards either the Matcha Green Tea or Caribbean Passion smoothies. But when I learned about their secret menu a few years ago, I felt like a little kid all over again—especially with flavors like Pink Gummy Bear and Orange Dream Machine.
How To: Make Amazing Dessert Art Using Bubble Wrap
The internet was blowing up recently over this mind-blowing, mouth-watering video of a woman making a cake decoration out of… wait for it… chocolate bubble wrap. Yes, that's right: she turned the ubiquitous packing material into the mold for an absolutely gorgeous cake embellishment that, deservedly, went viral. You can watch the video below.
How To: This Quick & Easy Shortcut Minces Garlic in Seconds
Don't like mincing garlic into tiny pieces with a knife? No matter how you mince garlic, it will never be as easy as this kitchen trick. You won't even need a knife—just a fork! It's a great hack for kids just learning how to cook or if you only need about one or two cloves for your recipe and feel like speeding things up a bit.
How To: Screw Sandwiches—Toast Is Where It's At
Local cafés and food bloggers are catching onto a gourmet toast trend that makes bread and butter look like movies before color TV was invented.
How To: You Can Make Rice Krispies Treats in the Microwave in Just 5 Minutes
It's no secret that the microwave is a modern-day wonder that, when used correctly, can cook a wide variety of food in a snap.
How To: Kill Your Cold Naturally with These 5 Common Ingredients
Uh-oh: you wake up one morning with the telltale signs that you are coming down with something. Your throat is sore, you can barely breathe out of your nose, and you have a nagging cough.
How To: Make the Best Fried Chicken of Your Life with These 5 Pro Tips
Everyone has their own reality, and in that same vein, everyone has their own guidelines for what makes the "perfect fried chicken." Now, I'm not saying that my version is the ultimate for everyone, but it's definitely a crowd pleaser in my experience.
How To: Greek Yogurt Makes a Surprisingly Great Substitute for Mayo & Other Dairy
Greek yogurt has always been in my regular snack rotation. Packed with more protein than plain yogurt, it fills me up and stabilizes my energy with its low levels of carbohydrates and sugar.
How To: Eat More Sprinkles with These 12 Fairy Bread Creations
If you've spent any time at all recently on social media, then you've probably seen pictures of fairy bread. This magical creation comes to us courtesy of Australia, so we have yet another thing to thank those clever folks Down Under for... along with shrimp on the barbie, Vegemite (the Aussie cousin of Marmite), and Hugh Jackman.
How To: 5 Amazing Ways to Bake with Coconut Oil
I remember the first time I used coconut oil; the whole kitchen was filled with a fragrant aroma that reminded me of the tropics. After learning it was a healthier alternative to traditional cooking oil—not to mention a great source of the good-for-you saturated fat—I was hooked.
How To: Make Perfectly Crispy Hash Browns at Home with This Trick
Delicious hash browns are ridiculously easy to make at home. So skip the diner and save your money—use this salad spinner trick instead to make crispy and seasoned hash browns quickly and with ease.
How To: Tell if Beef, Pork, or Poultry is Cooked (Without a Thermometer)
Knowing if your meat is cooked properly is both the difference between a delicious meal and an inedible one... and the difference between making your guests sick and keeping them safe.
How To: When You're Sick of Almond & Soy, Try These 5 Milk Alternatives
Whether you are vegan, lactose-intolerant, or cooking for someone who is, standing before the non-dairy milk shelf in the grocery store can be daunting. Instead of playing it safe with the two most common milk alternatives—soy and almond—perhaps you should explore a few other choices that tend to be overlooked.
How To: 5 Reasons to Always Have Coconut Flakes in the Kitchen
For me, shredded coconut is something that is eaten several times a week in a variety of ways—and that includes in savory dishes. It can be added to just about anything, and this is a good thing if you enjoy having some variety in your diet. Because I get tired of eating the same foods all the time, over the last few weeks I've tried some pretty interesting and simple ways to use coconut flakes in order to keep my finicky palate satisfied.
How To: Ditch the Extract & Get Serious About Baking with Vanilla Beans
Most home bakers rely on vanilla extract as a flavor component to their cakes and cookies, but little do they know what they are missing until they trade in their extract for whole vanilla beans. The rich complexity and different notes of flavor of a true vanilla bean are often washed out and distilled into a one-note sweetness, especially if the extract is cheap or imitation. If you want to get more serious about baking, you need to get serious about using vanilla beans.
How To: 5 Things You Need to Do When Baking with Frozen Fruit
Frozen fruit is always in season at your local grocery store, so you don't have to wait until the farmers market starts again to enjoy delicious baked fruit desserts. Peach pie, blueberry muffins, raspberry scones... all of these delicious baked goods can be just as delectable when using frozen fruit, too.
How To: Clone KFC's Nashville Hot Chicken
What began as a regional specialty has turned into a national trend that looks like it's here to stay: Nasvhille hot chicken has caught on like wildfire, with hot chicken restaurants popping up across the country—not to mention the 8 hot chicken restaurants that you can find in Nashville alone! The history of this Deep South dish is fascinating, and you can read more about it here.
How To: Make a Gorgeous Heart-Shaped Cake Without a Special Pan
Valentine's Day is right around the corner... which is the perfect excuse to ignite your inner cupid and bake a heart-shaped cake. If you have a heart-shaped cake or springform pan, you're all set. If not, don't worry—you don't need one! With a little ingenuity, you'll have a beautiful heart cake using the pans you already own.
How To: The Secret to Making Deliciously Soft Cookies Is Cake Mix
This is the easiest cookie batch you'll ever bake, I promise. And no, take-and-bake cookie dough doesn't count. With this recipe, it'll take you less than 20 minutes to go from your sad, cookie-less life to cookies in your absolute favorite flavor... of cake.
How To: Cook Any Cuisine Perfectly by Knowing the Right Ingredients to Use, Part 2
Eating out is great, but being able to cook the delicious ethnic foods you eat at restaurants is even better. It may seem daunting to put together a bunch of ingredients with which you might not be familiar (some with names you've never even heard of!), but with the guidelines below, you'll be making your own versions of ethnic favorites in no time.
How To: The Fastest Way to Make Spaghetti Squash Noodles
Spaghetti squash is a versatile vegetable, but it has a reputation for being intimidating to prepare... not to mention time-consuming. Heating it up in the oven can take at least 30-40 minutes, which is a definite time-suck for those who want to get dinner on the table, stat.
How To: Make Eggs That Slide Right Out of Their Shells
There are a million (okay, slight exaggeration) ways to peel an egg, and countless numbers of tips, tricks, and hacks that are supposed to make that deviled egg appetizer you agreed to make for the party an absolute snap. More often than not, though, experiences vary... and pock-marked, greyish-yolked boiled eggs find their way into your collection whether you like it or not.
How To: Make Coffee Mugs Gleam Like New with This Little-Known Cleaner
If you consider yourself a regular coffee, tea, or hot chocolate drinker, you probably have a kitchen cabinet full of stained mugs that refuse to scrub clean. Thankfully, there is a better solution that doesn't involve continuing to fight those stains with a sponge, bleach, and elbow grease. The answer to your coffee or tea stain problems is Cafiza: an awesome espresso machine cleaning product that is popular amongst professional baristas... but also doubles as an extremely effective ceramic ...
How To: Cook Any Cuisine Perfectly by Knowing the Right Ingredients to Use, Part 1
Home cooks are often quite intimidated when trying to reproduce the delicious ethnic dishes they enjoy at various restaurants. Thankfully, there are definite flavor profiles and spice/seasoning/herb combos that are very specific to various regional cuisines and cultures; with a little guidance, you can create dishes that are tasty homages to the cuisines you love to eat. In this two-part article (second part here), I'll cover both categories and sub-categories of some of the most popular ethn...
How To: Save All Your Veggie Scraps & You'll Never Buy Stock Again
Stock is a crucial ingredient for so many recipes: soups, gravies, and risottos depend on stock; quinoa and rice are both more flavorful when cooked with it, too. So, chances are that broth is a staple on your weekly shopping list.
How To: Cook Grains Perfectly, Every Time
When it comes to cooking grains, there is an unspoken rule to never stray from the exact measurements. Consulting charts for the proper ratio of liquid to grain is considered the difference between crunchy, undercooked pebbles and a mushy mess... that is, until now.