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No-Boil vs. Traditional Pasta: Should You Make the Switch?
We here at Food Hacks are all about saving you, our wonderful readers, time and trouble in the kitchen. So when I saw that Barilla had come out with their Pronto line of "One Pan, No Boil, No Drain" pasta, I had to give it a try. While no-boil lasagna noodles have been around for a while and allow the pasta to essentially cook en casserole, this relatively new addition to the pasta scene includes elbow, penne, spaghetti, and rotini varieties that allow for usage in a greater variety of pasta ...
How To: Citrus Fruit… Your New Favorite Facial Cleanser?
Switching your favorite facial cleanser isn't an easy choice. Since everyone's skin type can range from dry, to oily, to some complicated combination of both... well, let's just say that the conventional wisdom is to stick to what you know works.
How To: Cook a Perfectly Roasted Chicken
Upon reading the title for this article, I bet you secretly thought to yourself, "Yeah, I've got the perfect way to 'make' roast chicken: I go to the store, and I buy one!" Well, there's no question that there are some really tasty, convenient rotisserie chickens out there, already made and ready for eating or using in recipes.
How To: Got Leftover Ingredients? Then Egg Roll All the Things!
If you open your refrigerator door and find leftovers there, then you are fortunate—even if you don't realize it right away. Leftovers are the ultimate budget hack because they maximize the value of your meals; and it's a smart way to save money while making the most of your food purchases.
How To: This Trick Lets You Make Homemade Jam in Just 10 Minutes
Besides being one of the super nutritious "superseeds," chia seeds also absorb liquid and then take on a jelly-like texture. These properties make chia seeds the perfect hack for an easy, healthy jam compared to the normal jam-making process—which usually requires lots of sugar, pectin, and boiling for thickening.
How To: Why You Don't Actually Need Any Pans to Bake Like a Pro
If you're anything like me, the urge to bake comes in waves. Winter constitutes an especially large wave; when I need to put on a few extra pounds for insulation, I go a bit carb crazy and take any opportunity to make breads, pies, and cakes.
How To: 5 Delicious Foods to Boost Your Mood & Shake the Winter Blues
Winter and the winter holidays in general are a time of joy, laughter, and love… but not for everyone. For some, the stress of preparing for parties, hosting family, traveling long distances in bad weather, and just keeping up with your daily routine can start to bring you down.
How To: Save Time & Money with These One-Pot Meals All Week
Dinner is meant to be enjoyed after a long day away from home—it shouldn't cause stress or fuss. But for many, that's exactly what a home-cooked meal represents, especially on a work night. The prep work, the steps involved in following the recipe, the numerous amount of bowls, pots, and pans you use, and... worst of all, a sink full of dishes to clean.
How To: This Quiche/Soufflé Hybrid Is Both Easy & Delicious
The morning started out like most of them do: I was hungry, and it was time to chow down on some breakfast. However, this particular morning had me craving something besides the usual milk and cereal.
How To: Make the Best Deviled Eggs Ever
The first time I encountered a deviled egg, the name freaked me out. Why was it called a deviled egg? Was it the spawn of some demonic chicken? If I ate it, would my soul be at risk?
How To: 5 Delicious Hanukkah Crafts for the Whole Family
Being Jewish is kind of tough this time of year. Folks are putting up their lights, stringing popcorn and cranberries, and decorating trees. Those of us who don't celebrate Christmas start to feel a wee bit left out in the cold. Yes, some families give out presents on each of the eight nights of Hanukkah, but the truth is that it's not a major holiday on the Jewish calendar.
How To: Up Your Latke Game with These Fun Variations for Hanukkah
Unquestionably, one of the best parts of Hanukkah is the prevalence of latkes during the 8-day celebration. But even the most dedicated spud fanatic can get a little "latke'd out" as the week drags on. Here are some alternative preparations for latkes that will give you some variety in your celebratory food choices throughout the Hanukkah season.
How To: Make Ramen Noodles in Your Keurig Coffee Brewer - Correct Setting
This video will show you how to make Ramen noodles in your Keurig Coffee brewer, and the correct setting to use.
How To: The Secret to Making the World's Easiest Latkes
Hanukkah, also known as The Festival of Lights, commemorates the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem in 168 BCE. (Jews and secular publications, such as academic or scientific papers, use BCE—"before common era"—rather than the Jesus-centric BC, or "before Christ.")
Monkey Bread: Savory or Sweet, Always a Treat
Regardless of your culture or your age, eating with your hands is fun. Flouting social convention and just digging in with your fingers provides a whole other level of epicurean enjoyment. And one of the most entertaining hands-on foods is monkey bread. Food historian Tori Avey provides a comprehensive history of the origins of this pull-apart treat, including the important detail that no actual monkeys are involved in the making of monkey bread. Originally a savory culinary creation from Sou...
How To: Sweet! Get Your Caffeine Buzz with These Coffee-Infused Desserts
Elle, who grew up on the East Coast, would have described the weather as "brisk." I, a Southern California native, called it "deathly cold." As we waited for the water to boil over our campfire, despair began to creep in.
How To: I Love Puff Pastry. Here’s Why You Should, Too
I always have several sheets of puff pastry in my freezer. It's unlike any other pastry dough: the layers of butter let out steam when the dough bakes (hence, the "puff" in puff pastry). The dough's flakiness perfectly compliments sweet and savory dishes, which makes it a totally versatile—and completely necessary—fixture in your kitchen!
Mulling Spices: The Process for Making a Great-Tasting Giftable Drink
Nothing signals the end of fall and the start of winter like hot, seasonal drinks. And while pumpkin spice lattes may be the flavor of the day, and eggnog the Christmas favorite, one seasonal drink stands apart in my eyes: mulled cider.
How To: Save Time Prepping Veggies with These Insider Tricks
Vegetables are perhaps the most important part of our diets, but often times they're an absolute pain to prepare. Cleaning every fleck of dirt off of dozens of leafy greens takes ages, and eliminating the more fibrous parts of certain veggies can be extremely tedious.
Save Money: Break Down Your Own Chicken
Here's a not-so-well-kept secret about the food industry: retailers love to take your money. And one of the ways they do that is by dividing food into smaller sizes and charging more. Have you ever noticed that a container of precut, washed broccoli costs more than a head of broccoli with the same amount of florets and stems?
How To: 10 Insanely Delicious Pizza Dough Hacks
If I could survive on one food for the rest of my life, it would be pizza. The irresistible smell of baking pizza instantly makes me feel both comforted... and hungry!
How To: 4 Healthier Whipped Cream Alternatives
Whipped cream is one of the most iconic dessert toppings around, but the full-fat version is not the most forgiving when it comes to fat content. With the holidays just around the corner, learn how to spare yourself a few calories—especially if you love the creamy texture of whipped toppings!
How To: No-Stress Thanksgiving Desserts That Don't Require an Oven
Oven space is scarce on that fated fourth Thursday of November. Even if you can find a spare space for pumpkin pie on the bottom shelf, you risk turkey drippings overflowing from above and ruining your beautiful dessert — not to mention a burnt crust from different temperature requirements. The bottom line is: oven real estate is valuable, and it's tough to multitask cooking for Thanksgiving when every dish requires baking or roasting.
How To: Time-Saving Food Hacks for the 7 Most Common Thanksgiving Foods
With T-Day on the horizon and approaching rapidly, you are probably in one of two camps. The one that is eagerly awaiting the holiday feast with barely-contained drool. Or the one that involves breathing heavily into a paper bag while worrying about your lack of oven and stovetop real estate, while also bemoaning the lack of multiples of you to get all the prep work done.
How To: Frost Your Cake Like a Pro
Cake decorating is one of those activities that used to leave my hands sticky and my spirits dampened. No matter what I seemed to do, the final result always ended up looking like a preschool art project.
How To: DIY Instant Baby Food Is Easier Than You Think
When it comes to your baby and your time, nothing but the best and most efficient will do. These high standards carry through every aspect of your life as a new parent, from diapers to strollers and especially to food.
How To: Make REAL Tater Tots at Home
When you're young, utensils tend to be optional—and eating with your hands is optimal. One of the best examples of finger food for kids that has pervaded today's nostalgia-driven culture is tater tots.
How To: 10 Food Hacks for Making Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies Every Time
Everyone and his mother (and grandmother) has a chocolate chip cookie recipe that he swears is the absolute best recipe, guaranteed to produce a chocolate chip cookie so good it will make you weep with joy. The problem with that is that everyone—relatives included—has a different idea of exactly what constitutes a perfect chocolate chip cookie.
How To: 10 Unbelievably Delicious Substitutes for Boring Ol' Croutons
Fall is a time of change. The leaves change color, the weather changes from warm to cool, and we change our clocks to fall back an hour. This last change means that many of us will get home from work in pitch-black darkness; for me, the early onset of night makes me less interested in cooking dinner and more interested in getting in my sweats, throwing leftovers in the microwave, and binge-watching The Affair.
Screw Pillsbury: You Can Make Better Slice & Bake Cookies Yourself
There are few things more satisfying than fulfilling a craving with instant gratification. Companies like Pillsbury and have made this possible with the introduction of their famous Ready to Bake Cookies line: just rip open the package, break off the cookies along the creased lines, place on a cookie sheet, and bake.
How To: 'Hot Chocolate' Balls = Next-Level Instant Cocoa
Winter—or any cold, gray day, for that matter—is the best time for a warm cup of something hot. For me, hot chocolate is my "warm cup" of choice: rich and milky, deliciously sweet, and oh-so-comforting. On super-cold days when I can't feel my face, a nice, large cup of hot chocolate warms my tummy and cheers me up. (And lucky for me, it's pretty healthy for me too!)
How To: The Clever Trick That Makes Stuffed Pancakes a Cinch
Any other person can make plain pancakes... but only the most awesome of cooks can make stuffed pancakes. Luckily, this isn't a tough technique—in fact, it's so easy that you'll find yourself getting bored of the run-of-the-mill pancakes and dreaming of all the things you can stuff pancakes with, instead.
How To: This Simple Trick Will Keep Your Bread Fresher Longer
Fresh loaves of bread from the bakery are both delicious and often free of the preservatives that come with buying sliced, bagged bread off the supermarket shelves. However, these same loaves of bread tend to become stale much more quickly when sliced. It's quite the dilemma, especially for those who want to avoid throwing away and wasting stale bread (or are tired of turning said stale pieces into breadcrumbs or croutons).
How To: Keep Your Lemons Fresher, Longer
Lemons are often displayed as a bright and beautiful pop of color in many home kitchen displays. They lend a lovely scent to the air and an aesthetic sense of freshness to any setting. Therefore, it would be easy to assume that lemons are best left at room temperature.
How To: "Preserve Your Herbs"
Whilst drying herbs is a well known method they do suit certain types of dishes but with this method of using olive oil to infuse before freezing, you get the best results many weeks after you've cut them and it allows you to continue enjoying those summer flavours well into winter.
How To: The Easiest Way to Make Delicious Pumpkin Brownies at Home
I love brownies. Through the turmoil of my teenage years and the raucous over-eating of my college years to now, brownies have been a constant companion to my highs and (calorie-laden) lows. I've made brownies from scratch, I've used the box mix... hell, I was a baker at a bakery that specialized in brownies. So yeah... I'd say I'm pretty familiar with them.
How To: Keep Cheese from Drying Out in Your Fridge
Few things are as frustrating as grabbing food from the fridge just to discover that your leftovers have gone bad. When it comes to cheese, you may have taken every last precaution to keep it as fresh as possible—sealed plastic containers, saran wrap, parchment paper—but to no avail.
How To: 3 Easy Methods for Making Gourmet Chips at Home
As the days get shorter and the weather cools down, I prepare to "hibernate." I add piles of blankets to my bed, wrap myself in layers of flannel, and—most importantly—eat as if I'm storing energy for winter.
How To: Valuable Kitchen Trash You Should Always Keep
If there's one thing that gets used far too frequently in the modern kitchen, it's the trash can. Home cooks everywhere waste enormous amounts of food by throwing it away before it's actually ready to be tossed.
How To: Boil Pasta in Half the Time
The standard way to make pasta requires a lot of water, and it takes a long time for that big pot of water to actually start boiling. For these reasons, as well as my hatred for washing large pots, I don't cook pasta at home very often—at least not the traditional way.