Wander the middle aisles of the supermarket and you’ll find no shortage of snacks. But if you’re looking for healthy snacks, well, that’s another story. Packaged snack foods are notoriously high in the stuff you don’t need (namely fat, sugar, and salt) and low in just about everything else. In between the stacks of cookies and the potato chips, however, we found a few great options that can satisfy your cravings for crispy, crunchy bites — without all the junk.
Whether we’re buying a coffee maker or some knives, Cuisinart almost never lets us down. The brand is known for offering reliable kitchen accessories that won’t break the bank. And yet, there are still frequent sales to be found, which is why we’re currently so excited about what’s going on over at Williams Sonoma: For a limited time only, you can save up to 60 percent on select Cuisinart small appliances. We’re talking toasters, tea kettles, pressure cookers, and much, much more.
We know you don’t have all day to scope out the sale, so we’re sharing our five favorite finds below. Just don’t forget to add the promo code “PREP” during checkout!
Kitchn’s Delicious Links column highlights recipes we’re excited about from the bloggers we love. Follow along every weekday as we post our favorites.
Can we all just take a moment to appreciate this insanely photogenic lasagna? This is not your average lasagna. This is a use-up-all-the-veggies-in-your-fridge lasagna. This is a your-friend-just-had-a-baby-and-you’re-cooking-dinner lasagna. This is a make-it-for-the-Instagram-likes lasagna. This is an I-know-it’s-summer-but-I’m-really-craving-lasagna lasagna. This is a Thanksgiving-will-be-here-before-you-know-it-so-you-better-practice-your-lattice-weaving-skills lasagna.
Name an occasion that wouldn’t be made infinitely better with this lasagna. I’ll wait.
When I was growing up, my mom always had a bag of frozen mixed vegetables in the freezer. Mostly she used it for icing boo-boos and hiding the box of Popsicles behind it, although occasionally she served a long-freezer-burned (and then microwave-steamed) serving of that bright-colored corn, carrot, and green bean medley.
My own children’s childhood freezer is better stocked with frozen chicken nuggets, fruits for smoothies, and homemade (and store-bought) Popsicles that I don’t hide, but there is one bag of frozen vegetables that I rely on much the same as my own mother did and it is not the mixed vegetables of my own youth. This is the bag of frozen vegetables that is the hero of family dinners — and occasionally saves us from those childhood boo-boos too.
Back in April, I wrote about what I found at the Bullseye’s Playground, which I still affectionately call the Dollar Spot. (See: Here’s How Target Almost Tricked Me into Spending $44 This Weekend.) The products in this section — brilliantly located right by the entrance, where customers are sure to stop and shop — are all so cute, colorful, fun, and inexpensive. Usually, nothing there costs more than $5 and most items are priced at $3 or $1. A dollar here, a dollar there — what could go wrong?
If I had bought everything I picked up, I would have spent at least $25. Luckily, I was able to show some restraint and only left with some new gingham cloth napkins.
Here’s what I was eyeing when I stopped in earlier this week.
This week’s meal planning dilemma — there’s always at least one — is that our dishwasher is out of commission for what might be the foreseeable future. Fortunately for me, we have a “I cook, you clean” agreement, and my husband is the primary dishwasher. Still, I’m planning a week of easy one-pot dinners for us.
Here’s where one-pot dinners shine: they save everyone time, not just whoever washes the dishes! They typically mean fewer ingredients, more streamlined steps, and, yes, less time cleaning up. So whether you’re soaking up the last days of summer or are already in full-swing back-to-school mode, these one-pot meals will help you put easy dinners on the table this week.
This small, fearless wildling we literally just brought home from the hospital turned three a couple weeks ago, but despite my certainty that we just got her, I won’t lie, this feels like a gazillion years ago because when did she not have hair. Strangers on the street often ask us about her hair, and I get it, I do. She’s small, it is big, and also red and with spiral curls going in every direction and there are three other members of our family and none of us have spiral curls or red hair. This isn’t the only way she’s already her own fierce little person. I was definitely not into dolls or dresses growing up, so I watch with awe as she plays for hours with her very pink baby doll, the doll’s stroller, the doll’s purse, the doll’s crib and high chair; when she comes home after being out all day, she likes to sit quietly with her baby on her lap on the sofa for a while to catch up and it is, objectively (I am known for my objectivity when talking about my kids), one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen.
So when asked what kind of birthday cake she wanted, she said “PINK!” And I said, “But what flavor?” “Pink.” And also, “Not brown, Yacob likes brown.” (This is true.) And I thought about making the pink lady cake but we ended up not having a big party that required so much cake, just bringing cupcakes to camp* and then going out to dinner with family. Instead, I went in a simpler direction, loosely inspired by a marbled pink and white cake we saw in the pastry case at Starbucks (but didn’t try so no idea how the taste lines up), a few weeks before. Adding a spoonful of raspberry puree into the glaze turning it ferociously pink, much to her glee, and stretching it into this doughnut-shaped pan I bought earlier this summer on a whim made it look like a giant pink emoji of a doughnut, an unequivocal hit with three year-olds, eight year-olds, and everyone who saw the cake go by at the restaurant. [I resisted the urge to say “And the color is all natural! And that’s not plasticky fondant!” — for once — but it was hard.]
While we love the chance to cook in a new-to-us kitchen, the last thing we want to do on vacation is prepare a meal that creates a lot of extra work and dishes. That’s why we gravitate toward one-pot meals. Not only do they cut down on cleanup time, but they are also easier to execute — which is especially helpful when your rental kitchen isn’t the most well-equipped.
Here are 12 one-pot meals that will let you focus more on vacation than on cooking and cleanup.
We are living in a frozen-pizza-lover’s paradise. Walk into any supermarket and you’ll be dazzled by the bevy of options with various styles of crust (thick, thin, and even cheese-stuffed!) and a bounty of meat and veggie toppings. Just picking one to toss in your cart can make your head spin.
If you’re anything like me, you have a stash of frozen pizzas in your freezer for when you’re either short on time or are too tired to deal with pots and pans. I usually stick to the same brands out of habit (Trader Joe’s and Amy’s are my favorites), but I was curious if I was missing out on a superior frozen pizza experience. So, I tried a dozen kinds to see how they measured up.
This new Great British Bake-Off trailer is the new “Laurel or Yanny?” video, or the new dress that half the world thinks is white and gold and half says is blue and black. Because, depending on the viewer, the new Bake Off trailer is either emotional and heartwarming, or creepy as heck. Really, it’s a little bit of both, and people are loving it.