10 After-School Snack Ideas Parents Can Feel Good About — Recipes from The Kitchn

I have a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old who come home from school every day begging for snacks, no matter how hearty a lunch I pack for them. The challenge is that I don’t want to spoil their dinner appetite with a sweet treat, but I also want to give them something to fuel their afternoon play time.

While cheese and apples are one of our go-tos, and there are plenty of packaged snacks on the market, it is sometimes nice to make something more substantial that we can all enjoy.

Here are 10 of our family’s favorite after-school snack recipes for kids and grown-ups alike.

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Our 7 Best Slow Cooker Ground Beef Recipes — Recipes from The Kitchn

A slow cooker can work wonders for so many ingredients, but where it really shines is with inexpensive cuts of meat. It can turn a plain pound of ground beef into something that’s moist, juicy, and extra flavorful, thanks to it’s slow and steady cook time.

These seven recipes prove you can churn out a whole lot of crowd-pleasing dinners with the help of the trusty appliance.

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5 Things You Should Know About Almond Milk — Milk & Cookies

As of 2016, almond milk was the most popular milk of all milks in the United States. And even with all the newcomers — cashew milk, coconut milk, hemp milk, oat milk — we’d guess it’s still the darling of the “mylks.” But does it deserve its spotlight in the non-dairy section of your supermarket?

Here are a few things you should know about almond milk.

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27 Side Dishes That Are More Popular than the Main Dish — Recipes from The Kitchn

Let’s face it — sometimes the side dishes are just better. Yes, chicken is great, and we’ll never say no to a burger, but aren’t we really just here for the luscious steak fries, perfectly crunchy slaw, and irresistible veggie casseroles?

Today we’re celebrating the supporting cast of the dinner table with our 27 favorite scene-stealing side dishes.

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Recipe: Smoky Mozzarella Pasta and Meatball Bake — Recipes from The Kitchn

There’s so much to love about the classic Italian-American combination of pasta and meatballs — the simplicity, the ease of customization, and the absolutely delicious way it perfumes your house with cozy smells. This time around, double down on everything you love about this combo in the form of a baked casserole to serve the hungriest of crowds.

To keep things interesting we’re introducing a smoky element with the addition of canned, fire-roasted tomatoes.

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Giada De Laurentiis Shares Her Mom’s Best Tip for Using Up Leftovers — Pop Culture

Many of us get our first cooking lessons at home. People who grow up to work in restaurants or attend culinary school or become world-famous chefs usually pick up a few tricks at home before they go (even if it’s just the proper way to cut a peanut butter sandwich).

Even celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis learned some tricks she still uses from her mother, actress and writer Veronica De Laurentiis. And she says her mother’s best cooking lesson was to always be resourceful with leftovers.

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Why I Only Use This Brand of Canned Chickpeas for Hummus — Tips from The Kitchn

By my best estimation, I’ve made about 1,273 batches of hummus since my hummus-loving kiddo was old enough for solids. Having tried every method (dried beans, canned beans, tahini, peanut butter instead of tahini, and the like), I can reliably say that making hummus with canned chickpeas gives me the easiest everyday hummus I can make week after week.

The most surprising finding after all of these hummus batches isn’t the method, but the right ingredient for the job — which is why I grab only one brand of canned chickpeas for making hummus.

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The One Thing That Will Make Your Pasta Infinitely Better — Tips from The Kitchn

For as long as I’ve cooked pasta, I’ve cooked it just like everyone else — bring a pot of water to a boil, dump in noodles, cook until al dente, drain, and toss in the sauce of choosing. Things were going along swimmingly (I was eating great pasta at home) until I learned I could be eating even better pasta.

You see, you may have noticed that your favorite Italian restaurant always seems to make their pasta taste just a tiny bit better than yours — the pasta seems to be cooked more perfectly and it’s more well-coated in the sauce. Turns out there’s one thing they do differently that matters a whole lot: They undercook it.

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