(Image credit: Samantha Bolton)
While there’s always good reason to rely on the scale when you need specific amounts, at the grocery store I’ve found immense value in being able to estimate the weights of vegetable simply by sight and feel. Being able to do this is a skill, one that you can easily develop by first educating your eye, and then putting into practice. Here’s a list of what one pound of common vegetables looks like and a few general tips on how to size them up without a scale.
Poached chicken adds a quick protein boost to green salads and sandwiches. It’s also crucial for chicken salad, and makes an easy taco filling when shredded. But there’s a secret to making poached chicken that’s not only tender, but also incredibly flavorful: kitchen scraps.
Looking for a crowd pleasing-appetizer? Make bacon-wrapped shrimp! Kinda ridiculously good.
I blame the bacon.
Seriously, this one is really easy and crazy good. Bacon and shrimp make a very happy couple. For this recipe we are coating the shrimp with some lime and chili powder, and then wrapping them in slices of bacon, and either oven baking or putting on the grill.
Here are a couple of tips that can help make these even better.
(Image credit: Diana Yen)
I am a slow-cooker convert. Growing up, I thought the only thing you could do with a slow cooker was make beef stew and chili. It was good beef stew, but I never understood the point of buying a single appliance for the two recipes we only ever used it for.
I’m happy to say I was so wrong. A slow cooker is one of the most versatile appliances in the kitchen. Pot roast? Check. Delicious sloppy joes? Check. Chicken tacos? Yes! Even bread? You get where this is going. With the right set of recipes, the slow cooker proves itself over and over again. But this is a method of cooking — not a machine that’s going to do all of it for you.
To ensure you’re approaching every slow-cooker recipe with a degree of understanding, and maybe even finesse, start by using these 10 simple tips and tricks.
Consider this your road map for harnessing the power of the slow cooker during the summer. While the basic tenets of using this appliance remain the same, there is a tailored set of knowledge that’s going to help you get the most out of it come summer.
From recipes to all the tips that will make you successful, here’s what you need to know about summer slow-cooking.
I’m currently in a swarm of many behind-the-scenes things that I genuinely couldn’t be happier about even if it would also be okay if they didn’t all fall in the next few weeks (the deadline on the next cookbook, the launch at-last-so-overdue-hooray site redesign, a hopefully very cool new project or two, the first birthday of this fiesty love, all of the end of the year chaos that comes with a school-aged kid), that if there were a textbook definition of Bad Times To Take a Vacation, my June might be under it. Thank goodness I am not married to anyone burdened by such trivialities. Thus last weekend, when he surprised me with a birthday weekend away in Mexico City, a place I’ve been telling him I wanting to go to for the better part of a decade, but briefly expressed concern that this wasn’t the “best” time to get away, I was like “SHUT UP WHICH AIRPORT I ALREADY CALLED AN UBER.” The more dramatic the mess, the more dramatic the escape hatch required, right?
But seriously: Maybe this could be a new life rule. Because of instead of working bleary-eyed through the weekend and diligently ignoring the big birthday in the middle of it, I sipped mezcal, ate all the tacos (also panuchos, tostatas, flautas), the actual nectar of the gods (not just a saying, apparently), ate fruit in every color of the rainbow, wandered old streets, saw ancient ruins, and ate a tlacoyo that had been kneaded from blue corn masa right in front of me minutes before, and was back in time to take the kid to school and resume my chaos exactly where I left it on Tuesday morning. I’m a lucky, lucky human.
… Read the rest of corn and black bean weeknight nachos on smittenkitchen.com
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From Apartment Therapy → Better Results, Every Time: 7 Super Common Dishwasher Mistakes You’ll Want to Stop Making
(Image credit: My Natural Family)
I’m a recent convert to the slow cooker. My husband and I are going through a full home remodel and I haven’t had counters, walls, or floors in my kitchen. In the past year, I’ve leaned heavily on this trusty kitchen appliance; you might say it’s been my right-hand man (or woman, I didn’t check) through the process. So when The Kitchn editors asked me to try the top five slow-cooker recipes on Pinterest, I was definitely game.
(Image credit: Samantha Bolton)
With summer nearly upon us, I realized I’ve been missing my picnic table. I had a great one that sat outside for years until my daughter decided to take it to college. Now I want it back!
The timing is good, since she’s moving to a new place — she won’t have room in her little studio anyway, right? — plus, I’m planning a family reunion, and we’ll need the extra seating. After all, who wants to eat with a plate of food on their lap? It’s too hard to balance — especially if you’re like my family and you tell stories with hands and arms flying.
The picnic table is older than my daughter and has been with her through four years of college life after sitting outside on my patio for over 20 years; needless to say, it required more than a good wipe-down. Here’s how I got it clean and pristine.
What is it about eating outside on a blanket or park bench that just feels so Parisian? Of course, it’s even better if you are simply-but-impeccably dressed, lounging by a river or stream of some kind (think the banks of the Seine), and serving a delicious meal out of a French market tote or picnic basket. While we can’t exactly transport you to Paris or give you a makeover, we can help ensure your picnic basket is perfectly packed. These 23 recipes will get you well on your way.
