When you’re a kid, it’s not so much about what’s in your lunch box, but what’s on your lunch box. Were you a Scooby Doo kid or more of a Strawberry Shortcake kind of gal? Did you like the hard plastic lunch boxes, or did you prefer the vintage metal look? You can learn a lot about someone based on their favorite childhood lunch box.
So think back, way back, and remember what your favorite childhood lunchbox looked like. Got it? Now read on to see what that says about you as a person now.
Think about some of the staples you keep in your pantry or fridge and use on a daily basis — peanut butter, marinara sauce, tomato paste, mayonnaise, granola, chicken (or vegetable) stock, spice blends. The list could go on and on. Have you tried to make these things yourself?
If not, you should! You might not always save time making these everyday items, but they’ll taste fresher, you’ll have fun making them, and it might even save you a little money. Here are 20 pantry staples that are easy to make at home, and in some cases even less expensive than the store-bought versions!
If you ask me about comfort food, I will answer promptly: Slow-cooked brisket. This old-fashioned pot roast, cooked quietly in the slow cooker all day with just a handful of ingredients and a mess of caramelized onions, makes a rich broth and meat that melts in your mouth. Sunday dinner, weeknight supper — whenever you eat it, this is a classic dish both convenient and comforting.
4.69 / 5 Stars | 12 Reviews
by MALKALEVADOM
“This is the sorbet I served on Rosh Hashana meal between first and main course. It is white flecked with bright green, tangy from the green apples, and sweet with honey. Fresh and fabulous. Shana Tova! I recommend eucalyptus blossom honey, easily found in Israel.”
If there is one recipe that every home cook should know, it’s this baked chicken recipe. All you need is chicken, olive oil, salt, and pepper (and maybe some stock or white wine for gravy).
Who cooks and eats here: Batya Stepelman of Sparrows & Spatulas, along with her husband, Matt Berman, and their young sons, Otis and Theodore
Where: Denver, CO
Rent or Own? Own
I recently visited Batya Stepelman’s city garden and warm, functional kitchen, nestled in a historic section of downtown Denver. Originally from Brooklyn, Batya is a self-taught cook, seasoned vegetarian, first-time gardener, and author of the popular lifestyle blog, Sparrows & Spatulas. When you visit Batya’s kitchen, two things are certain: you won’t leave empty handed, and you’ll walk away inspired.
Let’s take a peek into her cozy, open kitchen and flourishing garden.
Given my druthers, a word I’ve been looking for an excuse to type in a sentence for at least eight years, I would never choose a salad with lettuce in it over one that’s mostly shaved or shredded raw vegetables. I mean, lettuce — the dewy, freshly-plucked-from-the-earth stuff that spends a couple months a year gracing local farmer’s markets — can be absolutely delicious, but nine times out of ten, the same word is used to refer to that packaged stuff that doesn’t taste like a whole lot. And can we talk for just a second about that prematurely rotten red leaf that no bag of mesclun is ever without? Clearly I have spent an unnatural amount of time thinking about this. But in a world filled with avocado cup salads, broccoli slaw, butternut squash, carrot salads with harissa, feta and mint or tahini and crisped chickpeas, chopped salads with lime, sunflower seeds and radishes, crushed peas with sesame dressing and fennel with blood oranges* I’ve found little reason to worship solely at the salad altar of baby field greens.
Ever since I made one of my favorite salads to date, the broccoli slaw, I have wanted to make a cauliflower slaw companion for it, and I know this because I have listed it no less than five times on my sprawling To Cook list. I knew that I wanted it to be “mayo-free,” with a “sharp lemony dressing.” I knew that I wanted it to have “tiny dried currants” in it, and that maybe I’d soak/plump them in the dressing for a while so they added more than just sweetness. I knew that, like the broccoli slaw, it should have well-toasted almonds in it, and that I didn’t mind if it had capers in it, especially if they were crispy. But I couldn’t figure out the structure — I was convinced that cauliflower, shaved thinly, would be nothing but a pile of rubble, but not in a charming way. And then a couple months ago a cauliflower salad appeared on the menu of my favorite restaurant, Barbuto in the West Village (which also brought us this kale salad), and to my delight, it turned out to have many elements of the cauliflower slaw I’d been dreaming about — theirs with raisins, hazelnuts and a unholy helping of olive oil — and the cauliflower had been shaved thin on an adjustable-blade slicer and it was perfect. Sure, there was some rubble but there was an equal amount of nicely intact slices and all I wanted to go home and make it the very next second.
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If you’ve never experienced the magic that is spaghetti squash, this is the recipe to kick off your new fall obsession. It’s called spaghetti squash for a reason, after all, and these tender strands of squash make a remarkable stand-in for our favorite pasta dishes.
Today, this mild-tasting squash is getting a lasagna makeover. Mozzarella, ricotta, meat sauce — the works. It’s a bowl of hot-baked goodness that you get all to yourself, no sharing required.
