What did you want to cook, eat, and read about through the months of 2013? We always find it instructive and entertaining to look back over the past year and see what you loved.
There are a lot of puzzling kitchen tools out there, unearthed from thrift stores, yard sales, or the junk drawer at home — but those aren’t the only mysteries our readers helped solve this year. From unidentified herbs to wonderful (yet utterly mystifying) meals enjoyed in Iraq long ago, here are the year’s most intriguing reader questions about mysteries in the kitchen.
What would a new year be without great resolutions! Tiny hopes and aspirations that give 2014 new life, a new slate to work on. This year The Kitchn editors PROMISE to plan ahead more for meals during the week, and pack more satisfying lunches for work. Tell us, what are your cooking resolutions for 2014?
I didn’t realize quite how much we love our salads here on The Kitchn until I started sifting through all our recipes from 2013. Let me tell you: we like them a lot. And we’re not talking about wimpy pale salads with a few cherry tomatoes and goopy ranch dressing, either. We’re talking about salads like our Chopped Brown Rice Salad with Grapes and Pecans and our Radicchio Salad with Avocado, Red Quinoa, and Ricotta Salata — salads filled with colorful vegetables, crunchy textures, and bright snappy flavors.
These are salads that you could take to work and actually look forward to having for lunch. Add a poached egg or a chunk of baguette, and many of these could happily serve as a light dinner. It was hard to choose, but here are fifteen that you definitely need to check out:
Q: I’ve coordinated a weekly dinner gathering of friends for three years now. Each week we send out an email with the night’s dinner plan and a list of ingredients we need. Everyone claims an item or two and we make dinner together, drink wine, and eat. It’s great. Recently, some of our friends have developed increasingly demanding dietary restrictions. We want to be all-inclusive, so I am looking for easy prep recipes (no more than 45 minutes from start to finish) that are gluten-free and vegetarian. Bonus points if they are light on the dairy and eggs, or are dairy and egg optional.
Sent by Alaina
We went to town on delicious homemade gifts this past month! From Heavenly Hash to chai cookies, here are ten of our favorite new edible gifts — good for the holidays, birthdays, or just any time you want to say thank you.
4.13 / 5 Stars | 94 Reviews
by RENEESM
“This is a great pasta dish. The hardest part of the whole recipe is cutting the escarole. It is fast, simple, and delicious! What more could you ask for? With a loaf of Italian bread it goes a long way. Enjoy!”
