My Strategy for Making Pizza Healthier (at Home or Out) — Tips from The Kitchn

I probably sound like everyone else when I say pizza is one of my favorite foods. Really, though, I can’t get enough of it — my husband and I make it at home every single week, get in serious debates over styles and toppings, and even centered our welcome dinner at our wedding around a truck slinging out fresh pies.

I also truly enjoy eating in a way that makes me feel healthy (I am a Registered Dietitian, after all), so I am constantly seeking out ways to make pizza a wholesome choice since I don’t plan on giving it up anytime soon. Here are a few things I keep in mind every time I order a pie or make one at home to make sure I’m always feeling good about every slice.

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The One Flour You Should Buy, According to a Professional Bread Maker — Shopping

After just a quick rundown of Aaron Quint’s resume, it’s abundantly clear that the self-professed gluten-obsessive has baked bread using practically every single flour out there. The former amateur baker (turned pizza-cookbook author, turned artisan-bread-maker in Kingston, New York) is what you might call an expert at making dough — which, more often than not, requires the powdery pantry staple.

If you believe that flour doesn’t vary much from brand to brand, we (and Aaron) politely disagree.

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How To Make the Best, Easiest Apple Crisp — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

Apple crisp is the lazy baker’s best friend. It delivers all the flavor and satisfaction of apple pie, but in half the amount of time. Tender, lightly sweetened, warmly spiced apples get dressed up with a sprinkle of buttery oats that crack under the pressure of a spoon. It’s truly the only crisp recipe you need for fall.

Apple crisp requires just a few basic ingredients, an abundance of apples, and a warm oven. Here’s how to make the best, easiest apple crisp, plus tips for having the topping on hand all fall long.

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The 5 Biggest Money Mistakes People Make When Renovating, According to Kitchen Designers — Budget Kitchen Renovations

When taking on a home improvement project as major, time-consuming, and expensive (!!!) as a kitchen renovation, the last thing that you want to do is make a few choices now that you end up regretting later — especially if that ends up meaning you wasted money.

To help identify the biggest money-wasting no-nos to avoid, we consulted a few kitchen design experts. Having been around plenty of renovations, they had some good live-and-learn lessons and what-not-to-dos to share.

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10 Pro Home Cooks on Their Favorite Meal Prep Recipes — Recipes from The Kitchn

Sometimes the trickiest thing with meal prep can simply be deciding what to cook. You want to avoid making the same exact thing every single week, but you also want to keep things stress-free. I’ve found that the best way to keep meal prep food varied and interesting is by getting inspiration from other meal preppers and home cooks.

So I asked 10 seasoned home cooks to share their favorite meal prep recipes, plus smart tips on how they put them to work during the week. Here’s what they had to say.

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crispy spinach pizza

I went through a phase this summer where I couldn’t stop making crispy spinach pizza, but I had no plans to tell you about for a couple reasons, the first of which is it’s absolutely hideous. It looks like someone melted Oscar the Grouch onto a pizza dough and little I did improved this, not making it round, nor rectangular, in good light nor light so dim that maybe you wouldn’t notice it at all.

a soft dougha great heap of spinacha round pizzait looks like too much but it's too little!

Crispy spinach pizza isn’t its official name (that’s, in fact, The Popeye) but in our household dish names are marketing devices and heaps of spinach are, understandably, a hard sell. It’s not much easier with adults. Yes, I know many of us enjoy green vegetables and volunteer to eat them on the regular, but even as one of those people, I felt nothing but panic and dread the first time I saw this unsettlingly large pile of charred-edge greens and no sign of cheese or any other anchors of joy coming across the room to me at the late Co., and knew I’d ordered all wrong.

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Should You Be Concerned About Salt in Your Canned Goods? — Grocery Store Canned Goods

Are you looking to reduce your sodium? The reality is that most of us take in far too much, thanks mainly to processed and fast foods, not a heavy hand with the saltshaker. The very latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans call for eating less than 2,300 milligrams — or, one teaspoon of table salt — each day. If you’re on a low-sodium diet, your intake should be even lower.

The very easiest way to cut sodium is to avoid what the American Heart Association terms the salty six: bread, pizza, sandwiches, cold/cured meats, soup, and burritos/tacos. These popular, convenient, readily available foods have sky-high sodium (one cup of canned soup, for instance, could have half your daily allotment of sodium, for instance).

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Cult-Favorite Trader Joe’s Products You Can Order with Amazon Prime — Shopping

Not all of us live near a Trader Joe’s (or find ourselves willing to brave the crowds and stand in line for who knows how long). And while Trader Joe’s says it will never add an e-commerce option to its site, it’s worth pointing out that you can buy some classic Trader Joe’s items on Amazon — with Prime shipping, no less!

Just be warned: The prices are often higher this way than in stores. (These products are usually sold through a third-party vendor and shipped through Amazon.) But you could end up saving your gas money (and your sanity), so it’s really up to you to weigh your options.

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5 Things You Need for Wildly Better Lasagna — Shopping

We know: You already make pretty good lasagna. But what if you could make it wildly better? We’re talking the difference here between lasagna and ah-mazing lasagna. Now you’re listening?

We’ve come up with a list of five things you need in order to make this happen. Some items on the list are little gadgets that’ll make a big difference, while others are straight-up tips. Try some of these out and let us know how it goes.

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