When I want to find some next-level meal-planning inspiration on Instagram, I don’t dive into fitness feeds or the #mealprep hashtag. And I don’t look for the glossy, perfectly photographed food feeds where you wonder if anyone actually eats the meticulous dish you’re drooling over. I look for chefs churning out a week’s worth of meals with passion, grit, and a Costco membership.
I look for sorority chefs.
Celebrity chef Tyler Florence recently made the bold declaration that recipes are dead while attending Seattle’s Smart Kitchen Summit. In fact, he feels our whole approach to making food — from purchasing groceries and stocking our cupboards to choosing, prepping, and cooking our meals — is out of sync with the way we actually live now.
You don’t have to be a vegetarian to appreciate the goodness eating a meal full of veggies brings. We love squeezing more of them into whatever we happen to be cooking up, even if meat is in the equation as well. These 10 dinners make colorful produce the center of the plate and they’re quick and easy enough for the busiest of weeknights. Some skip the meat, others don’t — but regardless, they’re all worthy of adding to your dinner roster.
So, you want to stock the home bar with a decent selection of spirits but you don’t want to blow the bank. We hear you. That’s why we’ve gone to experts to find their top picks for American whiskey, tequila, and vodka so you can have a respectable bar — and still have cash left for other important stuff.
If you’re scared off by lower-priced vodkas, don’t be, says Joseph Fredrickson, owner of Society Lounge in Cleveland. “Even the worst products now are better than what they had back in the day,” he says. And it’s kind of pointless to splurge anyway, given that it’s probably going to end up in a cocktail. “Vodka’s one of those things,” he says. “We can argue all day if Aquafina tastes better than Glacier water but if you mix it with Kool-Aid can you tell a difference?”
And common distilling methods mean most vodkas will be fine these days, he says. So pick from any of these value vodkas and you’re good to go!
British royals are Food Network fans, just like the rest of us. Except that when they have cooking problems, they get to go right to their favorite chefs and ask for help in person. So when Prince William needed help making lasagna, he went right to Giada De Laurentiis and asked her to tell him what he was doing wrong — and he absolutely made her day when he did it.
While a lot of us are all still mourning the recent news that Chip and Joanna Gaines are ending their hit HGTV show, Fixer Upper, there is some good news to look forward to: The couple’s new Target collection, Hearth & Hand, is hitting stores on November 5. And many of the pieces are on the Target site now for our perusal!
We spent some time looking through and picked out the 10 things we’re most excited about.
Related: Chip and Joanna Gaines Fans: Mark Your Calendar for November 5
In a recent piece in the New York Times, Julia Moskin writes about the internet-famous “ripple cookie.” According to Moskin, this cookie is crisp on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, and “ringed, like a tree trunk — as if a chunk of chocolate had been dropped in the center and somehow made waves out to the edges.”
I mean, who could resist the lure of crispy-chewy perfection? Of course we had to try it.
This week in California, fires have devastated the northern part of the state, including wine country. As of Tuesday night, 15 deaths were reported, and the two biggest blazes have burned nearly 115,000 acres of land. At least 1,500 homes, businesses, wineries, resorts, and other structures have been destroyed and almost 20,000 people have had to evacuate, leaving behind homes, schools, land, and belongings. Most of the fatalities come from Sonoma County.
Right now thousands of firefighters all over the state continue to battle the firestorm. Vice President Mike Pence said President Trump has approved a major disaster declaration for the state of California due to these fires.
Raise your hand if every day for lunch you prepare a homemade, Instagram-ready meal featuring seasonal ingredients sourced from local farms. Or maybe you sit down to a dazzling Michelin-star spectacle of culinary genius. Perhaps, on any given Tuesday, you tuck into a gorgeous bowl of glistening sashimi caught by Hawaiian fishermen, with your feet in the sand and the South Pacific sun overhead.
Doesn’t sound like you? No, me neither.
(Image credit: Joe Lingeman/The Kitchn)
Chicken Alfredo pasta was my favorite “fancy” restaurant order as a kid — luxe sauce clinging to fettuccini topped with crispy chicken. It was about as close to macaroni and cheese and chicken fingers as a 6-year-old could get at any good Italian-American restaurant. Perhaps this is why most takeout Alfredo falls short for me — it’s too entwined in my own culinary memories. Or it could just be that the rich sauce gets too cold and clumpy while waiting for delivery.
Hellbent on enjoying my childhood favorite from the comfort of my own couch, I set out to recreate the Alfredo of my memory (and I bet yours too — whether it was eaten at your family’s favorite Italian-American restaurant or your local Olive Garden). We’ve eschewed the authentic “no cream” Alfredo for a reliable take on this classic that’s just as creamy, garlic-rich, and fun to slurp up as you remember.
