Even as someone who makes a lot of her meals from scratch, I’m endlessly amazed by and thankful for the prepared and frozen food options available at my neighborhood grocery store. For this easy dinner, I combined some of my favorites — frozen meatballs and a bottle of BBQ sauce — with tangy home-cooked kale. It’s comfort food in less than 30 minutes, thanks to the grocery store!
(Image credit: Ambitious Kitchen)
Is there anything better than a batch of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, still slightly warm from the oven? No, I don’t think so. I mean, just look at that swirl of melted chocolate and shower of flaky sea salt!
Vacation Rental: Deco Gardens in Miami Beach, Florida
Sleeps: Up to 6 people
Price:$700 per night
Why We Wanna Cook Here: Just look at that kitchen.
This Miami Beach kitchen has it all going on. We’re not even sure where to start. The double range! The full-size griddle! The copper pots! The farmhouse-style sink! The second farmhouse-style sink! The butcher-block island! The marble countertops! This is the kitchen dreams are made of, so get your chef’s thinking cap on and get ready to whip up all sorts of deliciousness.
(Image credit: Lauren Volo)
This is one of those recipes that originated as an off-the-cuff concept while speedily scanning the grocery store aisles a mere hour before dinner. I see hummus, we’ve got veggies at home, I’ll grab some pita. The hummus bowls — basically a pile of juicy roasted veggies over creamy hummus — were so well-received that they now regularly appear on our meal planning list. This smoky, tangy edition is the version I love most.
(Image credit: Pinch of Yum)
The official first day of spring has come and gone, but that doesn’t mean we’re saying goodbye completely to some of our favorite winter dishes. Take beef stew, for example — it’s warm and comforting and will make you feel all sorts of cozy on a chilly spring evening.
But you probably don’t have four hours to spare after work to create a rich, complex beef stew in the oven. Enter: the Instant Pot. With only six ingredients and 45 minutes, this is how you make beef stew on a weeknight.
Who: Eileen Andrade, chef & owner of Finka Table & Tap
Where: Miami, Florida
For Eileen Andrade, the chef and owner of Finka Table & Tap, cooking is in her DNA. Her grandparents, Raul and Amelia Garcia, who immigrated from Cuba in 1977, are the founders of Islas Canarias Restaurant, known for keeping the Magic City in supply of real-deal croquetas.
Eileen cut her teeth at her family’s restaurant and bakery, making traditional empanadas, bocaditos, and pastelitos, while also studying traditional Peruvian cuisine and technique from the executive chef. By 2011, she was ready to step out on her own, opening the food truck CubanCube with her brother Jonathan; and a few years later, it was time to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant.
Drawing heavily on her Cuban heritage, Finka Table & Tap puts a twist on traditional Latin food by incorporating Korean and Peruvian ingredients and techniques. “It wasn’t easy to turn people on to kimchi, wakame, and shiso,” she says. “But we have, and it’s a great feeling.”
Finka also takes pride in its fresh juices, homemade syrups, and craft cocktails — and, naturally, you can find her family’s famous croquetas on the menu.
When I’m making a salad, I typically focus on the lettuce base and carefully selected add-ins, then dress them with a basic vinaigrette. While the dressing is always good, it’s not the star by any stretch. This honey mustard dressing, though? It’s the reason to make salad in the first place. Don’t get me wrong — I love the flavors and textures that make up this chicken tender salad, but it’s the honey mustard dressing that makes it worthy of sharing. Sweet and tangy, it coats every inch of this salad with its lively flavor.
(Image credit: 101 Cookbooks)
If you’ve been bringing the same sandwich or salad to lunch every day for the last five years, it’s time to branch out a bit. I know throwing together a quick PB&J in the morning makes your life easier, but this burrito can be just as easy — as long as you employ a little make-ahead magic.
(Image credit: Tara Donne)
Stroll down Miami’s Calle Ocho and you’ll pass by any number of coffee windows, or ventanitas. The most famous one is at Versailles, but there’s no shortage on Little Havana’s main drag and elsewhere in Miami. And anywhere you can find a ventanita, you’re likely to find a crowd.
That’s because drinking a café cubano is a social activity. Sure, the coffee is good (and sweet!), but ordering a coffee is less about getting your vente frappu-whatever for the road so you can maximize your productivity and more about slowing down and catching up with your friend — or a complete stranger.
Read more: What Coffee Culture Is Like in Cuba
(Image credit: Cooking for Keeps)
If you forgot to meal plan this week and are looking for a last-minute dinner to throw together tonight, allow me to suggest this chicken enchilada baked ravioli. Yes, I did say enchilada and ravioli in the same breath. Why should you have to choose between the two?