I have a particular fondness for ancient grains, so when I was recently introduced to einkorn, I was intrigued and curious to know more — especially since it’s thought to be the most ancient of wheat varieties available today. Armed with a bag of all-purpose einkorn flour and The Einkorn Cookbook, I did some reading, then took to the kitchen.
If a genie were to puff himself out of a lamp right now and make me master of any one cooking skill (genies are so specialized nowadays!), I know exactly what I’d ask for. No, I don’t want to make a chocolate soufflé so amazing you’d weep over your fork. (Well, I do want that. Yes, I do.) And no, I don’t want the ability to make the world’s butteriest, flakiest croissants. (Well, again, I do. But, priorities!)
You know what I really want? To be really, really good at meal planning. After years of trying to establish the habit, I’m just now getting the hang of it. Here are five things that, had I known them from the beginning, would have made the whole thing a lot easier.
Lyndsay Sung ended 2014 on a high note. She had a happy family, a successful baking blog called Coco Cake Land, a large and devoted following on Instagram — where she posted photos of the whimsical, adorable cakes she baked for friends and family — and a brand-new book deal. She and her pink KitchenAid mixer were ready to take over the world, one cute cake at a time.
Then, in January, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is only 38 years old.
If you’ve ever had a picky eater in the family, you know first-hand just how frustrating mealtime can be. Figuring out how to get around those food aversions and make mealtime an enjoyable experience can prove trickier than walking a tightrope.
It turns out that many of you are all too familiar with this. Here are your nine most helpful strategies for cooking for picky eaters.
Sometimes I feel a little guilty. Because I work from home, I can have nachos for dinner every night if I want, while I send my husband off to work with something a little more sensible and microwaveable. (Note: This doesn’t happen.) We save our nacho-fests for nights when we’re together (preferably also in the company of some good beers and a good baseball game); for regular weeknight meals, Dan gets his Tex-Mex fix with these chicken enchiladas.
To me, vegetable broth has always been a tricky thing. Of course you can make your own, but what if you just want to pick some up at the grocery store? Unlike chicken broth, which clearly needs to taste like chicken, just what should vegetable broth taste like? Out of all the available brands, which one is the best?
When my daughter was born, it seemed like an age would pass before I’d have to worry about childproofing. That tiny, immobile munchkin on the play mat was going to stay like that for seven years while we caught up on sleep and became perfect parents. Then — and only then — she would move on to being a walking, reaching little person.
My baby did not get the memo, apparently, because now we have a curious 14-month-old on the verge of discovering that the knobs under the kitchen sink are portals to a trove of forbidden treasure. The time had come to disappoint her instincts, and relieve my anxieties. Here’s how I childproofed my kitchen.
My husband, Dan, would eat a cheeseburger pretty much every day of the week if I let him. This is not conjecture; it’s an established fact. It’s his desert-island food, and should we ever be stuck on a magical cheeseburger-filled desert island, he’s free to eat as many as he wants, as often as he wants.
