How Top Chef’s Gail Simmons Saved (and Splurged!) on Groceries in One Week — Shopping

“Grocery budgets are easy to stick to,” said no one ever. There’s always the temptation of some expensive gooey cheese, a super-nice cut of steak, or even the little indulgences that somehow add up. For Top Chef’s Gail Simmons, her budget buster could easily become a fancy yogurt she just found out about.

Keep reading to learn, in Gail’s own words, what’s so great about it — and what she did to offset the cost of the nearly $7 breakfast treat.

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Recipe: No-Bake Salted Chocolate Oatmeal Bars — Quick and Easy Baking

There are good no-bake bars, and then there are really amazing no-bake bars that people gush over and remember for months to come. These are most certainly the latter. Take my word on it for now, but one bite and you’ll become a believer.

What makes this double-layered treat of brown butter- and marshmallow-coated oats so special is the streak of salted chocolate through the center. Best of all, we make these on the stovetop the same way we do Rice Krispies treats so, yes, they are just as easy to make!

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5 Easy Dinners with Help from the Instant Pot — Next Week’s Meal Plan

Are you on the Instant Pot train yet? The Instant Pot is a type of multi-cooker — it can slow cook, make rice, and even ferment yogurt, but its superpower is pressure cooking. While I fully admit the Instant Pot hasn’t replaced my slow cooker, and it isn’t always a magic bullet for faster meal times, it does one thing incredibly well: meal prep.

Meal prep is the final step of meal planning and the one that puts your plan into action. You can spend a few hours meal prepping on Sunday night or you can do a little meal prep in spurts throughout the week.

This week I’ll be your meal prep guide and show you how I’m using the Instant Pot to prep healthy staples and how I am turning them into dinner throughout the week.

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You Can Now Buy Cauliflower Gnocchi at Trader Joe’s — Grocery News

I must admit that I am a latecomer to the whole “loving cauliflower” thing. When I was a child, my first taste of cauliflower was a watery, steamed, poorly prepared version of it, so I just assumed I hated it for the rest of my life.

There never seemed to be a reason to try it again, either. Brightly colored vegetables seem vibrant, healthful, and flavorful, but cauliflower just looked like dead broccoli.

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Why I’m Obsessed with This Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (No, Not That One) — Kitchn Obsessions

Most of the internet food world has spent the last six months going gaga over Alison Roman’s salted chocolate chip shortbread cookies, but as a mom of two little kids, I can tell you that a shortbread studded with dark chocolate and sprinkled with flaky salt does not pass as a chocolate chip cookie for anyone under 10 years old.

There are many, many recipes for chocolate chip cookies on the web (Kitchn has about a dozen — here, here, and here), but when you need chocolate chip cookies immediately for a play date or a bake sale or honestly just a rainy Saturday at home, this chocolate chip cookie recipe (that I’m currently obsessed with) saves the day.

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How To Make Easy Oven-Baked Risotto — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

You’ll never catch us saying traditionally prepared risotto is hard, but we’ll certainly be the first to admit it does require some attention. But if you think your cooking routine doesn’t leave much room for this technique-based dish, don’t write it off just yet!

In fact, what if I told you creamy, dreamy restaurant-style risotto with a fraction the effort is still within your reach? Yes! You can have all that without the constant stirring or even the need for a special tool. I’m talking about baked risotto!

Baked risotto, with hardly any stirring at all, delivers a pot of tender rice in a rich and savory sauce. Stir in sweet and nutty basil pesto and a handful of fresh green peas before topping with pancetta and Parmesan, and you can easily add this springy risotto to your weeknight meal plan — no fuss required.

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7 Fast & Fancy Chicken Thigh Recipes — Recipes from The Kitchn

As chicken thighs have become a staple on so many of our meal plans, it’s all too easy for them to feel mundane — that is, of course, unless you give them a little special treatment.

Diverge from the usual and chicken thighs can quickly transform into fancy (yet still as fast as always) meals that are perfect for dinner parties or just a normal Wednesday night at home with your family.

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