As important as coffee is to people’s morning routines, there are ways to make it even more important. For example, you can buy fair-trade, organic coffee. You can also pick up coffee and related accessories that go the extra mile to give back to the greater good.
We’ve rounded up 10 gifts that will not only keep your fellow jittery brethren caffeinated, but will also guarantee that their daily fix goes towards a good cause.
(Image credit: Antonio Marins)
From Apartment Therapy → We Asked 8 Real New Yorkers: Is a 50/20/30 Budget Realistic?
This series is about wine in real life. We’ll show you what to drink no matter what you’re having, because we believe there’s always a wine that can show up and make your night.
There are nights when all you can muster the energy for is scrambling some eggs and calling it dinner. We all have these nights — they usually call for some wine too. Eggs aren’t the easiest food to pair with wine, but it can be done!
Eggs for dinner, wine to match — here’s what to grab at the store on your way home.
(Image credit: Lauren Volo)
I’ve got a thing for nuggets of crispy chicken. Not necessarily chicken nuggets — although good ones can fall in this category — but chicken that’s been cut into chunks, is cooked until crispy, and takes well to eating in one or two bites. What can I say? I’m just looking for joy in the form of a salty, meaty, crunchy revelation.
When I came across this recipe in Jacques Pépin’s book, Poulets & Legumes: My Favorite Chicken and Vegetables Recipes, I was a little surprised. I remember scanning through the ingredients and method, getting more excited as I went on. Did I just find my ideal chicken nugget? All signs were pointing to a golden, crispy yes. There was no breading step, no deep-frying, and no mess required. Instead, this recipe promised everything my crispy-chicken-loving heart desired, with the help of a bit of Wondra flour and a nonstick skillet. Garlic and parsley are added at the end for one final flourish of flavor, but it was the method behind preparing the chicken that really got me.
This past winter I began lighting candles each night just before our small family of three sat down to dinner. It changed the way we eat. Even now in the long-lit days of a northern spring, a reminder to take a deep breath and lower our voices before lifting our forks does the same as the candles that once lit our table.
For years we slid into our chairs, fresh from email, homework, or feeding the dogs. We arrived at vaguely different times and jumped up and down to hastily get one more thing we’d forgotten. We continued, without pause even for breath, the conversations started in the kitchen or between the top and bottom of the staircase as we rushed to dole out the food. No, we never have screens at, or even near, our dinner. Yes, a good five out of seven nights we eat together as a family at the dining table. The food is usually homemade, carefully planned, and tuned into a whole globe of culinary traditions. But our last meal of the day was still missing something.
Then we met a family who did things a little differently.
(Image credit: Iftach Gazit )
Multitaskers have a new way to increase their efficiency by washing a load of laundry while also cooking dinner. Thanks to Iftach Gazit, from Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, you may soon be able to repurpose your washing machine into your very own sous-vide machine. The new line of meals, although not ready for market, includes salmon with teriyaki sauce, mixed veggies in olive oil and garlic salt, and garlic-herb steak.
Dinner’s ready, so where the heck is everybody? You’ve announced it, texted it, you’ve even rung a bell, but you’re still the only one in the kitchen. What’s a home cook to do?
It’s easy to start stewing: I know they heard me! What on earth is taking everyone so long? Don’t they know how much effort it took for me to get this done after a long day of work? And the food is getting cold!
But don’t! Whether you wind up waiting one minute or 10, you should use this time to do something for yourself. And that something should be relaxing.
We all know the health perks of eating more vegetables: A wealth of research has found diets rich in fruits and vegetables lower blood pressure, decrease risk of heart disease, can reduce blood cholesterol levels, and may offer protection against certain types of cancers.
But all that means just fresh vegetables, right? Frozen veggies must not be as nutritious as plants plucked straight off the farm. Well, not so fast, says science.
The afternoon slump is a real-life problem we all face — lunch feels like forever ago, your stomach is begging for something, and dinner is hours away. Once you’ve had a quick snack, all that fatigue fades away. Make that a snack rich in protein and you’re in even better shape. Eating protein not only gives you a boost of energy, but it also takes a good amount of time to digest, which means you won’t feel peckish again in an hour. Here are 20 great picks.
For the first 23 years of my life, I was a carnivore. I ate my dad’s “famous” skirt steak with chimichurri, ordered grilled chicken on my salads, and relied on chorizo and egg tacos to save me the morning after a night of drinking.
After college I moved to Portland, Oregon, for graduate school. It was there that I first started to eat a little less meat — not because I fell prey to some sketch straight out of Portlandia, but because there was an abundance of delicious vegetarian food, and I was having a blast trying it all. (Soyrizo tacos are surprisingly good!)
But then one day I stopped eating meat entirely. I did not seek this decision out, though — it essentially came to me by accident. All thanks to one 276-page book.
