If you’re anything like me, baking and assembling a frosted cake is one of the truest tests of my patience. You see, I am not a patient person, and as soon as I take my cake layers out of the oven, I want to frost them immediately. I am overly eager to see the final results and cut myself a thick slice — and can you blame me? — but it’s important to stick those layers in the refrigerator for a bit before frosting. Here’s why.
After a busy day, it’s hard to deny just how delicious it is to settle into a bowl of mac and cheese or a few slices of pizza. Although we definitely do enjoy those comfort foods, we also like to balance them out with more wholesome meals. That’s where these comfort food recipes come into play.
These are meals we lean on when we want something super-comforting, but also want to feel a little virtuous. That means there’s usually cheese involved, yes, but also lots of veggies. Here are just a handful of our favorites.
I’m a very strong believer that there is no better way to cook Brussels sprouts than by roasting them in the oven. From the deeply browned, caramelized surface to the lacy, crisp, lightly charred leaves, it really brings out the best in these brassicas.
Think you have roasted Brussels sprouts mastered? Here are three simple steps to make the crispiest, most delicious roasted Brussels sprouts every single time.
If you’re only going to have one knife in your kitchen, it should be a chef’s knife. Of course, you’re probably going to have more than one knife — this is just the sort of thing people say in order to stress the importance of a good chef’s knife.
Why this knife? With its large wide blade, pointed tip, and heavy rear, it’s truly all-purpose. You can use it for the obvious things like slicing, chopping, and mincing. And you can use the tip for smaller jobs (like dicing a shallot) and the back of the knife like a cleaver for hacking through bones. With the wide side of the blade, you can smash garlic, scoop up diced veggies to transfer them to a pot, or whack chicken breasts to flatten them into cutlets.
You get the point, right? Whether you are a new cook or an experienced one, a smart, sharp, effective chef’s knife is an absolute must-have. Ideally, a good chef’s knife. And while you could easily spend hundreds of dollars on one, you don’t have to.
For more than 30 years, I was in charge of testing and reporting on everything from wooden spoons to connected refrigerators at the Good Housekeeping Institute. I’ve walked the floors of every trade show and new product release for longer than most digital publications have existed!
My street cred? I also worked as a chef in New York City restaurants for seven years.
I’ve tested, used, and played with nearly every piece of kitchen gear (including knives) to come on the market for years. When it comes to gear, it takes a lot to impress me, and I know what actually works.
I’ve tested what feels like every chef’s knife on the market (at all the price points, low to high!) and these are my all-time favorites. But you don’t have to take my word and my word alone, either. Kitchn editors — a unique hybrid of professionals and home cooks, who develop and test great recipes in real home kitchens — weighed in on these picks too, testing my favorites in the context of their actual home cooking.
After all, when it comes to kitchen gear, what matters is that it works for a home cook — not just that a chef endorses it, or that it passed some high-flying bar in a sterile test kitchen. You want gear that is above all, practical, long-lasting, and mindful of real cooks, real kitchens, and real budgets.
If you’re a Mickey Mouse fan, you know that his 90th birthday is coming up. (You also probably know that the exact date is November 18.) And you’ll be excited to find out that in honor of the big day Le Creuset and Disney have teamed up to add another piece to their existing collaboration.
I probably sound like everyone else when I say pizza is one of my favorite foods. Really, though, I can’t get enough of it — my husband and I make it at home every single week, get in serious debates over styles and toppings, and even centered our welcome dinner at our wedding around a truck slinging out fresh pies.
I also truly enjoy eating in a way that makes me feel healthy (I am a Registered Dietitian, after all), so I am constantly seeking out ways to make pizza a wholesome choice since I don’t plan on giving it up anytime soon. Here are a few things I keep in mind every time I order a pie or make one at home to make sure I’m always feeling good about every slice.
After just a quick rundown of Aaron Quint’s resume, it’s abundantly clear that the self-professed gluten-obsessive has baked bread using practically every single flour out there. The former amateur baker (turned pizza-cookbook author, turned artisan-bread-maker in Kingston, New York) is what you might call an expert at making dough — which, more often than not, requires the powdery pantry staple.
If you believe that flour doesn’t vary much from brand to brand, we (and Aaron) politely disagree.
Creating a killer pumpkin doesn’t have to require whipping out your sharpest cutlery. This Halloween, craft a standout gourd with hot glue, paint, balloons (seriously!), or a few other random supplies.
Here are a few ingenious ideas to inspire you.
Apple crisp is the lazy baker’s best friend. It delivers all the flavor and satisfaction of apple pie, but in half the amount of time. Tender, lightly sweetened, warmly spiced apples get dressed up with a sprinkle of buttery oats that crack under the pressure of a spoon. It’s truly the only crisp recipe you need for fall.
Apple crisp requires just a few basic ingredients, an abundance of apples, and a warm oven. Here’s how to make the best, easiest apple crisp, plus tips for having the topping on hand all fall long.
When taking on a home improvement project as major, time-consuming, and expensive (!!!) as a kitchen renovation, the last thing that you want to do is make a few choices now that you end up regretting later — especially if that ends up meaning you wasted money.
To help identify the biggest money-wasting no-nos to avoid, we consulted a few kitchen design experts. Having been around plenty of renovations, they had some good live-and-learn lessons and what-not-to-dos to share.