If you’re looking to purchase a new fridge, you’re probably a bit perplexed about where to start — especially if you’ve never gone through this before. Well, we’ve got you covered with a few of the most vital need-to-know items. Read on and you’ll be sure to stay savvy as you navigate the fridge market.
(Image credit: Forrest Clonts)
You and I both want weeknight dinners done in the time it takes my 5-year-old to take off her jacket and hang it up in the hall (feels like forever, but it takes about 30 minutes of prodding from front door to coat hook), and in that quest we’ve tried many, many methods. We stock our pantry with shortcuts and use fewer ingredients, but the real countdown clock on cooking dinner should start in our grocery cart.
Kelli’s got you covered on what pantry staples you’ll need to get dinner on the tables in about 30 minutes, but this post will teach you how to use the various departments of your grocery store to get dinner done faster. These grocery store shortcuts should be in your grocery cart too if you want to master the 30-minute meal.
Before you can actually execute your meal plan, you need to choose recipes you’ll cook during the week ahead. This is possibly the most important step in meal planning. When approached in a way that’s just right for you, the recipes you choose will set you up for success. To the uninitiated this step can feel overwhelming, but I assure you that it’s not when you let these strategies guide the way in selecting the recipes for your meal plan.
Keep a bag of frozen tortellini tucked away in your freezer and you can rest easy knowing that a quick meal is always at the ready. This series on fast tortellini dinners will show you how to transform frozen tortellini into dinner using pantry staples and a few surprising techniques. Pasta sauce is just the beginning!
Put down the knife and fork — here’s your excuse to have a little fun and eat with your hands. This is the quick and easy way to have a utensil-free dinner on your table in next to no time. All you need to do is cook up some frozen tortellini and raid your grocery store’s antipasti bar. Everything from veggies to cheese to meat is up for grabs. From there, dinner is a matter of threading everything on a stick. You can go a step further and finish with drizzle of olive oil and a few cracks of pepper. This is a fun way to turn a regular pasta night into something a little more playful. Make a few extra to bring to work the next day for an even better desk lunch.
I love two things most of all about chess pie — that sweet, buttery baked custard pie well-known across the South but whose reach can be tasted in everything from Canadian butter tarts to Brooklyn-ish Crack Pies — one, that it has none of the fussiness usually associated with custards and flans (separated egg yolks, tempering, straining and water baths); you could, and in fact should, make this with any little chefs in your life with ease.
I also love that chess pie pronounces any flavors you add to it exceptionally well, like it’s holding a megaphone to them. A chess pie with a splash of rum is, in fact, a rum chess pie; a chess pie with lemon is buttery lemonade heaven and a chess pie to the tune of butterscotch will stop everyone in their tracks as they walk into your home and smell the brown sugar, butter and vanilla trifecta bouncing off the walls. The taste — booming with butterscotch — lives up to the aromatic promise, way better than the butterscotch pudding pie I’d thought about making first before deciding that it was too much work for a too muted flavor.
Spinach is an unsung hero of dinner greens. It doesn’t require the long, slow braise that collards and kale need, and it can be served simply with salt and butter or dressed up with cheese or cream.
There are a few basic ways to cook spinach. You can blanch it or steam it, or you can take the fastest route and sauté it in a pan. All you need is spinach, a pan, and a pair of tongs.
Keep a bag of frozen tortellini tucked away in your freezer and you can rest easy knowing that a quick meal is always at the ready. This series on fast tortellini dinners will show you how to transform frozen tortellini into dinner using pantry staples and a few surprising techniques. Pasta sauce is just the beginning!
Here’s a quick and easy trick to improve a box of tomato soup or take your favorite homemade version to the next level: Simply grab some tortellini from the freezer and pour them right in. Tortellini — especially the cheesy kind — are right at home in tomato soup. Add them straight from the freezer and tack on an extra few minutes of simmering to make sure they’re heated through. This clever combo is one of the easiest ways to enjoy a bowl of comfort food on the nights when you don’t have much time to spare.
There are hundreds of tips and tricks to conquering the 30-minute meal, but you really just need to remember one: Lean on eggs. Keep your fridge stocked with a carton at all times and you can rest easy knowing that a quick and easy dinner is always at your fingertips. Here’s why.
I grew up in Los Angeles and have a slight touch of Mexican blood in my family, and a neighbor from Guadalajara named Lupe taught me about Mexican cooking. It was her guacamole method that my mom picked up and passed to me through culinary osmosis. As with most dishes that are passed through generations, this one, I believed for years, was the best. Throughout the years, friends and family have supported me in my belief. Then, a few years ago, a neighbor brought her “best” guacamole to a gathering, and like two girls wearing the same prom dress, it got really awkward. Hers might have been better.
That’s when I started thinking a little more openly about guacamole.
