When I was a kid, there was just pizza. You ordered from whatever nationwide chain was near you and they made your pizza in an oven. There certainly weren't these highfalutin pizza subsets that have more choices than a cheese shop. Wood-fired, brick oven, artisanal, make-your-own — it's enough to make you long for simpler times.
Canned pumpkin is something I always stock up on and keep in my pantry, because it's endlessly useful when cooking or baking. Sweet, creamy, and mild, pumpkin can be folded into baked goods and savory dishes with ease.
If you want to sell all of the old electronics lying around your home, it takes a lot of work. If you go the eBay route, you have to take tons of pictures, describe it accurately, wait for a week until someone bids on it (or not), then package it, ship it, and wait for feedback. Craigslist is a little bit easier, but usually requires you driving somewhere to meet the buyer in a public place (if you want to play it safe).
Any beer aficionado who's been to Ireland will always talk about how the Guinness there "just tastes different." But save your eye rolls, skeptics: it turns out your favorite lagerhead actually has a valid point.
If you're a sushi lover but not an expert sushi maker, you can still enjoy the flavors of sushi rolls at home with these deconstructed sushi dishes.
Cooking with animal blood is as old as civilization itself. I promise that your ancient ancestors, no matter where you're from, didn't have the luxury of throwing away any part of the animal, including the very lifeblood that used to run through it. Animal blood, along with everything but the skin, would invariably end up in the stew.
Valentine's Day can seem like Singles Awareness Day if you're newly broken up, but that's all the more reason to treat yourself on this pink-and-red consumerist holiday. Whether you're happily single or bitter and bitchy, there's definitely something on this list of Anti-Valentine's Day treats to fit your mood. Remember: cake is still cake!
The buttery scent of crescent rolls bring me back to my childhood, but those tubes that open with such a satisfying pop are more than just retro reminders. Crescent rolls can morph and serve as the base for hundreds of creative and cool dishes.
What type of person are you in group settings? Are you the social butterfly, eager to get to know everyone and interested in the people more than the setting? Or are you a wallflower, afraid to catch anyone's eye out of fear?
We are living in a golden age of craft beers. Originally invented by the ancient Egyptians, every culture now has its own tastes regarding beer. The process of making beer is so multi-faceted, it's a miracle that any gets made at all.
Lasagna, that layered, creamy baked pasta dish, is a lovely comfort food that's great for a crowd. But if you've ever made it, then you know you're usually left with some leftover lasagna noodles. (Although that's always better than the frustration of running out of the noodles while you're still making a traditional lasagna.) Still, what do you do when you're still left with a bowlful of the wide ribbons?
I know people who hate mayonnaise. I know people who detest ketchup. But I know almost no one that hates mustard, and that's because mustard has a complexity and depth that bland mayo and ketchup do not. Mustard runs the gamut from smooth and subtle to sharp and spicy, especially when you know how to make your own.
Fall is my favorite time of year, yet I cringe every time it begins. Why? Because it seems like every business is in a frenzy to start the Christmas shopping season the day after Halloween ends. For those of us who are fans of pumpkins, that's a buzzkill.
Halloween is a night to dress up as any character you'd like—but for women, that typically means wearing something skimpy or downright absurd. From "sexy" policewomen to nearly undressed fairy tale princesses, we're surrounded by costumes that leave little to the imagination. And, let's be honest: who wants to spend a chilly October night in barely-there clothing?
Complete silence or a non-stop Pandora playlist? People are often divided on what type of work environment they prefer. Whether you're a frequent loud music listener or you can't stand any kind of background noise, chances are you're pretty set in your ways.
The world of spices can be bewildering. They promise to make your food more flavorful if you know how to make the most of them. Unless you know a couple of essential tricks, however, it just seems like you're adding bits of colored powder to your food.
Look, I'm no food snob. I once dedicated an entire day to eating only deep-fried things (butter, Twinkies, Oreos, pickles) at the Minnesota State Fair. But even I draw the line at instant mashed potatoes. I mean, why bother? It's not that hard to make perfectly delicious and fluffy mashers yourself.
Macaroni and cheese is one of those dishes that automatically make me feel all is right with the world. I even like the boxed kind in a pinch. However, real macaroni and cheese is pretty easy to make and is worlds better than the boxed kind. It's also pretty easy to make really, really good macaroni and cheese once you know some essential pointers.
You're in the middle of cooking and a car alarm, cute kitten, or neighborhood brawl made you step away from the stove for a few minutes longer that you should have. It happens to almost every home cook. Most of the time, nothing dramatic happens, but every now and then, you end up with something like this:
Eggs are incredibly important to cooks, and not just because they're tasty and a complete protein (many erratic genius/artist types make a point of eating an egg or two for breakfast). Yes, they are great when perfectly poached, scrambled, hard-boiled, and even scram-boiled, but they serve literally dozens of functions when used in recipes, especially baked goods.
Can you cook a steak or salmon filet that's straight out of the freezer and get good results? Ordinarily, I would say no. Usually your steak ends up a sad grey mass fit only for the family dog and the fish is burned on the outside with an icy, undercooked center.
Many home cooks were taught never to press down on a burger as it cooks since that would ruin your all-beef patty by getting it to release the juices it needs to stay tender and moist.
I love my cast-iron skillet, but I never seasoned it properly. Instead, I took that sucker out of its packaging, wiped it down with a damp cloth to remove any factory dust, and started cooking with it ASAP. And you know what? It works just fine.
When you know how to cook it, tofu is a delicious dish in and of itself—truly. Too many people have been subjected to poor quality or badly cooked tofu and told to eat it because it's a "healthy alternative" to meat. Usually what they bite into is a bland, rubbery mess coated with a random array of flavors.
Certain ingredients that a professional chef might work with in a restaurant-style setting may seem bizarre, dangerous, and even downright scary to a home cook, and for good reason.
Watermelon is the perfect snack for hot temperatures. It's hydrating, crisp, and refreshing, especially when it's chilled. Yet some people aren't content with leaving a good thing alone, which has given us many watermelon-based innovations, some great (vodka-filled watermelons) and some delightfully strange (square watermelons).
Who doesn't enjoy sitting down to a nice dinner with a cocktail in hand? After a long day, a drink is a great way to unwind. Yet your favorite spirits can do more than just help you relax after work. By utilizing alcohol in the kitchen, you can enhance everything from how food tastes to your health.
Chances are that you've been using your microwave just to nuke leftovers, but they can do so much more than heat up last night's dinner—microwaves can help you peel garlic more quickly, get more juice out of lemons, disinfect your kitchen, dry out herbs, give beauty products new life, cause exciting explosions, and even arc weld.
Bottled water is a rip-off. Not only is it pretty much the same stuff that comes out of your tap for free, but plastic bottles are rarely recycled and thus account for a huge amount of the waste that's overflowing our landfills. Next Up: Water Bottles You Can Eat
I own two aprons—a cute one for company, and another for the hard-core cooking duties, like cutting up chicken and making stock. The sad truth is that I almost never remember to wear either of them. So, much of my clothing ends up spattered with grease, liquid, and bits of fruit and vegetable. While stain-removing sprays, sticks, and pens are all effective to a certain extent, they have two drawbacks—they're expensive and sometimes I need to use them in large quantity, like when a piece of eg...
There's nothing better than real, homemade tomato sauce, but to really develop the flavors, it usually has to simmer for a few hours. And while it's totally worth doing if you have the time, some nights it's just not an option. That's where the pre-made stuff comes in. Jarred pasta sauce certainly doesn't taste the same, but it's really easy to dress up when you need something quick. If you don't want anyone to know your "secret recipe," here are 10 ways to make store-bought spaghetti or mari...
I'm one of those types of people who waits until the very last minute to find a Halloween costume, and thanks to last year's attempt at buying one at a local costume shop the day before Halloween, I will just settle for the things I have lying around in my house from now until eternity. It's like Black Friday chaos, only with more gropers.
Most of us have conducted an investigatory science project without even knowing it, or at least without knowing that's what it was called. Most science experiments performed, from elementary to high school students and all the way up to professional scientists, are investigatory projects.
The best part about April Fool's Day is that everyone is fair game. Even big tech companies like Google and Twitter get in on the action every year. It encourages even the most uptight, unfunny party-poopers among us to have a little fun driving each other crazy with pranks — even at work.
For this project, I sacrificed some of my kids' clothes and a can of tuna to make some high-quality fire starter! Here's how to make a great batch of char cloth to add to your emergency survival kit.
It's almost here. Another year has come and gone, and it's time to watch the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers battle it out in New Orleans for Super Bowl XLVII. For the truly football-obsessed, this Sunday is a day almost as exciting as Christmas. Personally, I just use it as an excuse to cook food that's way less healthy than usual since I never quite became a football fan (sorry, Dad).
Believe it or not, the 2012 Presidential Election is (finally) almost over. While most of us are breathing a collective sigh of relief (no more political ads!), it still seems like it hasn't been that long since the last election results were announced. This time, though, one of the biggest differences is how people will watch. Since traditional cable is on its way out, and mobile devices are getting more popular every day, a lot of people will be watching this year's election results online ...
The Dark Knight Rises. The Amazing Spider-Man. The Avengers. Halloween is a few weeks away and all we're going to see are these same ol' superhero costumes. It's like that every year, due to the immense popularity of comic book films by DC and Marvel.
Hello! This tutorial is made for all who like to sunbath, but also do not want to get those tiny first wrinkles too soon. Or even skin cancer.
Sputnik was the very first man-made object to be sent into space. Though it was a truly epic accomplishment, all this Soviet sky surfer actually did was transmit a constant beeping noise back to the surface.
