News: 4 Amazing Grains That'll Liven Up Your Gluten-Free Cooking
Great news: you don't have to give up grains if you're avoiding gluten.
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How To: This Simple Step Will Take Your Quinoa to the Next Level
Nowadays, it feels like you can't talk about eating healthy without bringing up quinoa. Quinoa (KEEN-wah) has been the "superstar" of the health movement for a while; 2013 was declared the International Year of Quinoa by the United Nations, and has only continued to grow in popularity with both health nuts and culinary experts alike through the past few years. The true testament to quinoa's success has been its eventual integration into our everyday lives. Quinoa is now very accessible to fol...
How To: Make Sweet & Sour Lemonhead-Infused Vodka in One Day
Whether your holidays are cause for celebration or exhaustion from over-celebrating, alcohol is more often than not involved in the merrymaking. We at Food Hacks are very fond of enjoying this particular indulgence in lots of different ways.
How To: 5 Delicious Hanukkah Crafts for the Whole Family
Being Jewish is kind of tough this time of year. Folks are putting up their lights, stringing popcorn and cranberries, and decorating trees. Those of us who don't celebrate Christmas start to feel a wee bit left out in the cold. Yes, some families give out presents on each of the eight nights of Hanukkah, but the truth is that it's not a major holiday on the Jewish calendar.
How To: Frost Your Cake Like a Pro
Cake decorating is one of those activities that used to leave my hands sticky and my spirits dampened. No matter what I seemed to do, the final result always ended up looking like a preschool art project.
Weird Ingredient Wednesday: Tahini—More Than Just a Dip
Tahini: it sounds like the name of a high-end fashion designer... or perhaps a variation on a two-piece swimsuit. But this "weird ingredient" is actually a delicious and nutritious paste made from toasted sesame seeds and oil.
How To: 10 Food Hacks for Making Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies Every Time
Everyone and his mother (and grandmother) has a chocolate chip cookie recipe that he swears is the absolute best recipe, guaranteed to produce a chocolate chip cookie so good it will make you weep with joy. The problem with that is that everyone—relatives included—has a different idea of exactly what constitutes a perfect chocolate chip cookie.
How To: 5 Delectable Ways to Use Up Your Leftover Halloween Chocolate
There's only one day that can top the aftermath of Easter and its copious amounts of leftover candy, and that is November — the day after Halloween. As you come down from your sugar rush and realize you now own more chocolate than your stomach can physically hold in one sitting ... fear not! Here are several ways to turn your Halloween chocolate into delicious snacks and desserts that you can enjoy at your leisure.
How To: The Clever Trick That Makes Stuffed Pancakes a Cinch
Any other person can make plain pancakes... but only the most awesome of cooks can make stuffed pancakes. Luckily, this isn't a tough technique—in fact, it's so easy that you'll find yourself getting bored of the run-of-the-mill pancakes and dreaming of all the things you can stuff pancakes with, instead.
Halloween Food Hacks: How to Make a Bubbling, Brewing Pumpkin Cooler
Bubble, bubble, toil, and trouble... it's time for another Halloween-themed food hack. This time, we'll be tackling the pumpkin cooler—an idea that has been done to death on DIY blogs around the internet. And there's no point in reposting something that everyone else has done, so I decided to change things up a little bit.
How To: Keep Your Lemons Fresher, Longer
Lemons are often displayed as a bright and beautiful pop of color in many home kitchen displays. They lend a lovely scent to the air and an aesthetic sense of freshness to any setting. Therefore, it would be easy to assume that lemons are best left at room temperature.
How To: Keep Cheese from Drying Out in Your Fridge
Few things are as frustrating as grabbing food from the fridge just to discover that your leftovers have gone bad. When it comes to cheese, you may have taken every last precaution to keep it as fresh as possible—sealed plastic containers, saran wrap, parchment paper—but to no avail.
How To: Make Easy Imitation Caviar at Home
At first glance, caviar doesn't seem overly appealing to the masses; not very many people would be willing to spend upwards of $1,000 on a tiny spoonful of salty sturgeon eggs from the Caspian Sea. Caviar truly is the ultimate symbol of luxury and fine dining.
How To: This Ingredient Will Take Your Leftovers to the Next Level
I may be in the minority when I say this, but I love leftovers. Whenever I'm cooking for less people than the recipe calls for, I cook the full yield anyway. And when I go to a restaurant, I order whatever I want—regardless of how much I can actually eat in one sitting.
Compound Butter: An Easy Flavor Hack
Butter is one of the most versatile ingredients in the world: its variety of uses range from brightening a morning piece of toast to finishing a beautiful rib-eye steak with decadent flair.
Cooking with Booze: Brunch Edition
Ah, the joys of bottomless brunch. Paying a flat rate for endless mimosas while having a long gossip over eggs Benedict is exactly how many of us love to spend our Saturdays. However, in practice, this isn't the sophisticated affair we all like to imagine. After refill number four we sway in our chair, doze off into our porridge, and end up tipping 50% because math is too hard. In short, not a very successful brunch.
How To: Make Whiskey Ball Ice Without a Mold
If there's a better way to impress your friends than with cocktails, I don't know what it is. Some nice glasses, quality spirits, and a recipe that doesn't involve pre-made margarita mix, and you'll automatically look suave. However, the most overlooked cocktail accoutrement (and the coolest, in both senses) is the ice.
How To: S'mores & Tiramisu Have a Baby & It's Freakin' Beautiful
This decadent dessert is inspired and created by marrying tiramisu and s'mores. It's a moan-worthy version of that classic English dessert, trifle, that combines the soft, creamy layers of tiramisu with the gooey, sticky goodness of s'mores. You can make it as easy as you wish, with store-bought whipped cream and pound cake, or you can make everything from scratch for a special company-ready dessert.
Next-Level Baking: 4 Essentials Every Home Cook Should Master
Baking is one of life's greatest joys. There's something truly magical about taking a half a dozen humble ingredients, mixing them until they're an odd-colored sludge, tossing them into an oven, and watching them emerge as something elegant and delicious.
News: 5 Red, White & Blue Foods That Are Perfect for Fourth of July
Independence Day is right around the corner, and that means three things: fireworks, cold beer, and great food. I always love to cook festive foods for the Fourth of July, and I don't just mean the classics, like grilled chicken and brats. I mean foods that celebrate the Stars and Stripes: foods that are red, white, and blue.
News: The Fantastical, Flavorful Fiddlehead Fern
Fiddlehead ferns look like something from Alice in Wonderland, or something that you might see when you close your eyes while listening to Pink Floyd and enjoying some herbal refreshment. What they don't look like is a tasty vegetable that's perfect for any spring or summer dish. Yet that is exactly what these bizarre spirals are. What Are They?
How To: Homemade Oatmeal Trumps Store-Bought in Every Way (& Here's How to Make It)
Oatmeal isn't the most glamorous breakfast, but it's definitely one of the best. It's healthy, filling, delicious, and easy to personalize. And, if you have instant packets, oatmeal is also a very quick and easy breakfast.
How To: Make Irresistible Bacon Booze
I'm human, so it goes without saying that I love bacon. You're human too, which means chances are pretty good that you also love bacon. Yet as beloved as bacon has always been, it's just now experiencing a culinary renaissance, which I love. Bacon chocolate? Heck yes. Bacon donuts? Bring it on. Bacon booze? Now we're talking.
How To: Get Rid of Headaches & Anxiety with Homemade Lavender Lemonade & More
Rather than reaching for aspirin the next time a headache strikes, try grabbing a drink of lemonade instead. Not only can it help ease your head pain, but it can also help relieve stress, anxiety, and depression. But not just any old lemonade will do the trick—reach for the lavender lemonade.
How To: Cook with Marshmallow Peeps
Is there anything more emblematic of Easter than marshmallow peeps? And yet, despite their popularity...does anyone actually like eating them?
How To: Make Perfect Coffee Every Time with These Java Pro Tips
There are lots of great reasons for going out to a fantastic coffee shop for a cuppa. Coffee shops have a lovely ambiance, are a perfect place to meet with friends or do some work, and are a great excuse to get out of the house. Seeking out a perfect cup of coffee, however, shouldn't be one of the reasons that you hit up your local café.
How To: Save Your Pickle Juice for Pickletinis, Hangovers, & More
The next time you finish that last pickle spear, don't pour the leftover green juice down the drain. You can use your leftover pickle juice in cooking, in cocktails, and as a post-workout performance shot.
Food Tool Friday: Make the Best Coffee Ever in a Turkish Ibrik
Coffee is one of the world's most popular drinks, and its fans are also usually devoted to a certain method of brewing. Some love the Keurig, others the French press, and still others swear by cold brewing. However, one of the oldest and easiest ways to brew coffee is also one of the best. If you love coffee, you should really think about getting a Turkish ibrik (also known as a cezve).
Food Tool Friday: Keep Drinks Cool or Warm with Whisky Stones
Connoisseurs of hard liquor always face a dilemma: how do they chill their spirits without diluting the flavors? After all, if you've shelled out big bucks for a bottle of single malt, you really don't want to mess it up with an ice cube that has freezer burn. (As for refrigerating whisky, most people recommend against doing that: it can cause the whisky to "haze," or look clouded.)
How To: Keep Ground Meat from Sticking to Your Hands
If you have ever attempted to mix and shape your own meatballs or burger patties, you may have endured bits of meat continuously and stubbornly sticking to your hands. This can make shaping more challenging than it should be.
How To: Why Opened Wine Doesn't Last Long (& How to Change That)
Bad news, guys. The shelf life for liquor leftovers does not apply to your two-buck chuck. While an opened bottle of your favorite whiskey will stay respectable for ages thanks to its high ABV (which makes it inhospitable to outside elements), an opened bottle of merlot will sour quickly. However, it turns out that red and white wines have different life spans once they're opened—for reasons which we'll cover below.
How to Nap Smarter: Just Add Caffeine (Really)
Naps provide some serious mental and physical benefits, but not if they last too long or occur too late in the day. Ideally, you want to awake from a nap feeling alert and refreshed enough to attack the rest of your tasks with renewed zeal, but not energized to the point where you can't get to sleep at night. Alas, most of us don't know these tricks and end up messing with our sleep cycle (guilty).
How To: The One Thing You're Probably Not Doing for Better-Tasting Coffee at Home
Coffee is a topic that everyone has a strong opinion about, especially when it comes to brewing the perfect cup. Even if you buy the best beans and grind them yourself, chances are you're skipping one necessary step to make sure your coffee tastes the best it can: cleaning your coffeemaker the right way.
Cook Like a Chef: Use Ratios, Not Recipes
Recipes are invaluable to cooks who are just starting out, but what if you want to get to the next level? Then it's time you learn how to apply simple math to food. In other words, learn how to cook using ratios, not recipes.
How To: Install & Use the New Nokia Z Launcher (Even if You're Rooted)
While their merger with Microsoft has lead to a seemingly complete halt of new device development, some Nokia employees are still hard at work to bring new software to the table.
How To: Break Your Bad Habits Without Getting All Stressed Out
Old habits die hard. It may be a cliché, but it's undeniably true, especially when it comes to the bad ones. Nail-biting, fidgeting, and overspending can label you as someone who is obsessive-compulsive, overly nervous, and routinely stressed out, but you can make the break less painful with a few simple tweaks to your routine and by understanding how your habits work.
Hydration Hacks: The Scientific Benefits to the Various Ways We Drink Water
We all know that it's important to drink water regularly throughout the day. After all, it has so many benefits, including flushing toxins out of the body and maintaining kidney health and good bowel movements. Turns out that's only part of the story. While being properly hydrated is key to maintaining overall health, it's also a big component of maintaining and even increasing cognitive ability. Plus, drinking enough water regularly can help you lose weight, if you know when to drink it and ...
How To: Chill a Cocktail Correctly (Yes, There's a Correct Way)
The point of ice in your cocktail is to make it cold, right? Yes and no.
Labels Can Lie: What's Really in Your "Extra Virgin" Olive Oil?
Ever since the much-lauded effects of the Mediterranean diet became widely known, people have been buying olive oil by the gallon. A diet that prevents heart disease, is based on fresh, seasonal foods, and includes a tasty as hell fat like olive oil? Duh—that's a no-brainer.
Your Freezer: You're Using That Wrong, Too
Last week, I showed you why your refrigerator is one of the best tools in the kitchen when it comes to saving money and preserving food at its tastiest. But did you know your freezer is another underutilized ally in the cooking game?