Several years ago, I moved to Brooklyn, New York, just outside a Spanish neighborhood. It was here that I was introduced to chayote. Fast-forward to present day: I live in Los Angeles and buy several chayote squash a week to cook with—yes, I said several. It's so versatile and healthy! For the uninitiated, chayote (chai-YOH-tee) is a light green squash shaped like a pear originating from central Mexico. Although it's considered a fruit, chayote is a member of the Cucurbitaceous (gourd) family...
Valentine's Day is right around the corner... which is the perfect excuse to ignite your inner cupid and bake a heart-shaped cake. If you have a heart-shaped cake or springform pan, you're all set. If not, don't worry—you don't need one! With a little ingenuity, you'll have a beautiful heart cake using the pans you already own.
I held the orange packet in my hands and presented it to my friend, Seth, as though it were a plastic-wrapped jewel—rather than three ounces of dehydrated noodles.
Common knowledge is a funny thing: it represents a majority's opinion on a particular subject and somehow makes that opinion fact. If that 'fact' goes unopposed and unchallenged, then it is passed on and preserved from one generation to the next—regardless of whether it is true or not.
Beer isn't just for drinking anymore. There are many useful and surprising things that an ice-cold brewski can help you accomplish, from household chores to better-tasting food. It can even help you look and feel healthier.
A fire snake, also referred to as a black snake or sugar snake, is a classic science experiment you can do right in your own kitchen using a baking soda and sugar mixture and a fuel to ignite the reaction.
Granola bars are the perfect snack to have around: they're tasty, not messy, have nutritional value, are filling, and don't go stale quickly.
Apples are great snacks, and they're often paired with peanut butter or sliced cheese for a well-rounded energy boost of carbs, fat, and protein. The apples are an important part of the equation, as they are low-calorie and full of vitamins, nutrients, fiber, and lots of other good stuff. It's the other half that's always the problem, as eating too much peanut butter or cheese is an easy way to polish off a boatload of calories and fat in one sitting.
It is a universal truth that Nutella is the nectar of the gods. It takes the already delicious (e.g., sandwiches, cupcakes, or even bacon), and turns it into something magical. Everyone also knows homemade is always better. So if you're looking to step up your baking game, follow these instructions from Cookies, Cupcakes, and Cardio and make your very own Nutella!
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?
Meet the Wonderbag. The "first non-electric slow cooker" uses an insulated bag made of poly-cotton fabric, polyester, and repurposed foam chips. You bring your one-pot meal to the desired cooking temperature, usually via the stovetop. Then you turn off the heat, pop the pot into the Wonderbag, and it will continue to cook thanks to the retained heat in the bag.
Kitchen tools are a personal thing. One hard lesson for me to learn is that just because something is popular doesn't mean that it's right for me. Take the slow cooker, for instance. Many rave about it, but I never cottoned to the thing. However, the more research I do, the more I think the pressure cooker might be a game changer for my cooking style.
Hard-boiled eggs are such an amazing snack, but there's nothing quite so frustrating as trying to get all the shell off without damaging the egg underneath. I've ended up with many a sadly pitted and pockmarked egg that somehow doesn't taste quite as good as when it emerges all white and smooth.
Among the many gifts that Italy has bestowed upon the world, culinary and otherwise, pesto stands alone. The exact birthplace of pesto, that herby sauce made of pine nuts and olive oil, is an area of Italy called Liguria, whose microclimate is particularly kind to basil, one of pesto's key ingredients.
If you're a fan of Thai food, I'm sure you're familiar with sticky rice. There is something so special about its chewy texture and sweet flavor. If you have a desire to make it in your own kitchen but don't have the proper tools such as a traditional bamboo basket or stackable steamer, there are several other methods that work just as well. Once you try these alternative methods, I'm sure you'll be "sticking" to them for a while. What Makes Sticky Rice So Sticky?
Peeling garlic is one kitchen task that every cook, from the newbie to the experienced, is always trying to make easier. Methods vary, from shaking heads of garlic inside a container to using the microwave to help peels slide right off.
Eating vegetarian isn't just for vegetarians. There are plenty of reasons, health and economics-wise, to consider forgoing the meat for a meal or three. Rather than get deep into the world of fake meat (although there's many a tasty alternative to be found there, to be sure), you should consider getting to know your humble-seeming fungal friend: the mushroom. Thanks to their hearty flavor, cooks tend to treat mushrooms like meat, albeit one with its own unique characteristics. Mushrooms are e...
Decisions are rarely easy to make, and there are countless ways to mull your options over. You can sleep on it, pluck flower petals, make a list of pros and cons, or even follow the advice of a psychic. Yet to make the best decision possible, you might want to consider holding off until a certain time of the day—or even until you feel specific emotions. The state you find yourself in has significant impact on each decision you make.
A few years ago I went hog-wild trying to achieve a zero-waste lifestyle. I didn't succeed, but the experiment taught me that we throw away things we could—and should—be using more.
The microwave oven is a monumental technological achievement that's saved college students and single people from starvation for decades. Almost 97% of all American households have one, which makes it the most-owned kitchen appliance in US homes right after the refrigerator.
An open bottle of wine can be dangerous. You intend to enjoy—nay, savor—a single glass, but then two episodes of Top Chef later, that sucker is empty. Now you have to go to work the next day with a wine hangover. What happened? Turns out there are some unconscious reasons you might be chugging more wine than you wanted. Never fear. Along with clenching your fists to make better food choices, there are some tricks you can use to moderate your wine intake. Researchers at Cornell University disc...
You've packed your own lunch and can't wait to get to the little vacuum-sealed cup of dessert you brought along. You keep rummaging in the bottom of the bag, searching for the spoon you're certain you packed…except you didn't. Uh-oh.
On today's video I will show how to make 3 easy snacks that are also under 100 calories each! They are really yummy and healthy, so if you are wondering what to eat between meals I hope I can give you some ideas with this video.
It may be cheesy, but whipping out an origami flower while you're at the dinner table can really make someone's day, whether it's made out of a napkin, dollar bill, or burger wrapper. It's great for showing your waitress how much you appreciate the service, or for breaking the ice with your Valentine's Day date.
Fall is the season of obnoxious food trends. You can't go out to eat or to the grocery store without seeing something pumpkin spice- or candy corn-flavored. Less annoying, but equally prevalent is the butternut squash. For the next several months, we will be pelted with recipes for butternut squash soup, butternut squash risotto, stuffed butternut squash... and the list goes on. Butternut squash is everywhere. But how many people actually know how to prep the stuff?
Concrete decor has been popular as of late, and the newest trend is dinnerware. At the London Design Festival last week, designer Vidó Nóri debuted a gorgeous new collection of geometric serving trays and bowls. There's no arguing that they look incredible, but this particular set will run you $20-80 per piece, which adds up quite a bit. If you don't want to spend that much cash, it's really simple to make your own elegant-looking concrete cheeseboard. Rebecca on A Daily Something made this b...
If there's anything I've ascertained from all my candy-eating, it's that Pop Rocks are singularly the most awesome candy ever. The carbon dioxide gas that's mixed with the hard sugar forms a load of tiny, 600-psi bubbles, which vigorously release when they melt in your mouth.
The only thing worse than not having any plans is not even knowing where to begin making them. Sure, you can check Yelp or one of countless other review sites to find a great spot, but there's no way of knowing what the vibe is like before you get there. Is it crowded? Are people having fun, or does it look pretty lame?
Assuming that you are living north of the equator, ‘tis the summer season for brewing your own sun tea. Unlike the conventional method of dunking tea bags in boiling hot water for several minutes, sun tea is brewed over the course of several hours through the natural heat of direct sunlight.
Some things are too good to keep bottled up. Give your guests a taste of what's to come at your Fourth of July party, BBQ, or slammin' block party by making your invitation look like a hamburger. Who can resists free food, right?
Part of the joy of hunting is being able to eat what you've hunted afterwards. This tutorial shows you how to get the most from what you've bagged, and make some delicious herbed wild game burgers that everyone can enjoy.
This origami chocolate bar, which is realistically divided into mini bite-sized pieces and has a Dairy Milk blue packaging, is a difficult fold, but so worth it. Give it to your sweet-toothed sweetheart on Valentine's Day for a treat without the calories. Just be careful that the recipient of your origami chocolate bar doesn't actually try to eat it.
This cake looks almost good enough to eat, even though we know it's made out of origami paper. Fool your friends with this realistic pink origami cake, made from an assemblage of cut-out cake slices.
These days, with so many digital distractions clogging the cloud - Twitter, Facebook, Blackberries, and iPads just to name a few - very few of us spend quality time just talking and cooking and eating with those we love. Take some time out to remember what it felt like to move without a Wii remote by learning how to pick blackberries and preserve jam.
If you were born with skinny, thin lips, then lip plumpers are probably your best friend. We get it: Plump, pillowy soft lips are gorgeous, but at the same time we don't know if we trust all those gnarly ingredients that most lip plumpers contain.
Mushrooms are quite whimsical, cute fungi. Whether they're the ones you pick in clusters to eat or the animated, cartoonish ones you see adorning Sanrio notecards, they're very chubby and that chubbiness affords a great cute aesthetic value.
These cupcakes look almost too good to eat...ALMOST. These would still disappear in a heartbeat if left alone with us. But anyhow, these glittered holly berry cupcakes are so gorgeous and beautiful for the holidays.
Typically during the holiday season hostesses give very little attention to the plates that food is served on. Because the focus is on the food, the plate needs to be nothing more than a plain white backdrop, right? Wrong.
Cupcakes would would have no modesty without a nice, thick coat of icing enrobing their delicate interiors. Cover up your cupcakes this Halloween while dressing them up in the chicest of cupcake fashion styles by swathing them in vanilla icing and candy corn.
Thinking about baking some cupcakes for Halloween? Whether you're looking for simple seasonal cupcakes that aren't overly decorated (these are very plain orange and white colored cupcakes) or need a delicious recipe for cupcakes that you will be decorating, this recipe is perfect.
