Fabulous food gifts for families | Holiday Gifts 2021
One of the amazing things about having a big family and a lot of friends is having a lot of people to love. But it also means having a lot of holiday gifts to send. As our clans get bigger and bigger, it gets a bit more challenging and costly to send individual...
A $45 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup for Thanksgiving that sold out in less than an hour? Here’s how you can make your own.
If you missed getting your hands on one of the few $45, three-pound Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Pies that Hershey's put on sale earlier this week, please know that so did I. I mean, 3,000 of them sold out in less than an hour! And not even a month after Halloween! I...
The best allergy-free replacements for favorite Thanksgiving recipes
Food allergies never take a holiday, and after last year's smaller quarantine Thanksgiving, you may be trying to figure out how to work an unfamiliar food allergy into your meal planning for extended family. Fear not, intrepid chefs! As a mom who learned her firstborn...
Upgrade your mealtime with this gorgeous kitchenware and linens
Anyone else ready to upgrade their mealtime with kitchenware? After a year of eating every meal at home, the contents of my kitchen cabinets remind of April and Andy eating chili off a frisbee in Parks and Rec. Not a good look, as much as I stan that couple. And while...
Thanksgiving dinner help: What to make from scratch and what to buy ready-made
As my family’s Thanksgiving host for almost 25 years, remembering last year’s “just us” celebration – complete with drive-by visits, drop off meals for my mom, and toasts over Zoom – is bittersweet. While many of us are excited to welcome back more traditional...
Next week starts with vodka and ends with pizza | Weekly Meal Plan Ideas #43
We are sliding right into the time of year where my to-do list is longer than the hours I have in a day, so next week I am lining up five meals that are quick and easy to prepare. Here's hoping they give me more time so I can check all of the other things off my list....
Over 10 tasty gifts for fans of The Great British Baking Show | Holiday Gifts 2021
On your mark. Get set. Shop! For your favorite The Great British Baking Show fan, that is. Forgive me geeking out a bit, but I've been an avid watcher ever since Paul and Mary showed up on my television, and now I've welcomed Prue with open arms. I miss Sue and Mel,...
10 handy kitchen gadgets that make holiday cooking and baking easier
Anyone else looking for handy kitchen gadgets for holiday cooking and baking? Since I'm cooking more of the big-ticket dishes this year, so I've been cruising my favorite culinary purveyors for fun new tools. And now that I've landed on these, I'm not sure how I ever...
Preschool Chef’s Club: A subscription box that gets little kids in the kitchen
I've been a fan of America's Test Kitchen for years, so I was excited to discover their new offering for little kids: the Preschool Chefs' Club. It works like other subscription boxes, arriving once a month and abounding with activities, stickers, tools, and a mini...
The best food Advent calendars of 2021 for kids and their grown ups: Sugar, spice, coffee, whiskey, and a few surprises
If you want one of the best food Advent calendars of 2021, now is the time to place your order, even if you haven't put away your Halloween decorations yet. After all, the good ones go fast -- and these are good ones. (Remember that Dolly Parton Advent calendar we...
5 new recipes to help with meal planning burnout | Weekly Meal Plan Ideas #42
I tend to get meal planning burnout this time of year and fall back on easy recipes, with the same ingredients, which can get a little boring. So in an attempt to breathe some life into my meal planning adventures, I have decided to try 5 new recipes I have never made...
Jenn Segal’s Once Upon a Chef Weeknight/Weekend cookbook is what your kitchen is calling for: Cookbook of the Month Club
Jenn Segal's blog Once Upon A Chef has been a frequently-visited site of mine for many years, so it's no wonder I was quite giddy when I learned about her new cookbook, Once Upon A Chef Weeknight/Weekend. I may have been one of the first people to pre-order it,...
Our favorite tips, tricks, and kitchen hacks
Non-toxic spring cleaning with salt: 8 unexpected uses in the kitchen beyond cooking.
Springtime means spring cleaning in my house and that means cleaning with salt. Yes, really. While there are some great natural cleaning products out there that are worth every dime (we love Better Life around here, and even housecleaning services use it), the...
Create a more sustainable kitchen with these 10 easy, eco-friendly ideas
With Earth Day coming up in April and spring cleaning season here, it's a great time to reflect on ways we can create a more eco-friendly home and a more sustainable kitchen. If your family spends as much time as my family of five does thinking about, preparing,...
Kitchen spring cleaning checklist: 7 kitchen tasks everyone forgets
With spring having sprung (and the words of Marie Kondo echoing in my head all these years later), I've been doing my best to kick-start kitchen spring cleaning before summer arrives. But one thing I've learned after all these years is it's so easy to miss certain...
Healthy comfort food recipes to get us through the winter without the extra pounds
Healthy comfort food recipes can be hard to come by. I mean I totally get the desire to start new diets in the new year, what with fresh beginnings and all. But when it's winter, I just want to cuddle up on the couch with a blanket and a big bowl of cheesy soup or...
How to tell if food is fresh: Tips for 7 of your top pantry staples
It's good to have some tricks for how tell if food is fresh and still good to eat -- as you know if you've ever opened a jar of half-used tomato sauce that seemed fairly new...only to find furry white spots of mold floating on top. While some spoiled food is quite...
Latest Recipes
Change your margaritas with 10 delicious margarita variations
While we all love a classic margarita, these delicious margarita variations let you celebrate Cinco De Mayo, National Margarita Day, or just a well-earned weekend night in style. Pair them with one of the recipes from our favorite authentic Mexican food blogs and...
The best authentic Mexican food blogs: 6 favorites for Cinco de Mayo and every other day of the year.
I've had the best time seeking out the best Mexican food blogs serving up authentic Mexican cuisine in honor of Cinco de Mayo. I've always loved this holiday; in my hometown of New York City, May 5th marks a point in early spring when we're absolutely sure there's...
5 easy, delicious dinner ideas for those weeks that get unexpectedly busy | Weekly Meal Plan
This time of year always gets busier than we anticipate, and I always want to have easy weeknight dinner ideas on hand for those kinds of weeks. As the end-of-school commitments start ramping up, with hectic evenings driving everyone around -- let alone a quick...
7 spectacular macaroon variations for a big finish at Passover
We've explained many times that macarons are not to be confused with macaroons, the latter being a flour-free, gluten-free, generally chewy coconut cookie that's a favorite treat to finish off your Seder. This being Passover season, it's a perfect opportunity to...
5 easy spring recipes for the week ahead, from 35-minute lemony chicken cutlets to a fresh take on quesadillas | Weekly Meal Plan
It’s time to start thinking about your meal plan for next week. From 35-minute lemony chicken cutlets to sheet pan quesadillas, we’ve got five dinners that make good use of spring produce and lighter nights (yay!) to help get you through the busy week ahead. So...