Make Fruit More Fresh

In my opinion, biscuits made from scratch (American biscuits, that is, not the British kind) are just flat out amazing, but I'm typically too lazy to actually make them. That's why I always have a can/tube of refrigerated biscuits on hand. They're not only good for quick biscu ...more

In the world of breakfast, a great trench of injustice divides French toast and pancakes. Just look at the average brunch menu. While pancakes are treated to a wealth of variety (chocolate chip, silver dollar, blueberry, banana, and even some with pop culture references), Fren ...more

Most of the time we only use the microwave to reheat or defrost, but you can actually save a lot of time by using it for cooking. These genius recipes make the most of this underused appliance, and also turn out some pretty tasty dishes. First: Is It Safe to Cook in the Micro ...more

"Does bottled barbecue sauce even taste that bad?" a friend of mine asked. Well, truthfully, no. But it also doesn't taste that good, especially if you've had truly great barbecue or even your crazy uncle's homemade sauce at a holiday cookout. Just like pasta sauce and salsa, ...more

When a headache strikes, I reach for the nearest painkiller. Forget closing my eyes, laying down, or even applying an ice pack—I seek the quickest and most immediate relief possible, and normally that comes in the form of pills. However, fast relief can be found from another, ...more

In the case of rotting food, microbes are not our friends. Now, scientists have developed a new food wrap coated with tiny clay tubes packed with an antibacterial essential oil that can extend the shelf life of perishable food, so we can waste less and eat more. "While compan ...more

My husband's and my daily schedules are constantly changing. Frankly, it's complete chaos sometimes, so I can't plan to have elaborate dinners on the table at six o'clock every day. And by the time we actually get to eating in the evening, we've become so hungry that our moods ...more

Beth O'Reilly AIFD TMF shows us how to make a structural arrangement using stacked Oasis foam disks inside a beautiful container. Video: . . This arrangement is perfect for an entry way of a fall wedding, food tables, or even corporate events. The added element of fruit really ...more

We tend to assume that eating is mostly a physical act, but the mind has so much to do with the choices we make. We've already shown you how clenching your fist can lead to better food choices and how you can trick yourself into choosing better meals at restaurants. Now by si ...more

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? Chances are, you've been using your freeze ...more

"You can even eat the dishes," claims the song "The Candy Man Can" from 1971's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The idea of edible cups, even back then, grabbed my attention—any kid would much prefer to eat her dish instead of clean it afterward, of course! Don't Miss: ...more

Hands down, chips and dip are the best entertainment foods to ever exist. This fact can be confirmed in an instant by any grocery shopper strolling down the chip isle on Super Bowl Sunday or New Year's Eve. However, you may want to hold off on buying those standard salsas or d ...more

If you have a local Trader Joe's, you know first-hand how enchanting the frozen aisles are—almost every item offers the promise of a delicious meal or dessert. (We're always tempted to open the package and eat the cookie butter cheesecake, stat.) While cooking from scratch is ...more

Juicing fruits and vegetables is very beneficial to your health. For some, it's a trend; but to me, it's a part of my morning routine. However, the negative side to juicing large quantities of fruits and vegetables is that leftover pulp can be wasted. Thankfully, this is easi ...more

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 ...more

Store-bought marinades and sauces have an ability to jazz up the simplest items. But after a while, those favorite tastes seem a bit repetitive and mundane, and that got us to experimenting with different add-ins to make our marinades stand out. Fruits, herbs, spices—all of th ...more

Eating out is great, but being able to cook the delicious ethnic foods you eat at restaurants is even better. It may seem daunting to put together a bunch of ingredients with which you might not be familiar (some with names you've never even heard of!), but with the guidelines ...more

In case you haven't heard, chia seeds are off of the novelty plant grower and in your supermarket. Why? Because they're a nutrient-dense food loaded with calcium and fiber (18% and 42% respectively of your RDA per one ounce of seeds). There are even some preliminary studies th ...more

The produce section is full of fruits, both familiar and quite strange. Depending on the season, you may see giant, bright-green bananas on display next to the normal bananas that you know and love. No, those aren't super-unripened bananas—they're plantains, and they are defin ...more

I grew up in a rural town, and that meant that we dehydrated a lot of food. Even with a hungry family of five, there was no way that we could eat all of the season's tomatoes before they molded, or all of the orchard's apples before they grew soft, or all of the wild mushrooms ...more

There's nothing in this life that we love more than making one ingredient or one food tool do multiple things. It saves money! It saves time! It makes us look smart at cocktail parties! Without further ado, here are several ways to save money, waste less food, and make the mo ...more

Marinades are among my all-time favorite tricks as a cook for several reasons. They're easy like Sunday morning, they let time do what it's supposed to, which is work for you, and you get a huge return for relatively little effort on your part. In a pinch, I've used store-bou ...more

Ethylene is an invisible, odorless, naturally occurring gas that aids in the ripening process of fruit. As a fruit produces more ethylene, it begins to create enzymes which help break down cell walls and starches, making the fruit softer and sweeter over time. If it weren't fo ...more

I used to brag that I could make a swan out of an apple, but chicks don't dig swans—they dig roses. So now I'm going to brag about making apple roses, because you would, too, if you could get them to look like this: Now that's an apple tart that will win the ladies over. (And ...more

The freezer section at your local grocery store may have plenty of popsicle flavors, but they're mostly going to be the same old fruit-flavored varities you've been shoving in your mouths for years. None of those will truly get your tastebuds rolling like some creative homemad ...more

Most home bakers rely on vanilla extract as a flavor component to their cakes and cookies, but little do they know what they are missing until they trade in their extract for whole vanilla beans. The rich complexity and different notes of flavor of a true vanilla bean are ofte ...more

The balanced and refreshing taste of a cocktail should always entice you into another sip. You'll know you're drinking something of quality when no specific ingredient, including booze, dominates its taste. A great cocktail can even mirror a great meal by exhibiting flavors li ...more

"The best season for food is the worst season for cooking." These words, spoken by food blogger Dave Klopfenstein of Dave's Kitchen, couldn't be more true. As spring turns into summer, farmer's markets and grocery stores are loaded with fresh, juicy fruits and vegetables—but ...more

Got a bottle of inexpensive, unopened red wine and some citrus fruits lying around in your kitchen? If you plan on throwing an outdoor summer party, you really can't go wrong with a pitcher full of homemade sangria. For a basic sangria recipe, all you need to do is to combine ...more

It's so nice to be able to reuse old glass jars for food storage. Occasionally, though, even the sturdiest container has to be recycled because it retains the smell of its previous contents. Usually the culprit was garlic, garlic-based, or something pickled, and you're certain ...more

Store-bought citrus reamers and squeezers are great for extracting all of the juice out of lemons, limes, and oranges, but if you're not squeezing fresh juice every week, you probably don't have one—and have never even thought about buying one. In truth, your hands are more t ...more

Baking thinly sliced salami in the oven changes it to an awesome and savory crispy snack. They're dippable, crowd-pleasing, and healthier than your average slice of salami —the amount of oil that drains from each slice is a little scary! These high-protein crisps have lots of ...more

While it's easy to make fun of water with "electrolytes," there's actually some science behind it. Despite the name, electrolyte-enhanced water isn't all that high-tech, it mostly means that it's been infused with vitamins and minerals such as potassium and sodium, which are v ...more

Watching an ice cream pro build you a custom frozen treat mixed with your favorite fruit, candy, and/or toppings makes buying a cone even more exciting. But why go out for ice cream when you can create your favorite combinations in your own kitchen? While you might not have an ...more

I have to confess: my egg slicer has been neglected ever since I bought it. I had ambitious dreams of using it to slice perfectly symmetrical slivers of hard-boiled egg into my salads... but the truth is, once I tucked it into a kitchen drawer, I completely forgot about it. Th ...more

Home cooks are often quite intimidated when trying to reproduce the delicious ethnic dishes they enjoy at various restaurants. Thankfully, there are definite flavor profiles and spice/seasoning/herb combos that are very specific to various regional cuisines and cultures; with ...more

Oven space is scarce on that fated fourth Thursday of November. Even if you can find a spare space for pumpkin pie on the bottom shelf, you risk turkey drippings overflowing from above and ruining your beautiful dessert — not to mention a burnt crust from different temperature ...more

When it comes to your baby and your time, nothing but the best and most efficient will do. These high standards carry through every aspect of your life as a new parent, from diapers to strollers and especially to food. Luckily, making your own baby food isn't as complicated a ...more

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 hydr ...more

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. ...more

It's easy to take the food we eat for granted, but the truth is, there are a lot of bizarre, wonderful, and just plain weird things about what we eat and drink, the effects it has on our bodies, and vice-versa. Read on to learn how bugs provide food dye, the Japanese grow squa ...more

Whether it's college football, the NFL, basketball, soccer, or baseball, sporting events are prime opportunities to entertain. No matter what the sport, food that's easy to eat is a must. Your guests should be able to mingle, eat, and talk trash... all at the same time! So a m ...more

Finger limes are one of those foods that bring out the little kid in even the most staid grown-up. I dare you not to squeal when you cut one open, squeeze, and see all that bubbly goodness emerge. Video: . First discovered in the wilds of Australia, finger limes (aka Citrus au ...more

When I first started cooking, if I saw lemon juice or zest in a recipe, I almost always left it out. Unless it was a main component, I never thought it made much of a difference in the overall flavor of the dish, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Citrus fruits can make a w ...more

Want to boost your dog's immune system and skin health? Add some extra flavor to your dog's food bowl with a few pieces of cooked salmon, deboned and unseasoned, which is an excellent source of fatty omega-3 acids. As dogs are omnivores just like humans, dogs are capable of e ...more

Just because a problem is small or superficial doesn't mean it can't annoy the living crap out of you. Others may think you're overreacting, or even have the audacity to roll their eyes, but you're in your own personal hell. First-world problems, white whines—call it whatever ...more

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 investigato ...more

We used to view homemade dressings as something whose variables of flavor and texture outweighed our desire to make them up on the fly. We often found ourselves nervous that they'd come out too runny or too tart or even too thick. Then we discovered the magic formula to a per ...more

There are a lot of reasons for wanting to make sure your herbs last a long time. Maybe you know that your grocery store won't have decent parsley in the winter. Maybe you're taking a last-minute trip and don't want to throw away your perfect batch of basil. Or perhaps you're s ...more

Right now is that magical time of year when the general public decides to embrace their inner fattie and get baking in the kitchen. Hello, pies and cakes and cookies and everything carbs. Goodbye, diets—see you in the next year, when you cripple us with unbridled guilt and lon ...more

Another major retailer is putting all its chips in on the relentless rise of selfie culture. Sally Beauty is rolling out kiosks to try-on "some of its best" hair dyes in 500 of its stores throughout the US. The in-store augmented reality-powered kiosks invite you to view your ...more

We love a good bowl of punch just as much as the next partygoer. But you don't want to be the one to make his or her way to the bowl after all the ice melts and turns that beautiful beverage into a watery wasteland. Don't Miss: Turn Fruit Juice into Cheap Homemade Booze Luc ...more

Ah, the sensation of that first bite of sorbet in the heat of summertime: icy, refreshing, decadent in flavor and texture. We love sorbet almost as much as we love ice cream, and making it at home is actually pretty simple. Most recipes call for just water, sugar, and a base f ...more

Pitting cherries is really annoying. There's no neat way to do it with a knife and, though they make a tool that does it, not everyone has space in their kitchen for a gadget that does so little. But fresh cherries are so delicious when they're in season... it's almost worth t ...more

The cool tang and citrusy taste of a margarita in the summer is refreshing, to say the least. But when making margaritas at home, many of us opt for the ease of store-bought mix when it's actually really simple to make it instead. Homemade margarita mix tastes so much better ...more

A whole grilled pineapple is the perfect party dessert. It's beautiful, provides a natural centerpiece before you eat it, and can be sliced right on the spot and served with a dollop of ice cream. (Fresh mint leaves and a splash of liqueur on top taste pretty good, too.) Plus ...more

When we think of pickling, we usually think of using veggies like cucumbers, carrots, and peppers. However, with summer upon us, we found ourselves thinking about fancy pickled berries as a novel way to use all those gorgeous gems that are popping up at the market. We did a l ...more

This is a familiar scenario: you light up the grill, get cooking, eat the fruits of your labor, then clean up every trace of your barbecuing once you're finished — except maybe the hot charcoal, which usually gets dumped right before the next cookout. But instead of tossing e ...more

If you're lucky enough to have a dishwasher, you probably use that sucker to clean everything (minus your good cooking knives), and maybe even to cook your food, too. However, dishwashers are not without their faults. Dishes can still come out spotty and even with chunks of fo ...more

Even the most unadventurous eaters can usually be coaxed to take a bite of an exotic fruit (except, perhaps, the notoriously stinky durian). After all, fruit is sweet, juicy, and filled with natural sugars. Don't Miss: Bite into Black Sapote, the Chocolate Pudding Fruit So d ...more