Cookbook author, celebrity chef, television personality, and former White House nuclear policy analyst Ina Garten is familiar to many as the queen of foolproof cooking. Also known as the Barefoot Contessa, Ina hones in on techniques and tips that make time in the kitchen far l ...more
There's a common saying that separates cooks from bakers: baking is a science, while cooking is an art. When baking, one little misstep can alter the texture, taste, and consistency of any recipe. Yet it doesn't have to be a scary science—forget your not-so-happy high school ...more
Fromage blanc cheese is something every cook should experience in the kitchen. To consider yourself a real chef, you need to grab the cheesecloth and dip your hands in the cow's milk, because making cheese is a culinary experience like no other. But you can't be a cheeseparin ...more
There are several reasons why restaurant food tastes so good. One is that the cooks know how to make reductions, which involves cooking down large amounts of liquid until it becomes a pool of thick, glossy sauce. While this technique isn't hard to learn, it can be time-consumi ...more
There are literally hundreds of granola recipes floating around the internet—but I can tell you right now that they're all completely unnecessary. You don't need a recipe to make granola; I've been making granola for years and have never once used one! Just as with any good c ...more
Are you completely out of costume ideas, or you just need a makeup look that'll scream what you're dressed up as without needing any representative attire? Then check out this Halloween makeup video to learn how to create a fiery she devil makeup look with Hell-red skin, blood ...more
Whether you call them chickpeas, garbanzo beans, or Egyptian peas, these little morsels are one of my favorite snacks—when properly seasoned, that is. Being mild in flavor on their own, they're incredibly versatile and fun to experiment with. (They're also incredibly healthy.) ...more
Watch Tracy cook some authentic Jamaican Jerk Chicken. Ingredients for Jamaican jerk chicken: One 3 1/2 lb chicken (3lb of chicken breasts may be used if preferred) 6 sliced scotch bonnet peppers (jalapenos may be used if scotch bonnet peppers are unavailable) 2 Tbsp. thyme 2 ...more
Cook 2-4 cups of oatmeal. Put 1.5-3 cups uncooked oatmeal in a pot with 3-6 cups water (there should be about twice as much water as oatmeal). Boil on the stove, stirring more frequently until the oatmeal reaches the desired consistency. Add .75-1.5 cups of sweetened coconut ...more
Getting sunburned sucks, and according to the Environmental Working Group's 2012 survey of over 800 sunscreen brands, 75% of them contained potentially harmful ingredients linked to hormone disruption and even cell damage that may lead you to skin cancer. Yikes. Other than be ...more
The morning started out like most of them do: I was hungry, and it was time to chow down on some breakfast. However, this particular morning had me craving something besides the usual milk and cereal. I decided to take a quick inventory of my fridge's contents; I had eggs, mi ...more
This video demonstrates how to make lip scrub with olive oil and sugar for healthy lips. This scrub promotes healthy lips. The ingredients are sugar and olive oil. You also need a glass and a toothbrush. First, add 1 teaspoon of sugar to a glass. Then add 1/2 teaspoon of olive ...more
Luci Lock shows you how to avoid the heavy price tag and unhealthy processing of commercial flavored olive oils. You'll love this simple and delicious recipe for garlic chili olive oil.
Lab Coat Cooking! Discover how to have fun with cheese. Surprise your friends with this new spin on a classic Caprese Salad. Learn how to make a Mozzarella Balloon. This how to video turns a boring Caprese Salad into a party hit with a little help from some fresh mozzarella ch ...more
Brining is magic. All you have to do is make a mild saline solution, toss in your protein of choice, let it soak, and cook. You end up with incredibly tender, flavorful meat or tofu for very little effort. So why aren't more of us doing it? Pork chops soaking in a brine of sug ...more
Are the furniture pieces in your living space starting to look faded, old and beat up? Gather some milk, vaseline, pecan nuts, lemon juice, olive oil and toothpaste, and you already have a fine assortment of tools to help you restore your wooden, leather, vinyl and glass furni ...more
Beef tenderloin recipes are easy with the help of Chef Tips host Jason Hill. Hill explains how to make a great steak sauce and talks about steak cuts with a recipe that will rival any steak house. Cooking perfect steak will no longer be a mystery with this restaurant recipe. I ...more
We had some friends over for a barbecue a few weeks back. Among other items, this outdoor soirée featured an epic potato salad (bacon, basil, crushed potato chips, pickles—the whole nine yards). And, like many potato salads, ours was made with a hearty amount of mayonnaise. B ...more
Salmon is full of protein and omega 3 fatty acid which helps you’re brain function and is a healthy fat. Add this delicious and healthy fish to your dinner with simple seasoning and cooking method that will really show off the flavor. Follow these simple steps to make an easy ...more
Other than salt, there's no ingredient that's as big a kitchen staple as olive oil. And just like salt, there are a million little known uses for it. Don't Miss: 20 Non-Cooking Uses for Olive Oil None of these uses will quite compare with searing a delicious ribeye or constr ...more
Summertime is grilling time! Watch this video on how to make delicious grilled clams and mussels with garlic. Perfect seafood recipe for your summer backyard BBQ! Clams and mussels ingredients: Foil roasting pan 6 tbsp butter 2 tbsp olive oil 4 garlic cloves, minced 1 large s ...more
If you've grown tired of your acrylic nails and want to remove them, but don't want to go to the salon, follow these steps to learn how to remove them from home. You will need to use a 100 percent acetone remover to take off all of the nail polish first. Then, take an old cont ...more
Stop! Do not pour that leftover wine, coffee, or bacon grease down the drain. And those herbs that have been in your fridge so long they've literally turned on you? And what about when that recipe only calls for two tablespoons of heavy cream, a quarter cup of tomato purée, or ...more
The thought of peeling tomatoes for pasta sauces and soups has long been an overwhelming idea for us, one we often steer clear from when reading recipes or searching out new dishes to create. Even the methods that are supposed to speed up the peeling process (like roasting, po ...more
If you ever run out of shaving cream in the morning, just step over from your bathroom to the kitchen and use olive oil as a substitute. Not only does it save you a future trip to the drug store, it also helps moisturize your skin. Commonly used in the kitchen for cooking or ...more
While most people build collections of things with intrinsic value such as coins, stamps, or rare post cards, I collect wine corks—the natural ones, not the plastic kind. Corks are a natural product harvested from the cork oak tree. It takes the better part of 10 to 12 years b ...more
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 ...more
There are so many furniture polish sprays out there that sometimes its difficult to choose one. This how to video demonstrates how to polish wood using only olive oil and lemon. Its a safer, greener and eco-friendly manner of polishing and cleaning your furniture.
One of the best things about talking to other people who love food is that they point you to weirdly beautiful ingredients, like this: No, that's not an escapee from Middle Earth you're seeing. It's one of Mother Nature's best attempts at making fractals come alive into a gold ...more
In this video, we learn how to cook a whole chicken in the oven. First, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Now, take your chicken out of the package and rinse it off in the sink, removing the insides. Now, pat dry the chicken and put on a roasting pan. Add pepper, garlic salt, p ...more
This how-to video demonstrates how to cook Rockfish, or striped bass, on the grill. Scale and gut your fish to get it ready. Brush the inside of the fish with olive oil, sprinkle with black pepper, and season with your favorite salt. Cook on the grill by placing it on a rack.
A spectrometer is a device that splits light into all of the different colors it's composed of that can't be seen with the naked eye. It does this by using a prism to refract or bend the light. Jeffrey Warren over at Public Labs created a tutorial showing how you can make your ...more
I grew up in a household where bacon was considered its own necessary food group. My mom saved the bacon fat in a jar and reused it in other dishes, which my friends considered vile, unless they were also from immigrant families or the American South, where saving bacon fat ha ...more
Sliders are the new fad of the fast food business, but you don't have to have mini burgers from the grease haven, you can create your own miniature hamburgers at home, with a less toxic flavor. Sliders, simply put, are a little bit of heaven in a bun. Will Gilson from Garden a ...more
Posted below is an interesting video on the effects of low frequency square waveforms on cornstarch. To make, simply mix cornstarch and water, then place on a large speaker hooked up to an amplifier and a signal generator (generating around 20-30 hertz). An old stereo works gr ...more
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. "From this," I said, "We shall create a feast fit for kings." He looked softly into my eyes. The sadness was un ...more
Roasted red peppers are easy to store with this recipe treat from Rita Heikenfeld. Rita shows you how to prepare, roast and store red peppers for up to a year in your freezer. These peppers are great for pizza or pasta with their sweet taste and great red color. Watch this how ...more
Studying for a big test? Rather than weighing your mind and body down with empty calories and junk food, eat smart with healthy foods that are known for decreasing your chances of developing Alzheimer's disease, keeping your neurotransmitters healthy, and increasing blood and ...more
We all have our favorite cooking oils, but not everyone knows that they're not all interchangeable. Each type of oil is best for certain jobs, and they all have different smoke points and flavor profiles, which are the two most important criteria in determining which one to us ...more
Learn how to remove marks from your stainless steel appliances using olive oil. 1 Apply a little bit of olive oil to a clean rag and rub the olive oil all over your stainless steel appliance. 2 Fold the rag in half. Make sure that there is no olive oil on the exposed part of t ...more
This easy "recipe" requires just two ingredients: popcorn and caramel bits. Caramel bits are made for melting, and they take all the work out of making caramel-based anything. If you've ever made caramel before, the result is delicious, but it's often hot and sticky work—in mo ...more
Jim Lahey's no-knead pizza dough is more time consuming than Jamie Oliver's "cheat's pizza", but it's quicker and simpler than the more traditional dough recipes. The rise time is only two hours, and the kneading is minimal. I still prefer Jamie's pizza, but I sense this is be ...more
Raw onions are commonly associated with bad breath, but when it comes to wet paint, instead of creating toxic smells they help remove them. If you just painted inside your home, slice a few raw onions in half and place them alongside the walls to absorb noxious fumes. Just mak ...more
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. These are good not just for those challenged when it comes to rolling techniques, but also for people on special diets or who h ...more
Dangerously close in resemblance to the over-the-top pizza cone, these mini pizza cups look like muffins. After testing a recipe from My Kitchen Snippets, Serious Eats came up with this: Look yummy? (It's hard to go wrong with pizza). Try My Kitchen Snippets' recipe and repor ...more
Potato peels are largely misunderstood creatures. They're shucked away from every mashed potato dish like some icky rag that has no business in your kitchen. PS: Quit it. By ditching the peels, you're not only missing out on fiber and large amounts of potassium (even more than ...more
In this video, we learn how to make a pizza with pre-made dough. First, shred 1 lb of mozzarella cheese fresh and then grab some frozen dough from your local grocery store. After this, oil some baking pans with olive oil so the dough doesn't stick. After you have let your doug ...more
This video relates to cooking rice in a pressure cooker in 5 minutes. We start with basmati rice, which is famous world wide. First, put one and a half cups rice in the pressure cooker and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Turn on the heat, add cumin seeds, and wait for the good ...more
This Mealplanner101 Minute reveals a secret to baking salmon to perfection. 1. Preheat your oven on 390 degrees Fahrenheit. 2. Season a salmon fillet with salt. 3. Put some olive oil and lemon juice. 4. Bake it for 12 minutes. 5. Take about 1/4 inch cut of the salmon, so that ...more
Learn to cook a whole goat on the grill with this how-to video. Season it with olive oil, pepper, thyme, rosemary, and sea salt for a Mediterranean style recipe. Place it on the grill or the smoker and let it cook until its nice and tender. Make a butter, dry white whine, rose ...more
Grilled meat may be a staple of summer barbecues, but grilled cheese should have a place at your outdoor feast as well. I don't mean taking a slice or two of cheese, slapping it between two pieces of bread, and putting it in a pan to create a grilled cheese sandwich. No, I mea ...more
If you're gluten-free, on a diet, or just cutting the carbs like me, eating a sandwich can be a dangerous game. There are traditional alternatives such as lettuce or egg wraps, but they have their drawbacks: they can't hold as many ingredients, they can be lack flavor when raw ...more
Make the American classic Philly Cheese steak at home! This video will show you how to cut the proper piece of meat and goes from there so that you have a truly fantastic and practically gourmet Philly Cheese steak sandwich. You can’t go wrong with this recipe. Step 1 Purcha ...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
Seaweed isn't just for rolling sushi anymore. The food science world is introducing chefs and home cooks to dulse (rhymes with pulse), kale's wacky seaweed cousin that tastes surprisingly like bacon and may even be the next big superfood. Bacon and dulse seaweed have three ve ...more
If you have ice cube trays lying around in your refrigerator and chilling your drinks with ice cubes is not a huge priority for you, you can still make use of these handy kitchen tools in a number of useful ways, both edible and non-edible. If you ever have leftover sauces, j ...more
The yogis of the internet have started a wonderful food trend that has everyone wanting to eat healthy—gorgeous buddha bowls. Okay, so maybe not everyone, but a lot of people are definitely entranced by these beautiful, multicolored meals. Buddha bowls, also known as rainbow ...more
Switching your favorite facial cleanser isn't an easy choice. Since everyone's skin type can range from dry, to oily, to some complicated combination of both... well, let's just say that the conventional wisdom is to stick to what you know works. However, fruit—and citrus fru ...more
Before you throw your next steak on the barbecue, see what grilling experts do to ensure that it turns out tender and juicy. Watch this video to learn how to grill the perfect steak. Step 1. Start with a clean grill Clean the inside of your grill and the grate with soap, a b ...more
Ingredients: 2 lb shrimp cleaned 4 ounces butter unsalted 1/2 cup extra virgin oil 1/2 cup lemon juiced 1/4 cup shallots chopped 3 cloves garlic minced salt & pepper to taste 4 tbsp cilantro or parsley chopped Rinse the shrimp and let dry on paper towels. Preheat the ...more