Need I say more? It’s been raining and in the 40s for the last month now (okay, no need to tell me that I’m a California wimp – I know it’s probably worse where you are. Heck, dad is from Minnesota, he knows) and any excuse to make something hot and cheerful in the oven is welcome! Here’s a quick, easy, and delicious, piping hot crab dip, perfect for a winter gathering....
What Is Blanching? Blanching is a process of cooking food (often vegetables) in boiling water for a few minutes before transferring it to an ice water bath, which shocks the vegetable and stops the cooking process. The result is a vibrantly colored, slightly cooked vegetable that is still crisp and ideal for freezing or use in a favorite recipe. Why Should I Blanch Broccoli? Blanching has a number of benefits. It destroys any dirt or microorganisms that may still remain on your broccoli....
Cooking bacon in the oven is a game-changer! No more stove-tops splattered with grease, no constant attention needed to stop it burning and no requirement to add extra oil to ensure perfect crispness. Perfect crispy bacon can be cooked in the oven, and you don’t even need to pre-heat it first! It’s so simple I’m almost embarrassed to share this as a recipe post! But it’s so useful, I couldn’t not share it with you guys....
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”! How to cook steak – the cheffy way! Today’s recipe is more of a technique than a recipe – but it’s one that all steak lovers should know because it’s easy, worthy of using on high quality steaks and also a way to really elevate economical steaks. It’s as simple as this: while the steak is searing in the pan, throw in butter, garlic and thyme and baste continuously as the steak finishes cooking....
The most important thing is to use the freshest corn possible! When you bring the corn into your kitchen from the farmers market, grocery store, or your own garden, decide right then if it’s going to be eaten fresh (we love it on the grill!) or go straight to the freezer. The older the corn is, the more it loses its optimal flavor and texture, and that’s what you’ll taste later if you freeze it past its peak....
Whether you binged over the holidays, drank too much alcohol on the weekend, want to boost your immune system or lose some weight, or just want to eat a bit healthier, smoothies are the easiest way to pack a ton of nutrition into your meal. You can make a smoothie in less than 10 minutes. And the best part is, you don’t even need to turn on the oven!...
We’ve all brought home a dud at some point, but with a little bit of guidance we can avoid that kind of disappointment. Here’s what you need to know to have yourself a winning watermelon season. When is Watermelon Season? Watermelon season starts as early as May in some places, and winds down in September. The very peak of the season is July and August. Grocery stores sell watermelons, mainly red seedless, year-round....
In this guide, I’ll cover the many different techniques used to thicken a soup or stew so that you can find the best method for your own needs. What Makes a Soup or Stew Thick and Creamy? Think back to the creamiest soups you’ve tasted. Cream of mushroom. Broccoli cheddar soup. Gumbo. What ingredients thickened these dishes? Some recipes add in thickeners like cream or flour. Others rely on techniques, like pureeing or mashing, to change the consistency of the soup....
How do they work? Is it really frying? What kinds of foods can you make in your new air fryer? Here’s everything you need to know about a basic basket-type air fryer. The Deal with Air Fryers First off, a disappointment: Air fryers are not deep fryers. Air fryers are full of hot air, and that’s what is great about them. They are basically small, powerful ovens, and ovens use air as a vehicle for heat, whereas deep frying uses fat as the vehicle for heat....
In my college years, I discovered a pasta with the ultimate creamy, dreamy sauce that packs a punch of complex cheesy flavor and didn’t put me into an immediate coma—as long as I didn’t devour the whole bag in one sitting. Trader Joe’s Gorgonzola Gnocchi ($3.29 for 1 pound) is one of the grocery store’s longest-running frozen meals. It takes five minutes to heat up on the stove—watch the frozen gnocchi plump up as the gorgonzola cream sauce melts around them....
Save 6 Hours by Cooking Beans in the Pressure Cooker Instead of taking eight hours to cook, I can make these pressure cooker baked beans in just over two hours! Looking for the slow cooker version? Slow Cooker Boston Baked Beans Another bonus with this pressure cooker recipe is that you don’t have to soak the beans overnight. Instead, I par-cook (partially cook) them with just water before adding the rest of the ingredients....
Creamy and fluffy mashed potatoes made in instant pot pressure cooker. It simple, quick and easy, it takes 20 minutes from start to finish to make this perfect side dish to your roast dinner or holiday dinners. Let me show you how to make the best no drain pressure cooker mashed potatoes you will find yourself making at all times. One of the recipes I first tried out in my instant pot and pressure king pro was mashed potatoes....
The tangy cream cheese cuts the sweetness of the pumpkin, brown sugar, and warming spices, and the graham cracker and pecan crust has just enough salt to make all of the flavors pop. A pecan-speckled crust, not-too-sweet pumpkin filling, and boozy whipped-cream topping made this cheesecake the favorite dessert at my family’s Thanksgiving dinner last year! I’ll be making it every year now, in my Instant Pot, while the rest of the kitchen is in serious holiday mode....
Mix Up Your Meatballs We love using a combination of beef and pork for our meatballs. It gives them an extra little punch of flavor, and then we add some simple seasonings. We also add some almond flour to help bind and also to keep the meatballs tender once cooked in your Instant Pot. Mixing up your meatballs and getting them into your Instant Pot is the hardest part of this recipe, and it’s not even that hard, but maybe a little messy if you’re like me and just go for it with your hands to mix everything up....
What would you say if we took a normal meatball, changed things up, and turned it into a jalapeño popper meatball? That’s right, get ready to sweat because we’re making jalapeño popper meatballs in the kitchen today. It has diced jalapeño mixed in with ground meat and then stuffed with cream cheese in the middle. They are addictingly delicious, and a family favorite. These are surprisingly versatile. You can make these meatballs in bulk and freeze them, just add 10 to 15 minutes to the cooking time when you’re ready to cook....
Here’s to the things kids can teach you! My young friends Piper (4), Alden (7), and Reilly (9) recently gave me a lesson in one of their favorite foods - a “wrap”. First they explained what a “wrap” is - basically a flour tortilla, with good stuff inside, tucked in the edges and rolled up to make it easy to eat. In my neck of the woods we would pack it full with a lot of rice, beans, and salsa and call it a burrito....
“The untamed beast”, “vine from hell”, or simply “the monster” are a few of the names my father and I have given this plant. Or plants. There may be two of them but I rarely fight my way through the mass of leaves and fruit to see what is really growing there. It’s my mother’s baby, so we are only allowed to cut it back when it threatens to completely overtake the vegetable garden, which it does on a weekly basis all summer long....
This is a cookbook exclusive recipe! This recipe is exclusive to my debut cookbook Dinner which includes a how-to video for every recipe. Just scan the QR code! Just to explain…. I know, it’s confusing! You’re so used to getting recipes on my website – there’s over 1,200 of them, after all. And here you are looking at a tasty recipe video and I haven’t provided the recipe. 🙀 I’m not just doing this to torture you, I promise....
Have you ever tried to make one of Jamie Oliver’s 15 minute meals? I did. I made Ricotta Fritters with Tomato Sauce and Zucchini Salad. I really tried to make it in 15 minutes. I even followed his “rules”, where you start with all the ingredients on the counter, washed and ready to go, the pan on the stove on high heat and a full kettle of boiled water. It took me just over 20 minutes to get on the table so not bad on timing....
