I am a huge arugula fan. Luckily (though somewhat surprisingly), my family is too — even my kids, ever since a pretty young age. The peppery lettuce is so fantastic in salads and also layered into sandwiches or even chopped as used as a garnish. Arugula can be eaten uncooked or cooked — it’s a nice addition to stir-fries and can be wilted into a pan sauce. Because arugula is quite peppery, it is often part of a lettuce blend, especially if the arugula is more mature and stronger in taste. Try it in the endive and orange salad below, or make Chicken with Arugula and Mustard Pan Sauce and Roaste ..read more

Let me start by saying that leeks (along with shallots) are one of my very favorite parts of the gorgeous world of onions. So I am truly happy to be spreading the leek gospel. Milder than onions, especially when cooked, the cylindrical white and green alliums are wonderful in so many different preparations and recipes. Once you start cooking with this vegetable, you will always want to have them in your fridge. Table of Contents What Are Leeks? What Do Leeks Look Like? What Do Leeks Taste Like? FAQs How to Clean Leeks How to Cut Leeks How to Use Leeks How to Store Leeks 12 Leek Recipes How to ..read more

Ramps are leeks that grow in the wild. They are very difficult to cultivate, which is part of their appeal and mystique (think truffles). Ramps are one of the first spring vegetables to appear in farmers markets and chefs’ menus after a winter of tubers and citrus. They essentially taste like a very garlicky leek or scallion. Below are a bunch of recipes that use ramps and will put those spring ramps to perfect use! If you aren’t yet familiar with ramps, that’s cool. Ramps are a source of much pleasure for many and some silly snobbery for some. Some people go crazy for them, which means some p ..read more

This is such a great egg cooking technique when you need to make a whole bunch of eggs but you’re not thinking about scrambled eggs. These little oven-baked eggs with their perfectly cooked yolks and whites are ideal for cooking for a breakfast crowd and can also be made into a whole bunch of perky egg sandwiches as you wish. All you need for this recipe (more of a method than a recipe, really) is eggs, a muffin tin, and an oven. You can crack all of the eggs into the muffin tins and store them in the fridge for several hours before baking, which means that you can have a full batch of oven-ba ..read more

There are few things more disheartening to find in the fridge than a container of cold, hard rice fused together like a crumbly brick. Whether it’s take-out rice or the most perfect homemade rice from a pot you made earlier in the week, it never looks promising when you pull it out from the refrigerator. But luckily, there are a couple of ways to reheat rice. If you use one of these rice reheating tricks, you can ensure that those precious grains stay fluffy and don’t get gummy, lumpy, or dry. So go ahead — don’t just make enough rice for one dinner. Once you know how to reheat it, you can mul ..read more

Not sure if your eggs are still fresh? Use the “water test” or the “float test” to tell if your eggs are fresh enough to eat or have gone bad without having to crack them! The USDA recommends keeping the eggs in their original carton, storing them in the main body of the fridge (not the door), and keeping them for up to 3 weeks. However, most eggs will last a lot longer than that and be perfectly delicious and safe to eat. Eggs are usually good for a few weeks beyond the expiration date on the carton. But eggs can go bad, and if you have any questions about the quality or freshness of your egg ..read more

Avocados are one of the greatest fruits out there (you knew that avocados were a fruit, right?). Hardly a chore in terms of those daily servings of produce, though. Most of us love avocados and think of them as more of a luxurious treat rather than something to fill our Daily Recommended Allowance of healthy foods. Here’s the scoop (ha, ha): Avocado is great on almost anything. From a simple California BLT to easy Guacamole, this creamy green veggie brightens so many uncooked dishes. I love adding it to salads — try my Avocado Salad with Creamy Miso Dressing, Salmon, Arugula, and Avocado Salad ..read more

There is only one thing to do during the short days and cold nights of winter — make soup. Make lots and lots of soup. Creamy soups, chunky soups, spicy soups, soothing soups. Dip a toe into a new cuisine by way of soup. Play with those condiments in the door of the fridge, with soup as your mode of transport. And make big pots of these soups. Why anyone would make a small pot of soup, even if you don’t have many mouths to feed, is beyond me. Eat it all week long. Freeze it. Bring it to work. Bring it to a friend, a neighbor, or your pottery teacher. And if you’re in the sharing mode (and who ..read more

Hosting a Super Bowl Sunday party has long been part of our world (lots of football fans in this house, and as of a couple of months ago my older son is working for the NY Giants as a software engineer, so we are a VERY football-centric household). I absolutely love creating the Super Bowl menu every year. What makes a good game day recipe is, of course, subjective, but there are certainly some crowd-pleasing fan favorites. I try to create a balance of dishes: some healthy, some vegetarian or vegan, and some cheesy and beefy. I also lean right into the crock pot, making at least one dish in th ..read more

The flavor and aroma of lemongrass are citrusy, fresh, and slightly magical. Most of us have encountered lemongrass in a Thai, Vietnamese, or other Southeast Asian restaurant or setting. It adds a delicate, lemony, and ever-so-slightly minty flavor to dishes like soups, curries, stir-fries, and salads. It works well with all kinds of ingredients, from spicy to savory. It can also be the base of a soothing tea. Table of Contents Lemongrass Substitutes Where to Find Lemongrass How to Cook With Lemongrass How to Cut Lemongrass How to Store Lemongrass FAQs Recipes That Use Lemongrass How to Cook ..read more