Cooking

Tender marinated zucchini, summer squash, mushrooms, and red onions are grilled to smoky perfection, and topped with tangy goat cheese in this delish grilled vegetable salad. Serve it as a salad, a side dish, or a light summer entree.  Don’t you love the flavor that grilling adds to food? Slightly charred and subtly smoky, the natural flavors of meat, veggies, and even fruit are intensified by the high heat of grilling. The grilled food sort of gets an outdoorsy flavor.  This grilled vegetable salad is a good example. Summer squash, zucchini, mushrooms, and onions aren’t really terribly exciting vegetables but marinate them and put them on the grill to cook and magic happens! These regular vegetables become so flavorful and delicious, you can hardly believe it.  I almost...

Wondering why your chocolate chip cookies sometimes end up flat as saucers?! The Never Cook Naked guys offer tips and tricks to help stop your cookies from spreading in the oven. A Fix For Flat Cookies Dear Never Cook Naked Guys: Why do my chocolate chip cookies always spread too much? I heard somewhere that using more shortening and less butter would fix this problem.—Flattened But Still Baking Dear Flattened: Blame Laura Petrie. Actually, blame everyone in the ’60s. Back then, home cooks wanted convenience, so they quit lifting their biceps-building stand mixers in and out of the pantry and instead bought nifty little hand mixers they could keep in a drawer. But those puny, weakling gadgets can’t handle butter that’s anything but semi-liquid. Thus, cookie recipes began to...

Fill in the giveaway information, and you’ll be entered to win a Dash Compact Air Fryer. (ARV $99.99) Note: You can enter this giveaway two (2) times per e-mail address per day. Deadline is 11:59PM ET 9.16.20. With the continually changing circumstances due to COVID-19, there will be a delay of unknown length in delivering prizes in order to protect our team and our partners. Thank you for your understanding. Nothing beats a burger…unless it’s a burger and fries. With the Dash Compact Air Fryer you can eat those fries with a lot less guilt. The rapid air circulation system quickly crisps ingredients while eliminating calories from added oil. It has a timer and shuts off automatically, so you never have to worry about overcooking or burning and the non-stick basket cleans eas...

Fill in the giveaway information, and you’ll be entered to win a copy of Big Mamma Cucina Popolare: Contemporary Italian Recipes by Big Mamma (Phaidon Press, 2020).  (ARV $45) Note: You can enter this giveaway one (1) time per e-mail address per day. Deadline is 11:59PM ET 8.12.20. With the continually changing circumstances due to COVID-19, there will be a delay of unknown length in delivering prizes in order to protect our team and our partners. Thank you for your understanding. The Big Mamma restaurant group in Paris is known as a place where you can share amazing, authentic, inventive Italian food. Grab the nearest utensil and dig into 120 different recipes for dishes like spaghetti carbonara, burratelli, pizza yolo, and red berry pavlova while sipping your daft punch. Ea...

Caprese Avocado Salad is light, refreshing, and super easy to make with all of the flavors of traditional caprese plus avocado for added creaminess. It will be a huge hit at any picnic, potluck, or backyard barbecue! Don’t let the simplicity of this salad fool you. This is crave-ably delicious! It is simple to make and comes together in under 15 minutes. It’s light and bright and full of fresh flavors. The dressing is quite simple and subtle. History Lesson: Did you know that it was not love at first sight with caprese? Caprese dates back to the early 1920s in Italy and was created as a tribute to the Italy flag and its colors. However, it did not truly catch on until the 1950s when King Farouk was served a caprese sandwich as a snack. After the king took just one bite of that t...

This steak seasoning is just a few simple ingredients, coming together as the perfect blend of spices to make the most delicious steak every single time.  So you finally feel confident in how to cook the perfect medium-rare steak, but how is the flavor? Haven’t perfected the seasoning yet? We hate an under-seasoned steak, and want better for all you steak lovers out there.  Under seasoning aside, let’s talk over seasoning. The seasoning is meant to compliment the flavor of your steak, and not over power it. There are a lot of spice options for steak, but we’ve blended together just the right amount of salt, peppers, garlic, onion, and paprika for the perfect combination of flavor. You’re going to love this recipe! Using the right amount of steak seasoning: The amount of seasonin...

Spicy Thai Pasta Salad is hot, tangy, and inspired by the flavors of Thai cuisine. You’re going to love this dish! This recipe is such a huge hit. We always have to double or triple batch this every time we make it. Forget tiny, small portions, you are going to want a heaping helping of Spicy Thai Pasta Salad. If you want to make this a more hearty main dish, you can even add shredded rotisserie chicken.  The secret to spicy Thai pasta salad is the infused oil and red pepper mixture. It sounds fancy, but infusing oils is actually really easy. The flavors continue to  develop over time, so you really want to let this sit for at least 4 hours, and preferably overnight. We know it’s difficult, but trust us, it will be worth the wait! Pasta Options: Don’t love bowtie pasta? You can ...

Insanely Delicious Cheesy Broccoli is savory, crispy, and packed with flavor! Even the pickiest of eaters will beg for more of this amazing, cheesy side dish! Let’s be honest, broccoli isn’t anyone’s favorite vegetable. If you grew up with the canned variety, or as a kid, your mom just never moved beyond boiling or steaming it, we’re here for you. We support you. Now, we’re going to help you overcome your fear of bland, mushy broccoli. If you’ve never played with sprucing up your veggies, we’re here to tell you that citrus and cheese is where it’s at. Citrus brightens up the flavor, and cheese just makes everything extra savory and comforting. Who doesn’t love cheese? If you’re trying to throw together a meal last minute, this side dish is quick, easy, and pairs really well with ba...

Refrigerator pickles have just the right amount of salty, tangy goodness with the most perfect crunch. You are going to love making pickles at home! Pickles are for more than just midnight cravings of pregnant women, everybody loves pickles! And like most things, they are so much better when made at home! Don’t feel intimidated here, making pickles is so quick and easy. You’ll never reach for that store-bought jar again!  History Lesson: Pickles date back thousands of years, when pickling was the best way to preserve food. You might immediately think of cucumbers when talking about pickles, but practically any vegetable can be pickled!  Cucumber Options for Pickling: Regular Cucumbers are the standard cucumbers you see at the grocery store that are short and wide and may even ...

Zucchini and black bean skillet is easy and delicious! Zucchini and Black Bean Skillet is a wonderful way to use up zucchini and is quick and easy.   This makes a great side dish for grilled steaks, pork or chicken.  You could also add meat to this for a complete meal in a skillet.  I think this one will become one of your favorites.  It is great leftover and reheated.  I love it for lunch and can make a meal off it. The cheese really makes this dish, too. Zucchini and Black Bean Skillet 2 medium zucchini or 4 to 5 cups, unpeeled and chopped 2 tablespoons cooking oil 1 tablespoon bacon drippings, Optional 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped 1/2 cup diced green onions 1 cup chopped celery 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth 1 (10 ounce) can...