Tips & Tricks on the Blog
There's nothing better than picking-up new tips & tricks. Here are some that we've learned.
Making biscuits with Maw Maw started a lifelong kitchen tradition
These rustic sweet biscuits are easy to make and the ingredients are usually on hand.
The Essential Chef’s Knife: Invest in a good one!
No cook, desperate or not, should be without the perfect chef's knife.
Mollie Katzen's homemade pizza made easy even for a weeknight!
The drawback to homemade pizza crust is the time it takes the dough to rise. The good news is Mollie Katzen's crust freezes and can defrost on the counter to be baked when you get home.
New Crock-Pot Duo does double duty in the kitchen
We really like the new Crock-Pot Duo, which puts two separate cooker pots, side by side, in one base.
Which is better, ground turkey or ground chicken? All breast meat or a mix?
Do you ever substitute ground turkey or ground chicken for ground beef in your recipes? We're looking for some cooking advice!
Not measuring your flour correctly will ruin your cookies!
After a few readers had difficulty with Nanny Edith's Sugar Cookies, we thought this video could help with the problems.
Desperate Cooks Freeze Their Cheese!
Freezing your cheese means you never have to throw away huge moldy hunks of expensive cheese.
Desperately seeking the perfect travel mug: Is this too much to ask?
Alicia needs a new travel mug and can’t find one. She's hoping that you all can help.
Cooking for One or Two: A new challenge here on Kitchen Scoop
Cooking for one or two is a new challenge for us and we'd love to work together with our readers to come up with terrific recipes, ideas and tips. So come help us out!
How much pasta is just enough? Tips for eliminating leftovers!
Just enough pasta never looks like enough. Oh, sure, the box says two ounces is a serving, but can you really trust it? And how do you know how much is two ounces?
How do you cook for one or two in the Empty Nest?
Cooking for one or two people is often quite different from cooking for a whole family. We’re searching for recipes, tips and ideas for cooking, shopping and conserving – basically how to scale down in the kitchen and make fabulous meals for one or two.
Black-eyed Pea Salad brings good luck and great flavor!
Black-eyed Pea Salad is hearty enough to make an entree for New Year’s lunch or serves as a suitable side dish. And everybody likes it.
Easy desserts make it easier to stay in on New Year's Eve
If you're not headed out on the town for New Year's Eve, you might as well eat dessert.
Serving sweet potatoes that aren't so sweet!
We’ve longed for a way to serve sweet potatoes without all of the sugar. Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Simple Balsamic Vinaigrette is perfect!
Recipe ideas for a special Christmas breakfast
From Eggnog French Toast to Pumpkin Pancakes, we've got Christmas breakfast covered!
All-purpose quiche is really just a formula
My all-purpose, everyday quiche is built around a ratio of eggs to cream, with a lot of cheese and a few vegetables and perhaps meat thrown in for flavor.
Does anybody still have dinner parties anymore?
Are you giving any dinner parties this holiday season? Have you been invited to any? What did you serve or eat?
What are your favorite foods to fix for a potluck?
Holiday season means “Potluck Party Season” for us, but we expect it to be even more true with this year’s economy.
Here's how to roast chestnuts in your very own oven!
Roasting fresh chestnuts in your home oven is easy and the results are delicious! Here's how.
Finding a cheap holiday ham is like a sport
The delectability of a ham does not depend on paying a lot of money for it.
Hooray for Healthier Cream-of Soups! How do you use them?
The main ingredient of America's first Desperation Dinner was, no doubt, a can of cream of mushroom soup. Now, finally, there's reduced-fat, reduced-sodium version.
Lots of ways to love Pumpkin-Spiced Whiskey Walnuts!
You’ll certainly enjoy Pumpkin-Spiced Whiskey Walnuts as a snack, but there are so many things you can do with spiced nuts to embellish other recipes. Click here for details!
Here's a healthy cookie to lighten up that jar!
We wondered if we would miss the butter in our favorite version of Oatmeal Raisin Pecan Cookies. The answer? Read and find out!
Classic Turkey Tetrazzini makes leftovers taste terrific!
We've been known to cook an extra-big turkey just to have enough meat left over to make this classic dish!
Thanksgiving Help: Emergency Hotlines a Call Away!
Preparing for the feast can make the best of us second-guess our cooking and baking times. If you have a full-fledged disaster or even a minor question, help is standing by!
Six-Minute Cranberry-Orange Relish: Close to grandmother’s without all the work!
Six-Minute Cranberry-Orange Relish is close to my grandmother’s original relish yet only requires, literally, six minutes start to finish. Compromise never tasted so good.
What's your favorite recipe for making cranberry sauce?
What's your favorite recipe for making cranberry sauce? Of all the choices, Cranberry Sauce with Port and Figs is probably my favorite.
Reader's "redo" makes Maque Choux even faster!
When one of our Desperation Dinners readers takes on one of our recipes, the work just goes by even faster! Maque Choux gets subjected to group think!
Edamame: An easy, healthy appetizer. Just hold the worms!
Thanks to the glories of frozen vegetables and the younger generation of Americans who are obsessed with healthy foods, edamame has moved into the mainstream.
Handy peeler puts a spin on cooking with apples
Alicia says it’s worth using an apple peeler when she has to peel, core and slice more than three apples. Here are her pros and cons!
Steak Diane that works even on a weeknight!
Traditional Steak Diane is prepared table-side in a flourish – butter, tenderloin, cream, brandy and a burst of flames. Quick by nature, it is easy to adapt to the desperation dinner table.A Scary-Quick Recipe for Halloween
The scariest thing about Halloween is whether or not you'll be able to put dinner on the table before the doorbell rings. Try this really quick kid-pleaser.
Desperizing a Cajun soup for today's schedule
Do you ever take a complicated recipe and whittle it down to fit your busy lifestyle? We’ve “desperized” hundreds of complicated recipes over the course of writing Desperation Dinners, and one lesson we’ve learned never seems to change.
Time to buy a new Crock-Pot? Here's how to tell.
If you haven’t used your Crock-Pot in so long you’re afraid of it, now is the time to dust the dear sweet thing off and get cooking. Or at least figure out if the darn thing is worth keeping.
Tricks for cooking the best-ever sea scallops!
Ever wondered how to saute sea scallops to the perfect burnish? Check this out!Homemade pita chips let your imagination soar!
Gourmet specialty “chips” are yummy – and usually expensive – so we set out to see what it would take to make our own.
Cheating on the dumplings still makes a fine Chicken Stew
Making Chicken Stew the way our grandmother's did requires a bit of ingenuity and a few substitutes. But it's all good!
Scrumptious Crock Pot Beef Stew has a few secret ingredients but it's the easiest, most delicious!
This is my beef stew secret. Alicia and I are both thrilled to have an official copy in our virtual recipe box. Let us know if you like it as much as we do.
Is homemade hummus cheaper than store-bought?
Making hummus might seem like a giant WHY since prepared hummus is widely available in an array of flavors. But ours is cheaper than store-bought and tastes fresher, too!
Exactly what Is a curry? Guest Blogger Raghavan Iyer spills all!
In England and the rest of the world, “curry” is the catchall word for anything Indian that is mottled with hot spices, with or without a sauce. In Raghavan Iyer's India, curry just IS!
How do you buy fish in the age of fillets?
I can’t even remember the last time I looked a fresh fish in the eye. If that time-worn trick doesn’t work for buying fillets, what’s a conscientious shopper to do?
Pre-washed salad greens need another round in the spinner
Homemade produce washes let you enjoy your salads without fear of toxins.
Array of required spices can make Indian recipe prices spiral
Based on a survey of three mainstream Indian cookbooks, the average recipe uses between six and 10 herbs and spices (either fresh or dried). Unless you already have a well-stocked spice cabinet, purchasing them will quickly add up.
Can Overstuffed Twice-Baked Potatoes make a whole meal?
This steakhouse favorite is considered a side dish in a restaurant but our recipe for Overstuffed Twice-Baked Potatoes makes a filling entree.
Change up the pasta to give new shape to dinner!
Pasta rescues me weekly, and it's all too easy to get into a rut -- same old noodle, same old sauce. Choosing a different shape of pasta gives a new look and feel to dinner with no extra work for the cook.
Wraps are easy to pack and go for end-of-summer fun
Wraps are quick to make, convenient to transport and easy to eat.
BBQ Chicken fit for a man with a bit of beer and a lotta banjo!
At Beverly's house, Barbecued Chicken means a man with tongs, meat and fire who has an excuse to hide in the backyard, sip beer and play the banjo. Preferably for a very long time.
Kids....family meals....harmony. So how realistic is this combination?
The research is very clear and widely discussed -- kids who eat regular family meals have a definite leg up. But how on Earth are we supposed to pull it off?
How to get a steakhouse-style "Perfect Baked Potato"
Before now, we'd never been able to bake a perfect steakhouse potato. But after our first try with this recipe and the astounded look on our husbands' faces, we knew we'd hit the jackpot.
Thanks to Jennifer for her kind words and for her "Special Stir-Fry" recipe!
This is the sort of letter we live for – the writer loves Desperation Dinners, expresses it beautifully and shares a terrific original recipe we’ve nicknamed “Jennifer’s Special Stir-Fry.”
When is it safe to baste meat in its own marinade?
Should you baste meat while cooking it or not? Here’s out quick overview of how we decide based on guidelines from the USDA.
Grilled Chicken for Cooks Who Forgot to Defrost First...
If you’re in the desperate category while reading this, do not despair. You can indeed grill terrific chicken in a blink. Our Emergency Grilled Chicken recipe is just the ticket.
Freeze fresh peaches in muffin tins to use all year
A bushel of peaches for only $15 turns into a frozen bonanza for one inventive cook.
Blue Cheese Dressing makes a great veggie dip
Sure you can buy blue cheese dressing/dip in a jar but ours is so simple and makes you feel so much better about yourself!
Hard-cooking eggs is so easy! Or is it?
To hard-boil eggs, place them in a pot and add enough cold water to just cover the tops. But then what?
Crab and Artichoke Pizza Makes Entertaining Easy
This appetizer pizza is essentially topped with a jazzed-up version of an old Junior League cookbook standby – artichoke dip. (It’s not the healthiest concoction and that’s probably why everyone seems to love it so!)
Parfaits? Individual trifles? By any name this dessert is cool!
Here are the rules for making our new favorite summer dessert: Do not cook, throw it together in a jiffy, substitute ingredients at will, eat and enjoy!
Delicious vichyssoise secret best kept quiet
A classic chilled French soup, vichyssoise is very forgiving when it comes to potatoes. Who says it has to be hard?
Asian ingredients for stir-fry don't always have to be exact
Many Chinese and other Asian dishes are much more flexible than you might imagine.
How to substitute fresh oregano for dried
Simple instructions and ideas for substituting fresh oregano for dried oregano.
Oatmeal: The new (very old) hurricane super food
When stocking the pantry for hurricanes, snow storms and other emergencies, what’s the best thing to keep on hand? Try oatmeal, the new (very old) super food.
Is it possible to make a healthy pizza?
Kids love pizza, but nutritionally speaking, pizza doesn’t love kids. Can you make a healthier pizza at home that kids will actually eat? After scouring nutrition panels on various ingredients and testing recipes for a couple of days our answer is: We hope so!
Summer Sipping
A cold goblet of Summer Sangria is the perfect antidote to a sweltering day. Mix up a batch in minutes, gather with friends and splurge.
Making great gazpacho
I crave cold soups in the summer. Nothing is more refreshing than a bowl of crisp, cool vegetables in a robust soup base. However, cold soup is not an easy sell to my family. It can be downright hard in fact. So here’s what I did:
The Daily Plate can be a powerful nutritional tool
Lance Armstrong wants to turn you into a nutrition expert with a few clicks of your mouse. His free online calorie-counter, food diary and nutrient tracker is almost as awesome as Lance himself.
Online video shows the art of the Mojito muddle
If you want to make a terrific Mojito, it all comes down to the exact Art of the Muddle. The right muddler doesn't hurt. Thanks to this video at ChowHound.com we finally figured it out.
Microwave bearnaise is foolproof, fast and fabulous
To make a béarnaise sauce in the authentic French tradition you have to stand at the stove and hope. It’s not easy. But our microwave replica is foolproof, fast and fabulous.
Can "Let's Dish" idea be copied at home?
Has anyone been to one of those meal-assembly franchises like Let’s Dish and then tried to copy the idea at home?
Change is Hard When Birdies Fly
Finding a way to cope with the Dreaded Empty Nest could lead to an all-organic diet or maybe eating one raisin at a time.
Debbie Says: You Grill Girl!
Guest Blogger Debbie Moose is fed up with the bla-bla on Father’s Day grilling. Estrogen deserves a place at the fire, too.
Congrats to our banana bread contest winner!
Announcing our first “random” contest winner here on Kitchen Scoop, and thanks to everyone who sent us favorite “add-ins” for banana bread recipes! Here's what you told us...
Why not entertain the bride at home?
Wedding season is upon us and until the economy improves, entertaining the bride at home is an option worth serious consideration. Insanity you say? Not if you keep the menu simple.
Will pizza hate you in the morning?
It’s not that I crave delivery pizza, it’s just that there’s nothing easy to cook and besides, I’m tired. But then it arrives, and frankly, I hate myself about an hour and a half later.
It’s greasy and doesn’t taste all that good. And I’ve just spent $16 plus tip. Now I have two reasons to hate myself. What to do?
Clean Up -- Quick!
If you’ve ever caught yourself choosing a recipe not by how it tastes but by whether it destroys the kitchen, we understand completely. What are your favorite tips for making cleanup a breeze?
The Center System Organizes the Kitchen
Everything I ever needed to know about organizing my kitchen I learned from kindergarten.
As a teen, Jason needed cooking advice. Now he's the one giving it!
We first heard from Jason Gerling of New Hartford, N.Y., when he was 14 years old and needed some recipe advice. Now, a decade later, he's the one offering the advice. Online coupons anyone?
Chocolate “Fondue” with Strawberries is sinfully good
If it’s strawberry season we look for every excuse to eat them. This recipe is sort of feels like cheating – (cheating on what exactly we’re not sure) -- but it’s sinfully good.
Coupon clipping is easier when it's a game
When I have trouble getting excited about coupons, which is often, I turn it into a game. Especially when it's a savings so small you'll need a magnifying glass, such as a 20-cents-off coupon, I play the “percentage game.”
No Dinner Plan? No Worries.
When I’m tempted to call out for food I’ll regret, I ask myself: Is it possible to whip up something that will be faster, cheaper, contain less calories and taste as good (or better) without losing my temper?
Has anybody seen this Caramel Cake?
If you know where I might find a recipe for authentic Southern Caramel Cake, please let me know. If you’re able to offer technical consultation, that’d be great too!
Teenage Spaghetti Madness: Verdict is in!
The verdict for my grand Spaghetti Madness experiment: A huge success! Daughter Grey and her friend Jessica Austin made four batches of My Best-Ever Salvation Spaghetti yesterday.
Immersion blender is Alicia's new favorite tool
I’ve got a new favorite kitchen tool. It’s an immersion blender, also known as a stick blender or hand blender. Basically it’s a blender you put into the food instead of the food into the blender. And it’s perfect for pureeing soups as well as mixing drinks, blending individual milk shakes and more.
Refrigerator Tweets A Sad Commentary?
My son will be home from college in just a few hours and I fear I’m out of practice cooking for four. After spotting my Tweets on the sad state of my refrigerator capacity, several friends on Facebook offered comments.
Let's get those leftovers cookin'!
Leftovers are a desperate cooks’ best friend. We sometimes cook extras intentionally for a jump start on dinner down the road.Microwave Risotto Method Is Extraordinary
We first heard about making risotto in the microwave 22 years ago, and people are still talking about it. Few recipes excite experienced food lovers to this degree, and in her 1987 cookbook Microwave Gourmet, Barbara Kafka indeed hit on something extraordinary.
Tips on Buying Shrimp
Supermarket seafood sections have exploded with shrimp. Truth be told, these days price is often our biggest consideration in deciding what to buy. But it’s not like we didn’t do the homework. Here are some tips.
Chipotle restaurant's chicken is easy to grill at home
When my son Sam was eating way too much fast food from Chipotle, I set out to “help” him curb the habit. The result was a terrific Copycat Chipotle Chicken that you can grill at home.
Freeze leftover sauces in ice cube trays
If it’s liquid, expensive and likely to spoil before we can eat it all, it goes into an ice cube tray. Take pesto, a typical tablespoon-or-two-at-time sort of sauce. Here’s how to make it last forever.
Making space in a cramped kitchen
If your kitchen is big enough to hold a barn dance or no bigger than a broom closet, you'll never have enough space. Here are some tricks.
Crock Pot Risotto wows newspaper readers
People are passionate about risotto but it seems too difficult to make at home. Alicia’s Crock Pot version was a hit when we published the recipe in our newspaper column.
One secret ingredient makes clam chowder simple
I love seafood chowders of all kinds and what makes them possible in just 20 minutes is a simple, ingenious ingredient: Clam base adds a long-simmered depth as soon as it hits the pot.
Don't Waste Money on a Too-Small Skillet
All-in-one skillet recipes are especially convenient for busy nights because you can cook your whole dinner with only one pan to wash. But convenience turns into disaster if your pan is too small.
Frosting for Your Feet
How fair is it when the only excellent genes you inherited govern body parts located strictly below the knee? This post isn’t exactly about food -- unless you’re hoping somebody will nibble on your toes.
Menu planning doesn't have to be complicated
Back when we were growing up in the South dinner wasn’t dinner without meat, potatoes and two or three other vegetables on the side. But how little can you put on the plate and feel good about calling it dinner?
Boiling Water Saves Your Sanity
When you're late, tired and truly at a loss for what to fix for dinner, walk straight to the kitchen and put a large pot of water on to boil. Suddenly, your dinner possibilities seem endless.
How can you know if baking powder and soda are still fresh?
If you don't bake frequently, you're going to need to pay particular attention to the health and well-being of your baking powder.
Snow Day Pulls Out the Pantry
Quick pantry items to have on hand for snow days (or any desperate day, really!)
Hamburger Saves the Day
Quick kitchen tip for the day: A stash of frozen hamburger can morph into dinner in 20 minutes flat.
