cooking made easy

In the curious timetable of magazines, editors are always working a season ahead in order to meet press deadlines. This means that right now, Real Simple’s food editors are planning Thanksgiving coverage. (Yes, in this dreadful heat our test kitchens are turning out roast turkeys and pies by the dozens.) But even in my off hours, I find that the slowed pace of summer weekends are surprisingly conducive to making cookies, cupcakes, and tarts.

As if to bolster my creative impulses, I just got an email announcing a 3-day overstock sale. . . .

In this buget-conscious era, it’s hard to ignore the cost of products while you’re grocery shopping. Though I still always try to buy the natural or organic version of an item, many times it’s hard to justify the price and I find myself reaching toward Cheerios instead of Generic Organic O’s. But what if you had a coupon? Does price really matter to you when grocery shopping?

Gas or charcoal? For every person who extols the rich smoky char unique to a charcoal grill you’ll find another equally passionate about the convenience of a. . .

As far as hot button issues go, coffee preferences rank pretty near the top. French press or drip, black or with Equal, Dunkin’ Donuts or Starbucks: The way people enjoy (or even fetishize) their morning cup of joe is. . .

In the summer I spend my weekends in a tiny town in Massachusetts. I look forward to it because I can finally escape my small city kitchen and make meals in a room larger than a shoe box….

I always struggle with what to eat for lunch, but lately I have been dabbling in the world of salads. I’ve been resistant only because salad typically doesn’t fill me up. Adding a ton more protein (hard-boiled eggs, kidney beans, grilled chicken) seems to do the trick. What also helped this transformation? I’m a chopped salad convert.

The NY lunch market is overwrought with custom salad places that chop your salad into bite-size pieces (chop’t is right across the street from the Real Simple offices). These chopped salads, though delicious, can be a total budget breaker. So I was intrigued when I saw…

Here’s a crossword puzzle for you. The clue: certain pop. It’s 4 letters….it’s not Coke… Stumped yet? The answer: Nehi. Have you ever heard of it?

After facing this exact crossword clue, I have now learned (thanks to my father-in-law) that it’s a soda from the 1920s and came in grape, peach, root bear, and other flavors. It got me thinking about the evolution of soda and all the random and regional sodas out there, like Tab, Vernors Ginger Ale, and Crush.

I am not a gardener. Fortunately, the other people in my family are the good earth types, willing (and happy) to spend hours clearing weeds and digging in the dirt. This year, we’ve decided to try growing produce. After a disappointing trial with. . .

I rarely cook from supermarket hand-outs and pamphlets, but this recipe looked so straightforward when it was given to me by the counterman at one of my favorite ravioli shops, I thought I’d give it a try. I made it for my mother on Mother’s Day and it was a hit.

When people complain to me about hating to cook I usually think that 35% of the problem is that they are using a bad knife, 35% is that they are using inefficient cutting techniques, [...]