Potstickers may be my go-to meal for a long day of travel, but if I have to get out of the house before dawn to catch an early flight or hit the road, only one breakfast will do: avocado toast. 

Here is what's awesome about making your own dumplings at home: they will taste better than anything you buy in the store (promise), you will have a freezer full of ready-made meals for the next several weeks (depending on your rate of dumpling consumption), and you will feel like a rock star when you gaze upon your dumpling bounty. Better yet, gather some friends for a dumpling-making fest and divvy up the profits. Everyone is a rock star! Want in on the action? Here's what to do.

The first meals alone in a foreign country are always intimidating. When I moved to a small city in central Japan to teach English for two years, onigiri was the first food I clung to. Like a life raft, these seaweed-wrapped rice balls — sort of the sandwiches of Japanese cuisine — kept me afloat in a sea of unfamiliar foods labeled in a language I could just barely read. 

Made with short-grain rice, toasted nori and a small amount of flavorful seafood, meat or pickles, onigiri combine some of the elements of sushi, but in a more homey, comforting form. These are not the elegant creations of highly-trained chefs, but the familiar, filling foods of school lunches and train trips, providing a little taste of home while on the road.

The green bean casserole is a Thanksgiving staple, but truth be told my favorite time of year to eat green beans starts right now. Freed from the heavy cream and starch of that holiday dish, green beans make the perfect summer side dish all on their own — well, almost on their own. Add a little garlic and oil, or a dollop of pesto and a soft-boiled egg for a truly delicious pairing. Here are 10 recipes that'll soon have you trimming your own pile of green beans with glee!

Last weekend while strolling the farmers market I somehow ended up bringing home a big bag of kettle corn. We actually had strawberries and cherries available for the first time that week, and what did I ultimately end up buying? Sweet and salty popcorn. A few days later, I stumbled across this recipe inspired by a favorite Girl Scout cookie and figured it was a sign: homemade deluxe popcorn was in my future. 

Portable, nutritious and tasty at room temperature, hard-boiled eggs are pretty much the perfect travel food. It is hard to imagine improving on them — but I think you can. All it takes is a quick roll in a soy sauce mixture to make shoyu tamago (soy sauce eggs), a flavorful Japanese bento snack I like to eat on the road or at home.

Miso soup made from scratch will always be the best, but when I'm traveling, I have no shame about sipping the instant stuff. It's a tasty, energy-boosting alternative to all the fatty and sugary foods you usually find on the road, plus it's super light to pack! 

This might sound shocking, but I have to say it: potstickers might be my favorite food. They are my go-to meal when I'm home alone for dinner and my favorite crowd-pleasing appetizer. I even eat them cold for airplane meals. On top of this, you can fill them with anything under the sun and freeze them for handy weeknight meals. This particular combination of rich shiitake mushrooms, chewy baked tofu, and silky cabbage is like an old and very dear friend, one that I never tire of seeing.

Soba noodles are practically made for lunches. They're substantial enough that I feel as if I've really had a meal, but unlike pasta made from white flour, soba noodles contain slow-burning carbohydrates so I stay satisfied until dinner. And because they're made from buckwheat, they have an earthier, more interesting flavor. As if that weren't enough to convince you, they're just as simple to prepare as spaghetti noodles and are a great way to mix up your warm-weather lunch routine. 

Living on the West Coast means some really really long plane rides back to visit family in Minnesota and Massachusetts. A package of pretzels is not going to cut it, and I've struggled with ideas for packable, airplane-approved meals that will also satisfy my hunger pangs. As unlikely as it may seem, Asian dumplings have become my favorite mid-flight meal.