I love taking the flavors and ingredients from foods I've eaten while traveling and pulling them into my weekly meals. This veggie burger takes inspiration from around the world — green curry paste, fresh cilantro, creamy black beans, and crunchy walnuts — and puts them into traditional patty form. This burger with its spicy kick is perfect for your next picnic or backyard barbecue.

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.

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.

Before you leave on a trip, you probably remember to take out the trash, do the dishes and clean out the refrigerator. But there is one more thing you could be doing to make your return a whole lot happier.

Fun fact: I got married at a BJ's Restaurant. During a six-month period when I lived in a Southern California suburb surrounded by giant, generic chain restaurants like Applebee's and Outback Steakhouse, my future husband and I developed an unexpected affection for the doughy deep-dish pizzas and hot-pink strawberry lemonades at the local BJ's. Not to mention the Pizookie, a cookie baked in a small cake pan, served hot and gooey with ice cream scooped on top. The Pizookie had a lot to do with it, come to think of it.

I don't know about the rest of the country, but Atlanta seems to be the epicenter of a giant burger boom. Everywhere you turn, there is a new chef-owned burger joint promising the best beefy bite between buns you've ever tasted. But are those $20 burgers really worth it? Perhaps once you try this Beef and Bacon Burger Blend you won't think so. 

Q: My wedding is at the end of June and I am doing a "potluck" dessert table where people can bring chocolate, vanilla, strawberry or lemon desserts. I love to bake and I'm planning on making a few desserts myself ahead of time. What are some freezer-friendly desserts that I can make now, that will still be delicious in a month and a half?

I love leftovers, but I realize not everyone shares the sentiment. My boyfriend, for one, is in this camp. We often make a big pot of grains on the weekend to eat throughout the week, but there are times when Wednesday rolls around and we're simply sick of quinoa and brown rice. Then the question inevitably arises: what to do with half a pot of cooked grains? Freeze it!

Although spring is upon us and we should be taking full advantage of farmers' markets and fresh grocery store offerings, sometimes the frozen veggies still come in handy for last-minute dinner convenience. back is what's for dinner. In an effort to make them taste, less, well, frozen, here are five ways to help get the most flavor from our freezer friends!