Like a good chili or chicken noodle soup, homemade beef stew is one of those dishes that is just good to have in your back pocket. It's a dish that will serve you well through long winters and family visits and other small moments of need. Making one isn't hard and will surely nourish you through several meals. Here's my tried-and-true method for making a very good beef stew.

I went on a bit of a granola bender the other week for reasons best left between me and my obsessive brain. The upshot of this, as you can probably guess, was that I ended up with a lot of granola sitting on my counter. After foisting jars of it onto my friends and snacking on it every afternoon, I still had more granola than I could conceivably eat before it went stale. The solution? Freeze it.

Q: I'm a very busy grad student. Lately I have been cooking up big batches of recipes and freezing the leftovers. I am looking for suggestions for single serving containers that I can freeze, and then microwave later in the day so that this healthy frozen food is a good grab and go option for me.

Sent by Maria

I had a few realizations over the holidays this year with family. There were the usual suspects, of course: travel mayhem, gifting stress, and family drama. But this year there was a new player on the block: bad casseroles. I'm not sure if it was just chance or if my mom and sisters were digging through old late 1980's cookbooks, but we had some very heavy, flavorless casseroles during the Christmas holiday. One such recipe was that infamous Tuna Noodle Casserole made with canned soup. I hadn't had it in years, and the whole time I was eating it, I couldn't help but think: there's got to be a better way! More

It's been months since I yanked basil from the ground and whizzed up some pesto. When basil is in season, I'm slathering it on everything from pasta to crostini to eggs, to the point where it is a kitchen staple. What happens when that pesto-craving hits, but your window-box is bare and the market only has sad limp little bouquets of basil? Get creative.
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It's January, which means we are all craving food that is a little lighter, a little healthier, and a little more in line with the way we've resolved to eat this year. But at the same time, it's January and when we're wrapped up in sweaters and blankets, it's comfort foods we're dreaming about. That's where this recipe comes in. With its rich, mushroom-studded filling tucked under a layer of soft mashed sweet potato, it has all the hallmarks of a good shepherd's pie, but it's completely vegan — and includes a secret ingredient that adds body and creaminess to the filling, without any cream. More

If you've avoided cooking beans at home because you've heard that they are troublesome, finicky, or complicated, it's time to leave that behind. Cooking beans is no more bother than filling a pot of water and letting it simmer happily on the back burner all afternoon. In fact, that's basically all it is. Ignore the naysayers; it's time to cook some tasty, creamy, totally tender beans at home. More

Recently, while nosing around in the freezer section of the market, I noticed that frozen fruit mixes labeled "tropical" always contain banana, pineapple and strawberry. I found the same thing in the dried fruit section. Strawberry? Doesn't "tropical" refer to the steamy and fertile band of earth near the equator, between the tropics of Capircorn and Cancer? This is not a place where strawberries thrive.

So I began to ask myself about truly tropical food combinations, and I thought of doctoring up some banana bread. More

Discovering the fridge is empty right when hunger pangs hit is the downfall of many good plans for healthy meals. Knowing you have a few basic ingredients tucked away in the freezer for these moments helps curb the impulse to reach for the take-out menu. Eating Well shares their freezer essentials. More

When making a big pot of soup, do you ever think "wow, this will be great to freeze" only to realize two weeks down the road that your white bean chili has passed its peak? Sometimes our best intentions lose out to busy schedules and food never quite makes it to the freezer, ending up in the trash instead. Fix this tendency with a Freeze First rule! More