So, you may be thinking to yourself, "That meal looks horrible." And it was. The only redeemable thing on the plate was the ham loaf in the back. Stirred into an omelet the next morning, it tasted like pancakes and sausage. 

But I adore old cookbooks, especially from the 70s and 80s, the dawn of the career woman. With Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" in the background, these books were meant to help women have it all — a career, a family, and a fabulous reputation as a hostess. As it happens, we can't really have it all. And, while some of those cookbooks are full of old school goodness, others didn't make anything easier, as I recently discovered when I revisited one of the recipes.

Q: I am one of those "can't boil water" people who never really cooks. I want to learn, but I'm not sure where to start. I'm finally moving into my own place this summer and I don't have any tools of my own. What do I need and what are some easy recipes that I can start learning with?

Earlier today Dana offered some thoughts on organizing your cookbook collection. She admits that how you choose to organize your cookbooks is all about personal preference, but if you need some visual inspiration, where better to look than our Kitchen Tour archives? Here's a quick peek at how 15 different cooks find ways to store their beloved cookbooks in the kitchen.

I cook a lot. These past couple of weeks, for instance, I've been cooking through all the un-photographed recipes in Bakeless Sweets and shooting them for the book's website. The amount of dishes generated by these 75 recipes has been mountainous. So this clutter of dishes expresses how my kitchen looks, most of the time (and actually, this isn't too bad, in comparison! I will under no circumstances, however, show you my stovetop right now.). And yet I have an open kitchen, with the mess on display for everyone to see. (See my whole kitchen renovation reveal here.)

So can you guess what the most important element of my open kitchen is? 

OK.  So we've made our peace with our cookbook addiction.  Now, how are we going organize all those precious volumes in a way that is attractive, useful, and practical?  Read on for a few hints.

If you don't have a garden, or curbside compost, you might think composting isn't for you. But guess what — you can still join the compost party, even if you're an apartment dweller or suffer from a black thumb. Read on for ways to turn your kitchen scraps into soil and make sure it's put to good use...

Hello. My name is Dana and I am addicted to cookbooks. I'm only half joking here. The truth is that I have a huge cookbook collection, and try as I might, it doesn't look like I'm going to stop adding to it any time soon. What I have managed to do is learn to control it some. Read on for a few helpful hints for managing a cookbook obsession.

When I was little, "happy meal" meant food in the shape of a face. My parents weren't fans of fast food and, with four kids, it wasn't even a bargain. Banana slices with peanut butter for eyes, an apple wedge for the mouth and broken crackers and cheese for all the other features. It was fun! These days, the game has changed. I'm no artist, and my food faces are pretty lame compared to what the internet has to offer.