Nothing is sadder than a poorly-rolled spring or summer roll, but judging the right amount of filling to put in each roll can be difficult. Too little, and it’s all wrap, no flavor. Too much, and you fight to keep the fillings inside. Here are a few tips for rolling the perfect spring roll every time. Start with less filling than you think you need. You can always add more.

What do you do when you pull out the container of brown sugar and it’s a perfectly formed, rock-hard brick? This happened to me the other day, which sent me on the hunt for some effective solutions. Here’s one that worked in a matter of minutes. If you have time to spare, putting a slice of bread or some apple slices on top of the sugar, sealing it up, and letting it sit for a day are a couple hands-off ways to soften brown sugar.

We credit Rachael Ray and other TV cooking hosts for the popularity of the stovetop grill pan. They can “grill” food on camera without having to move the entire production crew outside. Brilliant. But we’re apartment dwellers with no outdoor space, as we know many of you are, and let’s be honest. A pan with raised ridges does not a grill make.

We’ve offered ideas in the past for eating artichokes while they’re in season. Faith showed us how to cook them in the slow cooker, and we gave you three ways to stuff them, which is one of our favorite vegetarian meals. Grilling them (which we briefly talked about here) is incredibly easy, and it may make the big, unwieldy artichoke more approachable to a novice.

We like a nut in our brownie—something toasty and crunchy to break up the texture and add a little extra oomph. But pretzels are even better! Salty, crispy, and a perfect complement to gooey chocolate. A couple of these recipes throw in some peanut butter for good measure.Number two even uses a boxed mix, if you have a favorite and just want to amp it up.

We’re totally charmed by how easy and delicious this is—a simple breakfast food turns into a bubbly, cheesy lunch with just two ingredients. It’s also a genius way to use up leftover Easter eggs. Want to see how to do it?Camilla Fabbri at Family Chic has such cute, creative ideas (like this and this). She says her kids love these grilled cheese Easter eggs, and they couldn’t be quicker to make.

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy) We started out by calling this a lighter version of classic lasagna. But let’s be honest: Despite the fact that you’re switching out ground beef for lean chicken, this recipe still has heavy cream, butter, and plenty of cheese. And yet it’s nice to have an alternative lasagna up your sleeve that isn’t spinach or veggie.

We’ve been on a chocolate cake bender around here. Last week Leela shared her decadent Double Chocolate Sour Cream Birthday Cake, and now we’re talking about another intense chocolate cake from Serious Eats that we made last week. It’s also to die for—thanks to 1 1/4 cups of, yep, mayonnaise. Has anyone ever tried a mayonnaise chocolate cake?

Did any of your parents try to dye eggs green when you were little as a nod to Green Eggs and Ham? The results were always gross. These green eggs, however, we’ll take any day—a simple egg salad with mashed avocado mixed in. Turns out it’s healthier than the original, too. You use half the mayonnaise.

We hear plenty about heirloom tomatoes and heirloom beans, but lettuce? Not so much. We’re seeing it pop up in more and more places, from chain restaurants to mainstream grocery stores, and we’ve become big fans.We find the heirloom lettuce from Earthbound Organic to be especially good. In addition to the petite heads (left), they sell a mix of heirloom leaves. If you like a mix of crunchy and tender bites in your salad, you have to check it out.So, what is heirloom lettuce?