Hali Bey Ramdene

Hali Bey Ramdene is the founder of StudioHalibey, a creative consultancy that tells stories around food, good living, and well-being.
How to Make Deviled Eggs Ahead of Time
Prep deviled eggs ahead and save on time!
Feb 7, 2023
Salted vs. Unsalted Butter: Which One Should I Use?
They're not always interchangeable.
Oct 28, 2022
How Many Potatoes Are in a Pound?
An easy trick that doesn't require a scale!
Sep 23, 2022
How Many Apples Are in a Pound?
Depending on whether you're shopping for a particular recipe or minding a budget, it can be useful to learn how many apples are in a pound. Learn how to convert numbers of apples to weights and volumes in this guide.
Sep 9, 2022
10 Classic Side Dishes to Serve with Steak
Scene-stealing sides are part of the tradition of the great steak dinner. So when you're making steak for dinner at home, take note and follow suit.
Feb 13, 2021
What It’s Like Being a Pastry Chef at an Independent Living Facility for Seniors Right Now
The Way We Eat
We talked with Tie Lewis to talk about the sweet messages she writes on frosted sugar cookies for the seniors at her job, and how she's taking care of herself in the middle of a pandemic.
Dec 6, 2020
The Very First Thing You Should Do with a Lemon Half Before You Juice It
It's a good habit to get into.
Apr 11, 2020
Why I Don’t Need to Have My Grandmother’s Biscuits Again
Personal Essay
Hali Bey Ramdene hasn't had her grandmother's biscuits since she was 7 years old, but the memory is just as delicious.
Feb 26, 2020
The Best Cookbooks for 3 Types of Beginner Cooks
People ask us all the time to name the very best cookbooks for beginners. It’s a simple question, but the answer is actually pretty complicated! Because there are many types of beginners out there. Maybe you are new to the kitchen and just want to figure out how to get dinner on the table for yourself? Or maybe you’re interested in learning the explanations behind it all? Or maybe you have a ton of time to devote to nailing your technique? See?!
Feb 21, 2019
Even Non-Vegetarians Have Much to Learn from These Top Vegetarian Cookbooks
The notion of just eating vegetables has changed quite a bit over the last few years. That’s not to say that the lentil loaf has gone out of style — just that there’s a new vibrancy to how we think about eating vegetables, and it will make you rethink what a good vegetable or vegetarian cookbook should be about.
Feb 14, 2019
Recipe: Dorie Greenspan’s Chocolate Matzo Morsels
Perfect for Christmas, Hanukkah, and all the days in between, these morsels are spun together from melted chocolate, a bit of butter, crushed matzo cookies, and plump raisins.
Dec 5, 2018
Recipe: Dorie Greenspan’s Blondies
According to Dorie, there are three ways to bake a better blondie.
Dec 5, 2018
The 10 Hottest New Cookbooks of 2018
These cookbooks, in our expert opinions, are the best ones to give this holiday season.
Nov 5, 2018
What You Can Learn from One-Star Amazon Reviews for the Instant Pot
The Instant Pot DUO — the model that sells like hotcakes on Amazon Prime Day every year — has 28,075 five-star reviews. I haven’t left my own rating, but if I did, I probably would also give it five stars. I use my machine to make hard-boiled eggs once a week and, lots of other times, to cook ribs, chicken broth, and more in a fraction of the stovetop cooking time.
Oct 15, 2018
The 5 Grocery Shopping Lessons I Taught My Mom During a Recent Trip to HomeGoods
My mom taught me how to arrange flowers, negotiate the purchase of an antique rug, and wear a black turtleneck year-round. I taught her how to shop for groceries. And recently, her lesson moved on from regular grocery stores to one of my favorite places to hunt for specialty foods: HomeGoods.
Aug 28, 2018
Essential Tex-Mex Recipes to Make in the Slow Cooker
From tequila-doused fajitas to elote rice, author and blogger Vianney Rodriguez shows you how to make all your Tex-Mex favorites in the slow cooker.
Jul 21, 2018
The One Ingredient You Didn’t Know You Needed for the Easiest French Toast
Hint: It's in your freezer!
Jul 5, 2018
The Best Thing You Get from Sonic Isn’t on the Menu
I like to think I’m an unfussy person when it comes to most things kitchen and cooking — until it comes to ice. I have opinions there. If you give me options, I like it crushed. I know it melts quickly, and it really takes up a ton of space in the glass, but I just love the experience of taking a sip of a drink and having a bunch of itty-bitty glaciers to crunch on.
Jun 26, 2018
What Size Chicken Should I Buy for Roast Chicken?
Roast chicken is always a good idea. I don’t think I’ve ever regretted making it — especially never on a Sunday when I’ll have some that night for dinner and then plan for a week of meals that make the most of it. And if you’re not cooking your roast chicken over a bed of veggies … well, you’ve got something delicious to look forward to trying!
May 29, 2018
This 2-Ingredient Recipe Upgrades Any Salad
There aren’t a ton of excellent restaurants where I live. But there’s little traffic, I run into people I’ve known all my life at the grocery store, and my friends have been my friends nearly all my life, so for what it lacks in dining, it makes up for by simply being the place I want to be. But good lord, trying to find a decent salad a shade more interesting than a Caesar is a struggle, which is why I’ve had to really brush up on my at-home salad skills.
Apr 26, 2018
My Favorite Recipe for Chicken Breast Came from a Jar of Mayo
For a few summers I worked as a camp counselor at sleep-away camp, which means in addition to pushing the limits of shower-less days, I also ate what the camp cook prepared — except on the weekends. On the weekends you had to fend for yourself while making the most of the ingredients they kept stocked in the kitchen.
Apr 6, 2018
15 Ways to Use Dijon Mustard in Your Cooking
You know that feeling of satisfaction that comes from doing something in a really clever way? That’s how Dijon mustard makes me feel. This jar of mustard can seriously make you feel like a genius in the kitchen once you know how to wield its tangy, savory power to make a huge impact on nearly everything you’re cooking.
Apr 3, 2018
What to Do When Your Chili Is Too Spicy, Too Thin, or Too Boring
All the tools you need to ensure you chili tastes just right.
Mar 16, 2018
Recipe: Fried Water (Onion and Egg Drop Soup)
When’s the last time a recipe stopped you in your tracks? It’s been a long time for me. That might be in part because it’s the medium I work in most often and I’m finding myself a little fatigued, or maybe it’s because sometimes recipes — even though they help you get dinner on the table — feel starved of a story. A perplexing conundrum, given their very intention is to feed us — and often in ways beyond just the meal they provide.
Mar 10, 2018
5 Vegetarian Meals I Make Even Though I Now Eat Meat
I’ve been thinking about my life a few years ago, when the worries were fewer and the tofu was plentiful. After eating at a slew of wonderful vegetable-centric restaurants in New York City recently, a wave a nostalgia for the vegetarian years of my life has risen to the surface. I’m thinking about the cookbooks that inspired me but also the recipes and meals I still make even though I now eat meat. Some food and flavors stick with you.
Jan 24, 2018
5 Rules to Follow When Meal Planning for One
So you’re doing the meal planning thing and have no one to answer to but yourself. In a sea of information that sometimes feels skewed to households of two or more, it can be tricky to find something that speaks to meal planning for solo situations. While plenty of the tips and principles of meal planning apply no matter how many you’re cooking for, there are a few consideration that are specific to meal planning for one.
Jan 17, 2018
Meal Planning for the Person You Need to Be
A few years ago, I didn’t know what meal planning was. I thought it was something for people who had kids to feed, a budget to manage, and no interest in the triumph of a spontaneous dinner. But like any good assumption, I missed the nuance and gravity of what the practice of planning your dinners all at one could do for you — and certainly who it was for.
Jan 12, 2018
Don’t Forget to Do This If You’re Roasting Turkey in a Foil Pan
If you’re making your turkey in a foil pan this year for the ease of cleanup it promises, there’s one smart tip you need to make this cooking method not only easier on yourself but also just smarter overall. This tip falls under the “useful but obvious” category, but we figured if it’s something we find ourselves forgetting then you might too.
Nov 21, 2017
Martha Stewart’s Mac and Cheese Is the Most Expensive, Most Delicious Recipe You Can Make
Making Martha Stewart’s mac and cheese instead of the mac and cheese I grew up eating at Thanksgiving isn’t something I’d do if I was home for the holidays. My brothers would sulk, my mom would be forlorn about it, and I’m not quite sure my dad would notice. But for my first Friendsgiving, there was only one recipe that would do if I wanted to make a mark. I had to bring Martha Stewart’s mac and cheese.
Nov 20, 2017
Everything You Need to Know for a Traditional Thanksgiving at Home
A guide for having a simple and traditional Thanksgiving dinner at home.
Nov 17, 2017
The Fastest Way to Prep Kale for Cooking
When I first started to really think about food, it was around the time people first started wearing shirts with kale slogans on them. This was in the early aughts and well before the second-wave Beyoncé kale shirt. Dark leaves of Lacinato kale were always stuffed in my fridge at that time. I was eating them by the boatload in soups and sautés (Never smoothies, though — that’s just a hot bitter mess, in my opinion).
Oct 12, 2017
Master the Soul & Science of Sourdough with Kitchn & Modernist Bread
Are you fascinated by sourdough bread? Want to attempt it for the first time? Or maybe perfect your own loaf? This month we have a treat for you. We’re partnering with Modernist Cuisine, the brilliant masterminds behind a new masterwork devoted to bread, Modernist Bread (November 7, The Cooking Lab), in our series The Soul & Science of Sourdough.
Oct 8, 2017
This One Tip Is a Game-Changer for Frozen Ground Beef
So you bought a pound of ground beef when it was on sale last week because you were finally going to make that Philly cheesesteak pasta skillet. But the week got away from you and now you’ve got to act fast before this perfectly lovely mix of 85/15 ground chuck goes bad. What are you to do? Freeze it, right? Yes, but there’s one little thing you’ve got to do first that’s going to make all the difference when it comes time to use it.
Oct 2, 2017
Here’s How to Crack an Egg Like Jacques Pépin
Look, if you’re going to trust anyone about best practices when it comes to eggs, it’s a safe bet to go with the man who named them as his desert island food. So, when it comes to cracking eggs, it’s worth pausing to listen to what egg whisperer Jaques Pépin has to say about how to do it right. At this point, you’ve probably seen JP make a French-style omelette. So elegant with that flip of the wrist, right?
Sep 25, 2017
The 10 Best Things to Eat This Labor Day
I’ve got a lot of eating to do in these last few days of summer. I haven’t had a hot dog, a corn dog, and or even a lobster roll yet. Even writing this, I have to wonder what have I been eating this summer? (The answer is toast, watermelon, and rosé.) No matter, because I’m going public with what’s in store for this belly the next few days. With Labor Day weekend on the horizon, I’ve assembled a dream list of things to eat over the holiday weekend.
Aug 31, 2017
The Best Thing I Do to Save Money at Whole Foods
Have your cell phone ready!
Aug 29, 2017