Quick

This week I returned to school full-time, and although there is no shortage of back-to-school food ideas this time of year, none of it is geared toward me: an adult who needs to subsist on quick, nutritious, largely portable meals and snacks that don’t involve cartoon characters or a ton of sugar. I don’t have the tastes of a toddler or the metabolism of a college freshman. Where’s my back-to-school guide?

While some broths are destined to remain thin and wispy, other soups taste best when served thick and creamy. But what do you do when it’s too late to add a slurry to a meaty soup? Or you’re gluten-free and must skip flour and bread? Or are vegan and don’t like the idea of butter in your soup? The answer to all these culinary obstacles lies in white beans. Blended white beans.

Q: I have transitioned to being a stay-at-home mom and have enjoyed the challenge of cooking more of our meals from scratch. My biggest problem is weekend lunches. Inevitably, we finally get out the door to have fun or run errands, and breakfast was hours ago and dinner is far away. What can I grab for us to eat? I am looking for five-minute-or-less prep — including any cooking in advance! — and able to be eaten in the car. Our only standby is a turkey sandwich. Help!

Look inside my pantry and you’ll find a tower of canned tomatoes at all times; they are one of my favorite pantry staples. Canned tomatoes are really versatile and work well in so many different dishes. Here are five of our favorite ways to use canned tomatoes for easy weeknight dinners. A simple can of tomatoes gives you the power to take your mid-week dinner in a lot of delicious directions.

Day 18: Make a “stuff I like to eat” list. My family moved to Europe when I was just six weeks old and we lived there, mostly in Vienna, Austria, until I was 14. My husband likes to joke that my bread obsession comes from growing up in a city where no weekend morning was complete without riding the city bus to pick up fresh-baked Semmeln and Schwarzbrot from the bakery down the street!

The bounty of summer produce is over, but here in South Carolina we find a lot of greens at the farmers’ market. That’s fine by me, because collards, chard and kale are abundant and I love them. What I don’t love is slicing them. Tearing greens with my bare hands will usually suffice, but there are times when I want strips, and I’ve finally figured out the best way to get them. When I discovered pre-sliced collards, I was thrilled, but I craved chard and kale, too.

When a twig of thyme is perfect, at least for my purposes, the leaves practically separate themselves from the branch. But that rarely happens. The twig is too thin, or too green, or there are twiglets hanging off the twig that fall into my dish along with the leaves. Picking the leaves off one by one is tedious and I like to add a lot of thyme. But the other night, I finally figured out a way to make this easy. Without even checking the stems, I ripped a handful of thyme from my plant.

A can of chickpeas, an avocado, whole wheat couscous, a tube of harissa paste — these probably weren’t your mother’s pantry staples, but they have become the new basics in many home kitchens. They are also the foundation for quick, flavorful and healthy lunches that keep well, and today chef and author Aida Mollenkamp tells us how to turn a handful of these modern pantry staples into appealing and affordable lunches that come together in about ten minutes.

Pressure cooking is actually a simple process but like any new-to-you technique, it does take a little extra effort to learn the methods and language. There are a handful of cooks and food writers who can safely be called experts in this field and are worth consulting. Read on for our list of our five favorite pressure cooking resources.  And tell us your favorites in the comments!

My husband has been in hot pursuit of the flawless French omelet for months, studying our stove’s quirks and calibrating the ratio of butter to pan surface (I cover my eyes at this point). He would be appalled to learn that his hard-won mastery may be jeopardized by a shortcut in that most modern of machines, the microwave. Can a one-minute microwave omelet challenge the greatness of the classic omelet?

I rarely make pancakes at home, but for some reason I always crave them during the long, leisurely mornings of a vacation. And I like to keep those mornings leisurely by bringing along my own DIY pancake mix.I simply mix together the dry ingredients for my favorite pancake recipe and write the wet ingredients needed on the outside of the bag.

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! The first thing to remember is that frozen vegetables actually can be quite good (and good for you).

I always keep a bag of whole wheat pita rounds in the freezer for last minute lunches; they can be stuffed with salad, eaten with hummus and vegetables, or even topped with avocado and egg. But how to transform a rock-hard piece of frozen pita into a soft, warm pocket? Here’s a method that is fast and foolproof. On a gas stove, turn the flame on medium-low and place the frozen pita directly on the burner.