Surprising Ideas

We’ve all faced ingredient conundrums and last-minute shortages in the kitchen. Oh no! Out of eggs! No heavy cream! Need a buttermilk substitute! Thankfully, there are a few tried-and-true substitutions you can turn to in a pinch. These can also be helpful if you’re trying to modify a recipe out of dietary necessity (shifting it to be dairy or gluten-free, for example). This guide will help get you started.

A favorite pantry ingredient will totally upgrade your chicken salad recipe.

This plate is stacked high with crispy, chewy snacks that fall somewhere between potato chips and French fries — and it's all because I didn't throw out my potato scraps.

My friend Ryan Nevius is really cool. She’s an environmentalist (hard-core!) who cares enough to make it simple for the laziest of her friends. (Ahem. That would be me.) Ryan taught me how to compost the easy way, by making the kids do it.