Surprising Ideas

Sure, it’s a cliche. But when October rolls around, I want pumpkin. No, not the flavor of pumpkin spice, but actual pumpkin. I love pumpkin soup, pumpkin chili, even pumpkin muffins, and it seems more festive to buy a fresh one than pick up a few cans of purée. But peeling pumpkin is a pain, or it was until I learned a few tricks. Sadly, I know of no better way to remove the seeds than to just dig in to the slimy insides with my bare hands.

I’m a grown-up. Usually, I don’t have trouble eating my veggies, including the necessary dark, leafy greens. I actually love them. It took me a while, but I do. I like them so much, I eat them for breakfast almost every day, even in restaurants, if at all possible. I make a mess of greens on Monday morning to make it easy to get a jump start on my veggie intake all week long. The greens — kale, collards, chard, or whatever else is in the market — are prepared with care.

It's not lemon juice!

Yes, you can pickle that!

Remember this tip and say goodbye to splattering bacon grease.

At Winslow's Table in St. Louis, the egg yolk on their buttermilk biscuit sandwich is otherworldly. Luckily, chef Michael Gallina was happy to share his secret: He freezes his eggs before frying.

As if you need another reason to use a muffin pan besides, well, just making muffins! That should be good enough, we know. But we like it when our kitchen tools do double duty, and it turns out, the ol’ muffin pan is quite versatile! Here are 10 other ways you can put it to good use in your kitchen: Use it to serve oysters, shown above. Via à la mode. Make giant ice cubes. Freeze single servings of soup. Blend and freeze smoothie ingredients.

Tape. Pull. Huzzah!

Plus three ways to use it.

Effortlessly brilliant.