Brinda Ayer – FoodWatcher

The Pineapple Cutting Trick We Learned From Chrissy Teigen’s Mom

Chrissy Teigen—cookbook author, recipe site helm-er, kitchenware creator, actress, hilarious Twitter personality, woman about town—has given us some of our very favorite kitchen hacks over the years. See this "why didn't we think of that?" way to make bacon even better; this crispy rice salad that changed the way we think about salads; this large-format casserole that tastes just like our favorite everything bagel breakfast with all the fixings.

And the best part of it all: Stanning Chrissy and her ingenious tricks is sort of a two-for-one package, because we also get access to her incredible mom, Pepper—to whom Chrissy credits all of her cooking know-how. So when Chrissy posted a video of Pepper's go-to way to cut pineapple, you can bet we paid attention. Chrissy's Cravings account said of this technique: "Out of all the tricks Pepper has up her sleeve, this hack has to be one of our favorites."

12 Perfect Pie Recipes That Just Happen to Be Vegan

Plant-based desserts are just as important in our repertoire as their buttery, eggy counterparts. Take these Genius chocolate chip cookies, this fudgy banana brownie cake, this richer-than-rich mousse, these scotcheroos that are apt to stick to the roo…

Vegan pies deserve to be in that pantheon, too—after all, how could we resist a flaky-crispy tart filled to the brim with fruit, custard, chocolate, or all of the above? So, for our own edification and yours, we've rounded up our 12 best plant-based pies. All they'll need is a scoop of (non-dairy) ice cream.

Our 12 Favorite Summer Beers for When We Need a Frosty One

Picture this: It’s late June, you’re lying on a towel at the park, packed sandwiches and chips in a bag, chilly beverages in a cooler, crime thrillers and the latest New Yorker in a backpack. The sun’s beating high above you, beads of sweat start to fo…

Picture this: It's late June, you're lying on a towel at the park, packed sandwiches and chips in a bag, chilly beverages in a cooler, crime thrillers and the latest New Yorker in a backpack. The sun's beating high above you, beads of sweat start to form on your temples, and your shoulders begin to lightly toast, feeling warm to the touch. You fish around in the cooler, make your selection, then take a swig and sigh with relief. It's the coldest, most refreshing beer you feel you've ever tasted, flooding your palate with a hoppy, malty, bubbly sensation that you can't help but respond to with an involuntary "ahh."

If this sounds like your ideal scenario, you're in good company. Below, the Food52 team is sharing its 12 favorite summer beers that are perfect for just this, and more. Try sipping them poolside, accompanied by the heady scent of smoke at backyard BBQs, and after the end of a workday to usher in a long summer evening. Most of these beers are available nationwide (some, even internationally!), but visit BeerMenus to double-check their distribution and availability near you.

Soup Is the Perfect Summer Food (Seriously!). Here Are 23 Reasons Why.

The first few weeks of summer are glorious: full afternoons to spend outside at the park or in the pool, cold watermelon slices and tomato sandwiches and frosty beverages never far away; firefly-flecked twilight hours made for huddling around the campfire, anticipating all the season's possibilities (and s'mores); grand visions for the bike trips and road trips and adventures that will ensue; fond anticipation for all the ice-cream cones to be had before they melt, all the sunburns to gently nurse with aloe and cream.

But then July and August inevitably roll around, and the pleasant stickiness turns, well, unpleasant. In those dog days, hot, thick air seems to stand still no matter which direction the wind blows. Cooking—let alone mustering up an appetite!—is an energy-sapping, sweat-inducing chore. The siren song of crisp, cool autumn beckons. For all those days, there's soup.

25 Recipes to Use Up That Buttermilk You Bought for Baking

Growing up in a South Indian home, we had a big container of buttermilk in our fridge at all times. We’d mix it into fluffy white rice with spices and aachar, simmer it in a thick, coconut-and turmeric-inflected stew, or, more often than not, pour it i…

Growing up in a South Indian home, we had a big container of buttermilk in our fridge at all times. We'd mix it into fluffy white rice with spices and aachar, simmer it in a thick, coconut-and turmeric-inflected stew, or, more often than not, pour it into a glass and drink it straight, maybe with a pinch of salt and pungent asafetida.

See, in my family, buttermilk was traditionally always a digestive aid and a flavor booster. It never once went into a baked good; in fact, I didn't know you could use it for baking until I took a trip to Huntsville, Alabama for Space Camp in the eighth grade, and tasted my first buttermilk biscuit. I recall the biscuit being noticeably tangy, fluffy, and tender as heck, and I immediately had to know why. The answer, as it turns out, was under my nose (well, in our fridge back at home).

28 Versatile Ways to Celebrate Chickpeas (Even if You Think You’re Tired of Them)

If you’re anything like me (read: a vegetarian; a lover of good food; a sorta impatient person), chickpeas are in heavy rotation in your cooking—especially now. As of this writing, a pound of the dried stuff and seven cans of cooked chickpeas are hangi…

If you're anything like me (read: a vegetarian; a lover of good food; a sorta impatient person), chickpeas are in heavy rotation in your cooking—especially now. As of this writing, a pound of the dried stuff and seven cans of cooked chickpeas are hanging out in my pantry, just waiting to be used. (The dried ones are calling for a long Sunday simmer as I putter around the house.)

You need no telling how flexible, satiating, and flat-out delicious chickpeas can be, so I won't tell you. I'll just show off 28 ways these little legumes strut their stuff, in crunchy-roasted snacks, slurpable stews, and sweets (yes!) alike.

16 Vegan Slow-Cooker Recipes for Plant-Based Comfort

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again—our slow-cooker is one of our kitchen heroes, come winter, spring, or even summer. Many people break out this contraption for low-and-slow stews and stroganoffs, meaty chilis and chicken soups. But it’s equa…

We've said it before, and we'll say it again—our slow-cooker is one of our kitchen heroes, come winter, spring, or even summer. Many people break out this contraption for low-and-slow stews and stroganoffs, meaty chilis and chicken soups. But it's equally handy for all kinds of non-meaty things: beans, lentils, vegetable stocks, even applesauce, just to name a few.

Below, you'll find a bevy of vegan recipes to make in your slow-cooker. Just throw in your ingredients, turn on the machine, and go on with your day. You'll come back to a warm, comforting meal that's something akin to magic.

31 Vegan Recipes You Can Prep Now & Enjoy All Week

Did you make a resolution to eat more plants this year? If you did, you’re certainly not alone: A whopping 43 percent of Americans who made resolutions are looking to incorporate healthful eating choices into their diets in 2020. More than 300,000 peop…

Did you make a resolution to eat more plants this year? If you did, you're certainly not alone: A whopping 43 percent of Americans who made resolutions are looking to incorporate healthful eating choices into their diets in 2020. More than 300,000 people worldwide have joined the Veganuary pledge for the month of January and beyond, committing to a fully vegan lifestyle for at least one month. Even self-professed meat lovers are dreaming up ways to pile their plates high with vegetables, beans, grains, and less meat. Add all this to the 5 percent of Americans of who self-identify as vegetarian, and 3 percent who self-identify as vegan, and you've got a lot of folks on the produce train.

Of course, the flip-side of setting big goals for ourselves is, well, sticking to them. Luckily, resolving to incorporate more plants into your cooking is pretty much the same as resolving to cook more at home in the first place: you'll just need to plan out the recipes you'd like to try; make a grocery run or two to stock up on everything you need; and meal prep to high heaven. Speaking of prep: Just like with non-vegan meals, you'll also want to consider larger-format, make-ahead, mix-and-matchable vegan staples, so you can cook once and eat well all week.

Our 13 Favorite Cookbooks of 2019

When we’re looking for ideas on the perfect recipe to make for dinner tonight, or to comfort a loved one this weekend, or to impress guests at that gathering in a couple weeks, books always lead the way. Discovering new cookbooks always means discoveri…

When we're looking for ideas on the perfect recipe to make for dinner tonight, or to comfort a loved one this weekend, or to impress guests at that gathering in a couple weeks, books always lead the way. Discovering new cookbooks always means discovering new techniques, new flavor combinations we'd have never thought to put together, and new discourses for considering food. It also means awakening new cooking inspiration within ourselves.

2019 saw no shortage of cookbooks to discover, whether they changed the way we grocery shopped or made us look at our dinner mainstays a little differently. With so much greatness, how could we conceive of which ones were best?