YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Blog Posts by YumSugar

    • Add-Ins to Take Your Grilled Cheese from Good to Great

      YumSugarSource: Add-Ins to Take Your Grilled Cheese From Good to Great

      Making homemade manicotti or mixing up your own molé is noble and all, but with all due respect to from-scratch cooking, sometimes you just want to get dinner done - and in those moments, nothing fits the bill better than an elemental grilled cheese sandwich. While a basic grilled cheese is just about the greatest thing since, well, sliced bread, there are a few additions that are guaranteed to take your sandwich to the next level. Click through for our top 10 suggestions.

      • Mac and Cheese: Mac and cheese inside a grilled cheese? The notion of putting a cheese dish inside another cheese dish might sound meta, but trust us: it works.
      • Potato Chips: Even Thomas Keller believes that potato chips add value to a grilled cheese sandwich. Experiment with different flavors like barbecue or sour cream and onion, and for maximum crunch, add the chips just before you plan on digging in.
      • Honey and Truffle Salt:
      Read More »from Add-Ins to Take Your Grilled Cheese from Good to Great
    • Treat Yourself to 8 Chocolate Trends

      YumSugarSource: Treat Yourself to 8 Chocolate Trends

      What's chocolate looking like as we enter 2013? Imagine nut-butter fillings, tea-infused ganaches, and bean-to-bar chocolates - to name a few delicious decadences. Get ready to feast your eyes on the most captivating bars, bonbons, and truffles. What are you waiting for? It's time to treat yourself to eight chocolate trends!

      • Puffed Grains: Brown rice and quinoa, whether toasted or puffed, has made its way into chocolate bars - giving chocolates a toasted flavor and a Nestlé Crunch-like consistency. One of our favorites? Alter Eco Dark Quinoa ($4) is 60 percent dark chocolate and studded with fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth quinoa puffs.
      • Bacon : When Vosges released its bacon and chocolate bar a few years back, it shocked and offended vegetarians and serious confectioners alike. Yet finally, the world has embraced the amazing smoky/sweet combination, as many (if not most!) chocolatiers have created their own versions of something
      Read More »from Treat Yourself to 8 Chocolate Trends
    • A Little Love Goes a Long Way: Basic French Macarons

      Source: A Little Love Goes a Long Way: Basic French Macarons

      Perhaps it's the rainbow of cheerful hues, the adorable two-bite size, or - most likely - the perfect crisp-chewy texture, but I just can't get enough of French macarons. Even when I'm stuffed to the gills, I can always make room for these tiny, delicate pastries.

      True, macarons can be temperamental (meringue is the capricious culprit), but they do respond wonderfully to patience, encouragement, and a loving touch. So before you dismiss the idea of making these little lovelies at home, we've found a basic recipe that breaks down the uncooperative veneer of the elusive macaron.

      Although part of the same happy pastry family, the French macaron should not be confused with the coconut macaroon. They are similar in concept, but differ greatly in execution: while both entail adding dry ingredients to a delicate egg white meringue, the one "o" macaron uses finely ground almonds as its base and requires much more

      Read More »from A Little Love Goes a Long Way: Basic French Macarons
    • Learn the Starbucks Fundamentals to Home Coffee Brewing

      Source: Learn the Starbucks Fundamentals to Home Coffee Brewing

      Are you a Starbucks regular who's vowed to start saving money and making your own coffee at home instead? If so, there are still a number of ways you can ensure you've made the perfect cup of coffee, even by Starbucks standards. I enlisted the help of Certified Starbucks Coffee Master Zach Mercer, who outlined the company's fundamentals for home brewing. According to Zach, all you've got to do is keep in mind that there are four important factors that affect the quality of your home brew. Find out what they are, and keep reading to see his recommendations for making coffee at home.

      • Water. Source the best H20 you can find. At any given Starbucks, water goes through a triple filtration process as a baseline; use filtered water whenever possible.
      • Proportion. The general guideline is 10 grams of coffee (about two good tablespoons) to six ounces of water. Zach's done the math: this equals about 0.12 pounds of
      Read More »from Learn the Starbucks Fundamentals to Home Coffee Brewing
    • 9 Inventive Recipes for the Kale-Curious

      YumSugarSource: 9 Inventive Recipes For the Kale-Curious

      We've all heard about the bounty of benefits a heaping helping of kale has to offer our stomachs and taste buds, but actually putting the dark, leafy green on your plate is a whole different story. Most of the time people are curious about kale, but they're just not sure how to cook it up. We've taken the hassle and heartache out of the process, and here is our delicious offering: nine yummy recipes that incorporate some kale into your next culinary endeavor.

      • Pomegranate-Hazelnut Winter Greens Salad: Swiss chard and lacinato kale make for quite the dynamic duo in a pomegranate-hazelnut Winter greens salad, perfectly fit for the season.
      • Kale Chips: Grab a bundle of Tuscan kale and bake up these simple and savory kale chips. But beware - you'll be craving this crunchy snack constantly!
      • Lemony Kale Salad with Feta: We're not sure what's better about this pine nut and feta-topped kale salad from Fresh Tart: its
      Read More »from 9 Inventive Recipes for the Kale-Curious
    • Oatmeal Enthusiasts: Try 6 Tips for a Better Bowl

      Source: Oatmeal Enthusiasts: Try 6 Tips For a Better Bowl

      Oatmeal may never have the magnetic allure of luscious chocolate cake or breakfast brethren like lofty dutch babies or loaded breakfast burritos. Still, one need not resign to a bland or gloppy bowl: I start almost every day with a bowl full to the brim and have yet to grow bored. Here are a few tips that are too good not to share.

      • Don't forget the salt: While the instructions on the tub of oats might imply that salt is optional, quite frankly it's not. Your bowl of oatmeal shouldn't taste salty (unless, of course, you're trying a savory iteration, like the one below), but adding a hefty pinch will help enhance flavors whether nutty, sweet, or creamy. Just make sure to season to taste after it's done cooking; if you add it at the start, the oats will release less of their starch, and the resulting texture won't be as creamy.
      • Skip instant oats: These flaky par-cooked fragments might simmer up quicker,
      Read More »from Oatmeal Enthusiasts: Try 6 Tips for a Better Bowl
    • The 15 Cookbooks from 2012 We Just Can't Put Down

      YumSugarSource: The 15 Cookbooks From 2012 We Just Can't Put Down

      Last year was a banner year for cookbook publishing, making the task of narrowing down our top picks of 2012 an arduous task indeed. While plenty others could have made the cut, shop our favorite 15, bound to inspire culinary creations whether you're trying to get more vegetables on your plate, try out foreign cuisines, or dive into comfort classics (or something in between).

      • Modernist Cuisine at Home: Immensely more practical for the home cook than the much-lauded (but woefully expensive and laboratory-technical) first cookbook by Nathan Myhrvold, Modernist Cuisine at Home ($140) wowed us with its in-depth explanations of the science behind cookery, top-notch photography, ingenious recipes, guide to sous-vide cookery, practical tips, and glossary of go-to ingredients and equipment necessary for the task at hand.
      • Herbivoracious: Whether you're a staunch vegan or simply looking to bulk up your meatless mains
      Read More »from The 15 Cookbooks from 2012 We Just Can't Put Down
    • Cooking for Shorter Days and Longer Nights

      Source: Cooking For Shorter Days and Longer Nights

      Winter's officially begin, and it's clear as you-know-what that nights have become much longer, and days, shorter. The earlier sunset can often translate into not wanting to cook at night: coming home to a pitch-black house and cooking dinner from scratch can be daunting during these cold weather months. On the flip side, however, eating out every night can be harmful on wallets (and waistlines!). With a little bit of planning and prep work, we can all look forward to delicious home-cooked meals. Here are five tips for Winter weeknight cooking.

      • Prep on the weekends. After your weekend trip to the grocery store, wash and prepare your produce for the week ahead. Greens should be rinsed, wrapped in paper towels, and stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. If possible, avoid pre-cutting produce, as fruits and vegetables rapidly begin to lose nutrients once they are cut.
      • Live by the one-pot meal. Cooking meals in only
      Read More »from Cooking for Shorter Days and Longer Nights
    • Culinary Resolutions, Week 1: Eat Lighter

      YumSugarSource: Culinary Resolutions, Week 1: Eat Lighter

      For many of us, today marks the first workday of 2013. But that's not all: it also happens to mark the beginning of our brand-new series, Six Weeks of Culinary Resolutions, in which, in an effort to improve ourselves over the course of the New Year, we master a different gastronomic goal each week.

      To kick things off, we'll be focusing on eating lighter this week. Sure, holiday merrymaking brings to mind menorahs, tree lights, sleigh bells, and stockings - but it also conjures up images of yule logs, cookie swaps, standing rib roast, and way too much eggnog. It may not be possible to erase December's overindulgences, but healthier cooking in January is as close as we'll ever get.

      Stay tuned all week to learn about lighter cooking techniques, wholesome grains, and of course, our favorite healthy recipes.


      Related Content:
      Natural Detoxing Tips to Kick Off the New Year
      Detox Deliciously: Apple and Cabbage Salad



      Follow YumSugar on

      Read More »from Culinary Resolutions, Week 1: Eat Lighter
    • Know Your Techniques: Cooking En Papillote

      Source: Know Your Techniques: Cooking en Papillote

      Cooking en papillote (French for "in parchment") is a method of hand-sealing protein and vegetables in parchment paper, then oven-roasting them. While liquids aren't typically added to the pouch, ingredients seep out their own liquid and effectively steam in their own juices, resulting in a healthy meal that's bound to be filled with both moisture and flavor. In addition, other flavoring agents, like herbs and aromatics, get enveloped in the same steam-filled vessel, amping up the delicious factor.

      To create a parchment paper pouch, arrange your ingredients on one half of a large piece of parchment (this method works with aluminum foil, too). Fold the other half on top of your ingredients. Fold up the open edges of the packet in pleats, working from one end to the other. Don't worry too much about how the package looks, as long as it's tightly sealed. When you open your parchment-wrapped meal, you'll find a moist, flavorful, and

      Read More »from Know Your Techniques: Cooking En Papillote

    Pagination

    (588 Stories)