How To Make the Creamiest Mashed Cauliflower — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

Long before cauliflower pizza crusts, cauliflower cakes, and cauliflower couscous, there were just a few folks looking for a lighter dish to enjoy in lieu of mashed potatoes. The popularity of all these cauliflower dishes is evident in the availability of pre-riced cauliflower widely available at most grocery stores. Lucky for us, that means all the knife work of making mashed cauliflower is already done.

But before we designate mashed cauliflower as just a lighter version of mashed potatoes, let's consider why it is a side dish with merits all its own.

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Recipe: Carrot Quick Bread — Quick and Easy Breakfast Recipes

Zucchini bread gets a lot of attention when summer squash is proliferating, but let's celebrate the humble carrot instead. This moist carrot quick bread is flecked with warm notes of cinnamon and nutmeg, loaded up with cups of shredded carrot, and topped with a glaze made with powdered sugar and yogurt. Eat it for breakfast or brunch, or serve it with a cup of coffee or tea as an afternoon snack — this carrot quick bread can do it all!

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How To Cook Salmon in the Oven — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

If you want an easy, fancy main dish, it doesn't get much better than roasted salmon fillets. It can be a midweek date night, an al fresco meal with friends, or dinner with the in-laws — salmon will rise to any occasion.

Today we're showing you the easiest, simplest way to cook salmon in the oven. It's the kind of recipe to keep in your back pocket (although it's hardly a recipe at all). Make it once and you'll never wonder what to do with salmon again.

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How To Make Ginger Carrot Dressing — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

You know this carrot ginger dressing from the sushi, teriyaki, and hibachi restaurants who serve it over crisp iceberg lettuce at the start of many meals. The orange hue boasts a zippy sweetness, thanks to the carrots, sweet onions, and fresh ginger. Think this dressing is a one-trick pony? Try it as a marinade for grilled chicken or serve it on cold noodles and you'll know why I'm never without a batch in the fridge. And the best part? You can make this recipe from start to finish in the blender or food processor — minimal chopping required.

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How To Cook Fluffy, Tasty Quinoa — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

Quinoa has come a long way in the last few years — all the way from the back shelves of health food stores to national supermarket aisles. Its high protein content, sweet and nutty flavor, and delicate texture have made quinoa a popular substitute for starchier pasta and rice — though once you try it, you're not likely to think of it as a "substitute" again! Quinoa is an easy grain to love.

See the video!

Several of us here at The Kitchn like to make a big pot of quinoa on the weekends and eat it throughout the week with curry, grilled vegetables, or braised meat. It's one of the most delicious, fast-cooking (not to mention healthy) lunch staples we know. Here's how to cook great quinoa — not mushy or bitter, but delicate and perfectly fluffy.

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Recipe: DIY Ranch Mix — Quick and Easy Weeknight Dinners

Ranch seasoning is one of the most versatile spice mixes you can stash in the pantry. It's nothing more than a simple blend of dried herbs, spices, salt, and pepper. Homemade ranch dressing is more tangy and flavorful than its bottled cousin, but sometimes I don't want to spend 15 minutes chopping herbs. Throw a tablespoon or so of this ranch seasoning mix into a base of buttermilk, mayonnaise, and sour cream, and whisk into a ranch dressing that will rival any store-bought variety. Sprinkle some ranch seasoning over chicken breasts, into ground beef, or on top of store-bought fries and you'll have a fresh-tasting dinner on the table in minutes.

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Recipe: One-Pot Meatballs & Pasta Os — Quick & Easy Weeknight Dinners

As far as guilty pleasures go, a love of SpaghettiOs is pretty tame. Cranking open a can may have been acceptable for me as a 7-year-old back in 1989, but it's time to admit that what I really love are the soft O-shaped noodles swimming in a sweet tomato sauce. With this wholesome take on a childhood favorite, I know I won't be reaching for the can opener anytime soon.

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How To Bake Chicken Breasts in the Oven — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

This is the cooking method that made me realize that boneless, skinless chicken breasts can be pretty darn delicious. They don't have to be dry and boring. They can, in fact, be moist, tender, and full of flavor — something I actually look forward to having for dinner.

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Recipe: Slow Cooker Spiked Mulled Cider — BOO-zy Halloween

Mulling season is upon us, and everyone needs a good spiked mulled cider recipe up their sleeve to serve at a holiday party or after a long day of skiing and sledding. This easy slow cooker version makes the most of fresh apple cider, fragrant spices, and of course, the nice body-warming effects of bourbon, brandy, or dark rum.

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Essential Recipe: Balsamic Vinaigrette — Recipes from The Kitchn

Knowing how to make a basic vinaigrette for salads is one of the best skills a home cook can have. And happily, this is as easy as combining olive oil and vinegar in a jar with some salt and fresh-cracked black pepper, and then giving that jar a shake. You barely even need a recipe.

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How To Make Baked Brie in Puff Pastry — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

Baked brie in puff pastry takes "rich and luxurious" to a whole new level — I can think of few things better. Add a few friends and some good tunes playing in the background, and you've got yourself a bonafide party situation. Here is everything you need to know.

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How To Make Honey-Glazed Ham in the Slow Cooker — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

My father in-law is not a big fan of turkey and makes his love of ham at the holidays well-known. Honestly, I can relate. After spending much of the summer and fall testing turkey recipes, I'm ready for something different come November. So we started adding a ham to the family Thanksgiving menu about five years ago, but as the host (and cook), I ran into a problem: How can I season and heat a ham while the turkey is hogging all the oven time? Slow cooker ham is the solution!

Since most holiday hams come fully baked, all I have to do is load it into the slow cooker in the morning to have ham in time for lunch. As another bonus? The slow cooker can be set to warm, so the ham stays moist while we wait for that one sister-in-law who is always late.

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How To Make Mashed Potatoes in the Slow Cooker — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

Mashed potatoes are a requirement on the Thanksgiving table, and a hearty side dish for any meal throughout the fall and winter. But they do require some labor: Peeling, chopping, boiling, mashing. One of my favorite Thanksgiving tips is to do all this labor ahead and keep the potatoes warm for hours in the Crock-Pot.

But then it hit me: Why not use the slow cooker from start to finish? Could you take half the labor out of mashed potatoes? Turns out, you can — and, guess what? I'm never going back. Here's a step-by-step recipe for the best mashed potatoes, made from start to finish in the slow cooker.

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Recipe: Southern-Style Cornbread Dressing — Recipes from The Kitchn

Everything I know about cornbread dressing — and Thanksgiving — I learned from my mother, which she in turn learned from her mother. It is a long line of resourceful Southern cooks, and I trust them with this important meal completely. The secret?

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Recipe: Slow Cooker Black Bean Chili — Quick & Easy Vegetarian Dinners

One bite of this ultra-hearty chili and you just might question if it's really vegan after all. After a full day of simmering in the slow cooker, the chili takes on a deep and rich reddish-black hue, emitting that distinct fragrance you know can only be a batch of chili. And the flavor that follows is just as you'd expect. The medley of tender black beans, tomatoes, and warm spices create a one-pot meal with some serious flavor.

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How To Make a Soft-Boiled Egg — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

The perfect soft-boiled egg should have firm, custard-like whites and a warm, runny yolk — this is what my host mother taught me when I lived with her family in France for a summer in high school, and it's still the standard to which I hold my soft-boiled eggs today. An egg like this is just right for scooping daintily from the shell and eating with buttered toast soldiers, an experience that always feels simultaneously sophisticated and happily childlike to me.

Making soft-boiled eggs might feel slightly trickier than hard-boiled eggs, but it's nothing that can't be mastered in the space of a Saturday morning! Here's a step-by-step tutorial to teach you exactly what to do.

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Recipe: Buffalo Chicken Pasta Bake — Quick and Easy Weeknight Dinners

There are few things more satisfying after a busy fall day than coming home to a warm and creamy casserole loaded with saucy buffalo chicken, tender pasta, and a double dose of cheese. It's a pasta bake that's equally at home feeding a family of four as it is fueling a high school football team. And whether you're headed into a late-night study session or a Saturday tailgate, this recipe is what you want by your side.

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How To Make Kettle Corn at Home — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

If your nose doesn't lead you straight to the kettle corn vendor at just about any state fair or festival this summer, then your ears surely will. The aroma of lightly caramelized popcorn combined with the merry sound of popping is all the encouragement I need to buy myself a big bag for snacking. Craving this sweet and crunchy treat without the road trip? Here's how you can make kettle corn at home.

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Recipe: Tangy Carrot Slaw — Quick and Easy Weeknight Sides

This carrot slaw is sweet and tangy, due to a slew of Dijon mustard in the dressing, and bright and fragrant, thanks to a heap of sliced scallions. It's a salad that hits all corners of your taste buds. It makes a light, flavorful lunch on its own but also begs to be paired with a simple roast chicken for dinner. Need a potluck side? This slaw is also begging to be just that, seeing as it's something that only gets better as it sits in the bowl.

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How To Make the Deepest, Darkest Chocolate Cake — Baking Lessons from The Kitchn

There's chocolate cake and then there's this chocolate cake — four glorious layers of rich and tender dark chocolate cake, slathered with a whipped ganache frosting and drizzled with a bittersweet chocolate sauce. It's not the one-bowl cake you make on a Wednesday night to serve after dinner, nor is it the brownie-cake hybrid you remember eating as a kid. This is a very serious, very deep and dark chocolate cake for people who aren't afraid to shout their love of chocolate from the rooftops. The kind of cake so decadent that the only thing you can serve alongside it is a tall glass of cold milk or a cup of hot coffee.

A chocolate cake of this stature doesn't have to be complicated. Using our favorite chocolate tricks — including blooming cocoa before baking and whipping chocolate and cream into frosting — we've streamlined the making of this decadent cake for maximum chocolate flavor and smart kitchen efficiency.

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Recipe: Chocolate Pudding Cake with Coke Frosting — Stranger Thanksgiving

One of the most beloved aspects in the series Stranger Things is the show's ability to look at the past through the lens of today. It captures the moods we remember fondly as children and embraces those in modern storytelling. The desserts of Thanksgiving are much the same. There will always be the standard pumpkin pie, but dessert is the place to introduce new traditions with ease.

Taking a slight detour from tradition, the final chapter of our Stranger Things-inspired Thanksgiving gives a nod to Eleven and the kids who valiantly save the world fueled by Snack Pack pudding stolen from the school cafeteria. Chocolate — in this case, a chocolate pudding cake — is a welcome respite in a pumpkin- and sweet potato-heavy season and a nostalgia-packed departure from tradition.

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Dinner Quick: Pasta with Feta, Broccoli, and Sausage — Quick and Easy Weeknight Dinners

We have a little formula in our kitchen for quick dinners. That would be pasta, greens, meat, and cheese. All the food groups in one! This quick and easy pasta started with the cheese as inspiration — a rich and salty feta that we paired with leftover broccoli that was lingering in the crisper door. Throw in some sausage and you've got dinner.

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How To Cook Spaghetti Squash in an Instant Pot — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

Squash season means tucking into as much butternut, pumpkin, and spaghetti squash as possible from now until spring. Butternut and whole pumpkins can be peeled and trimmed, but spaghetti squash requires its own preparation to keep its signature strands of noodle-like squash intact. The oven and microwave are two tried-and-true cooking options for spaghetti squash, but last winter I discovered I could cook a whole one — seriously, even not halved or trimmed — in my electric pressure cooker, and I will never cook a spaghetti squash the same way again.

Spaghetti squash in the electric pressure cooker requires zero prep and comes out tender so that it's easy to cut open and remove the seeds. It makes eating spaghetti squash even more enjoyable.

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Recipe: Brown Butter Parmesan Pasta — Quick and Easy Vegetarian Dinners

There is something eternally satisfying and soothing about buttered pasta. Toss warm strands of spaghetti with a pat of rich butter and a sprinkle of grated Parm and you've got an ultra-comforting meal that comes together in minutes. Use that as inspiration, then up the ante with nutty brown butter, golden toasted panko, and a double dose of cheese and you've got a comforting dish that's fancy enough for when friends pop over.

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How To Bake a Potato in the Microwave — Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

If you need dinner on the table with zero delays, then a microwaved baked potato is pretty much an ideal solution. A single potato is ready in just over five minutes, and cooking a few more alongside hardly takes any longer. Topped with leftover chili or some simple steamed vegetables, this dinner staple couldn't be quicker or easier.

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