Extra Helpings - A Blue Apron blog
Meet the new Blue Apron, now more convenient (and delicious) than ever. This is meal planning the way it should be: simple, inspiring, fun—and no subscription needed.
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How To Use Pasta Water to Elevate Your Sauce
In restaurant kitchens, pasta water is affectionately called ‘liquid gold.’ In home kitchens, many cooks just throw it out. We’re here to make a case for treating your pasta water with respect. That means seasoning it properly and taking advantage of its special properties. Here’s how to make the most of your next pasta dinner.
Essential Kitchen Tools
If you’re new to cooking, or moving into your own place for the first time, you’re probably wondering what you need in your kitchen. If the kitchen aisle of your local homegoods store feels overwhelming, we’re here to help. These are the basic tools that every cook should own. Once you have the essentials, you’re free to daydream about fancy blenders or specialty appliances.
How to Cook Pork Belly
If you like bacon, you like pork belly. Bacon and pork belly are the same cut of meat, prepared and sold in slightly different forms. This versatile protein is an easy way to add savory decadence to dinner. Here’s how to get the most out of this delicious ingredient.
How-To: Truss A Chicken or Cornish Game Hen
A roast chicken or Cornish game hen is a simple, delicious dinner. Every cook should have her favorite method for roasting a whole bird memorized. Next time you’re preparing a poultry feast, try our method for easy trussing, no butcher’s twine required.
No-Bake Banana Cream Tiramisu Recipe
Tiramisu is an all-star dessert. This creamy spiked treat rose to popularity in the U.S. in the 80s, but a classic never gets old—we’re still enjoying its creamy coffee-soaked layers in our favorite Italian restaurants today. To celebrate our love, we’ve created a spin that combines the flavors of two beloved desserts: banana cream pie and tiramisu.
One Five-Ingredient Blondie Recipe, Infinite Possibilities
Sometimes, you want a simple dessert that you can make with ingredients you have on hand. Other times, you’re looking for a baking project that lets you exercise a little creativity. This easy five-ingredient blondie recipe is the solution in both cases.
Tips & Tricks on How to Make a Stir-Fry
Stir-fry will always be there for you. If your goal is to cook slightly more, knowing your way around a stir-fry is a great place to start. This versatile dinner can be made with an infinite combination of ingredients. You don’t even need to start with rice
5 Hot Drinks to Ward Off Winter Chills
When the weather outside is frightful, you need something warm in your cup. We love enjoying hot drinks on a cold winter’s eve. They’re not always alcoholic—but they certainly can be. Try some of our favorite hot drink recipes to warm yourself from the inside out
8 Types of Peaches to Love this Summer
The platonic ideal of a peach, enhanced by nostalgia, comes enormous, round, and bursting with juice that tastes of summer sunshine. But while all types of peaches are good peaches, that image leaves out the many other equally delightful forms the fuzzy fruit takes on: crisp enough to add that cherished sweetness to a salad or palm-sized and perfect for snacking.
Cream of Mushroom Tuna Croquettes Are a Pantry-Friendly Throwback
They’re inexpensive, comforting, and utilize lots of canned goods — great for a cold winter’s night, and great for a pandemic. The ingredients showcase pantry staples, which can typically be found hiding in my cupboards or on the back shelf of any bodega. While the fresh aromatics and herbs add a bright touch, they can always be substituted for their dried counterparts.
Rethink Your Pineapple Pizza
A classic Hawaiian pizza is topped with tomato sauce, ham, pineapple wedges, and cheese. It’s an endearing combination of sweet, savory, gooey, and cheesy. Pineapple pizza, while not classically straight out of Naples, is an interesting idea. The sweet and bright fruit adds a spike of acidity that enhances the salty, savory ham and balances out the fatty cheese.
Strawberry Garnish Ideas: 9 Ways To Decorate
You don’t need to be an artist to make a beautiful dessert. Try fuss-free dessert-decorating with the classic strawberry. No time to aim for a perfectly frosted and smooth cake? Don’t even worry about it. Instead, beautify your treats with already-gorgeous berries that make the sweetest part of your meal look professional and pretty – with barely any effort.
Homemade Almond Butter and Jam with a Healthy Twist
Pick a team: jam and jelly, or nut butters. Don’t want to choose? I suppose you can make both. The Blue Apron test kitchen put a few healthful tweaks on each of these familiar ingredients. Enjoy them on their own, or make both to create a hearty twist on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
7 Fruit Centerpiece Ideas
So many fruits and vegetables are show-stoppingly attractive, even in the dead of winter. Take advantage of their natural beauty for your holiday centerpiece this year. It’s easy! Just take a trip to the grocery store or farmer’s market, but a few extra pomegranates, persimmons, or plain old tomatoes, and use them to decorate your holiday tables and entryways.
Make Chicken Noodle Soup with Whatever You Have
This, my friends, is where I am going to give you the trick for the most delightful chicken noodle soup. Place the cooked noodles in the bottom of your soup bowl.
Halloween Candy Cake (With Leftover Candy)
Sometimes you overestimate the number of trick-or-treaters that will pay you a visit, sometimes you underestimate the size of your own candy haul, and sometimes you just get a little carried away in the Halloween aisle. Whatever the reason, the holiday is over and you still have a big pile of leftover candy lying around.
How to Use Extra Garlic
When we make dinner, we put garlic in everything. That’s no accident! European, Mediterranean, and Asian cuisines all have used the alium bulb to season food for millennia. When a Blue Apron box arrives, it will almost always include a whole head of garlic, but most recipes only use a couple of cloves. If you’ve gotten a few boxes, you might have leftover garlic piling up. This isn’t a problem, it’s an opportunity. Here’s how to use extra garlic to create flavorful meals all week long.
Your New Favorite Cocktail Recipe Uses a Whole Pineapple
This cocktail is sort of the lovechild of my three favorite patio drinks: a mezcal negroni, a piña colada, and an Aperol spritz. It’s a little labor intensive, but I promise it’s worth it (and hey, we have the time). Can’t find fresh pineapple? I suppose canned will do
A Guide to Homemade Salad Dressing
There are two types of salads: sad salads and scene-stealing salads. A sad salad is one that was thrown together without a real plan. Its sole purpose is to deliver a few vegetables, but it lacks flavor and excitement.
A Guide to Cooking with Wine
Cooking with wine is a great way to add complexity to sauces, soups, and braises. This is a crash course in cooking with wine, designed to help you figure out how to choose a bottle and what to do with it.
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