Victoria von Biel, Conscious Cook, Bon Appétit
- Healthy Living
Would You Pay $299 for a "Healthy" Deep Fryer?
Several months ago, I received the T-Fal ActiFry to test. It's described as a low-fat "multicooker" and healthy fryer. It looks a little like those old electric skillets that everyone seemed to have in the 70s (does anyone still use those?) and takes up a fair amount of counter space. Intrigued by t
- Shine Food
Quick Pineapple Chicken: A Bon Appétit Reader's Recipe
We get a lot of email from readers, but my favorites are always the ones where they pass along their own recipes based on the dishes they see in the magazine or on the web site. I haven't tried this one yet (and we haven't tested in our test kitchens), but it looks easy enough for a tasty weeknight
- Shine Food
7 Habits of Highly Effective Grocery Shoppers
Here's the event I'd really like to see at the Olympics: grocery shopping. The gold medalist would be the person who can buy everything on their list in the shortest amount of time (no running, no ramming other shoppers, no blocking aisles). Repeating aisles would be cause for disqualification, as w
- Healthy Living
Bon Appétit Picks the 5 Best iPhone Apps for a Healthier You
If you have an iPhone, chances are you have enough apps installed to run your whole life from the palm of your hand. That includes keeping your diet on track, too. Here are our favorite apps that let you take control of what you're eating and drinking. All of them are available for download at the i
- Shine Food
Bon Appétit's Best of Food in 2009
It's been an interesting year. Hot dogs nudged out burgers as the cookout meal of choice, budget-conscious workers started brown-bagging their lunches, and bacon kept appearing in places it probably never should have--cupcakes, chocolate bars, cookies, and ice cream, to name just a few.For this year
- Holiday
10 Holiday Foods Worth the Calories
It's the most wonderful (and fattening!) time of the year. These 10 dishes taste so incredible, they're worth every single calorie. Tell us your favorite holiday indulgence in the comments section.1. Bread PuddingIf there were a Christmas carol that repeated the phrase "bring us some fruity sorbet,"
- Holiday
Christmas dinner in under an hour
I love Christmas dinner--sitting around the table over a lavish meal, drinking Champagne, reading the lame jokes in the Christmas crackers. What I'm not so crazy about is trying to fit in the prep for the meal along with decorating, shopping, baking cookies, going to parties, and everything else tha
- Shine Food
Bon Appétit's Top 10 Delicious, Affordable Holiday Gifts
Maybe it's the economy, or maybe we've all just decided it's more fun to be frugal, but I keep hearing about people who are making most of their presents this year rather than buying them. This plan has a lot going for it besides cost savings: You get as much pleasure out of making the gift as the r
- Work + Money
How to Make Healthy, Microwave-Free Popcorn
When exactly did popcorn go from being a relatively good-for-you snack to one of the most frightening junk foods of all time? Just recently we learned that a medium soda and popcorn combo at a movie theater is the equivalent of three Macdonald's Quarter Pounders topped with 12 pats of butter, and th
- Shine Food
Medium-Rare Pork: Delicious or Dangerous?
This spectacular Roasted Salt- and Spice-Packed Pork Loin got us thinking about the proper cooking temperature for pork. Long gone are the days when pork was routinely overcooked in order to avoid the food-borne illness trichinosis. For many years, nutritionists--and the USDA--have recommended cooki
- Shine Food
Four Steps to Perfect Gravy
Want a first-class seat on the gravy train? Just follow these four steps:1. Use a great recipe that pairs the gravy with your bird. Might we suggest one of our five favorites: Garlic-Rosemary Turkey with Mushroom Gravy, Roast Turkey with Pear and Port Gravy, Cider-Basted Turkey with Roasted Apple Gr
- Thanksgiving
6 Ways to Make Your Thanksgiving Healthy
1. Skip or Skim the Gravy: The easiest way to make the holiday healthier is to bypass gravy. But that's a tough option for many of the holiday's fans. So try a gravy strainer to separate fat from pan juices. We like the four-cup Oxo Good Grips model ($15). Pour the pan juices in, let the fat rise to
- Thanksgiving
The 7 Most Common Turkey Emergencies (and How to Fix Them)
You may never need these tips. But on November 26, a lot will be riding on the big bird. So, just in case, here's our best advice for what to do when...1. The turkey is done too early.Cover the turkey loosely with foil, and set it in a warm spot. Rejoice: You'll have time to make the gravy without t
- Healthy Living
Two Easy Ways to Control Portion Size
Serving size is the secret to not packing on the pounds, especially during the upcoming holidays. These spa tricks can help you avoid super-sizing.1. Use smaller dishes: At Canyon Ranch, tables are set with smaller-than-standard plates. Downsize at home for instant calorie savings.
- Shine Food
What's the Best Fat to Cook With?
Have you ever tried cooking something delicious without using any fat? It's almost impossible. Fat keeps foods moist, stops them from sticking, and helps kick up the flavor in so many wonderful ways. And, as Jennifer McLagan points out in her aptly titled book Fat, it's not necessarily bad for you,
- Shine Food
10 Things to Do with a Pint of Ice Cream...
...besides eat it straight from the carton, of course. These 10 easy recipes all use purchased ice cream and any one of them would be the perfect topper to a late summer barbecue.1. Individual Baked AlaskasKitchen tip: Make this impressive dessert a day ahead so it's thoroughly frozen when you put i
- Shine Food
10 Easy (and Delicious) Things to Do with Grilled Veggies
You could say almost everything tastes better after it's spent some time on the bbq, but in fact veggies taste really, really good. First, it brings out their natural sugars, which are caramelized by the heat (also known as the Maillard reaction). And then there's umami, that hard-to-pin-down fifth
- Shine Food
A week of super fast family meals
A family meal doesn't need to be an elaborate affair. And in the harried days of early autumn it's all the more important: a time to regroup and refuel together, albeit only for a half an hour. Though nothing beats a hearty roast, a long simmered bolognese sauce, sometimes there just isn't the time.
- Shine Food
Three Things Julie Powell Taught Me
By now you know the Julie Powell story: Back in the early days of this century, she was faced with a triple whammy of existentialist horror: turning 30, working in a dead-end job, and facing a soulless New York subway commute every day on the way to that dead-end job. The cure? A blog of course, abo
- Shine Food
5 Unexpected Things to Do with a Tomato
The tomato is an amazing thing: Lycopene, the chemical that makes tomatoes red, seems to reduce the incidence of some cancers, such as prostate, stomach, and lung, and the more tomatoes you eat, the more benefit you get. Tomatoes are also packed full of vitamins C, A, and K, as well as fiber, mangan