Since we’re chopping cauliflower, how about we chop some strawberries, too? I mean, it is strawberry season after all! Last year I was chopping strawberries for some strawberry shortcake and realized that every time I went to cut up a strawberry, I would do it this way…

As you can see from my beautiful Photoshopping, this is the wrong way. I would always quarter the strawberries vertically from stem to tip first and then cut it into smaller pieces. This is no bueno because everything slips and slides, making it so that your pieces are all different sizes. It is also a wee bit dangerous, too.

It’s taken a year, but I’ve broken the habit! I finally have retrained myself to cut strawberries the proper way, with no slipping and sliding to be seen! By cutting the strawberries horizontally (so not stem to tip) to start, you can then place the strawberry on its flat end (where you cut off the stem and leaves) and everything stays put! It’s a subtle difference but one I find that makes chopping strawberries much easier!

Here are step-by-step photos! Tha may not be necessary, but strawberries are pretty so why not? 😉 

Step 1: Cut off the leafy top.

Step 2: Cut the strawberries horizontally.

You can cut them in halves or thirds, depending on the size of the strawberry.

Step 3: Turn the strawberries up onto their cut-off-stem side, so the tips are pointing up.

Step 4: Quarter the strawberries, cutting tip to stem.

Step 5: Knock all the strawberries over and eat them!

A few years ago I posed a question on Facebook, something along the lines of, “What common kitchen task do you hate doing?” One of the responses was something I had never thought of but, once someone said it out loud, it forever bugged me, too! This fellow cook talked about how they hate chopping cauliflower because there are always a ton of tiny cauliflower pieces that get everywhere and are hard to wipe up. That person was right – those little pieces are annoying. So for years I’ve bemoaned the cauliflower mess, never quite figuring out a way to tackle it. UNTIL TODAY.

While prepping cauliflower to be roasted, I washed the head of cauliflower and cut out the core, used my hands to break it into large pieces, then put those pieces on the rimmed baking sheet to await being shopped smaller. As I reached for a cutting board, I ended up grabbing my smallest cutting board and putting it in the center of the pan. That’s where I chopped the pieces smaller, on the cutting board on the pan! It was awesome, my knife wasn’t damaged and all the cauliflower bits stayed right in the pan.

I know it’s crazy I’m doing a whole blog post about this but that is how excited I am to make this discovery. Bring on the cauliflower! 

Note: This tip will work well even if you aren’t planning to roast the cauliflower. Cutting the vegetable on a cutting board in a rimmed pan does a great job of minimizing mess. I’ll probably use this technique when chopping other foods, too!

Today marks the 50th episode of the This Week for Dinner podcast! To celebrate I am sharing some of my most favorite kitchen tips and they all have to do with avocados. Over the years I’ve had the chance to visit some avocado groves and here from some avocado experts and along the way I have picked up some really great tips. In the show I cover the best place to check for ripeness on an avocado, strategies for storing them at peak ripeness, and how to get the pit out without cutting off your hand. These tips have been game changers for me and I’m excited to share them with you all on the podcast.

Shownotes:

• Video demo for safely pitting avocados
• Video demo for freezing avocados
• California Avocados
• West Pak Avocado Inc.
• Photo below of the wine bottle holder I use to store my avocados in the fridge

It’s easy to listen to the show!

• Via the web: Click the play button below!
• Via an app: Search “This Week for Dinner Podcast” on your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Overcast, Stitcher, Spotify, etc.).

Other Stuff!

• If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a rating and/or review on iTunes! It helps a lot!
• Big thank you to d&m for providing the music for the podcast!

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From Jane: I am super excited today because I get to introduce you to This Week for Dinner’s first-ever regular contributor (who isn’t me!). Everyone meet Cora Wallin! Cora is my sister-in-law who has been making good food for our family since the day we all met her. She’s an excellent cook who is behind some of my favorite recipes here on the blog (I’m looking at you taco meat, sour cream banana bread and sweet potato burritos with the yummiest black beans ever). Last summer when Cora and I were hanging out at my parent’s house, she was telling me about a few of her recent favorite recipes. I was thinking about how I needed to make them and photograph them so I could share these recipes on the blog, and then I had a genius idea. Cora is both a fabulous writer AND photographer, so, um, that means she can just write these blog posts for me, right? Somehow I got her to agree and now we are all benefitting! (Okay, maybe Cora isn’t benefitting so much, but whatever. She just loves me THAT MUCH.) Cora is kicking things off with a delicious and beautiful post that explains how to do charcuterie at home. Thank you Cora! 

We had an official #adulting moment last month. We were invited to dinner as a family (including husband Christian, 7-year-old Maddox, 5-year-old Sophie and 8-month-old Phoebe) by one of Maddox’s classmates. Obviously, I’m not a stellar member of the PTA (excuse me, PTO) for this to be our first family-dinner-at-a-classmate’s rodeo. It felt significant. It felt a bit nerve-racking. Would it be an evening of polite and benign conversation while the smelly seven-year-olds made fart jokes at the end of the table or would this be the beginning of family friends?

About 30 minutes before show time, I sent the husband out to buy flowers and wine. Which meant we were almost late to a dinner only two blocks away. We arrived dew-kissed (read: sweaty) and slightly winded from the horror of getting three children in and out of coats, hats and shoes. The older kids ran off to destroy our hosts’ home while Christian and I joined the grown-ups on the sofa by the fire. I plopped down onto said sofa with Phoebe clinging to me and became even “dewier” thanks to the romantic, blazing hearth. Then my eyes fell to the coffee table where there upon the altar of friendship was laid mana. Life reviving sustenance. BEHOLD, a cheese board with the all the dressings and trappings of a Pinterest fantasy. Then I knew, I really knew, we would all be fast friends.

That’s the power of the charcuterie. It brings fancy salamis and smelly cheeses together on little edible carb-loaded plates and turns everyone into heart-eyed smiling emoji faces. It’s pure magic. It’s how we can heal this world. So let’s break it down Jeopardy style…behold the keys to world peace.

What is…charcuterie?

Charcuterie is just a snooty french word that means a collection of cured meats. Now, I’ve unsuccessfully attempted charcuteries in the past, but what my new best friends showed me was the key to friendship and charcuterie glory is an assortment. Before I would grab 3 different kinds of meats and it always felt like a bit of a let down when I made the spread. Go for a variety, not quantity. Try rosemary ham, 3 different salamis and a pate or teewurst. Have a mix of sweet, spicy, peppery meats as well as melt-in-your-mouth prosciutto. It’s much better to do a little bit of a lot of things than a lot of just a few.

What is…cheese?

But meat alone won’t do the trick, otherwise my southern cousins’ pepperoni logs and Slim Jims would be the height of social entertaining. The lactose-y wonder of cheese is what makes all those delectable meats sing. Again, it’s all about the the different textures and flavors. Pick up a creamy brie, crumbly blue, smoky gouda and zippy manchego. Each bite should feel like a choose-your-own-adventure book for your mouth.

What are…edible plates?

Serve that wonderful meat and cheese on delicious edible plates. And don’t forget, variety, variety, variety! (Are you sick of that theme yet?) Don’t just serve water crackers. Slice up a fresh baguette. Grab some fig and olive crackers at Trader Joe’s. Toss in thin and crunchy breadsticks. The more the merrier.

What are…all the extras?

The extras are what will really set your charcuterie and cheese board apart. There are SO many amazing options but here are just a few: marinated olives (pitted always feels less awkward), nuts, caper berries, pepperoncinis, roasted peppers, juicy grapes, thin-sliced Granny Smith apples, french dijon mustard, fig preserves, quince or guava paste, fresh honey”¦the list is endless. A great place for ideas can be your local wine shop. Many of them have cheese departments where you can get suggestions for wonderful pairings.

What is…presentation?

Lastly, don’t forget to make it pretty. Put cheese on little squares of parchment. Add fragrant sprigs of fresh herbs. Roll soft cured meats and fan out chorizo slices. Intermix your groups of meats, cheeses, crackers and extras.

Remember this is about coming together. It’s about building bridges of hope and love. Let the cheese show you the way.

Let’s talk bagels and knives. The combination is deadly”¦well, at least for fingers and hands. I would hazard a guess that avocados and bagels cause the most knife injuries in home kitchens. I have ZERO data to back me up on that claim, but that’s what I my gut tells me. And I have smart guts. ANYWAY”¦I have already shown you how to cut avocados the awesomest most safest way ever. But until this week I didn’t actually know the safest way to slice bagels. But now I do. And so, of course, I am showing you!

We have a really great bagel shop down the street where I get bagels for my kids’ lunches. (PS: The bagel shop is called Top of the Bagel and it is seriously good – New Jersey native approved!) I like to buy a dozen bagels at a time, slice them, cut them in half and then put the bagels in the freezer so they are fresh for lunches. This week, as I was prepping the bagels for the freezer, I had a revelation.

I used to always slice the bagel (you know, like when you slice it to put in the toaster or spread with cream cheese) then cut it in half (my kids only eat a half a bagel for lunch). This week, however, I reversed the cutting order, cutting the bagel in half first and then slicing it. You guys. This way is so much easier and safer. How have I never thought of it before?!? From now on I will always do this, even if we are planning to eat the whole bagel.

I will describe in detail what I’m talking about so there is no confusion and to ensure the survival of everyone’s fingers.

Step 1: Cut the bagel in half, as shown in the photo below.

Step 2: Slice the bagel. To do this, when you place the bagel vertically on the cutting board to slice it, put it cut side (flat side) down on the board. Start to slice the bagel, pinching the top of bagel and holding it firmly with your non-knife hand. As soon as the top of the knife is level with the top of the bagel, flatten your hand and press down on the bagel to hold it in place. It works like a charm and never at any point is your hand or any of your fingers in way of the blade.

This is not rocket science, I know. And it was one of those “Duh!” moments for me and it is seriously helpful and so much safer.

So, there you go. Happy bagel slicing!

There hasn’t been much Thanksgiving prep happening here on the blog because, honestly, there just isn’t much Thanksgiving prep happening in my kitchen! I AM cooking next week, and I haven’t done one thing yet to get ready. Honestly, I’m not stressed about it. I’m sticking with the old stand-bys this year, so I pretty much know what we’ll be eating. Just need to do some shopping this weekend. It’s all good. However, if you are actually planning ahead, you can click on my “Thanksgiving Prep” tag and see all kinds of posts related to Thanksgiving!

I do want to share a quick Kitchen Tip today related to Thanksgiving. It’s one of those tips that is kind of a “Duh” thing to share, but I didn’t figure it out until last year, so I imagine I’m not alone in having not done this before. Every year I make crescent rolls for Thanksgiving. And every year I use a sharp knife when cutting dough for crescent rolls. You know, once you’ve rolled out a circle and cut the circle into triangles. Well, last year, I was about to use the knife and then, for some reason, I thought of the pizza cutter. It worked beautifully. Also, what did I tell you? DUH. How had I never done this before?!

Please note that it works best to cut from the outside edge towards the center. If you cut from the center, sometimes the tips of the triangles roll up as you roll the pizza cutter.

Life changer, guys. Well, when it comes to making crescent rolls at least. You’re welcome and happy crescent roll cutting!

Today I have a story to tell. After the story there’s a really good kitchen tip. So, you know, make sure you keep reading to the end. Which of course you would do anyway because I’m such a good storyteller, right?!

Our house came with a lemon tree in the backyard. A big, beautiful lemon tree that grows the best tasting lemons in the world. There was just one problem – the lemons kept getting this weird brown spot on the bottom.

We researched the issue and came up empty. Our gardener thought maybe it was a deficiency of some sort and asked other gardeners about it. Everyone was stumped. Then, one day, Nate noticed a blue tag on the tree. He flipped it over and discovered the tag had words on it and the words were these: Bearss Lime.

WHAT?!?! Our lemons were limes! Our gardener was like, “Oh man, I love Bearss limes! The way the tree was pruned I just never thought of it!” Now that we knew what kind of tree it was, our research was much more fruitful (pun intended) and we discovered that our yellow limes with brown spots on the bottom were actually just overripe.

In our defense, Bearss limes can grow really big and really yellow. I think Bearss limes should be renamed Trick Lemons. I mean, seriously, look how yellow those two overripe limes are in the picture above!

The reason our lemons were the best tasting lemons in the world was because they were actually limes. My lemon bars? Lime bars. Our neighbors’ favorite lemon chicken? Lime chicken. The list goes on. Lemon or lime, we love the tree and Nate makes the best lemonade, I mean limeade, you ever did taste.

Owen says, “Hi!”

Story’s over, kitchen tip time! If you don’t have a lemon press, aka citrus squeezer, get one! Seriously, I’ve been wanting a lemon press for years and finally, two weeks ago, I popped onto Amazon, found one that looked good and hit “buy.” I bought the Bellemain lemon squeezer and I love it. It is super sturdy and perfect for lemons and limes. Click here to check it out!

I now consider my lemon press an indispensable kitchen tool and don’t know how I lived so long without it. Take note: when you start squeezing, go slow or you’ll end up with juice all over your kitchen.

Happy juicing!

You know how last week I told you to buy a baker’s blade? Well, I have something else you need to go buy. Luckily it’s another inexpensive item so it shouldn’t be too painful!

When I was making Anna’s birthday cake last month, I bought a set of nesting round cookie cutters so I could make the marzipan pepperoni and onions. I can’t tell you how much I love this little set of cutters! Since I made Anna’s cake just a month ago I’ve used these cutters several times, for a few cookie recipes as well as a Christmas tree ornament craft we made for Cate’s birthday party. I’m thinking they’ll come in handy for biscuits as well.

I love this cooke cutter set because there are 6 different sized circles and the cutters are double sided, with a smooth and a scalloped edge.

I bought mine at Michaels, but you can buy the set on Amazon as well. And you should, Right now! (That’s Bossy Jane talking. Sorry.)

If you bake at all (cookies, bread, whatever), then today’s post is for you.

Last month I bought my very first baker’s blade. I’m not entirely sure why I didn’t owen one until now. I think I just never thought about it until I was smack dab in the middle of making a recipe and couldn’t just pop off to the store to go shopping. Anyway, I went to Michaels (my least favorite store in the history of the world) about 3,148 times this past December. About the only good that came out of that torture was that I happened to grab a Wilton baker’s blade on one of those trips.

I love my new baker’s blade! Seriously, it’s awesome. It comes in super handy when making bread and cookies and other stuff, too. For example, it even came in handy when I was forming marzipan veggies for Anna’s birthday cake. The baker’s blade is perfect for scraping your floured surface clean, cutting dough up, moving stuff around, whatever. The baking world is your oyster if you’ve got a baker’s blade at the ready.

So, if you’re like me and haven’t ever happened to buy one, hop to it! Amazon sells the one I bought and love, which means you can buy it NOW and don’t have to torture yourself with a visit to Michaels. You’re welcome.

I have a spectacular kitchen tip for you today. One that I should have figured out ages ago. One you probably have already figured out yourself. BUT, in case you haven’t, here we go!

My kids love cinnamon sugar on their wheat toast in the morning. I never have cinnamon sugar on hand because I could never figure out what kind of container to put it in. That means I make the lamest cinnamon sugar toast ever, with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled separately and haphazardly on top of the toast. My kids think it tastes good, but I know their toast could be sooooo much better.

I started thinking maybe I would start ordering cinnamon sugar from Penzey’s so that the cinnamon sugar would have its own container, but that felt a little over the top (even though I know the cinnamon blend they use must taste divine). And then, finally, it dawned on me – I can just use an old cinnamon jar to store my own homemade cinnamon sugar! DUH! A-HA! HOW HAD I NEVER THOUGHT OF THIS BEFORE? This idea is genius because you don’t have to buy something separate to store the cinnamon sugar in, the jar comes with a shaker top, and it fits in the spice cupboard perfectly.

Also, a 2.2 ounce spice bottle is just the right size to mix 1/4 cup of sugar with 1 tablespoon of cinnamon. There’s enough space left in the jar to shake it all together but you have a mostly full jar at the end.

ALSO, if you follow the Pioneer Woman’s technique for making cinnamon toast using an English muffin, you will die and go to heaven. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.