The Short Answer: A cornstarch or flour slurry thickens any soup fast without changing the flavor. Pureed vegetables, potatoes, rice, and oats add body naturally and work in almost any brothy soup. Beans and silken tofu add both
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Better Living Food & Entertaining
This guide covers 10 East Coast fall food festivals with confirmed 2026 dates, from Pennsylvania's mushroom capital to a Maine harbor race powered by 700-pound hollowed-out pumpkins. Several popular festivals have quietly
The short answer: Vanilla bean, vanilla bean paste, and vanilla powder are the closest flavor matches to vanilla extract. Almond extract, maple syrup, honey, and a splash of bourbon, rum, or
The short answer: All-purpose flour, arrowroot powder, potato starch, tapioca starch, rice flour, ground flaxseed, xanthan gum, and guar gum all work as cornstarch substitutes. Grain starches like flour and
If you love donuts and either live in or are traveling to the Philadelphia area, buckle up, because this list needed more than a light dusting of powdered sugar to fix. A couple of legendary names have quietly
This corner of the country earns its haunted reputation honestly. Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware were settled in the 1600s and 1700s, so a lot of their taverns are old enough to have survived the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and
The short answer: Baking soda mixed with cream of tartar, vinegar, lemon juice, buttermilk, yogurt, or molasses can all stand in for baking powder. Self-rising flour and whipped egg whites work too, in the
The Short Answer: Greek yogurt, crème fraîche, buttermilk, plain yogurt, blended cottage cheese, ricotta, and kefir all work well. So do cream cheese, mayonnaise, cashew cream, and
The short answer: Not in the traditional sense. Spices are too dry to support most bacterial growth, so they don't spoil like perishable food. Instead they gradually lose potency: whole spices stay flavorful for
Do you love to grill, but don’t do it as often as you like? Maybe you don’t like the hassle or your outdoor living space won’t accommodate a BBQ? Or maybe you
The Short Answer: Greased aluminum foil, a silicone baking mat, and a greased pan all work for oven baking. So do nonstick cooking spray, cornmeal or flour dusting, butcher paper, and reusable
Most expired pantry staples, rice, pasta, canned goods, spices, are a quality problem, not a safety problem, and are fine to use past their printed date if they look, smell, and taste normal. A short list is different: canned goods that are
