People take them for granted now, but when slow cookers first hit the mass market in the 1970s, they truly revolutionized kitchens. With their “set-it-and-forget-it” mentality, slow cookers freed up a lot of time preparing food in a world that was quickly and steadily changing. They assisted the wave of women entering the workforce for the first time, helping them simultaneously earn an income and put dinner on the table.
As much as home cooks rely on slow cookers, though, there are some foods that just don’t mix with the countertop appliance. These are the foods you should keep away from your slow cooker, ranging from bothersome to dangerous.
This orzo salad is fresh, lemony, crunchy, herby and just the right amount of creamy thanks to the feta. It’s a go-to summer dish that’s all about balance, a pasta salad recipe ready-made for a crowd. Quick-cooking orzo pasta mixed with sweet corn, juicy tomatoes, cool cucumber and red onion, all tossed in a citrusy dressing, creates a bright and zippy summer side dish you’ll make on repeat. The toasted almonds at the end? Chef’s kiss. Whether you’re heading to a picnic, meal-prepping lunches or just trying to use that weird-looking zucchini your neighbor left on your porch, this orzo pasta salad has you covered.
What is orzo?
Despite looking like a rice impostor, orzo is a small, rice-shaped pasta that cooks quickly and works beautifully in pasta salads, in soups or as a base for a warm mushroom pilaf. It’s firm but tender when cooked al dente, and has enough heft to carry dressings and veggie add-ins without getting mushy. Keep a box on hand for last-minute meals; orzo recipes tend to be quick and easy.
Orzo Salad Ingredients
Orzo pasta: This small pasta is the perfect base for a salad because it holds onto dressing and mix-ins without getting soggy. It has a satisfying texture and a mild flavor that lets the other ingredients shine.
Corn: Corn adds a pop of color and subtle sweetness that balances the tangy dressing and salty feta. Use fresh corn in summer for maximum flavor, but frozen corn works well too.
Cherry tomatoes: These juicy little tomatoes bring vibrant color and acidity to the salad. Halving them helps release their juices, adding flavor to every bite.
Feta cheese: Feta adds salty, tangy creaminess that contrasts beautifully with the crunchy veggies. It also binds the salad together and adds richness without being heavy.
Cucumber: Cucumber brings a cool, refreshing crunch to the dish. It’s perfect in summer salads because of its high water content and crispness. Use a long English cucumber that doesn’t need peeling; if using a garden cucumber, peel and seed it first.
Red onion: Red onion brings a sharp, zesty bite to the orzo salad. Finely chopping the onion keeps the flavor balanced and not overpowering.
Fresh mint: Mint adds brightness and a cooling herbal note that wakes up the whole dish. It pairs well with the lemon dressing and sweet corn. Spearmint or peppermint are both fine, although spearmint is sweeter and tastes best in fresh salads like this.
Capers: These little flavor bombs add a briny, salty kick. If you like bold, punchy flavors, they’re a great addition. (Psst: Did you know capers are little pickled flowers?)
Dressing: The simple lemon vinaigrette ties everything together with a vibrant, zippy finish. It’s made with olive oil, fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and black pepper.
Toasted sliced almonds: Almonds bring a crunchy, nutty contrast that makes each bite more interesting. Toasting your almonds deepens their flavor and keeps them crisp.
Fresh, bright, and vegetal, with a clean, mild flavor and subtle sweetness, cucumbers are extremely versatile and lend themselves well to a wide range of dishes. From raw to cooked, savory to sweet, and beverages dry or spiked, cucumbers go a long way. Their refreshing nature makes them a star in the summer, but a crudité plate any time of year is bound to see some of these seedy wonders, thanks to their consistent availability and dippable goodness.
If you’ve ever grown cucumbers at home, you know that not only are these long, cylindrical fruits one of the easiest things to grow, but they’re also abundant. Home-growing cucumbers will inevitably have them coming out of your ears at some point, so a little brush-up on how to keep them fresh for as long as possible is a solid idea.
How Long Do Cucumbers Last?
In the fridge: 4-6 days (unwrapped), but up to 2 weeks
Room temperature on the counter: up to 7 days (if out of sun)
Looking for a delicious way to use up all those fresh cucumbers that seem to overwhelm gardens and farmers’ markets this time of year? Your search ends with our most-saved July recipe of all time: Cucumber-Tomato Salad.
With a near-perfect average rating from more than 800 members of the Allrecipes community, this classic and colorful side dish will be the star of your next summer spread—and it’ll quickly become a go-to in your seasonal rotation.
Why We Love It
There’s a lot to love about this top-rated cucumber recipe. Here are just a few reasons we’re obsessed:
It’s full of old-fashioned flavor. Recent 5-star reviewer Donna Warner-Raskin puts it best when she says this classic dish tastes “just like grandma used to make.” Other community members agree, likening the summer salad to nostalgic recipes from their own mothers and grandmothers.
It uses in-season ingredients. This cucumber-tomato salad is a gardener’s dream (at least in the summertime, that is). If you don’t have a vegetable garden in your backyard, a quick trip to the farmers’ market is all you’ll need.
It’s the perfect make-ahead side dish. Because the flavors from the marinade take a few hours to reach their full effect, this is a great recipe to make in advance. It’s important to note, though, that the cukes might lose some crispness after a while—so we don’t recommend making this dish more than a day before you plan to serve it.
Discover how simple clean eating can be when you have a slow cooker. Filled with easy and delicious recipes, The Clean Eating Slow Cooker is your essential guide to healthy masterpieces. Baked Berry Oatmeal, Mushroom Risotto, Butter Chicken, Beef Brisket BBQ…sample 130 clean dishes your taste buds will love—and your body will too.
Want to learn more about clean eating? Never used a slow cooker? The Clean Eating Slow Cooker features guides that help you learn the benefits of eating clean, picking the right foods, and mastering your slow cooker.
The Clean Eating Slow Cooker includes:
130 sumptuous recipes—Make clean eating easy with recipes that are perfect for your slow cooker—and take 20 minutes or less to prep.
Slow cooking for clean eating—Learn why the slow cooker is perfect for clean eating, plus the best ways to use your slow cooker.
Information at a glance—Pick your perfect dishes thanks to key nutrition information, plus clear labels for specific diets and dietary restrictions.
Healthy living and clean eating is now convenient thanks to The Clean Eating Slow Cooker.
Here’s the deal: Hot pockets are a delicious convenience. Take the handheld cheese-filled bundle, heat it up, and you have a complete meal in under 10 minutes. The bread-like wrap somehow works with every ham and cheddar, bacon, egg, cheese, or copycat pizza combination. I discovered that “pop and fresh” crescent dough sheets minimize efforts; all you have to do is roll. Read on for some tips for how to make hot pockets at home.
Fillings We’ve chosen a few that are super-easy to make. The separate recipes below create enough filling for 12 hot pockets, but if you want to mix and match, you can adjust the ratios to whatever you’d like. Your call. – The Buffalo chicken filling is mixed with your favorite Buffalo sauce, broccoli, and cheddar cheese. – The spinach-artichoke filling is garlicky and cheesy thanks to using both mozzarella and Pecorino. You can use Parmesan too. – Finally, the pepperoni cheese filling features mozzarella, pepperoni slices, and tomato sauce. A sprinkle of dried oregano gives it that pizza touch. I used a high-quality jar of marinara sauce, but if you want to make your own, we recommend making our easiest tomato sauce. Types of air fryers There are a few types of air fryers on the market, so depending on which one you have, the cook time may differ. I tested the hot pockets in a dual air fryer-toaster oven, then in a single basket air fryer. The cook time was longer in the air fryer-toaster oven, but I was able to cook four at a time as opposed to two.
Storage Hot pockets are best for up to 3 days in the refrigerator after being air fried. You can also reheat them using the air fryer or oven. You can also stuff them and store them uncooked in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.
“Bilderback (Mug Cakes) brings homemade ice cream to specialty-appliance-free kitchens with this accessible collection of frozen desserts.” —Library Journal (starred review)
In every country you’ll find people eating ice cream on street corners, in markets, and in fancy restaurants. But the number of people who make it at home is much smaller. The reason? Making this sweet treat yourself is kind of a pain. Ice cream machines can be expensive, bulky and hard to store, or cheap and inefficient. But what if you could make your own ice cream at home without all of the fuss, for a fraction of the cost of buying it, and without any special equipment? No-Churn Ice Cream is a mouthwatering collection of shortcuts and classic culinary techniques that help you achieve delicious, artisanal results.
All you need to make your quick and easy no-churn ice cream are the following simple tools:
A freezer
A whisk or electric mixer
A can opener
A bowl and a freezable container, such as a loaf pan
A sweet tooth!
Inside you’ll find recipes for all the basic flavors, plus more complex and exciting flavors such as Pineapple-Peppercorn and Sweet Potato Marshmallow Swirl. Treat yourself with a decadent Stracciatella gelato or Bananas Foster sorbet, or cool off with some Lavender-Almond sherbet. Your flavor variations are limited only by your imagination. Why not add some bacon to that batch of chocolate-caramel ice cream? Leslie Bilderback, author of Mug Cakes, is here to show you how.
Crab cakes are the best because you get all the deliciousness of crab without all of the tedious, messy work of pulling meat from the shells. They’re also super simple to assemble, but it can be a mess to pan fry them all. Enter the air fryer. Crab cakes are the ideal dish to cook in the air fryer because you want that crispy texture all around without ending up with an oil-logged cake.
This recipe sticks to the classics, with mustard, Old Bay seasoning, and chives, and Saltine cracker crumbs as the binder. You gently fold in a whole pound of jumbo lump crab meat before air frying the cakes until perfectly golden brown. The result: a crab cake that has big chunks of crab meat and just enough filler ingredients to bind it all together—all without a ton of oil to weigh things down.
Served alongside a classic tartar sauce, these crab cakes make for an extra-delicious dinner.
Whether it’s poached, roasted or grilled, salmon is one of those main courses that’s bound to impress. The fish cooks quickly enough for easy weeknight dinners, yet it is elegant enough to serve as the centerpiece at a dinner party. Either way, the best sides for salmon showcase its versatility. Bold-flavored side dishes like bacony Brussels sprouts or buttery risotto contrast the salmon’s rich, slightly sweet character. Quick and easy side dishes, like sauteed asparagus or green beans, balance out salmon served with a creamy sauce or citrusy glaze.
The James Beard Award Nominee for Best Cookbook: Baking and Desserts serves up the delicious new food trend of slab pies—sweet or savory.
For those of you who aren’t up on your Pinterest and TikTok food trends, slab pie is just like regular pie—only better (and bigger)! Instead of crimping and meticulously rolling out a round crust, slab pies are an unfussy twist that are perfect for a potluck or dinner party or just a family dinner. Baked on sheet pans, slab pies can easily serve a crowd of people dinner or dessert. Pie Squared includes seventy-five foolproof recipes, along with inventive decoration tips that will appeal to baking nerds and occasional bakers alike. And this fresh, uncomplicated take on pie will surely pique the interest of those who have previously been reluctant to take out their rolling pin.
Barrow didn’t invent slab pie, but she definitely thinks outside of the crust. In addition to traditional pie dough, she offers more than a dozen crust recipes—from cracker crusts and cornbread crusts to cookie crusts and cheddar cheese crusts. Using these as a base, Barrow then entices readers with both savory and sweet slab pie creations, with recipes like Spinach, Gorgonzola, and Walnut Slab Pie and Curried Chicken Slab Pie to Sour Cream Peach Melba Slab Pie and Grande Mocha Cappuccino Slab Pie. The first book of its kind, this will appeal to lovers of easy food trends like sheet pan suppers and dump cakes. Don’t be surprised when you start spying slab pies at your next potluck!
“A collection of creative and ambitious-yet-approachable recipes.” ―The Austin Chronicle
Good Food, Good Meat, Good God, Let's Eat! 