Asian Chicken Lettuce Cups

By Zoe McLaughlin
A new video for Video Friday

This Asian restaurant favorite couldn't be easier to make! The combination of the crunchy iceberg lettuce, fragrance of ginger and garlic, and sweetness from the hoisin sauce makes these wraps a perfect bite. This recipe can be turned into wonderful appetizers by simply spooning the chicken into smaller lettuce cups – they’re sure to be a crowd pleaser.

The simplicity of this dish is what makes it memorable and something you will make again and again. To streamline the recipe even further, instead of diced chicken you could use ground chicken; even ground pork would work nicely in this recipe.

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Meatloaf in Half the Time

By Joanne Lamb Hayes
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

Meatloaf has always been one of my family’s favorites, but as our schedule got busier and busier, the one-hour baking time made it scarce on the menu. When I discovered this easy trick, everyone was delighted to have meatloaf back on our table and looking a lot cuter.

I can’t take credit for the idea of baking meatloaf in cupcake pans; I must have seen it in a magazine somewhere. But I added another touch: pre-cooking the onion and carrots and then heating them with the salsa. Once I added the vegetables and salsa hot to the meat mixture, these little loaves cooked in 5 to 7 minutes less time than when everything was mixed in cold. And that made it a lot easier to have dinner on the table on time.

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Make your own Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

By Ben Mims
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks

As I said in my Special Fork debut post, I love breakfast. It’s the best meal of the day and has the best dishes to choose from: biscuits with sausage gravy, chilaquiles; corned beef hash!

But more often than not, I always choose something sweet, whether it’s a simple scone or a rich slab of cake. One of my favorite things is Nutella, and for years, I spread it liberally, rotating it with peanut butter, jelly, or cinnamon-sugar butter, on my 7-grain toast.

I got the idea one day to try and make my own “Nutella” for a dessert I was developing, and it came out better than I expected. It retained small chunks of hazelnut, and I could control the sweetness and quality of chocolate.

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How to Read a Recipe

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

Dave loves to tell this story: Looking for cooking inspiration, he found a crowd-sourced tilapia recipe on the Internet. He invested the time and money to purchase the ingredients. He cooked, following instructions carefully and after tasting…promptly tossed the dish in the trash!

Dave came to me to find out why the dish was inedible. Perusing the offending recipe, I wisely told him, according to Dave, “Just looking at the ingredients, I could tell you this recipe wasn’t going to work.”

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Make your own Mayo

By Jennifer Knapp
A new video for Video Friday

Mayonnaise is the condiment that most of us have at any given time in the fridge. What would that tuna salad sandwich be without it?

But what many people don't know, is that if you have a food processor (or even if you don't!), it’s easy to make own creamy homemade mayonnaise. While you may want to reach for the commercial jar for everyday use, homemade mayonnaise does taste different and there’s nothing like it for a sauce or dip.

By adding a little minced garlic to your mayonnaise, you can turn it into a flavorful aioli. You can also add just about any kind of chopped herb, such as parsley, chives, tarragon or basil, to customize the flavor.

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