Blending Planet Oat Extra Creamy Oatmilk with cold brew, cocoa powder, frozen bananas, slightly sweet dates, and chia seeds (for the perfect smoothie texture, and health benefits to boot) make this smoothie the perfect get-up-and-go beverage. I've also added the tiniest pinch of salt to amplify all of these powerhouse flavors.

Gazpacho is endlessly adaptable, with as many variations as there are tomatoes. This is my personal favorite, particularly in late summer. Stone fruit complements the tomatoes' sweetness, and a cheesy flatbread makes it complete. Think grilled cheese and tomato soup, but for warm days. Feel free to adjust the ingredients to your liking; it's hard to go wrong. Just taste as you go, balancing the salt and acidity. You'll find yourself making these flatbreads all the time, too!

Making a quick batch of oatmeal each day can be a happy, steadying ritual. Finding the sticky pot still soaking in the sink at 6 p.m. is not. So food stylist and The Joys of Baking author Samantha Seneviratne switched to a nonstick skillet—a trick she picked up in a test kitchen at some point in her career, but really put to use when feeding her toddler, Arthur. Not only is the skillet much easier to clean, but the oats also cook down swifter and creamier, as they bubble down over a wider surface area.

I love herring unconditionally – pickled, smoked, or otherwise. Truth be told, this recipe is versatile and would be just as delicious with another canned, smoked, or flaked fish. I’m imagining, specifically, trout or hot-smoked salmon. However, if you’re a herring lover, or perhaps just interested in trying it, you’ll love to make this recipe as it is written. The sour cream and generous amount of chives give this dish a signature flavor, and balance out the smokiness of the fish.

Tiki cocktails are making a comeback, and few embody their sweet, fruity, and boozy balance like the Jungle Bird. Created in the 1970s at the Aviary Bar in the Kuala Lumpur Hilton, this modern classic gets its name from the tropical birds housed nearby. Unlike most tiki drinks, the Jungle Bird features a bold twist—Campari—adding a bitter edge that balances the pineapple’s sweetness. The result? A refreshing, complex cocktail that feels both tropical and sophisticated.

This chocolate cake recipe has been "the" chocolate cake in our family for decades, for two big reasons. First, it is the best-tasting chocolate cake in my family's (considerable) baking repertoire, moist and deeply chocolatey without being heavy. Second, sheer ease. This cake has exactly two steps: mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, and bake. I've cheated on my mom's recipe by adding instant espresso powder—a baking trick that heightens the flavor of chocolate—but feel free to leave it out. Classic chocolate frosting works well if you want to gild that chocolate lily, but we prefer to frost this cake with homemade, lightly-sweetened whipped cream.

Since first being published in 2003, Ferran Adrià's iconic Spanish tortilla recipe has had a life of its own across the internet (and many cookbooks), and has seen many additions and tweaks (flipping vs. not, crushing the chips vs. not, kettle vs. thin chips). Trust us when we say that, whatever rendition you go with, this tortilla española is here for you in a pinch (and fast). It skips the traditional steps of a making a tortilla—no slicing and slow-frying potatoes and onions here. Instead, grab your favorite thin and crispy potato chips and a few eggs. Near-instantly, you'll have lunch, dinner, or a snack when you need it most. And yes indeed, your simplest Lay's or other thin, classic potato chips are recommended instead of a thicker, kettle-style potato chip—they'll meld into the tortilla better.

Renaissance woman Whitney Wright may have learned the sorcery of one-ingredient corn butter on the line at Per Se restaurant in New York City, but it's all the delicious ways she uses it that are really genius: Spread it on toast and biscuits as you would butter (without needing to wait for it to soften!), fold it into vegetables in place of cream, blend it into ice creams and milkshakes, and the list goes on. See Whitney’s full set of ideas in the Genius article here| New Window.

An homage to the Greek dish Htipiti, this whipped feta dip with roasted red peppers is the perfect balance of tangy and savory. With only five main ingredients, this simple dip is easy to make for any small gathering as an appetizer! Try pairing this with toasted pita, fresh crudités, and marinated olives.

Buckwheat is a great alternative to oatmeal for when you want something that's filling and warm; it's also a nice option if you have gluten or wheat sensitivities. The fancy toppings add pops of flavor and nutrition, like omega-3s and protein, but feel free to mix things up with different combinations of fruits, seeds, nuts, and yogurts.

Lean meat, as a rule, needs help. Here, inspired by traditional Parsi kebabs, Niloufer Ichaporia King jams it full of moisture (and flavor) with a mess of herbs, alliums, ginger, and chiles. There is a greater proportion of raw vegetable matter here than you might have thought wise to mix into a burger. But every last bit has just enough time to soften and release its bright, herby, spicy vapors and juices into the burgers as they sizzle, fixing both of the problems meat lacking in fat tends to have: severe deficits in flavor and moisture.

Writer and Food52 contributor Yi Jun Loh’s mom discovered this sleight-of-hand trick when his sister Jia went vegetarian, and the long-simmered chicken or pork-based soups that fed their family in Malaysia needed to be rethunk. Jun, a reformed chemical engineer who trained at culinary school and restaurants like Blue Hill, recognized the brilliance of this substitution, experimented with it further himself, and then—lucky us!—sent it our way. “There's clearly some sort of liquid magic happening here,” Jun wrote. “Sure, it does taste slightly different, but the depth and richness it adds to the broth simply blows my mind.” You can use this trick to quickly give a backbone to any soup or stew, but this ABC soup—the Malaysian version of the classic simple chicken soup—is a very good place to start. Adapted very slightly from Yi Jun Loh of the blog Jun & Tonic.

I like to dress my guacamole with a vinaigrette before serving, as if it's a salad. It's a clever trick I picked up from Cindy Pawlcyn's Fog City Diner Cookbook, in which she employs this tactic with avocado salsa. Her version of the dressing is one part rice vinegar to three parts olive oil, plus salt and pepper. I like to experiment and riff, much like I would with any vinaigrette—lime juice, lemon juice, and sherry vinegar all work well as the acid. The dressing I've included here (along with my standard, go-to guacamole formula) is a simple one, based on her original recipe. But do feel free to play around!

Sam Sifton’s Pasta with Parsnips & Bacon is a rich, savory fettuccine dish where crisped bacon (or pancetta) mingles with caramelized parsnips, garlic, butter, thyme, and Parmesan—tossed in reserved pasta water to form a glossy, comforting sauce

I first encountered cheese-as-salad-dressing at a restaurant near my apartment. Buoyed by the concept, I began to experiment at home. Would a sharper, headier cheese work in the same way? And how about something with goat cheese? This one is simple, with raw broccoli, chopped dates, sour cherries, crumbled goat cheese, and walnuts. But the dressing is anything but straightforward. It doubles down on the punchy cheese and calls in olive oil, lemon juice, and zest. I could happily eat it with a spoon. (If you know what's good for you, you'll make a double batch for marathon snack-dipping. Think: everything from stray chips to carrots, and everywhere from standing in your kitchen in sweatpants to a picnic blanket.) The salad itself comes together in only 10 minutes—so it's a make-ahead luncher’s dream.

There’s really a lot to love about sheet-pan dinners. As a category, these recipes tend to be pretty hands-off, easy to assemble, and have minimal clean-up. When the day has been busy or I just don’t want to have to fuss over the stove, sheet pan recipes are my go-tos. While dinner roasts in the oven, the table can be set, a DuoLingo streak can be managed, or a cocktail can be mixed. If I am feeling industrious, I can quickly clean up the cutting board and any bowls I may have used.

When the house chef takes the night off, resist your go-to takeout and toss together this powerhouse one-bowl dinner instead. Yes, it’s a salad, but it stars bacon, salami, ham, turkey and cheese, which makes it an easy sell to the under-15 crowd, as well as a fun and filling meal.

As Erin writes in Savory Baking, "My mom was both a nurse and a very good cook. So when I was sick as a kid, I was taken very good care of— including a regimen of her chicken noodle soup, sometimes complete with homemade noodles. While the real remedy was surely to be found in the broth, the thing I remember are those wonderfully chewy noodles. You can whip up these noodles in less time than it takes for your favorite soup to simmer to flavorful perfection. These are also delicious boiled until tender, then sautéed in butter (I top mine with grated Parm and black pepper for the ultimate comfort food snack)."

Taylor ham aka pork roll is a New Jersey treasure. Salty, savory, and porky, sort of like Spam meets Genoa salami. You’ll most often find it crisped on a griddle in a diner, then tucked in a kaiser roll with a fried egg and American cheese. But this ingredient wants to be used anywhere you’d normally think of actual-ham or bacon or sausage. The possibilities are endless—try it in fried rice, hodgepodge pasta, or your next BLT. Yes, yes, it’s no longer a BLT without the B. But I have a hunch that this version (THLT? PRLT?) will swiftly become your new go-to come summer each year. If you live in or near New Jersey, you don’t need me to tell you where to find Taylor ham—just about any supermarket should be amply stocked. If you aren’t in the northeast, check your nearest supermarket anyway (I could find it when I lived in North Carolina). Or order it online. Like a classic BLT, this is only worth it with in-season, water-balloon-esque tomatoes. But feel free to go rogue with the bread options: A potato bun, kaiser roll, or English muffin would all work wonders here.

This trick will make any salmon better: grilled, roasted, pan-seared, broiled. In fact, it will make just about anything you want to eat better: meatballs, pasta sauces, popcorn—even ice cream—all with the same Microplane you use to grate cheese and lemon zest, and the umami-packed dried mushrooms that will keep almost-forever in your pantry. No pre-soaking the mushrooms, no pulling out (or cleaning) the spice grinder, just grating as casually as you’d sprinkle salt. Here, we’re using Marc’s trick on Sally Schneider’s Genius Slow-Roasted Salmon| New Window, with an extra tip for crisping the salmon skin from Food52 community member Lune, but feel free to use it far and wide.