How to Cook

If making homemade vegetable broth is new to you, get ready for a few perks! From a culinary perspective, making your own vegetable broth is fun and flavorful, and it allows you to experiment with a variety of vegetables (and vegetable parts!). From an environmental standpoint, you avoid food waste and unnecessary packaging that comes with store-bought brands. And, from a cost-savings mindset, you’ll save money. Check out this article on how making homemade vegetable broth can be easy and versatile in a variety of plant-based recipes.

If you don’t have a solid plan to use up produce or know how to properly store it, your vibrant, nutritious, and flavorful fruits and vegetables can quickly transform into mush. And wasted food is wasted time, money, and resources. It can also put a wrench in your meal plans. And food waste has a detrimental impact on the planet. This article and video provide tips on how to extend the shelf life of and use up, fruits, veggies, and herbs in a variety of culinary applications to avoid waste and get the most out of your food.

Reading a recipe may seem pretty straightforward. However, there can be foreign ingredients (looking at you kala namak), unfamiliar measurements (how much is a pinch, exactly?), and prep instructions (don’t forget to soak the cashews!) that you’ll want to know before starting a recipe. And understanding how to read a recipe can set you up for success in the kitchen. In this article, you learn how to follow recipes from start to finish and create knockout dishes every time.

Have you been curious about plant-based eating but unsure where to start? Or perhaps you have successfully made some plant-based meals, but haven’t yet ventured beyond what you know. In this How to Cook series article, we review our top ten tips (plus a bonus tip!) to getting started — or progressing — in a plant-based kitchen.

Beans are one of those foods that you either love or loathe. If you’re in the latter camp it’s probably because you had an experience where you tried to love them, but they didn’t love you back. In this article, we will make our best attempt to show you that beans are a food to love due to their nutritional value, culinary versatility, and economic benefit. And, of course, we will also discuss the various ways of preparing beans so that they love you back by being kind to your belly.

In this episode of our How to Cook video series, you’ll explore the delicious and nutritious world of whole grains with Food Revolution Network’s Dietitian and Recipe Developer, Nichole Dandrea-Russert, RDN. Learn why you may want to embrace and enjoy a variety of whole grains if you want optimal health. And watch Nichole’s video to learn how to prepare three different types of healthy whole grains — quinoa, brown rice, and Kamut.

People around the world love Chinese food, especially stir-fried dishes served over noodles or rice. As traditional Chinese cuisine was adapted to appeal to Western tastes, however, many Chinese restaurants in the US ended up serving stir-fried dishes high in animal products, oil, sugar, and salt. The good news is, you can quickly and easily create stir-fries in your kitchen that are not only healthier than most takeout, but are also more delicious.

If we played a word association game and I said “vegetable,” chances are your response wouldn’t be “artichoke.” That’s a pity because the beautiful globes are not only glamorous but delicious and very healthy as well. Once you get to know artichokes and discover how easy they are to prepare, you might just wonder how you ever got along without them.

Have you ever wondered what you could do with food scraps instead of tossing them in the garbage? While the latter can be automatic for many of us, reducing food waste is easy — and even small steps toward repurposing food scraps can be instrumental for helping your health and the environment.

The next episode in our How to Cook video series explores the essentials of creating and maintaining a well-stocked and well-organized, plant-based pantry. Whether you are new to plant-based eating, an experienced practitioner, or somewhere in between, Nichole’s tips, tricks, and plant-based food list will help ensure that your pantry holds nutritious and versatile plant-based ingredients. And that you can use them to create delicious and nourishing meals quickly and efficiently. We have recipes and a printable pantry list for you, too!

The first article in a new series explores the foundations of cooking with FRN’s resident Dietitian and Recipe Developer, Nichole Dandrea-Russert, RDN. Build your knife skills, discover how to use mise en place to make cooking a breeze, and learn to cook without oil.

As popular as lemons are, I’d argue they aren’t popular enough. Delicious, easy to store and use, versatile, and full of health benefits, lemons can feature in many more dishes than lemon meringue pie, lemon bars, and lemonade. Let’s explore how to get this wonderful citrus fruit working for you on a daily basis.