In the Kitchen

The next time you are craving sushi, how about making it yourself? All you need is some sushi rice (you CAN use leftover white rice, but this would taste better), sheets of nori (seaweed), a sushi rolling mat and your favorite sushi ingredients. Do the classic California roll (avocado, imitation crab meat, cucumber, daikon radish) or go crazy with your own unique sushi invention (tempeh? smoked salmon? shredded kale? Anything goes).

Apple slices are so meh... that is, until you add bunny ears to them. A long-standing staple of bento lunches in Japanese and Japanese-American households, bunny-shaped apple slices are quite easy to make and sure to bring a smile to your face—or you child's face.

To some, vegetables are even more flavorful than meat, but they're also more sensitive—overcook them and they go from extremely delicious to extremely icky real quick. They generally require very little prep, and the best recipes are the simplest. A little salt, olive oil, and garlic—just watch them close, and make sure you time it right. Print out this handy drawing, set your timer, and you'll never have soggy, ill-cooked veggies again.

You just baked a yummy cake, but who can eat it all? If you're lucky, you don't have a gang of family members gobbling up your leftovers—it's just you and one delicious slice a day for the rest of the week. But you don't want your cake getting stale on you. The secret is all in the way you slice it—and a spare apple doesn't hurt, either.

Flowers can be just as delicious as they are beautiful—as long as you know which flowers to choose and what to use them for. Nasturtium salads, rose jam, chrysanthemum-sprinkled cakes—the possibilities are as endless as the shapes and colors the flowers come in.

As far as cooking appliances go, rice cookers are pretty fabulous. All you have to do is add rice grains and water, press a button, and wait for the magic to happen. You don't have to worry about the food burning or the pot boiling over. But what if you can apply those same lazy steps to cook other things, too?

If you can't stand the idea of using multiple pots and pans for preparing meals because of all the dishwashing that would be required, check out the one-pot recipes below that require minimal cooking equipment and use only five ingredients or less (excluding cooking oil, water, salt, and pepper).

Detoxing with natural drinks made out of organic fruits, vegetables, and spices is a great way to help your body eliminate toxins and absorb vital nutrients that will help you feel healthier and more energized throughout the day. Making them yourself at home will save you both a trip to your local health smoothie bar and money in your wallet.

Instant ramen noodles are hardly gourmet dining, but with a little extra time, effort, and ingredients, this humble staple of college dormitory dining can be elevated at least a little bit to resemble a more hearty and appetizing meal.

Stop buying hummus from the grocery store. If you have a food processor and ten minutes to spare, you can easily whip up your own super-delicious, super-cheap hummus that will taste a million times better than whatever you can buy from the supermarket.

In addition to turning boring sheets of cookie dough into fun and whimsical shapes, cookie cutters can be used to make fruits, vegetables, cheeses, sandwiches, and popsicles look more interesting, to name just a few.

For the next time you have a severe chocolate craving but a) don't want to go through the trouble of going through an elaborate recipe and b) don't want to go through the trouble of going to the supermarket, make yourself a microwave brownie in a mug. All you need to do is six very simple ingredients plus water, mix them up in a microwave-safe mug, nuke everything for one minute, and enjoy.

The next time you are in the mood for a hot drink, make your own tea bags to brew at home. Grab your favorite herbs and spices from your garden or your local supermarket. Mix and match your favorite combination, add to an empty tea bag, and steep in hot water. Voilà—instant one-of-a-kind tea and instant brownie points for your DIY street cred.

Even the most seasoned kitchen cooks experience the annoyance of accidentally burning food on their pots, pans, and casserole dishes. When dishwashing soap and water doesn't work, what is the best way to remove burned-on gunk from your cookware?

Though it may seem straightforward to place perishable foods in your refrigerator, there is actually a system of organization you should follow to store the right food items in the right places to ensure that they last for as long as possible.

Even if you don't ever plan on baking cupcakes or muffins for the rest of your life, you should still invest in a set of silicone muffin cups for your home and cooking needs. They're not just for baking!

While it may be tempting to rely on canned beans to save time, going through the process of preparing dried beans for cooking can actually be better for you in the long run—for both your physical and financial health.

Scrambled eggs may seem like the easiest breakfast dish to whip up in the kitchen, but in order to make them truly perfect, several details in the cooking process are important to keep in mind.

Bored of eating Oreo cookies on their own? Stick a jumbo marshmallow and a Hershey square in-between the cookies and melt in the microwave to make Oreo s'mores. For a savory-sweet snack, crush them into small pieces and mix with a bag of freshly popped popcorn.

What better way to serve dessert than to place it in a bowl that is also a dessert in itself? Using a balloon, melted chocolate chips, and a few other simple tools, you can easily craft together a fancy-looking dessert bowl made completely out of chocolate.

Need to slice corn kernels off a cob without making a mess? Place the corn cob upright on the elevated portion of a Bundt pan and slice downward against the kernels with a knife so the kernels fall within the bowl to use for later.

Your perfect home-baked chocolate chip cookie may be thick and chewy, or crispy and thin, or something in-between. With a little cooking know-how and experimentation, you can adjust the different ingredients and cooking steps in the baking process to create the perfect chocolate chip cookie that best suits your particular sweet tooth preferences.

You may have enjoyed Nutella-covered toast or Nutella-covered banana slices in the past, but you haven't really enjoyed the full potential of Nutella's hazel-nutty, chocolatey goodness until 've had Nutella-covered bacon for breakfast.

Hot chocolate is great and all (especially when made at home with real dark chocolate bars and whole milk), but sometimes even old holiday classics need a taste upgrade from time to time.

If you ever end up with an excess of raw eggs in your refrigerator, but don't know how to use them all up before their expiration date, the solution is simple. Hard-boil and peel them, place them in a sterilized jar, add pickling brine solution, and store in the refrigerator for up to one month—even more.

To make your own sinfully delicious chocolate peanut butter cups in the comfort of your own home, all you need are chocolate chips, peanut butter, butter, and sugar.

Which cooking oil is best for baking cookies? Sautéing vegetables? Deep-frying chicken? With the plethora of different cooking oils out there, it can get pretty confusing choosing the best one for your next cooking adventure.

Want to sear the perfect restaurant-quality steak in the comforts of your own kitchen? Use a cast iron skillet.

If eating bacon for breakfast, lunch, and dinner isn't enough to satiate your love for rashers, then how about eating it for dessert too? It's what a true baconphiliac would do.

Need to get a painful splinter out of your skin? Apply some bacon grease onto the affected area and place a band-aid on it overnight. The bacon grease will soften the skin tissue and draw out the splinter, making it easier to remove with tweezers the next day.

Iced coffee may not be as simple as brewing hot coffee and sticking it in the fridge until it cools down, but it's still very simple to make if you plan ahead.

A lukewarm can of soda placed in a refrigerator can take about 45 minutes to chill. On the other hand, a lukewarm can of soda placed in a bowl of ice, water, and table salt can take less than 5 minutes.

Ice cream never gets old in hot weather, especially if it's super cheap and made within the comforts of your own home!

If you've got a couple empty coffee cans getting ready to go out to the recycling—don't get rid of them just yet. Instead, use them to make your own homemade ice cream. It's the perfect DIY treat as the weather gets warmer in anticipation of the summer season.

Have a hard-to-open jar? If it's never been opened, the air pressure inside the jar is making it harder to break the seal. If it's been in the fridge, it's possible that the lid shrunk slightly—just enough to be extremely frustrating.

Good home-cooking does require time, but not every step of the process has to be a time-consuming chore.