Hack Your Cupboard: Make Great Food with What You've Got

by Carla Carreon, Alyssa Wiegand

Overview

It's not always easy to try out a new recipe, but sticking to what you know and love can get pretty boring. After a discussion of what food storage areas typically have (and what they ought to have), Hack Your Cupboard provides age-specific guidance to help you move on to more ambitious meals. This makes it the perfect book to take from the family pantry to a dorm room fridge, a first apartment, and beyond. With dozens of photographs as well as dream dinners for every skill level, this is the cookbook for anyone who wants to break out of a kitchen rut without breaking too much of a sweat.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781942186076
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/01/2019
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	8.25(w) x 10.25(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1020L (what's this?)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Based in San Francisco, Carla Carreon enjoys sparkly beverages and adventures and is a master at doing dishes. She co-founded the blog Alyssa & Carla, which features accessible recipes and travel adventures. When not cooking or out of the country, she's working as a photographer and marketing professional.

Alyssa Wiegand is a lifelong party-thrower and feeder-of-others. She held her first formal dinner party (we're talking suits and prom dresses) in high school and has appeared in a Japanese magazine as a manga character serving Venezuelan arepas to the citizens of Tokyo. Her weaknesses are farmer's markets, antique anything, street food, and the word "artisan."

Table of Contents

Introduction 6

Who We Are (and Were) 6

How the Book Is Organized 8

How to Read the Recipes 9

Your First Kitchen 11

Beginner Techniques and Recipes 15

Basic Vinaigrettes 17

Red Wine Vinaigrette

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Lemon and Oregano Vinaigrette

Greek Salad

Amazing Scrambled Eggs 21

Basic Scrambled Eggs

Cheesy Scrambled Eggs

Toast 27

Avocado Toast

Sliced Avocado Toast with Olive Oil

Mashed Avocado Toast with Garlic and Lime

Grilled Cheese 31

Basic Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Pepperoni Grilled Cheese

Brie and Jam Grilled Cheese

How to Cook Pasta 36

Penne with Marinara Sauce

Cacio e Pepe

Baking 101 41

Chocolate Chip Cookies

A Family Celebration Dinner 45

Dorm Room Dining 47

Stretching Your Meal Plan 53

Better Salads 55

Sesame Soy Dressing

Lemon Mustard Vinaigrette

Ramen Hacks 57

Spicy Egg Drop Ramen

Ramen with Ham, Egg, and Spinach

Coconut Curry Ramen

Ramen Salad with Cabbage and Carrots

Ramen Salad with Peanut Sauce and Edamame

Microwave Recipes 63

Mozzarella in Marinara Sauce

Garlic Bread

Spicy Edamame

Mushroom and Cheese Egg Bowl

Breakfast Bread Pudding

Simple Brownie

Chocolate-Dipped Pretzels and Chips

Gourmet Popcorn Hacks 73

Olive Oil and Parmesan Popcorn

Curry Lime Popcorn

Chocolate and Peanut Popcorn

Dorm Room Movie Night 77

First Apartment Dining 79

Helpful Hacks 82

The Spice Rack 83

Intermediate Techniques and Recipes 89

Granola

More Toast 92

Cinnamon Sugar

Cinnamon Sugar Toast

Apple Peanut Butter Toast

Intermediate Baking 95

Drop Biscuits

How to Sauté 96

Ground Beef and Potato Tacos

How to Pan-Fry 98

Crispy Chicken

How to Roast 100

Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Butter

Caramelized Onions

Gruyère Onion Grilled Cheese

Cooking with Rice 107

Bacon Fried Rice

Rotisserie Chicken Hacks 110

Roommate Food Swap 112

Bean Chili

Pizza Hacks and DIY Pizza Bars 114

Salads without Greens 116

Tomato Cucumber Salad

Dessert for a Crowd 118

Pie Chips with Berry Dip

The Big Game Party 121

First Solo Kitchen 123

Saving v. Splurging 124

First Solo Kitchen Pantry 125

Advanced Techniques and Recipes 129

Fancy Toast 130

Baked Brie

Traditional Bruschetta

Blue Cheese and Honey Crostini

Ricotta and Olive Oil Crostini

Crostini with Salad 136

French Goat Cheese Salad

How to Deep Fry 139

Wonton Chips

Cheesy Spinach Dip

First Solo Kitchen Knife Skills 142

How to Braise 145

Herb Braised Pork

Fancy Rice 149

Bacon and Pea Risotto

Herbed Rice Pilaf

Exploring Different Cuisines 152

Teriyaki Salmon

Sesame Green Beans

Lemon Pound Cake

A Fancy Dinner 161

Afterword 162

Conversion Chart 163

Index 164

Editorial Reviews

07/01/2019

This debut from food bloggers Wiegand and Delgadillo serves as a terrific introduction to cooking basics for newbies, whether they’re setting up shop in a dorm room for the first time (yes, ramen is covered, in half a dozen recipes) or moving into their first apartment. The authors thoughtfully walk readers through the process of creating meals, including how to read recipes, how to stock one’s kitchen with staples, and some basic knife skills. Recipes for classics such as grilled cheese, lemon pound cake, cheesy spinach dip, and herbed rice pilaf dominate, and the book is studded with tips on matters such as cracking eggs (break them into a separate bowl before adding to the dish in order to take out shell pieces), seasoning to taste, and proper food storage. Readers of all ages would do well to heed the authors’ advice on getting the most out of precooked rotisserie chickens, smart shopping, and upping one’s pizza game with premade ingredients. Insightful, creative, and entertaining, this volume makes for a perfect gift for those who don’t know a colander from a cauliflower. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"This colorful guide for beginning cooks emphasizes foundational knowledge alongside recipe variations that range from gourmet upgrades to spicy twists."—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

10/01/2019

Gr 8 Up—This colorful guide for beginning cooks emphasizes foundational knowledge alongside recipe variations that range from gourmet upgrades to spicy twists. The content moves through the "need-to-knows" of cooking during different life stages. Each section bounces from informational segments about pantry guidelines and equipment suggestions to a hodgepodge of loosely related recipes and cooking tutorials. Readers wanting to take their culinary skills to the next level will find value in the two knife skills segments as they learn to julienne, chop, and chiffonade. Authors Wiegand and Carreon are recipe and lifestyle bloggers, which may explain the ambitious contents of this work; it's part cookbook, part kitchen guide, and part life advice. The end result, however, is a disjointed collection of ill-flowing segments within each section of the overall work. Another weak spot is the recipe photography, with many dishes slightly out of focus or unappealingly plated. The recipe "hacks" range in creativity, with some more innovative than others. The term hack feels somewhat misleading, as rebranding recipe variations doesn't necessarily constitute an easy and fresh culinary shortcut. VERDICT Older teens on the cusp of collegiate life will likely get the most value out of this book, as the majority of the content focuses on early 20s living situations. An additional purchase for public libraries lacking young adult cookbooks.—Pearl Derlaga, York County Public Library, VA

School Library Journal

2019-07-13
This compact cookbook offers young adults affordable options for feeding themselves on their journeys to independence.

The first of four sections aims to build culinary confidence in the novice cook, interspersing recipes (for example, avocado toast, grilled cheese sandwiches, pasta, and chocolate chip cookies) with food-preparation principles, safety, and techniques (such as tips on knife handling). Recipes in "Dorm Room Dining," most requiring only a microwave oven and access to a refrigerator, range from variations on ramen noodles to gourmet popcorn crowd pleasers for feeding hungry friends. For those living with roommates, the third section offers heartier, more complex, but still budget-conscious choices (e.g., bean chili and options for using a rotisserie chicken) and includes practical tips on shared-kitchen etiquette. The final section, "First Solo Kitchen," presents more sophisticated dishes, including bruschetta, risotto, braised pork, and lemon pound cake. As the recipes progress in complexity, photo-illustrated culinary techniques are introduced—e.g., caramelizing onions, deep frying, and braising. The lively, colorful layout packed with useful tips is a plus, as are the plentiful hacks, simple variations that accompany most recipes. Recipes geared to impecunious students honor today's dorm life and shared-housing realities. Each section includes annotated lists of ingredients and kitchen tools required. Reliance on processed foods is limited. There are vegetarian options but fewer for vegans.

Breezy but thoughtful, a timely, practical resource for newbie cooks. (index, blank pages for notes, photo credits) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews