fast and easy

How do you prefer your tortilla chips? Puffed from the fryer and slightly flaky, or crunchy and dense from a trip to the oven? Good news: in less than 30 minutes, you'll have your chips both ways, thanks to two simple techniques.

To bake the chips, generously oil and salt them, then bake them for about 20 minutes, or until they crisp up and are firm to the touch. These chips will stay fresher for longer than the fried variety.

While you're frying, tend to the chips closely, because they only take a few minutes and the heat may need adjusting while you're frying. These chips tend to go stale after a few hours, so plan to make them right before you eat them.

Serve the chips with your favorite queso dip, salsa, or guacamole.

Keep reading for the recipe.

Arguably the most delicious way to revive stale bread is french toast. Simpler than pancakes, french toast can be ready in less than 20 minutes and is an easy way to feed a house full of people.

The bread soaks in a batter consisting mainly of milk and eggs. Then the drenched pieces are thrown on a skillet to sear on each side, which results in a custardy interior and toasted exterior.

The actual french toast is minimally sweetened; let each person customize his or her own with fresh berries, maple syrup, and powdered sugar. Keep reading to see the french toast recipe.

The change of seasons may bring to mind shorter hemlines and a rededication to the gym, but it also means that the opportunity to indulge in a favorite balmy-weather treat — s'mores — is just around the corner. Sadly, it's not quite prime bonfire and grilling weather yet, even in Northern California, so I've come up with a fix to tide us over till then: a s'mores-inspired snack (OK, dessert) mix.

Now, I'd like to take credit for this rather clever idea, but that would be disingenuous; inspiration first struck after tasting a sample of Mama Mellace S'mores Snack Mix at the Fancy Food Show. Tasty, but a hair too sweet, and lacking the salty-sweet punch I so crave, this snack mix was on the right track but not quite as delightful as it could be. So, like any good test cook, I set out to re-create it the way my taste buds intended.

Keep reading for the dangerous — I warned you! — recipe.

When you're on the go yet looking for a filling, protein-packed lunch, the Cobb salad wrap has you covered.

In case you aren't familiar with a Cobb salad, it's a classic American salad that is typically loaded with bacon, chicken, blue cheese, egg, and avocado. This recipe isn't about reinventing the wheel — we're just trying to wrap it!

Once the salad is tossed in dressing, wrap it tightly inside a piece of flatbread for an easy way to eat on the go.

The beauty of this salad is that so many interesting and unusual ingredients come together. You may get a bite that's loaded with salty, smoky bacon, while the next will have a large hunk of funky blue cheese. I salivate just conjuring up memories of sinking my teeth into the flavor-filled wrap. To make lunch infinitely better, keep reading for the recipe

Like peanut butter and jelly, lamb and mint, or strawberry and rhubarb, tomato soup and grilled cheese were practically made to be paired with each other. Here, I've taken the combination one better and — inspired by the always charming and ingenious Ina Garten — melded two solid concepts (tomato soup with grilled cheese, and a crispy crouton garnish) to create a dish that really, truly may just blow your mind.

This combination is pretty darn hard to beat — like a comforting hug in a bowl — but is admittedly a bit indulgent. For days when you're looking for something a little less over the top, omit the grilled cheese croutons, and garnish per usual, adding a swirl of extra-virgin olive oil, and an extra pinch of red pepper flakes if you can handle the heat. Either way, this classic tomato soup is a soul-soothing must make.

Get the can't miss recipe.

When my parents first moved to Amsterdam, my mother gushed about two things: the surplus of colorful bunches of tulips and the fresh mint tea, as standard in cafes as coffee. "They actually steep a large bunch of fresh mint, stems and all, in a cup of hot water," she told me over the phone. So simple, yet it sounded so novel. In America, cafes and restaurants usually serve prepackaged mint tea bags, stuffed with the dried, powdered herb that basically tastes like dust, but in Amsterdam, most grocers and restaurants are stocked with the cooling herb year round; the demand is that high.

When you do see fresh mint available in the produce section, be sure to snatch it. Fresh mint tea is so fragrant and comforting, prepare to develop a new addiction. In terms of flavor and quality, there's no comparing fresh mint tea to dried tea bags. Dried mint tea tends to become bitter when overbrewed, but there's no fear of overbrewing fresh mint. If anything, the more the fresh mint brews, the more essential minty oils release into the cup. Keep reading for the recipe.

Say hello to my go-to picnic and backyard barbecue dish: sesame-ginger soba noodle salad. Vibrantly flavored, full of crisp vegetables, and best served at room temperature — I'd argue it's actually tastier the second day — this noodle dish is perfectly tailored for outdoor entertaining (and is a standout brown-bag lunch option as well for similar reasons).

Don't be put off by the laundry list of ingredients; many are pantry staples or easy to source — try an Asian grocer or Amazon, or even sub sriracha for the chili oil if your supermarket doesn't stock it — and the actual prep for the salad is breezy, to say the least.

Get the recipe and toss together a heaping bowl of soba noodle salad.

This is quite possibly the fanciest, most insanely good ham and cheese toastie on the planet. The secret ingredient is Humboldt Fog, a surface-ripened, ash-coated goat cheese. The inside tastes chalky and sour like a standard chèvre, but the outside is oozy and silky like brie. Easily spreadable and meltable, it makes one killer grilled cheese sandwich.

Paired with prosciutto (a thinly sliced dry-cured ham) and cinnamon raisin bread, this sandwich will have you wondering why you've been making basic grilled cheeses. Try this for a special morning meal or for a midnight snack. Your taste buds will thank you.

Get the recipe when you keep reading.