A Home Cook Gift Guide: Kitchen Tools, Ingredients & Resources They Will Actually Use [2025 Update]
This season ditch gifting useless kitchen tools and gadgets to the home cook in your life. Gift them something useful from this guide!
Author: Joanne
Onion Dolmas
I love love love Dolmas. There is nothing more satisfying to me than popping a little treat in my mouth. I love the canned dolmas from the supermarket. I love the fresh dolmas from my local Lebanese spot. I never dared to make them. There is something incredibly daunting about boiling fresh grape leaves or washing preserved grape leaves and stuffing them. I can’t really explain it. So when I saw a TikTok of someone making onion dolmas and saw how simple it was, I jumped right in. Within 5 minutes of considering “do I actually have time for this?” I was boiling onions to stuff them.
What My Toddler Eats at Daycare
I love cooking and having a small child who enjoys my cooking to some extent is a true joy. Albeit he doesn’t eat everything I send him to daycare with, most days he does.
A Big Pot of Lemon Guajillo Beans and Beany Spaghetti-os
I’ve loved beans all of my life. I remember as a small girl in the Dominican Republic, I’d ask my mother to serve them in a small bowl for me. Instead of pouring them over white rice which is la costumbre.
Tortilla de Calabacín (Summer Squash Frittata)
I’ve watched my Spanish mother-in-law make this enough times that I think I hacked the method.
Tahini-Doenjang Pistachio Sauce—With Soba Noodles and Veggies
Simple and versatile tahini-doejang pistachio sauce that can be added to any protein, used as a dressing for a salad or tossed with noodles.
Roasted Golden Beets Over Pesto
When I was a kid, in my household we only ate beets in salads. Fresh salads, salads with pickled onions, pink potato salads… When I look back, I always remember the beets being boiled and only the root.