Hot Tips From Food Network Kitchens’ Katherine Alford:

Meatballs are like burgers: The more you mess with the meat, the tougher they’ll be. Mix the ingredients with your hands until just combined — don’t overwork. And skip the browning; try poaching the meatballs in a broth or sauce, like we did in Food Network Magazine‘s Greek Meatball Stew. They’ll absorb the liquid and turn out extra tender.

If you forgot the card this Mother’s Day, you can bake your message into a muffin instead: Cut a thin strip of parchment paper, write a note with a nontoxic marker, then fold the note in half lengthwise (so the ink faces the inside). Fold it one more time and push it into the muffin batter, leaving the ends poking out; bake as usual.

(Photograph by Kang Kim)

Bread pudding and French toast are like first cousins. Traditionally one is dessert and one is breakfast, but they really are more alike than they are different: Both are made by soaking (preferably stale) bread in a milk and egg mixture and cooking it until slightly crisp on the outside and lusciously custardy on the inside.

In the April issue of Food Network Magazine, you’ll find five delicious French toast recipes, each made with a different type of bread and a different flavor profile. Some of them, like the Rum French Toast a la Mode (pictured above), can easily double as dessert without a change. My personal favorite, the Baked Croissant French Toast, can be tweaked just a bit to skew it further toward the dessert realm (although it’s pretty decadent as it is!). Simply swap out the plain croissants for chocolate croissants and double the sugar in the custard. You’ll have an over-the-top dessert bread pudding. I like to top it with a little sweetened whipped cream, the marmalade sauce from the recipe and a little extra chocolate sauce for good measure.

Hot Tips From Food Network Kitchens’ Katherine Alford:

Next time you make burritos, try these construction tips.

1. Layer the fillings horizontally across the lower half of your tortilla (not the middle), starting with absorbent ingredients like rice. Put the cheese against something hot like meat or beans so it will melt.

2. Fold up the bottom of the tortilla and tuck it under the filling.

3. Fold in the two sides.

4. Tightly roll up the burrito.

(Photographs by Christopher Testani)

Give your breadsticks a fresh look for spring. Arrange refrigerated breadstick dough on a baking sheet and brush with a beaten egg. Place small, delicate herb leaves like dill, chervil, oregano or parsley on top, then brush with more of the egg and bake as directed.

(Photograph by Sam Kaplan)

Stretchy Melters
Instead of oozing, these get stringy and elastic when melted — good for when you want the cheese to stay put, like on pizza.

Find out which cheeses are creamy and are non-melters

Once you’ve made your favorite mac and cheese from Food Network Magazine’s 50 Twists on Mac and Cheese (page 118, March issue), try this tasty trick for using up leftovers:

Fried Mac and Cheese
Shape the cold mac and cheese into meatball-sized balls and place them onto a waxed paper-lined tray. Freeze the balls 2 hours or overnight. Beat 2 eggs and 2 tablespoons water together to form an egg wash, and pour it into a shallow bowl. Combine panko and herbs in another shallow bowl. Remove the mac-and-cheese balls from the freezer. Dip the frozen balls into the egg wash, then into the breadcrumbs. Put the balls back into the freezer until you are ready to fry, or heat 2 inches of oil in a heavy-duty pot to 350 degrees F. Fry the mac-and-cheese balls until they are golden brown and center is hot, about 5 minutes.

Parmesan crisps (frico in Italian) look fancy, but they’re actually just cheese and crackers for the lazy. You get the crunch of a cracker plus big cheese flavor in one — and they’re super easy to make. Toss 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan with 1 tablespoon flour, then flavor with 1 to 2 teaspoons minced herbs, spices and/or citrus zest. Form the cheese mixture into 12 mounds (2 tablespoons each) and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment and coated with cooking spray; then flatten into 4-inch rounds. Bake at 375 degrees F until golden, 8 to 10 minutes. While hot, gently remove them from the sheet with a thin spatula and let cool completely.

Clockwise from top left: Lemon zest, Pepper, Curry-coriander, Smoked paprika and Scallion

(Photograph by Kang Kim)

Hot Tips for Healthy Cooking From Food Network Kitchens’ Katherine Alford:

Don’t overlook tofu because you think it’s bland. If you marinate it before cooking, it will turn out super flavorful. Slice firm tofu and drizzle it with your favorite marinade (try the orange juice-onion mixture in Food Network Magazine‘s Tofu Cuban Sandwiches With Jicama Sticks); soak for at least 5 minutes, then sear or bake.

(Photograph by Christopher Testani)

If you’re wondering why your chili doesn’t taste as good as you remember, it might be the chili powder that’s off. You might not have realized it, but spices can actually lose their freshness and flavor over time. That’s why it’s a good idea to check them periodically to see if they’re still any good. What better time to do so than New Year’s? You might as well check it off your to-do list right after you change the batteries in your smoke detectors.

Spices are some of the most important ingredients when it comes to flavoring food. Just imagine an apple pie without cinnamon or an Indian curry without curry powder. Those recipes wouldn’t be the same without those spices. It’s easy to take spices for granted when you use them so often, but they need some attention, especially when it comes to storing them.

Ground vs. whole spices