We give much needed makeovers to two classic salads. Salad seems so easy. Just dress some leafy greens and serve, right?

Say goodbye to thick, bland gazpacho and soggy tomato tarts. It’s feast or famine when it comes to good tomatoes.

The notion of dinner made in a single pot is certainly alluring. Two complete meals from a pot; one a classic, the other a surprise.

We solve the problem of porridge-like chowder and bready crabcakes. Clam chowder and crab cakes are available in most every seafood restaurant in the country. These dishes both have their origins along the East Coast and have been subjected to numerous changes (most not for the better) as they became more popular.

We bring a taste of New Orleans into the home kitchen. Jambalaya and bananas Foster are two of our favorite dishes from New Orleans.

Skip the marinara and try these two vegetable sauces. Tired of the same old marinara sauce?

Everyone knows pasta is quick. That's one of the reasons Americans (and Italians) love it.

Pot roast can be the ultimate comfort food or a huge waste of time. We solve the problem of dry, gray, tough meat.

Say goodbye to dry, tough, candy-like roasts. The marketing of the “other white meat” would be amusing if today’s pork weren’t so lean and flavorless.

We perfect two roadside classics: chicken-fried steak and coconut cream pie. Truckers often know where to find the best home cooking.

A skillet can turn out hundreds of chicken dinners. For most Americans, chicken breasts are the holy grail of weeknight cooking. (We think thighs are more flavorful, but that’s another story.)

Two French takes on an American promise. Herbert Hoover may have promised Herbert Hoover may have promised Americans a chicken in every pot, but no ne said that chicken couldn't be French.

We take the mystery out of properly grilled steaks. It’s hard to beat steak and mashed potatoes for both simplicity and flavor.

Steak tips and steak fries sound like bad menu offerings from your local low-rent steakhouse. We rescue steak tips and fries from low-rent steakhouses.

Stir-fries at home that are better than takeout. Ordering Chinese takeout is like playing Russian roulette.

Say goodbye to bad Americanized versions of pad Thai and sesame noodles. We no longer think of noodles as just Italian.

Americans love Italian food - and rightly so.

We bring two classics into the home kitchen for great results in a fraction of the time.

Say goodbye to leaden scones and pound cake. In the test kitchen, we think afternoon (or morning) tea is an excellent excuse to whip up a batch of scones or a golden loaf of lemon pound cake. Making these simple baked goods at home certainly yields better results than what you can buy.

We solve the problem of rubbery omelets and dry, hockey puck muffins. Sunday brunch sounds so civilized.

Few recipes deliver so much pleasure for so little work as pancakes. The batter comes together in minutes, and the cooking time is brief. Why, then, do most Americans never make pancakes from scratch?

Good cookies don’t really require any more work than bad cookies. Unless, of course, you are willing to consider dry, crumbly, tasteless packaged cookies from the supermarket - but we aren’t.

When local berries are in season, we like to showcase them in simple desserts. Two simple showcases for fresh summer berries.

We solve the problem of dry, sticky, flavorless cakes. A sheet cake is like a with training wheels--it's hard to fall off.

Light, creamy, and great lemon flavor--neither too fleeting nor too harsh.

Two desserts that pull out all the stops yet are easy to prepare.