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“It tastes like chicken.” This has to be one of the most common phrases uttered in the world. Mothers say it to children who won’t try food. New lovers suggest it on a date to try to entice the other person to snuggle a little closer and taste food off their plates. It’s a joke in Disney movies, a promise from novice home cooks, and probably the only way that my sister ever felt safe enough to try popcorn shrimp (she says there is no comparison, but she actually likes popcorn shrimp even more than chicken fingers).

Many omnivores love chicken. It’s less expensive than other meat, it has both lean and richer cuts, and it’s incredibly versatile. Roasts, cutlets, sausage, burgers, braises — the list goes on and on. The most popular chicken recipe on Pinterest (it’s been saved over 570,000 times this year) comes together quickly, can be made ahead of time, and is, of course, totally delicious.

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To DIY or not to DIY? That is the question. That is almost always the question. You can certainly paint your kitchen cabinets yourself. As long as you know that it’s a labor- and time-intensive job that, if done wrong, can be a pretty big screwup. I recently redid the cabinets in my newly purchased home, and despite liking to DIY all the things, I paid someone to do it — partly to have it done before we moved in and partly because it would have been impossible for my little girls to keep their hands off the drying cabinets if I did it myself! It was fairly expensive, but well worth it to move into a house with sparkling white cabinets instead of the previous outdated wood-toned ones.

That being said, it’s not free to paint your cabinets yourself, either — besides your time, you’re buying materials that a contractor might already have on hand.

Figuring out how much a painting project will cost depends on a few considerations. Here goes.

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Open Roundup

That little chill in the air can only mean one thing: It’s time to dust off your favorite fall slow-cooking comfort foods. From steaming ladles of spiced apple cider on crisp September nights, to celebratory dinners of fiery chili after a Saturday spent apple picking, these slow-cooking essentials are perfect for perfuming your whole house and transforming it into a fall fantasy land.

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Clutter is a bane of my existence. I don’t do well when it’s around, and I take all necessary and reasonable steps to eradicate it if it arises. There is a reason behind my war on clutter: it stresses me out, makes things difficult to find, and makes me feel like I can’t freely move […]

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An increasingly alienating world that puts performance, quick satisfaction, competition and careers first sets us up to make a range of mistakes in our love life. However, we also aren’t born knowing it all; learning how to best be with other people is something that we’ll do our whole lives. But, we can take a […]

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If you’re a 20-something, I have a little news for you, and you won’t like what I have to say. You don’t know everything! I know, I know, it feels like you know everything, right? But 20 years from now, I promise you, you’ll be wishing you could go back in time and shake that […]

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Have you been stuck in a rut lately? Maybe you’ve been following the same work-home-sleep-work routine for months or years, and you haven’t taken a vacation in a good long time. Perhaps there is a certain spot on the globe that you’d like to see, or maybe you just have a subtle itch to hit […]

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This week I’m getting back on the meal-planning wagon after two weeks of traveling and settling into our new home. Honestly, I’d happily continue eating makeshift meals of sandwiches, takeout, and frozen pizza in an effort to avoid cooking amongst the half-packed boxes, but alas, with school starting back this week we need our routine up and running again.

So here’s the deal with this week’s meal plan: It’s a collection of five super-simple recipes I love and am relying on to get my meal planning mojo back in a flash.

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Open gallery

I’m a firm believer that make-ahead dinners are one of the very best gifts you can give to your future self. Walking into the kitchen at the end of the day knowing that dinner is prepped, cooked, and just waiting to be reheated feels like a real treat. And not only that, but dinners like chili and braised meats also taste better a day, even two or three, after they’re made.

From slow cooker chicken burrito bowls to red lentil soup, these are our 10 most popular make-ahead dinners.

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The chances that you’re attending a barbecue or potluck of sorts this weekend are likely, given that it’s the final hoorah before the summer unofficially comes to a close. When there are hamburgers and hot dogs in order, there of course needs to be a few other items to round out the meal. Here are 20 that take no time at all to make, which means if you’re tasked with bringing a side dish the morning of the party, you can assemble one without breaking a sweat.

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