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Short ribs are the quintessential caveman cut, straight out of Fred Flinstone’s larder, with their hunks of rich meat on the bone, looking primal and carnivore-ready. They’re a rich winter meal, too, easy and forgiving to cook under their sleek caps of fat, melting into tender chunks of pull-apart beef in the oven.

If you’re feeling like a hibernating caveman and want a delicious, comforting, beefy meal, here’s a step-by-step recipe to help you take short ribs and turn them into a dinner with almost no work. Hunting not required.

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For Valentine’s Day this year, Ina Garten went on the TODAY show and talked all things love and food — two things she’s very well-versed in. Best known for her incredible cookbooks and TV show on the Food Network, the Barefoot Contessa has been married to her best friend, Jeffrey, for 49 years now and their love has garnered its own kind of fame. She even dedicated her latest cookbook to all the recipes she likes making for her husband.

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I use my Dutch oven most often on the stovetop — that’s why lives on the back left burner, ready to help with most weeknight dinners. And while there is a seemingly endless list of all the ways it can be used, I never want to overlook how wonderful this pot is when you’re just going about cooking everyday things on the stove. So with that in mind, here are eight everyday ways to use your Dutch oven on the stovetop.

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In the process of planning her new hotel, the Boarding House, Ree Drummond has been thinking back on what she likes to do in hotels, and what she likes to experience when she travels. Appropriately enough for a Food Network star, Drummond says one of the first things she does in a hotel room is check out the mini bar.

“When I travel here and there, I like checking into my hotel room and nestling in (and, figuratively, sucking my thumb.)” she wrote next to an Instagram photo of some cookies sprinkled with colorful nonpareils. “Part is my holing-up ritual is surveying the mini-bar snacks that are going to be part of my stay, and I have seen an enormous range of options, from single bags of M&M’s to cans of cashews to Dean & Deluca chocolate covered caramels.”

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Natural materials and warmer finishes have become super-trendy kitchen elements. One way we’re seeing this natural-material idea play out, thanks in part to the popularity of minimalism, is with unpainted, unfinished wooden cabinets. The casual look combines the sleek style we expect in contemporary kitchens with the natural warmth of wood — and we can’t get enough of it.

Just check out these examples to see the beauty of unfinished wood for yourself.

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Do cake pans matter all that much? I learned to bake through sheer necessity — no one in my family would bother to make dessert if I didn’t. I first made do with whatever detritus my parents had collected over 20-odd years of cohabitation, from warped cooking sheets to mismatched cake pans scavenged from grandparents’ houses. And they all got the job done, more or less.

Then I started investing in my own gear, and realized that the phrase “It’s a poor craftsman who blames his tools” is only sort of true. A good piece of bakeware can mean the difference between a perfectly fluffy cake and one that somehow manages to be burnt and underdone at the same time. Thankfully, one of the first big “adult” purchases I made around this time turned out to be not only the kind of secret weapon every home baker needs, but also incredibly affordable. I’m talking about this Chicago Metallic professional cake pan.

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While my days of being a vegetarian are long gone, I still find myself cooking meatless meals more often than not. So my beloved Dutch oven actually gets used to simmer beans and make one-pot pastas much more than it gets used to braise short ribs. The tool is as invaluable to the vegetarian’s kitchen as it is to the omnivore’s. These 10 recipes prove it.

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We all can agree that there are nights when dinner has to come together as quickly as possible. Whether it’s because we have other commitments we have to attend to or we’re rolling through the door late and are starving, having fast meals to lean on is always a saving grace. These particular recipes speak to those who are trying to eat fewer carbs — maybe they’re on a keto diet, or just feel better when they limit them.

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Some cooks like to keep their cookbooks pristine. Others consider those blotched, wrinkled pages an homage to all the wonderful meals they’ve enjoyed. Wherever you fall on that spectrum, there are a few practical reasons you’d want to minimize food spills on your cookbooks. “Coated stock has a layer of clay on its surface, and when it gets wet, if the pages touch they will stick together more or less permanently,” says Bonnie Slotnick, owner of Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks in New York City. Dark-colored spills can obscure a recipe, and putting away a book with food remnants in it can attract vermin, too. “You don’t want mice or roaches eating your book!” says Slotnick.

The key to rescuing a book is to act quickly and work gently. And if you do all the following steps and the stain still shows, try adjusting your attitude. “Remember that signs of use are what endear our old cookbooks to our heirs! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve opened a book to show a customer, and there’s a stained, wrinkled page, and one or both of us says, ‘Well, you can see THAT’S a good recipe!'” says Slotnick.

With that in mind, here’s how to rescue your favorite cookbook from whatever spills get on the pages while you’re cooking.

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I started to notice all the weight I was gaining towards the end of my sophomore year and beginning of my junior year of college. I mainly just wanted to lose the weight I had gained because I was embarrassed. But I also didn’t realize how high my blood pressure was getting for someone my age. Little did I know that this would start me down an amazing path.

I started dieting like everyone else seems to be teaching and preaching. I counted calories, ate and drank tons of “diet” approved stuff. Like diet sodas, fat free sweets and the like. I did see weight come off but I felt horrible. I was in the gym everyday, I had no energy and was grumpy. This lead to the typical yo-yo dieting. I thought to myself I’m way too young to be feeling this miserable. I knew there had to be a better way.

Thus, I looked and researched everything in the realm of dieting & nutrition. It eventually lead me to Paleo. I didn’t think I needed to eat this way in order to be healthy. I thought I could just count calories and still be a flexible dieter. But I decided to give it a try and the first couple of days were rough. But that was to be expected. Once I got over the first couple of days, I was amazed how amazing I felt. So I dove deeper into paleo.

I found Mark & Primal Blueprint when he was on a paleo podcast. I originally was interested in him because of his dressings and mayo. After finding them in a store & realizing how amazing they tasted, I decided to give the updated Primal Blueprint book a read. For a book that big I almost read it in two days. It was so good, and was just easy to read. A lot of paleo/primal books can be overwhelming. Mark did such a great job making it easy to understand and the primal blueprint was just a natural fit for me.

I incorporated the entire lifestyle. Not only did I finally lose all the weight. I felt amazing. I was way more productive in school, I was reading almost two books a week (outside of required reading for classes), I didn’t watch anymore tv, I started an online business, my relationships were better and I was just all around a more pleasant person. I wasn’t anxious anymore, my blood pressure was at a healthy level, I had tons of energy and also tons of motivation to the best I can be AND I still haven’t even graduated college! I’m getting ready to graduate in May with a double major in accounting & finance. I started trying to lose weight about a year and half ago and have been living a primal lifestyle for about 5 months or so now. I cannot thank Mark and everyone at Primal Blueprint enough!!

-Ryan Baumgart

The post The Primal Blueprint Was Just a Natural Fit For Me appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.