#the frozen ones you can just pop in a toaster oven are GREAT

[keeps-ache]

i should learn to make hash browns

[beware-of-you-98]

Ice Cream (BAU Family Fluff Fic)

BAU fam getting ice cream on a road trip featuring Hotch being a disgruntled dad, Emily being a rebellious little shit, Derek being an annoying big brother, Spencer just existing (seriously, all he wants is a Dilly Bar for god sake!!), Penelope egging them on, JJ being a sweet baby angel and Rossi being the only sane one in this entire fic

ao3 link

Aaron Hotchner loosely grips the wheel of the SUV, briefly looking in his rear view mirror to check on the rest of the team and ensure they're ready for the nearly two hour drive back to the jet (and to make sure they're buckled because, well, it's the dad in him that wants to check.)

Derek sits directly behind him, buckled up and lounging back comfortably in his seat. His earbuds are in, and no doubt his music is on full blast to drown out the rest of the team crammed into the van.

Penelope sits in behind the passenger's seat on her iPad, a set of thick, chunky headphones plugged into the device. She's buckled, immersed in whatever game she must be playing.

Directly behind her in the very back is JJ, who has her chin resting on her palm as she looks out the window even if the van isn't in motion yet.

Buckled.

Spencer sits in the middle at the very back, his long legs stretched out between Derek and Penelope. He has a thick, worn book in his hand, his finger gliding quickly down the pages as he takes in the words. ("Yes, he really can read that fast," Hotch often has to tell skeptics. "Yes, he can really process all that information. No, he's not a robot.") By the speed the young profiler is reading, Hotch knows that he'll be done with that book by the time they make it to the jet.

Buckled.

Sitting just behind Derek is Emily. She leans her head against a pillow she must have somehow smuggled in the back (Hotch also thinks it's entirely possible JJ gave her travel pillow to Emily, but none of that really matters.) The brunette is struggling to keep her eyes open, will probably be out as soon as the van is in motion.

Not buckled.

"Emily, put your seatbelt on," Hotch reminds her patiently.

Emily grumbles, grouchily reaching behind her. "You put your seatbelt on," she mutters, laying her head back down on the pillow.

Hotch let's the comment slide because he hears the click of her belt buckle.

He turns to briefly check on Rossi, whose sitting beside him in the passenger's seat. He's designated himself as the  map reader, the large square piece of paper folded out on his lap. (Hotch doesn't really think they need a map because they have a GPS right there but whatever. He'll let Dave do what the hell he wants.)

"Everyone ready to go?"

A chorus of "yes" and affirmative hums (and a disgruntled grumble from Emily) is all the motivation Hotch needs to start up the van and head out for the long trip they have to make back to the jet.

The highway is lit up harshly under the bright, unforgiving Arizona sunlight, heatwaves practically radiating from the asphalt. The air conditioning is on full blast in the van, providing semblance of relief from the harsh  and unforgiving heat. The van is sandwiched between the desert landscapes, long, green cacti and orange canyons towering like giants in the sand. Despite the time of day, the flat roads are virtually clear, sparse amount of other vehicles littering the highway.

Spencer looks up from his book after forty-seven minutes of straight reading, using his finger to mark his place. He brings up his other hand, uses the back of it to wipe his eyes as he yawns. He stiffly stretches his limbs, blinking hard as he stares out the bright windshield.

He focuses his attention up ahead on a blue highway guide sign, eyes scanning through the fast food and gas station logos without much thought. His eyes light up, though, when he spots a white square, signature red lip shaped logo stamped in the middle. "Hotch, there's a Dairy Queen at the exit coming up in the next five miles!"

"I saw that," Hotch says with a nod, using a tone much like he would with Jack when his son would bring him something the boy deemed really interesting. It's a tone that suggests the unit chief is listening, but has other things preoccupied on his mind. Probably getting the team to the jet on time.

But Arizona is hot. Unbearably hot. Like, if Spencer didn't consider himself a very logical man of science, he would swear his skin would melt off his bones hot. Even with the air conditioning on full blast, the sun's rays are completely and totally unforgiving and heat up the inside of the van like it's a god damned toaster oven.

A frozen treat from Dairy Queen, honestly, a Dilly Bar, sounded so perfect right now.

Spencer's mouth waters at the thought. "Can we get ice cream?"

"Reid, we're on a schedule," Hotch reminds the young profiler patiently. "We have to be on the jet to go home in a little over an hour and we're making great time."

Spencer can't help but pout a little. "But, Hotch, it's Dairy Queen!"

Derek pops out one of his earbuds. "Did somebody say Dairy Queen? Are we getting ice cream?"

With extreme patience, Hotch replies. "No, Derek, we're not getting ice cream."

"Ice cream?" JJ perks up from the back, lifting her head off her hand.

"I wan' a Blizzard," Emily mumbles with a start, sitting up in her seat and rubbing her eyes with both of her hands.

Hotch sighs, looking at Rossi. "Dave, tell them we can't get ice cream."

Rossi stares down at the map in his hands, flipping it over to read the facts printed on the back about the desert dwelling horned toad. (It shoots blood from its eyes. Gross.) "Why not?"

Hotch scowls, feeling betrayed that the senior profiler wasn't on his side. "Because we have to get to the jet!"

"Actually, if we take a quick five minute ice cream break, get back on the highway and maintain the speed you're going, we would make it back to the jet with ten minutes to spare," Spencer calculates, leaning around to look at the speedometer.

Emily reaches over and ruffles his hair with a sleepy grin. "And that's why we keep you around, wonder boy!"

Penelope slips her headset from her head and hangs it around the back of her neck. "What's going on?"

"Dad's getting us ice cream," Emily fills her in.

"I'm not getting you ice cream!" Hotch declines, sounding a bit more firm. He shoots Emily a glare from the rear view mirror.

She sticks her tongue out at him childishly in response.

Penelope pouts at Hotch's answer. "Why not?"

"Because I said so!"

"Mom, dad won't get us ice cream!" Emily whines in a pathetic tone.

Rossi looks up from his map in surprise when he realizes he is in fact "mom" in this situation. Glancing at the "kids" in the back of the van, he turns to Hotch with a shrug. "You're on your own for this one, Aaron."

"Gee, thanks, Dave," Hotch scowls.

"Wait, now I'm confused," Penelope starts up. "Are we getting ice cream or not?"

"We're not getting ice cream!" Hotch says in a louder tone, trying his best to put on his "chief voice", the one that let's everyone know that what he says goes.

"I just wanted a Dilly Bar," Spencer quietly says, pouting as if Hotch just killed his puppy or something equally as serious occurred.

"A chocolate milkshake sounds so good right now," Derek agrees with a hum. "Come on, Hotch. It's hot as hell out. You're telling me you don't want any ice cream?"

"No."

"I say we take a vote," Emily pipes up rebelliously.

"Emily, no," Hotch says firmly.

Emily ignores him, because of fucking course she does. Pain in the ass. "All in favor of ice cream, say I!"

"Emily Elizabeth Prentiss! Do you realize you are way too old to pull this childish sh—"

"I!" Emily cries out over Hotch's scolding.

"I!" Derek says just as boldly.

"I!" Penelope and Spencer say in softer voices.

JJ stays silent, but shyly raises her hand up in the air.

"Majority rules. We get ice cream," Emily says with a smug smirk.

Rossi raises his hand and draws an invisible checkmark in the air.

Hotch huffs in annoyance.

Unbelievable.

"Unless one of you is bleeding out, we're not stopping," he declares firmly. "And that's not an invitation for you to start, Emily!" he adds, glancing back in the rear view mirror.

Emily frowns, throwing her arms across her chest. "I wasn't even going to do anything!"

"Ooo, princess is in trouble. Princess is in trouble," Derek smirks in a sing song voice.

"Oh, go eat a dick, Derek Morgan!" Emily snaps at him.

His eyes shine gleefully. "Was your nap cut a little too short there, sunshine?"

Emily and Derek continue to bicker, their voices slowly being drowned out by Spencer and Penelope slowly chanting "Dairy Queen! Dairy Queen! Dairy Queen!"

The van screeches to a halt in the middle of the highway.

Emily lurches forward, busting her head off of Derek's seat with an angry cry, Spencer and Penelope nearly choke against their seatbelts, and Derek stumbles, reaching his hands out on the window to steady himself.

JJ has the foresight to brace herself with her palms against the back of Penelope's seat. She leans over Spencer, checking Emily's forehead with a concerned frown.

Emily's breath hitches as her soft fingers brush against her forehead, forgetting for a split second what just happened. JJ's fingers brush against the upper corner of her head, causing her to wince. Ow.

"What the fuck, Hotch?" she starts to demand, holding a hand to her forehead. She closes her mouth immediately, only getting out "Wha-" before she's silenced by Hotch swiveling around in his seat.

The unit chief shoots them a steely glare that even has Derek squirming uncomfortably in his seat.

"All of you, knock it off!" he snaps.

"I didn't do anything," JJ says quietly, eyes wide and innocent.

Hotch ignores her.

"Now, all of you, listen to me!" he continues on in his most stern "dad voice". "We are not stopping for ice cream! If I hear another word about it, we're turning this van around!"

"You made me bust my head!" Emily points out defiantly, pointing to the bruise already starting to form on her head.

"My neck hurts from the seatbelt," Penelope adds with a scowl, rubbing the side of her neck slowly.

"I didn't even do anything!" JJ cries out a bit louder. "Why am I getting yelled at?"

"I'm not sure about the legality of this situation," Spencer points out, rubbing his own neck. "We could be pulled over for being stopped on a highway."

"Enough!" Hotch's voice booms.

The van falls silent again.

"We're not getting ice cream, and that's final!"

They get their ice cream.

Derek happily sips on his chocolate shake, staring in content out the window of the van. Penelope is enjoying her vanilla cone covered in rainbow sprinkles, iPad slotted in the space behind Rossi's seat. In the very back, Emily eats a spoonful of Reese's Blizzard with a satisfied look on her face. JJ quietly but happily eats her own Butterfinger Blizzard. Spencer takes a bite of his Dilly Bar with a satisfying crunch, eyes glowing in delight.

(No one comments when, five minutes later, JJ is eating a Reese's Blizzard and Emily is now enjoying the Butterfinger's Blizzard.)

Hotch bites off the remaining portion of his Buster Bar, cleaning off the wooden stick between his teeth before he throws the trash in a designated garbage bag (thanks, DQ) situated between Rossi and himself. He leans back in his seat with a content sigh, pressing his foot down on the gas. The sun is starting to set and the sky is painted in beautiful colors. 

Most importantly, though, the car is finally fucking silent and he can finally focus on getting them all back to the jet in one piece.

He turns to Rossi, frowning when the older man just smirks back at him. "What?"

"Aren't you glad that the kids got their ice cream?" Rossi asks with another smirk, eyes gleaming in amusement.

Hotch scowls, both hands wrapping around the wheel. "Shut up and drink your Orange Julius, Dave."

[gainerstories]

Freshman Fatties: Chapter 1

Benjamin’s parents dropped him off at his new dorm room and helped him unpack. At only 18 this was Benjamin’s first time living on his own and he felt a mixture of anxiety and excitement. He hugged his parents goodbye and continued to set up his room, pondering what his roommate, Andy, would be like. He was most nervous about being housed with a homophobe, even though he noted on the application that he needed an LGBT friendly roommate. When Andy finally walked through the door with only a couple boxes and no parents in sight, Benjamin grew nervous. Andy was clearly a jock, judging by his hulking physique and athleisure clothing.

“Hey, I’m Benjamin.”

“Andy, nice to meet you.”

The two shook hands and made small talk. Benjamin was pleased to find that Andy could carry a conversation and didn’t seem like your typical meathead jock. Both men were clearly intelligent and fairly secure in themselves.

“Hey, so I’m gonna grab lunch and explore campus a bit but what do you think about splitting a six pack later tonight and maybe smoking a doobie? I’m 20 but my bud has the plug,” Andy suggested.

“Sure, yeah that sounds great.”

Around 8pm Andy stomped into the dorm room carrying two heaping bags of groceries startling Benjamin awake from a nap.

“Sorry to wake ya man. I got the six pack and joint as promised.”

“Oh nice, what do I owe you?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Andy said and tossed Benjamin a beer.

They cracked them open and cheersed.

“Damn,” Benjamin said, “where do you plan on fitting all those groceries in this place?”

Andy laughed, “Under the bed if I have to. Gotta keep my appetite up. I’m on the football team.”

Impressed, Benjamin continued asking questions. He discovered that Andy was a star quarterback in high school and was given a scholarship to play college football. However, football was not Andy’s passion. He was a literature major and obsessed with Shakespeare, only playing football so he could afford college. Benjamin was surprised to hear that someone so good at sports could also be a bookworm. Benjamin didn’t even read that often as a business major.

By the time Andy’s groceries were packed away they were on to their second beer. Benjamin was playing Spotify from his speaker and the two boys reclined on their beds shooting the shit. Wearing only gym shorts and a tank, Andy’s body was on full display. Without being too obvious, Benjamin examined the football player’s massive arms and upper body. Even his neck was noticeably muscled making his head appear small. Andy had a pleasant face as well, with dark wide set eyes and a square jaw. His hair was buzzed short allowing his features to shine.

Benjamin’s eyes flicked to Andy’s middle half. He admired the way football players tended to have a solid but squishy midsection and Andy was no exception. The jock wasn’t quite fat, but properly bulky. Lower down, his dick noticeably hung against the mesh shorts and Benjamin felt a flush of desire. He hoped this wouldn’t become a problem.

As the boys cracked their third beer they began to feel a buzz and Benjamin was blissfully unaware that Andy also looked at him with amorous eyes. In the dim light of the dorm Benjamin’s slender face and svelte body looked like a statue of a beautiful Greek boy. Andy had always been a ladies man, but there were occasions when an attractive guy caught his eye and Benjamin was one of those occasions.

“Should we break into the other six pack or spark this joint?” Andy queried.

“Why not both?”

“You’re my type of guy, Benjamin!”

As Benjamin snapped open his fourth beer it suddenly hit him that he was drunk. He’d been drunk only once before in his life and had never smoked weed. He wasn’t even sure if you could mix the two, but refrained from asking out of fear of appearing lame. Andy on the other hand was feeling his oats. With a solid buzz and Benjamin’s visage before him he was beginning to get horny. The reality of sharing a room was beginning to sink in and he wondered when he would ever get a spare moment to jerk off. Andy sparked the joint and took a long hit before passing it. Benjamin blushed and admitted this was his first time smoking.

“No way, man! I’m popping your cherry! Dope.”

“Yeah…” Benjamin awkwardly laughed, “so what do I do?”

“So breathe in the smoke into your lungs and hold it there for as long as you can. Then let it out. It might burn and you’ll probably cough but that’s normal on your first time.”

Benjamin felt comforted and did as he was told. He sucked in a big puff with great concentration while Andy admired his roommates sunken cheeks and sharp cheekbones. Despite trying to keep it cool, the smoke exploded from Benjamin’s mouth and he fell into a coughing fit.

“That was perfect, you did great.”

Within a few minutes both boys were incredibly stoned, their eyelids hanging heavy. Andy’s libido was kicked into overdrive from the substances and he was struggling to keep himself from popping a boner. It didn’t help that conversation had trailed off and Benjamin was now laying on his stomach scrolling through TikTok, his ass on full display. Andy was surprised that the twink’s bum was so perky and pronounced for a skinny guy. The tight pants Benjamin wore only exacerbated the curvature.

“Fuck,” Benjamin said. “I’m so hungry.”

“Duuuuude you got the munchies. Welcome to stoner life.”

“Ugh, but its past curfew and everywhere is closed… whyyyy!”

“I got you.”

Andy lept from his bed and pulled two frozen pizzas from the fridge. They were meat lovers pizzas with cheese crust from a brand called Protein+. The jock popped them in the toaster oven for what seemed like an eternity as the smell encompassed the entire dorm room. By the time they were done Andy’s stomach was noticeably grumbling.

Both boys began devouring the pizzas in silence, their mouths too full to talk. Within ten minutes Benjamin was stuffed from half the pizza and looked up to see that Andy was polishing off his last slice. Benjamin felt a pang of eroticism seeing just how big the football star’s appetite was and the potential for him to grow bigger.

“Do you want the rest of mine?” Benjamin asked knowing full well Andy would accept.

The twink watched his jock roommate kill three slices in six bites and now was fighting off his own boner. By the time the boys went to bed they were each aroused thinking about one another, but too afraid to make a move. They crawled into their respective beds, their backs facing one another. They each let about half an hour pass before silently stroking their cocks to orgasm.

[abrunettefangirlnerd]

It’s Too Much

Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader

Summary: You are a college student trying to get into nursing school. Being accepted into NYU’s program you just have to make the grade in one more class to start in the fall. This semester has been difficult and only gotten worse since this COVID-19 required your college to close. Living on campus and your family living in Colorado, makes moving back home extremely difficult. Besides you don’t want to leave. That is when your sweet boyfriend offered for you to stay at his apartment.

Oneshot

A/N: It may be a little long, but the ending is freaking adorable

10:15 pm

             Putting away the last bit of your clothes in Steve’s closet, you sigh in relief. Today has been so long starting with waking up early to move all your stuff out of your dorm. Your college has moved all classes online with the COVID-19 outbreak. Since there is virtually no reason to be at school, you decided to move out to get a reimbursement for the rest of the semester.

             Problem is, your school is in New York and your home is St. Louis, Missouri. There is no way for you to get everything in your car and drive half way through the country. Thankfully Steve, your boyfriend, has been gracious enough to share his apartment with you for the remainder of your semester.

             A warm-muscular arm wraps its way around your waist and pulls you toward an even more muscular body. Turning your body to face him, you burry your face in Steve’s chest as you wrap your arms around his torso. Steve places a soft kiss on the top of your head before leaning his against yours. Feeling the light brush of his breath against your hair lures your subconscious to the impending darkness of sleep.

“Do you want to go to bed?” Steve ask. A smile invades your features. You love how attentive he can be.

“No,” you pout. “Going to bed means waking up, and waking up means studying.”

             Steve’s grip on your loosens, prompting you to look up at him. A twinkle of mischief resides in his beautiful blue eyes. A part of you wants him to tell you what he is thinking, though it may be more fun for him to show you.

“I have an idea then.” Steve smirks.

             His arms encircle your legs before you could ask him what he’s up to. Throwing you over his shoulder he walks you over to the bed, and flips your body onto the soft mattress. Laughter erupts from your chest. You find it so cute when he acts so dominant because he surprisingly loves being submissive a great deal of the time. Though seems like tonight he wants to take the reins, and you are more than happy to let his dominant side take over tonight.

***

Next Morning

Inulin can determine glomerular filtration rate in the renal system because it is only filtered, not reabsorbed or secreted…

Mean arterial pressure can be calculated by taking systole + 2 (diastole) / 3…

Trypsin, chymotrypsin, and elastin are endopeptidase enzyme…

             You woke up, your thoughts running a million miles an hour. Looking over at Steve’s alarm clock you see that it reads 5:45 am. Well, I usually wake up at 6, what is 15 minutes really?

             Carefully shimmying out of Steve’s arms, you grab a new pair of underwear, and a fresh pair of sweats and t-shirt from Steve’s side of the closet. Heading over to the bathroom down the hall you turn on the water, wait for it to heat up, and step inside.

             Lathering your head with citrus smelling shampoo, you make a mental note of all the things you need to do today. A sheet of anxiety wraps around your body like a tight uncomfortable blanket. Taking deep breaths you try to focus on the warm water. Imagining it melt away the anxiety from your body, you begin to feel better. Before you know it, the last bit of body soap has been washed away and it is time to get out and start your day.

             Quickly getting dressed in Steve’s soft and warm clothes you head into the kitchen to make breakfast. Popping a bagel into the toaster, you search for some fruit in the refrigerator. Finally coming upon some cut up fruit, you take the container out and pour some on your plate. About that time your bagel is ready to go and all you need is your coffee. Tasting the warm-stimulating hazelnut coffee against your throat, you take a deep breath and dive into your studies

6:15 am

             Opening your laptop, you guide your mouse to a folder holding the rest of your physiology lecture videos. Your professor had his lectures recorded a few years back and thankfully saved them. Without these, you have no idea how challenging the last half of this semester would be.

             Scrolling through the list, you land upon the next video lecture. Waiting for the video to load, you take a sip of our coffee and plug in your headphones. Steve is an early morning riser but is definitely taking the opportunity to sleep in given the new situation. The last thing you want is to wake him up with your school work. He deserves to sleep in every once in a while.

7: 25 am

             Writing down the last bit of notes from the lecture, you look up and see that your breakfast has barely been touched. The bagel has a single bite and only half of the fruit remains. The floors creek behind the bedroom door signaling that Steve has woken up.

             As if on cue the door opens revealing a half asleep posture. Hearing him yawn you look up and offer a morning smile. As he heads into the kitchen for his own cup of coffee, you refocus on rewriting notes from the recent lecture. You have this rhythm down after the first couple weeks of the semester. After class you would rewrite the notes, neatly into a notebook and study them the next day.

“Want some breakfast?” Steve asks.

“I made me some.” You tilt your head toward you cold bagel and coffee and get a disapproving look from your boyfriend.  

8:00 am

             Taking out your laptop again, you log into your school’s blackboard account. You watch as the computer loads your Nutrition book as a yawn of your own settles across your lips. This is your least favorite class of the semester. It has nothing to do with the content. There is just so much of it and your teacher’s lectures are not helpful whatsoever.

“How about a break?” Steve looks up at you with puppy dog eyes, his head against your shoulder. “You just had to wear my clothes, you’re killing me.”

“Not yet, it is only eight in the morning. And I have to keep you entertained somehow.” A pinching feeling hits you in the gut as you think about taking Steve’s advice. You had the same problem while living in the dorm. You never take breaks unless you can’t see straight or it is time for bed, whichever comes first. Of course there were plans you would make with Steve that would take place of a break.

9:30 am

             Finally finishing the chapter for Nutrition, you head back into the kitchen. You throw away the rest of your uneaten breakfast and grab another pot of coffee. Taking in the precious smell you can feel your stomach start to growl from missing the other half of breakfast. You decide there isn’t enough time to make anything, and figure the coffee will just be enough.

“Hon,” Steve’s cautious voice looms over you. You can tell he is trying to tread lightly. He means well, but neither of you have been in this situation where you are living together.

“(Y/N), maybe you should eat something else.”

“It’s okay. I’ll be fine, thank you though.” You place a reassuring kiss on Steve’s cheek and then head into the living room again.

          The pinching gut feeling returns as you think about Steve’s expression. Maybe I should take a break? You shake your head and conclude you will take one later.

10:05 am

             The simulation for your physiology lab has finally loaded. Your professor for lab has ten lab simulations due this week by Thursday. With all the packing, moving, and unpacking this weekend you haven’t had the chance to get ahead of this. By Wednesday you have to take an online prelab quiz and be prepared to take a post lab quiz at the end of class on Thursday. Since it is all online now you have to definitely zero out time to get it all done on your own.

             Steve comes in with a plate in hand. On it is a piece of toast with a Nutella spread and banana slices nicely resting on top. Involuntarily, your mouth begins to water at the sight of food. Some find it a weird combination but you think it is the best thing you’ve found to eat in a while.

“Here, I made you this.”

             He places the plate of your physiology lab notebook. A tiny bit of annoyance restless onto your surface but you push it away. You know that Steve just wants to make sure you’re eating enough. At the beginning of last semester Steve noticed how little you started to eat with your added stress. This semester isn’t much better, but this way he at least gets to keep a better eye on you. You’ve never had a problem with your appetite. There is just so much on your mind, and so much stress that you barely remember to eat. When you do, it doesn’t take long for your nerves to get the better of you and suppress the want to keep eating.

“Thank you.” You say, and you snake your arm around his neck and bring him in for a kiss.

12:10 pm

“Okay, lunch time!” You claim, excited for a break. “How does a pizza sound?”

             Steve is in the corner of the room working out with his weights. Taking a moment from his current set, Steve nods in agreement. You find a small but noticeable grin hiding against his lips. He is clearly happy to see that you have finally taken a break… well a break to make food.

             The only pizza you guys have is a veggie and chicken frozen pizza. Taking it out of the wrapping, you preheat the oven and wait for it to beep. This moment allows you to turn on the tv and find “Friends” on the screen, your favorite show of all time. Steve crawls up against you even with sweat dripping off onto you.

“Babe! You’re dripping all over the pizza!” You laugh.

“Extra flavor?” Steve’s eyes glimmer as he represses his own laughter.

             After lunch you get back on your computer to log onto your Old Testament/Hebrew Bible class. After the class you organize your notes, work on your paper for the class, and review your notes from both physiology lecture and lab. It isn’t until 6 o’clock that evening before you are done. A friend from a class called needing you to explain something from the lecture today which took a little while.

**

             This routine repeated over and over during this week. Steve recognizes that there was no way this is going to change unless he said something. Though the last thing he wants to do is upset you. He knows how stressed you are about getting into the nursing program. You have a spot actually. You just need to get a B in physiology to keep it, and the first exam did not go as planned.

But Steve does know this isn’t healthy. You are ranging between 7-9 hours of work, with only an hour break at lunch to cook and eat. He would love to offer to cook for you, but he is scared that you’ll take that extra time to keep studying.

“Baby doll?” Steve peers around the corner leading into the living room. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure, one second. I just need to finish writing this thought.” You say as you scribble a few more notes in your notebook.

             Steve comes over and sits on the coffee table in front of you. He helps you move your school stuff away. You knit your eyebrows together in confusion. Normally you aren’t done for the day, it is only 4:30 pm.

             Steve’s knees lightly press against yours and he takes your hands in his. Rubbing circles into your skin with his thumbs you allow the soothing touch to calm your nerves. Steve leans in and presses a kiss to your forehead that you graciously accept.

“What’s up? You’re scaring me.” You say. A sinking feeling rests in your stomach that are sending your nerves in to a frenzy.

“I love you (Y/N). I love having you hear, but…” you can feel your heart drop. “I am worried about you. All you do is study. I’m sure this is what you’ve been doing this last year but I didn’t realize how much you do until now. You’re too tired to want to work out like you normally do, or able to stay awake while we are watching a movie. On top of that, you barely eat. It’s not healthy.”

“I know, you’re right.” A tear falls down your face. “Living in the dorm I never felt like I could get away from school. I felt like I had to constantly study. When I stayed the night here it would help me separate it easier. Though since I can’t leave, and some of my professors have added extra assignments I’m feeling it becoming a bigger problem than before.”

“Well, then.” Steve’s soft lips graze across yours, taking your breath away. “Let me help with that.”

             Pulling you on his lap, Steve’s fingers tangle in your hair. Steve presses his forehead against yours and both sets of eyes close. Stroking his hands through your hair, you focus on Steve’s breathing. You can’t believe you are lucky enough to find a man that actually cares about your well-being. He is right and you know it. From now on you’re going to do your best to not let school be your whole life.

“You know what I want to do?” Your voice is barely above a whisper.

“If you say study,” Steve grumbles, “I’m throwing your notebooks out the window.”

              Shaking your head no, you start by placing a kiss on Steve’s cheek. Trailing down his face onto his neck, Steve grips your hips which brings your body closer. Steve does not understand how great of an advantage he just gave you, and you try to suppress the smile peaking up from your lips. Wrapping your arm around his torso, you wait a moment before reaching behind him. Finding what you are looking for, you bring your lips back to his. Eagerly accepting your kiss he almost doesn’t feel the nerf bullet hit his side.

“Oh no,” Steve’s voice is low and you can feel your heart beat faster. “You’ve done it now.”

             Stumbling to get away, you leap over the back of the couch for cover. Peering over the edge you aim your nerf gun where you last see him, but Steve is already gone. You listen for any sudden movements and try to recall where the other gun was last seen. Remembering it was in the bedroom, you stealthily slide across the floor hoping for another sneak attack.

             Reaching the door, you find it cracked open. You slip your body slowly into the dark room and reach for the light switch. If Steve is hiding, you want to find him before he finds you. The lights turn on and brighten up the room, making your eyes squint.

“Surprise!” Steve jumps from the side of the bed as you feel two nerf bullets attack your abdomen. “I win!”

“But I got you first!” You playfully whine.

“Doesn’t count.” Steve insists. “I win, and I want first place prize.”

             Steve takes even strides toward you. Stopping in front of you, his body towers over your own. His arms pin you against the wall as his wild eyes peer into yours. A burning desire of anticipation ripples through your chest. It is almost too much to bare until Steve finally crashes his lips to yours. Running your hands over his body, and his over yours, you lead him toward the bed and show him how lucky you are to have him.

[gradecafe8-blog]

13 Finger-Licking Weight Loss Snacks - Weight Loss

Trying to drop weight? Sick of eating unsavory food, and questioning how to introduce flavour into your weight reduction diet plan? Here are 13 snack ideas that are quick, healthy, low calorie, but most significantly, scrumptious! Because dropping weight does not have to be unpleasant. For it to work, and for you to stick to it, it's got ta be fun. 3: For all you tortilla fans out there - 5 baked tortilla chips with some low-fat bean dip to please your cravings completely. 5: Peeled and sliced eggplant, broiled and seasoned with salt, pepper and lemon juice. This is actually, really low-fat - just 18 calories for 2 slices! 7: My personal favorite - a fruit and yogurt healthy smoothie. Add some ice, and you're excellent to go. 8: Baked sweet potato with some low-fat cottage cheese - simply pop it into the microwave for a genuine quickie, though baking the potato in the oven adds a taste you would not wish to miss out on. 9: Frozen grapes - you'll be shocked at how good they taste! 11: 5 entire grain cracker with some reduced-fat cheese. I like to spread a thin layer of ketchup on the cracker, and then melt the cheese on top in a toaster oven, or if you haven't got one, the microwave and oven will do simply as well. The advantage about it, besides for taste (and you can select whatever juice you like) is that it takes a long while to eat - excellent for when you're in nibble mode. One word of caution: Just make certain not to go overboard - excessive snacking (even of the low calorie stuff) won't assist those tires round your middle vanish. Check out my blog site and get to understand me.

You can read a lot of guidance from different sources about what it suggests to live healthy, be healthy, and keeping your body and mind in tip-top shape. Choosing what attract you may somehow be frustrating considering that there are in fact tons that might and would work when you consider them. First things initially, break down everything that you understand - something you've checked out, a friends' advice, a member of the family's practice, or a next-door neighbors' hobby. Figure out what you believe will work for you, your physique, your medical history, what's practical, and how reliable it could be. At this moment, you already know where to start. Consider what the very best organic food to take, or what natural health care items to use. These could be trends and patterns, but as we understand it, they come and go and when you think about it, it all come down to 2 things - correct diet and workout.

With this in mind, we summed it up to 5 things that could work for anybody who is planning to begin a much healthier lifestyle. These things may differ from someone to the next. 1. Get Busy When we say keep busy, we imply, decrease the times that you are on the couch and seeing TV or playing games. Head out. Walk your pet dog. Exercise. Do a marathon. Anything just to keep that bottom off the chair. This will help you from an inactive lifestyle that will not help you in the long run. 2. Sleep Enough Even physicians do not have to inform you about this - when you sleep less, you're sluggish, you're lazier than when you slept enough. It would be fantastic if you sleep through the night, like typical individuals, but if your work does not permit for a night of overnight sleep, then sleep through the morning - it's different, however it still works. 3. Do Things in Moderation We would like to inform you to stop drinking, stop cigarette smoking, stop this, and stop that.

But, we are our individuals and we have our own choices, keep things in moderation works for whatever. Moderate eating, moderate working, even moderate on the exercise - excessive of whatever is never great. 4. Respect Yourself Lastly, be kind to yourself. You'll know when it's time to lastly stop with the donuts, you'll know when your body needs the water, the sleep - you'll know. Keeping yourself healthy all depends on you. No one can tell you otherwise. Whatever guidance you follow, bear in mind that whatever happens to your body is your own doing. 5. Choose a Diet We make certain that you have actually heard lots of diets from TV characters, member of the family, and good friends. Deal with a diet that works for you. Fewer carbohydrates, more protein, natural food for weight reduction, keto, vegan, pescatarian, low sodium, less sugar - there are more of these things that you can select from, the idea is, for you to see what works for you. You can also examine different health care items online.

Following a proper weight loss diet is the initial step when attempting to lose a few pounds, nevertheless there are lots of misconceptions out there that people tend to think which are not just worthless in a weight loss diet, however that may likewise be damaging for your health. Here are some of the most typical myths related to weight loss diet, ensure to read them thoroughly and to understand them before you begin on your diet plan. The first myth describes the high consumption of proteins. A lot of people tend to believe that by consuming extremely high quantities of proteins, their bodies will acquire more muscles. This declaration is totally false; every weight reduction diet plan must include proteins, however just in a reserved amount. You see, proteins take a lot of body fluids to eliminate waste, which is why the excessive protein usage might cause dehydration and other problems. The second myth describes water consumption. Ok, now we are getting to the most fascinating part about a weight reduction diet.

[thisiswhymomworries]

What foods do you usually eat then? Lately everything's just been pretty much disgusting for me too and I'm at a loss

bread

ham and cheese sandwich + potato chips

peanut butter and jelly sandwich

eggos + peanut butter and maple syrup

eggos are super easy lil bitches to pop in your toaster and then slap some peanut butter on

cinnamon toast + maple brown sugar oatmeal

try mixing grown flax seeds into the oatmeal. it doesn’t taste super great, but the brown sugar and cinnamon pretty much mask it and flax seeds have protein, fiber, and omega 3

blueberry / lemon poppy seed muffins

if you don’t have the spoons to Make muffins, get a box of muffin mix designed to be made in a mug! you can find them in the breakfast aisle, and you just add milk or water and microwave for a minute, and they taste great~

pizza (alfredo sauce; I hate marinara)

you can also add garlic powder and shredded cheese to the crust mix for extra goodness!

wheat rolls

you can buy pre-cooked rolls in the frozen section that just need to be heated up in the oven

protip: rub some olive oil on your pan / baking sheet, salt it lightly, sprinkle different cheeses, and THEN press your rolls onto all that goodness. it will bake onto the bottom of the roll and taste great!

pasta

I buy Knorr pasta sides, usually in the boxed meals aisle but they come in bags and lots of different flavors

I like bland stuff, so I buy: spinach and kale, herb and butter, alfredo sauce, broccoli and alfredo but they have lots of flavorful stuff too

macaroni and cheese

my mom made me a really great recipe for homemade mac’n’cheese if you want it

but Kraft is super easy and tastes great too

secret ingredient!! boil your noodles in half water, half chicken broth or get some broth concentrate and add a few teaspoons of that to add flavor and a tiny bit of protein!

gnocci is really good if you need something kind of different

they’re made from potatoes but taste and feel like noodles after being cooked

you can cook them in whatever sauce you want or buy boxed meals with sauce already included; I buy Italia four cheese gnocci

ramen

I just buy regular chicken flavor in those orange packs you can get for .50 but there’s lots of flavors usually available

you can also look up a ton of recommendations on how to add more good stuff like spices and vegetables but I am BORING so here are my fave picks:

oil / butter - add a drizzle of olive oil and/or a pat of butter at the very start when you put your noodles in; this is solely to add calories bc since I struggle to eat anything at all, I rarely hit 2000 a day and bodies need that

an egg - add about halfway through; you can crack it directly in there and let it bake on top of the ramen, but I prefer whisking it up in a cup and then pouring it in while stirring to get a scrambled egg effect; adds protein!!

parmesan cheese - don’t add until you’ve scooped out what you want into a bowl bc if you try to cook it with your noodles it will goop up in your pot; sprinkle some shredded or dusted parmesan on top of the ramen in your bowl, it tastes great with the egg

ravioli

I get Buitoni cheese ravioli with the matching alfredo sauce, but they also have pesto and marinara sauce

you can get meat-filled ravioli too, and ravioli made with spinach and kale baked into the noodles / cheese filling for some extra nutrition

goes great with wheat rolls!

soups!

I’ve started buying canned soups to start with and then just adding whatever I want to them

things to add to soups: potatoes, carrots, broccoli, celery, corn, peas, chicken broth, you can buy shredded meat like chicken or roast beef if you’re into that, vegetable stock / bullion

I also have a quick and easy homemade chicken noodle soup recipe

boil egg noodles in chicken broth plus herbs (rosemary, thyme, celery flakes), then add cut up carrots and potatoes, (plus any other meat or vegetables you want) and boil until everything is tender

goes great with cornbread muffins!

I found little “snack packs” of carrots that had exactly the right amount of carrots for one pot of soup, and there were four packs. so that might be easier than buying an entire bag of carrots that you’ll only use ¼ of

and a good recipe for potato and broccoli soup

don’t have it on me rn so message me if you want it and I’ll find it

it has potatoes, broccoli, sharp cheddar cheese, and a creamy sauce; also great with cornbread

if you want minimal cooking, heating up a can of campbell’s chicken noodle soup is fine!

I make a grilled cheese sandwich to go with it

protein

anything with peanut butter

I like Munchies peanut butter crackers bc they taste the Best

lots of stuff with cheese

protein shakes!

I buy Bolton’s Farmhouse bc they also make good strawberry banana fruit smoothies and their protein shake tastes like chocolate milk

Cliff granola bars

very expensive, but I like peanut butter banana, chocolate chip, and peanut butter flavors; super easy to eat when you don’t have the spoons to make anything

yogurt

greek yogurt has the most protein if you can suffer through it like I do. oreo crunch isn’t bad and salted caramel is OK. whipped yogurt tastes the best but it doesn’t have as much protein

smoothies

you can buy a bag of mixed berries in the frozen section, then add plain yogurt, orange juice / pomegranate juice (fucking expensive), kale or spinach leaves (you really don’t taste them) Body by Vi (also expensive!), and blend it up

if you don’t have the spoons for that, you can buy smoothie drinks like I mentioned above with the protein drinks. I mix in some Vi stuff with that since it has a lot of vitamins and extra protein. I like the cream cheese flavor bc it’s sweet

roast beef and mashed potatoes

obviously cooking a roast takes a lot of time, so I just buy a package of precooked roast beef next to the tubs of premade mashed potatoes. you can heat up both in the microwave in about 5 min each, and it goes great with wheat rolls

I hope this helps and message me again if you want recipes for anything!

[thehungrykat1]

Frozen MNL Fills Up Your Freezer With All The Best Frozen Items

I really enjoy buying all those yummy frozen items from the grocery, but what I really don’t like is having to rush all the way home just to make sure they don’t melt and get defrosted along the way. Ice creams are really challenging too, especially if you don’t really want to go out of the house and line up to buy groceries. Thankfully, there’s a great new delivery service that will take care of all our frozen grocery needs and makes sure that everything gets inside our freezer in top shape.

Frozen MNL is a new frozen food delivery service that was launched during the pandemic for everyone who needs a helping hand filling up their freezer. This online store ensures that you get your frozen food fix in a timely manner even during these lockdowns. They use these cute insulated delivery bags that keeps everything frozen as if you just picked them up at the grocery. Their website at www.frozenmnl.com is very easy to navigate and features frozen items and dishes from the top chefs, restaurants, and home-based entrepreneurs you can find in the city. I had a Frozen MNL delivery last month and I’m still enjoying all these delicious items until now.

It’s been a while since I had churros so the Los Churreros Churros Tub (P150) is a great item to have at home. It comes with 12 pieces of ready-to-cook churros together with a dark chocolate dip. It’s easy to prepare since you just have to fry them, so it’s faster than having to order them from the stores for delivery.

The Tako Sum Frozen Octopus Takoyaki Kit (P215) was a real treat. I never thought I would be able to prepare these takoyaki balls by myself at home, but it was so easy because it came with complete instructions.

Each frozen takoyaki set includes 16 pieces of Octopus takoyaki balls, bonito flakes, takoyaki sauce, Japanese mayo, chili powder, and aonori or dried seaweed. I just used the microwave and it came out exactly the way it would at those takoyaki stands.

Here’s something that the kids will love! The Assorted Happy Buns (P350) are these very cute steamed buns that come in different figures. Each one also comes with different sweet and savory fillings so I want to try them all.

Some of the buns you can find include Bennie the Frog (Tuna mushroom cheese melt), Chloe the Dog (Hershey Choco), Yummie the Panda (Pulled Pork), Chewie the Bear (Sweet Taro), Porkie the Pig (Ham and Cheese), and Chickie the Chicken (Creamy Custard). They are even offering Halloween Specials now in time for the season.

Frozen MNL also has some signature items from Pegi Waffles. The Pegi Classic Leige Waffle (P80) is a ready-to-eat waffle that you can just pop in the microwave any time you want.

For those who like heavier appetizers or merienda, the Pegi Wagyu Beef Mushroom Pie (P400) is a great savory option. This hearty and tasty pie is filled with tender, melt-in-your-mouth Wagyu beef with rich, creamy cheese and mushrooms. This is best to cook inside an oven but I actually just used an oven toaster and it came out pretty well.

Pizza can now also be easily cooked at home. The Jimini Superoni (P200) has three packs of Chicago-style deep dish pizza that can be prepared faster than any pizza delivery. Just get it from the freezer and cook it in the oven for 5 minutes and you’re done!

We all want to find healthier alternatives at home, so the GU Life Chicken Alfredo Lasagna is a great option. This vegetable pasta is made with 11 different vegetables including alugbati, carrots, kale, kamote tops, kangkong, malunggay, mustasa, parsley, pechay, saluyot, and spinach.

These superfoods are then layered with a premium meaty sauce and cheese. You can heat it in microwave for 3-5 mins or bake it in an oven for 8-10 minutes. The result is a cheesy and creamy vegetable lasagna that is both healthy and yummy.

Eat Fresh in Banawe is a favorite restaurant to visit even before the pandemic, so I was happy to see that they have their Laksa Noodle Kit (P330) available at Frozen MNL. This is one of the city's most popular laksa dishes, and now it can be easily prepared at home.

I really loved the Sanphranthai Red Curry (P370) which oozes with so much authentic Thai flavors and spices. It comes with grilled beef tenderloin strips in red curry sauce with tomatoes, bamboo shoots and Thai basil. This rich and creamy dish goes so well with steamed rice.

The highlight of our Frozen MNL delivery was the Angus Ribeye Steak Kit (P2700 3x300g) from Angus San. This frozen package even has a meat tenderizer and sauces including garlic steak sauce, onion steak sauce, and tallow.

I’ve cooked steak at home a couple of times but this was honestly the best steak I have ever prepared. The kit box comes with detailed instructions on how to best prepare the steak including thawing, tenderizing, seasoning, and doneness which is why I was able to cook it just the way I wanted it.

The beef was absolutely gorgeous and I really loved the quality of the meat. I think I’ll be ordering a few more sets for more steak nights at home.

The Bulalay Sapin Sapin (P720-1600ml) was another eye-opener. Its ingredients include langka, coconut, latik, macapuno and ube, but the main quality here is its unique texture which is creamy and melts in your mouth. It comes frozen in a tub but you can just heat it in the microwave to get that signature texture.

Don’t forget about the ice cream because Frozen MNL also has a lot of Merry Moo options to choose from. The Merry Moo White Choco Green Tea (P370) is a new flavor that combines chocolate and green tea into one.

Sebastian's also has some frozen offerings like the Midnight Truffle (P140). This absolutely sinful double chocolate cookie is filled with Dark Chocolate Ice Cream with a fudge center and rolled in black cocoa. On the other hand, the Cookie Dough Duo (P140) is a chocolate chip cookie topped with unbaked cookie dough then filled with cookie dough ice cream.

There are so many interesting items you can find at www.frozenmnl.com and these are all guaranteed to be delivered straight to your location in tip top shape. They have a 100% Customer Satisfaction Guarantee policy to assure you that you can order from them with confidence. Items can be replaced for free within 7 days with no questions asked. So life at home can now be much easier and more delicious with Frozen MNL.

Frozen MNL

2/F CBC Corporate Center, 724 Shaw Boulevard, Mandaluyong City

(0961) 4207562

www.frozenmnl.com

helpdesk@frozenmnl.com

[alphacrone]

fake dating!zimbits ft. alicia & the gang

CW: coming out (more or less voluntary), pining, meddling friends, nosy mothers

Jack rushed into the kitchen with wild eyes and uncombed hair. It was Saturday, which Bitty knew was the only day of the week he allowed himself to sleep in. Jack hadn’t even changed out of his pajamas, and he was adorably rumpled as he slammed his palms down on the counter and stared at Bitty.

“My mother is coming into town next week,” he hissed, glaring like Bitty himself were responsible.

“Okay?” Bitty turned the heat off of the stove where he’d been cooking up a mountain of eggs. It was absurd how many eggs a handful of college athletes could eat in one setting. “Your mama seems like a lovely lady. Do we need to clean the Haus? Put Shitty in suspenders so he won’t magically lose his pants while she’s here?”

With a heavy sigh, Jack slumped into a chair at the kitchen table. “My mom is...nosy. I don’t want her poking around here, asking invasive questions, making assumptions.” Bitty raised an eyebrow at that; what assumptions could she possibly make about her son? He was straightlaced and serious to the point of being boring to the outside observer. Only people like Bitty and their close circle of friends got to see the Jack who was fun, who was a huge nerd and had an incredibly dry and dorky sense of humor.

“Well, none of us is gonna say anything bad about you,” Bitty told Jack, scooping some eggs onto a plate and grabbing a piece of multigrain bread to shove in the toaster. “If anything, Shitty’ll tell her nothing but the best things about being your friend. You know how he gets.”

“It’s not that,” Jack said, pouting in a way that should not have been endearing on a man of his age and size. “She just...tends to meddle. It’s frustrating.”

With a small laugh, Bitty grabbed the strawberry jam his mother had shipped him and set in on the table in front of Jack. When the toast popped up, he added it to the plate set it down as well. “Coffee?” He asked, already knowing what Jack would say.

“Yeah, please. But none of that sugary crap you drink.” A hint of a smile; an overused, stupidly cute chirp.

“Black as night and bitter as Hell,” Bitty said, handing him a mug. “Can I get you anything else?”

Jack looked up at him and shook his head, looking more awake and less troubled than he had moments before. “Join me?”

“Sure thing,” Bitty said. It had been many months since he’d been able to say no to Jack, and in moments like these he really didn’t want to be anywhere else.

  The entire hockey team attended Mrs. Zimmermann’s event to show their support (and get autographs). She was on campus as part of a series of alumni lectures, and gave a wonderful talk on the benefits of a liberal arts education in life after college. Even Jack seemed interested in what his mother had to say, and didn’t even whisper sarcastic comments to Bitty as he often did at events like this. Afterwards, the boys invited Mrs. Zimmermann to come back to the Haus for pie and beer, and she very happily accepted.

Bitty, of course, had prepared several hors d'oeuvres and two types of pie: maple-sugar-crusted apple, in case Jack had inherited his taste from her, and cherry, in case her Wikipedia page was correct in saying that her favorite drink was cherry Coke. The boys pulled out their finest cases of cheap beer and vodka, and a small party began in the Haus kitchen as several of the volleyball girls came by to meet the lovely and iconic Alicia Zimmermann, née Kennedy.  

By the time all of the hors d'oeuvres had been wiped out and Bitty was frantically throwing several trays of Bagel Bites and frozen taquitos into the oven, Jack and his mother had slipped from the Haus to take a brief stroll around campus. No one else seemed to notice, preoccupied with the last remainders of pie and the free-flowing alcohol. Bitty hoped that speaking alone with his mother would ease Jack’s anxiety about her visit. Deep down, Jack clearly cared a great deal of what she thought of him.

The walk, as it turned out, had the complete opposite effect.

As soon as the Zimmermanns returned, Jack stormed into the Haus and grabbed Bitty by the arm, dragging him upstairs before Mrs. Zimmermann had even wiped her shoes off on the HAUS SWEET HAUS doormat.

“Jack, what-?” Bitty began, but was halted by the truly devastating look of embarrassment on Jack’s face. “Are you okay?”

“I, uh.” Jack cleared his throat awkwardly, opening his bedroom door and motioning for Bitty to enter. “I have a...huge favor to ask.”

“What is it?” Bitty sat down on the foot of Jack’s bed, lacing his fingers together anxiously.

“Willyoupretendtobemyboyfriend?” Jack mumbled, pointedly avoiding Bitty’s eyes.

“What was that?” Bitty asked.

“Will you pretend to be my boyfriend?” Jack repeated, slower.

“Uh.” Bitty stared at Jack, not quite processing the request. “Is this a joke?”

“No,” Jack said. “My mom thinks we’re dating and...I don’t know. The idea of it makes her happy. I couldn’t bring myself to correct her. And if she thinks I’m dating someone, she won’t worry so much about me being social or...normal.”

This was too much information for Bitty to take in. He stared down at his lap, feeling a little light-headed. “You are normal,” he said after a moment. “Why does your mom think we’re dating?”

Jack shrugged. “I think you remind her of my last...well, she thought he was my boyfriend.”

“You’re gay?” Bitty thought his heart was going to give out it was beating so fast.

Jack shrugged again. “Something like that.”

“Oh.” Bitty nodded slowly; he needed another drink. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Jack repeated, tone cautious, almost worried.

“Yeah, okay, I’ll pretend to be your…” Bitty couldn’t finish the sentence. This was the worst idea he’d ever agreed to.

“Great, thanks,” Jack said, all but collapsing onto the bed next to Bitty. “She wants to take us out to dinner tomorrow. Us and the guys...Lardo…”

“Your friends?” Bitty filled in with a teasing look.

“Yeah. Friends.”

Bitty laughed, then felt his blood run cold. “Jack, if we’re pretending...you’re gonna have to say something to the others.”

This didn’t seem to scare Jack like it did Bitty. “Yeah. It’s been a long time coming, probably. They’re good people, they’ll get it.”

“Okay,” Bitty said. “I’ll, uh. Distract your mom with the Frogs and the girls and send the others up.”

“Thanks, Bittle,” Jack said, and his smile made Bitty’s stomach turn with longing.

“‘Course, Jack,” he said, already feeling his heart tearing in two.

  “I have...an odd request,” Jack said as Shitty, Lardo, Ransom, and Holster filed into his bedroom.

“I’m already wearing pants, brah,” Shitty teased, flinging himself onto Jack’s bed. “I think that’s more than enough odd requests for one day.”

“What’s up?” Ransom asked, settling down in the armchair across from the bed. Holster sat down on top of him, not seeming to care he was squishing his best friend. “You alright?”

“Um. Yeah. Well.” Jack heaved a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. “I need you all to pretend Bittle is my boyfriend for the next 24 hours.”

The silence that met them was deafening. Ransom was staring at thin air, mouth open like when he was trying to remember something for class. Shitty and Lardo simply looked stunned, and Holster was actually glaring at Jack suspiciously. Eventually, he asked, “Why?”

“My mom thinks Bittle and I are dating,” Jack explained in a dull monotone. “And it would get her off my back to keep believing it.”

“So she thinks you’re gay?” Ransom asked, still looking like he was staring a puzzle he was this close to solving.

Jack shrugged. “No, she knows I like guys.”

Holster’s brows shot up. Shitty said, “Oh, shit. You didn’t have to tell us, man, if you’re not ready-”

Jack shrugged again. “I trust you guys. Just...don’t tell anyone else.”

“Of course, Jack,” Lardo said softly.

Ransom. “Yeah, you know we’ve got your back.” Holster mimed zipping his mouth shut, though he kept looking between Jack and Bitty with something akin to concern on his face.

“Wait.” Shitty stood up and moved to stand in front of Jack. “Why does she think you’re dating Bits? If anyone in this room was your boyfriend, it’d be me. I’m wounded, Mrs. Z!”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Once Bittle breaks up with me, I’ll her you’re my one true love, Shits.”

“Thank you,” Shitty said primly. He shot Bitty a mock glare and said, “Don’t steal my man.”

Smiling sweetly, Bitty turned to Jack and asked, “Would your mama mind terribly if we uninvited Shitty from dinner tomorrow?”

The shrieking, squawking noises Shitty made in protest were so loud they frightened a flock of birds from the tree outside Jack’s window.

  Alicia took them all out to dinner at the nicest restaurant in Samwell, Nola’s. It was rare that Bitty went to places with cloth napkins with his boys, but he’d made sure they all dressed appropriately before leaving the house. Even Lardo wore one of her less-arty black dresses, the kind she used for the end-of-year banquet and things like that. The menu at Nola’s was a standard yuppie fare, but Bitty was overjoyed to try their pumpkin gnocchi without having to pay out of pocket.

“Hey,” Jack murmured, nudging Bitty with his elbow as they discussed drinks and appetizers. “They have that wine you like.”

“Boxed?” Bitty joked.

Jack rolled his eyes, but his smile was fond. “No, the one that got left behind at Hausgiving last year. Um. Boom Boom?”

Bitty snorted loudly. “What was that?”

“You know what I said,” Jack said grumpily. “It’s a syrah. I know you like that.”

Bitty grinned at Jack. “I do, thank you. But I’ll drink whatever the table’s drinking. Because I’m 19. And cannot order wine on my own.”

Jack gave him a curious look. “I always forget how young you are.”

“You’re the only one, then,” Bitty said drily. “I’ll be getting carded until I’m fifty.”

“Excuse me,” Jack said, hailing the waiter. “Could we get a bottle of Boom Boom syrah for the table, please?”

The man didn’t bat an eyelash, nor did he even look at Bitty for more than a millisecond. “Of course, sir.”

Mrs. Zimmermann smirked at them knowingly. “Jack, you don’t like red wine,” she said.

“No,” he said calmly. “But Bittle does.”

“Bittle,” she repeated with a fond laugh. “You’re just like your father. He called me Miss Kennedy for the first six months of our relationship, I swear. I thought I’d walk up to alter and have us both pronounced Mr. and Mrs. ‘Miss Kennedy.’”

“Goodness!” Bitty laughed. “What a ridiculous man.”

“Cute,” Lardo said.

“It was,” Mrs. Zimmermann said. “These Zimmermann men are charming in their silly ways.”

“Maman,” Jack said, cheeks turning a lovely shade of pink.

“Oh, sweetheart, I agree,” Bitty said without thinking, patting Jack’s hand.

“FOINE!” Holster shouted, mouth full of bread.

“Five bucks in the sin bin,” Ransom said, almost as loud. “Pay up, Bits.”

Bitty scowled at them, but Jack pulled out his wallet and tossed a five dollar bill towards the middle of the table. “I’m paying for your wine,” he said sternly. “So no more fines until dessert.”

“Yessir!” Shitty said, casting a warning look at the others. Without missing a beat, Jack wrapped an arm around Bitty’s shoulders and pulled him closer. Bitty’s face burned.

“So, please, tell me how you two got together,” Mrs. Zimmermann said as the wine arrived. Bitty noticed she kept her voice hushed and paused as they waiter poured out their glasses, waiting until he was several feet away before looking expectantly at Jack and Bitty. It was such a careful little gesture, but it made Bitty sad in a latent, familiar way.

“Well, uh.” Jack clearly hadn’t planned this far ahead.

“We’re in a class together this semester,” Bitty piped up, swallowing back his nerves. “So we’ve been spending more time together, studying and baking- oh, and our early morning checking practices.” He was suddenly very thankful for the year of drama class he’d done in high school, before his time had been consumed by hockey. “I have a little issue with checking, and Jack’s been helping me through it. So we were just up at an unholy hour one morning, and I hadn’t had my coffee and Jack was trying to be patient with me but he got me in the gut hard enough to totally just knock the wind out of me and…”

“It was like a dam burst,” Jack said quietly. “And I realized what he meant to me. So I kissed him.”

Bitty held back a stunned smile. “And I nearly passed out from shock.”

“Hey, I bought you Annie’s afterwards,” Jack said defensively.

“Our first date,” Bitty teased, bumping his shoulder against Jack’s chest. “So romantic.”

“That’s so sweet,” Mrs. Zimmermann said. Bitty nodded and grabbed his wine glass to stop the shaking of his hands. The others were casting him and Jack a variety of odd, curious, confused looks.

“Hey, Jack,” Holster said, standing. “Can I talk to you outside for a second?”

“Um, sure,” Jack said, casting Bitty an apologetic look. “If the waiter comes, can you order the cobb salad for me?”

“One greasy cheeseburger coming up,” Bitty said with a smirk. Jack rolled his eyes and pressed a quick kiss to Bitty’s cheek, leaving him reeling as he followed Holser out of the restaurant. 

“Is Adam okay?” Mrs. Zimmermann asked, concern evident in her eyes.

“Oh, yeah, you know. Jack’s just a real good captain. You can talk to him about anything,” Bitty said, wondering how his wine glass was already empty.

“Well, before he comes back, I just wanted to say that I’m so happy you two are together,” Mrs. Zimmermann said, touching Bitty’s shoulder lightly. “I was worried he’d deny himself this kind of relationship, what with his career goals and all that, but I’ve never seen him look so happy and relaxed as he is around you.”

Bitty looked down, the first pricks of tears threatening at the backs of his eyes. “Oh. Um. Well, I’m happy, too. He’s a really great guy.”

“Yes, he’s a good boy,” Mrs. Zimmermann said. “I wish the best for you two.”

Before Bitty could respond, Holster returned to the table, looking tired. “Jack’s in the bathroom,” he said, looking pointedly at Bitty for a minute before turning to the rest of the table. “I’m starving. Do you think they’ll bring us more bread?”

As Mrs. Zimmermann was sucked into the group’s loud and obnoxious discussion of whether it had been Holster or Ransom who had eaten the most bread, Bitty slipped away to the small, one-man bathroom in the back of the restaurant.

“Jack?” He called, knocking on the door tentatively. “Are you okay? It’s Bitty, by the way.”

The door opened to reveal Jack standing there, face damp as if he’d just splashed water on himself to cool down. It darkened the collar of his shirt and soaked into his hairline. Somehow, Bitty still found it attractive.

“Holster said you have a crush on me,” Jack said softly, eyes darting around the empty hallway.

Bitty was going to murder Holster. “Oh! Um, he- he what-?”

“I think I have a crush on you,” Jack continued, looking down at his feet. “I. I really like this whole...being boyfriends thing. If you’d want to do it. For real.”

This wasn’t the most romantic location in the world, standing in the doorway of a cafe bathroom, but Bitty didn’t care. He surged up on his tiptoes to kiss Jack soundly on the lips, wrapping his arms around Jack’s neck when Jack’s hands found his waist.

Almost shyly, Jack pulled back to look at Bitty, eyes soft and adoring, then he kissed Bitty again, pushing him up against the wall across from the bathroom. Bitty wanted nothing more than to wrap his legs around Jack’s waist and let him have his way, but someone cleared their throat just to Bitty’s left.

Shitty stood there, beaming, arms outstretched. “Oh, you beautiful fuckers, c’mere.”

He pulled them into a quick hug and kissed both their cheeks like a proud father. “Ugh, this is too cute. Go back to the table before I throw up on you lovebirds.”

“I told you we should have uninvited him,” Bitty said as Shitty slipped into the now-unoccupied bathroom. Jack just grinned and kissed Bitty once more before they returned to a table filled with smug, excited friends and a very happy Mrs. Zimmermann.

[My writing tag]

[My online novel, The Discourt Knife]

[electronicgoodsinfo]

Added Benefits of Microwave Toaster

By means of a microwave oven to prepare food saves your time and effort and makes food tastier. Keep reading to know some great advantages of cooking at a microwave oven.

High frequency electromagnetic waves, also known as microwaves are emitted when food has been cooked in the microwave oven. These micro-waves develop the heat and cook every every particle of the meals.

Microwave oven is a kitchen appliance that saves your cooking time and leaves food tastier. Microwave oven absorbs very less electricity and also isn't difficult to use. Otherwise, you might end up acquiring a single after learning some great advantages of the microwave oven. Keep reading and you'll know why we say .

Microwave oven saves period

The major good thing about the microwave toaster is the'time efficiency'. As compared to the usual techniques of eating, microwave ovens take time . A microwave oven comes with a timer which empowers us to set enough time for cooking food. When timer runs out, the oven turns off mechanically. Distinct situations are set to prepare distinctive types of foodstuffs. For example water could get boiled in one moment; biscuits may require longer time to bake.

Easy to warm meals

Tasks like heating staying foods (re heating ), making crispy pop-corns, defrosting frozen food items, and heating packed meals are rather simple by simply making use of a microwave oven in comparison with traditional cooking range, old fashioned ovens or ovens. Microwave ovens don't acquire alluring themselves though heating your food items.

Uncomplicated to wash

Microwave ovens are simple to keep and clean. The thing you will need is just a damp cotton cloth or even a sponge. Wipe the oven from inside and you are done. To get rid of the odor of food, boil the bowl of plain water at the oven with a couple drops of lemon juice in it and your own oven is ready to use again.

No need to keep a watch

Microwave cooking does not need oversight. Remember, just how crazy you move though stirring curry, even keeping an watch on the pressure stove and waiting to hear that the batter, and making salad all at an identical moment. You're going to be comfy even though cooking using a microwave oven. Set the food, then set the timeand stir fry among if needed and get rid of the meals once it's carried out. You are able to get that telephone call while the meal is being prepared in microwave oven.

Retains nutrients and vitamins from the meals

Vegetables boiled in the microwave are much healthier than boiled into the pan onto the fuel burner. Microwave cooking keeps the nutritive values of their meals. It keeps vitamins and minerals nutrient in the meals. Foods gets cooked equally from the microwave oven and it tastes delicious.

Security tips while using microwave toaster

Closed containers and raw eggs may burst if heated in a microwave oven as a result of worries buildup of steam. Liquids if heated can bring about violent burst of vapor and water leading to liquid and steam burns up off. Certain security measures are must-have while tackling some other electronic device. Keep in mind the following safety hints while tackling microwave oven.

Use cookware meant for microwave cooking. Do not utilize plastic or metal cookware to cook at microwave oven.

Usually do not forget to use gloves while carrying the food out from the oven. You are able to find these gloves easily in the market.

In case your microwave oven isn't functioning, then usually do not try and mend it on your own. Telephone your supplier.

If you believe some thing goes wrong along with your microwave toaster such as fire or spark, defer the principal switch with the use of this wooden rod or any other insulated object. Call your service provider.

Strictly follow the rules displayed in the manual that comes with all the microwave toaster.

You can make thousands of recipes together with the assistance of your microwave oven. Morning meal is going to be produced faster than ever before. It is likely to be potential to exude your sweet tooth frequently by organizing tasty biscuits and cakes. You are not going to have to order chicken tanduri or Pizza from a grocery store.

[besttoastterovens]

I've Tested Closly Every Toaster Oven on the Market

We independently pick these products - if you buy from one of our links, we might make a compensation.

There are two main kinds of house cooks out there: those who count on toaster ovens and also those that don't. A tremendous pop-up best toaster oven is excellent for quickly making toast, but in my expert point of view (I invested more than 30 years testing and also reporting on all things kitchen for the Good Housekeeping Institute). I think the multi ways of a toaster oven are hard to beat. Along with making tuna melts and also pizza bagels, and even heating up frozen nuggets and fish sticks, you can also utilize an excellent toaster to make baked veggies as well as poultry, cook an apple crumb cake, or broil teriyaki salmon.

How can you make sure you obtain an excellent best toaster ovens? You pick one from this checklist!

The Best Toaster Oven: Cuisinart Chef's Convection Toaster Oven.

This spiffy-looking toaster oven might transform your life if you have the space for it (and also the budget plan permits). In addition to being toasters, you can lock, it can roast a chicken in merely 45 mins, cook two cake layers at the same time, as well as broil fish equally as well as that high oven that you have to bend down to utilize. It has an LCD display, where you can choose preprogrammed setups for a selection of foods (practical if you're never ever relatively sure what temperature level or for how much time to roast your sprouts or bake your pizza!).

This toaster fits a nine × 13-inch frying pan for making a broad set of brownies or a lasagna. If you like, you can establish the oven to cook mac and cheese covered dish at a modest temperature and then instantly amp up the warmth to brownish the crumb topping at the end. During cooking, the continuing to be time is shown on the screen, so you know the number of mins is left, as well as a bright oven light makes it easy to see just how your food's proceeding. For your cash, you likewise obtain a heavy-duty broiling pan and a pizza stone plus a guidebook with dishes that you'd actually intend to prepare.

Consultation: "We actually used this toaster oven in Alton Brown's examination cooking area when I helped him," claims Meghan Splawn, our associate food editor. "Alton utilizes the most effective, so it's not shocking that this was Sharon's top pick. It heats up equally-- even more even than some actual ovens - and also, truly, can do anything an oven can do.".

The Best Toaster Oven for Small Kitchens space: Breville Mini -Smart Oven.

Think of this as the Tiffany box of best toaster ovens: luxury in a stunning, tiny package. This is the one I have in my New York City apartment or condo, and I utilize it each time I prepare for every little thing from roast asparagus to baked ziti. I can not remember the last time I broiled anything in the full-size broiler. There are predetermined programs for the salute, so I never ever provide a thought to how much time I'm establishing and can see the minutes count down when I'm restless for my early morning bagel. With the mini, you get a durable broiling frying pan.

Second opinions: "We were talented the Breville for our wedding celebration, and also while it's definitely a little glamorous, it's without a doubt the best toaster oven I've ever utilized (and I've utilized fairly a great deal!). Our routine oven takes permanently to pre-heat, so it's such a huge time-saver when we wish to cook two items of fish or roast a percentage of vegetables. Plus, the toast setup gets it ideal each and every single time," states Sheela Prakash, senior contributing food editor.

The Best Budget Toaster Oven: Hamilton Beach Easy Reach Oven with Convection.

Buy Hamilton Beach Easy Reach Oven with Convection, $73.

If price, ease, as well as results, are super vital to you as well as you're not searching for a statement piece for your kitchen counter, this is the best toaster oven for you. Not just does the Hamilton Beach brown bread entirely, it's likewise nearly as fast as a pop-up model. It will undoubtedly roast up a batch of garlicky potatoes or herbed poultry legs equally as well as a regular oven, although it can't fit a whole chicken.

It's called "Easy Reach" because the door rolls back, removing any possibility you'll singe a hand on the hot door when you're putting food in or taking it out; it also maximizes room in the front of the oven when you take the pan out. And again, when you're on a cleansing spree, you can get rid of the door and also clean off those persistent splatters in the sink. You will not discover fancy digital controls below, as well as the baking frying pan that's consisted of, is constructed from lightweight, lightweight, lightweight aluminum.

Consultation: "The roll-up door is AWESOME. It clears so much space on my counter. I can actually place my plate down in front of the toaster as well as fetch my products without burning my knuckles on a hot door," states one reviewer.

The Very Best Toaster Oven That's Also an Air Fryer: Black + Decker Large Capacity Air Fryer Toaster Oven.

Get Black + Decker Large Capacity Air Fry Toaster Oven, $79 in the house Depot.

If you have restricted counter space in your cooking area (or wish to reduce mess) yet are craving an air fryer, this multitasking appliance is the remedy to your problems. Along with an oven rack for toasting and cooking, the Black + Decker features a big air frying basket that can stand up to 3 pounds of chicken pieces or a whole bag of French fries. Make sure to likewise pick up an air fryer cookbook due to the fact that the usage, as well as care details, does not include any air frying guidance.

Second opinion: "I used this lately at a pal's house; we put it on the air fryer set up as well as threw in half a bag of wonderful potato fries," says Lisa Freedman, way of the living director. "They came out incredibly crunchy. While air fryers are not THAT different from countertop convection ovens (see: How Do Air Fryers Work?), the cable basket in this toaster truly makes a distinction.".

Why You Should Trust Our Gear Pro.

For more than 30 years, I supervised testing as well as reporting on everything from wooden spoons to the connected fridge at the Good Housekeeping Institute. I've strolled the floors of every trade show as well as check out every brand-new item release for longer than a lot of digital magazines have actually existed!

My street cred? I also worked as a chef in New York City restaurants for seven years.

I've evaluated, utilized, and played with nearly every item of kitchen area gear (consisting of a toaster) ahead on the marketplace for several years. When it concerns equipment, it takes a great deal to impress me, and also I recognize what actually functions.

Chosen by a Pro. Checked by Real Home Cooks.

I've tested what feels like every toaster on the marketplace (at all the rate points, low to high!), and also, these are my all-time faves. You do not have to take my word as well as my name alone, either. Kitchen editors - a unique hybrid of experts as well as home chefs, that develop as well as check fantastic dishes in whole house cooking areas - and actual Amazon consumers weighed in on several of these choices also, testing my faves in the context of their real home cooking.

When it comes to cooking area equipment, what matters is that it works for a house chef-- not just that a cook endorses it, or that it passed some high-flying bar in a clean and sterile test cooking area. You want gear that is, above all, useful, resilient, as well as conscious of actual chefs, real cooking areas, as well as real budget plans.

[easyfoodnetwork]

11 Useful Items to Keep Hidden Away in Your Freezer

Frozen mixed berries | CLICKMANIS/Shutterstock

From cooking fat to freezer cake, these are the items that make cooking easier for Eater editors

For active home cooks or even those who generally dread the task, the freezer deserves credit for helping get dinner (or dessert) on the table. It’s a place that offers a wealth of shortcut meals and snacks, from exceptional frozen dumplings to nostalgic treats like tater tots. Frozen ingredients like chicken stock or marinara sauce can get a home cook most of the way to a finished meal. As long as people know the best way to store and defrost their freezer items, whether they’re cuts of meat or bagels, a freezer is undeniably an indispensable tool, during a pandemic and otherwise.

Here’s a roundup of the useful items Eater editors are most likely to keep hidden away in their freezers.

Cooking fat: Meat isn’t an everyday item in our house, so when we do cook with it, my partner and I like to save every last bit. That means saving the fat. Grease is one of those pesky residuals of cooking that’s harder to dispose of. It really shouldn’t go directly down the drain. Some people wait for it to cool in a container and then pour it in the garbage. However, I recommend saving that flavor. When you cook chicken, duck, bacon, or anything else particularly precious and tasty, save the drippings in a glass container and stick it in the freezer. Then use it in place of butter or oil in your cooking to impart more flavor. Duck fat is particularly tasty for cooking fried eggs at breakfast time. —Brenna Houck, Eater Detroit editor

Ice cube tray and ice cubes: The most important items in my freezer are my two ice cube trays and the ice they hold. Since shelter-in-place has coincided with my pregnancy, I’m drinking a lot of non-alcoholic beverages, each of which is greatly improved by being even colder. I make cheater iced almond milk lattes by stirring drip coffee with ice and then adding more ice and almond milk. I cool down cups of herbal tea I discover I’ve left on the counter and enjoy iced tea. I drink so much more tap water when I remember to put ice cubes in it. The trick: Refill your tray with water every time you take cubes from it. Just make it part of your routine and it’s never empty. —Hillary Dixler Canavan, restaurant editor

Frozen fruit: My biggest freezer staple is frozen fruit, mostly because I love a good smoothie. Great for breakfast or anytime you feel like you need a Vitamin C boost, the secret to a thick, filling smoothie is to use a fresh banana and frozen fruit without adding ice. I just buy the bags frozen from my local grocery store (even tropical fruits like pitaya are now pretty easy to find), but this is also a great way to store those final few strawberries before they go bad. Other uses of fruit in your freezer: cocktail ingredients, drink garnishes, a snack (especially frozen mango). —Erin Russell, Eater Austin associate editor

Dino nuggets: Why eat boring chicken nuggets when you can eat chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs? It may be childish, but I will never stop getting a kick out of dino nuggets. It’s an easy lunch on a hectic day; just toss them in the toaster oven. Flip once. I guess you could make a side salad if you’re feeling fancy. But the only required side, as far as I’m concerned, is a dipping sauce — ideally barbecue sauce from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que because (a) it’s good and (b) obviously dino nuggets go best with Dino sauce. —Rachel Leah Blumenthal, Eater Boston editor

Homemade gumbo: Gumbo is one of my favorite meals to make at home, but let’s be real; it’s a project, a cooking task that’s going to clock in at a couple hours before it’s done. Luckily, since there are only two of us at home, making gumbo always means gumbo leftovers, and I don’t think there’s a more satisfying freezer meal for me than a bowl of gumbo that I simply pulled out of the freezer (stored in a quart container) to defrost the night before in the fridge, and reheated for dinner that evening. Gumbo doesn’t really deteriorate significantly in the freezer; all you have to do is throw some rice in the rice cooker, and you have an easy weeknight dinner that totally makes up for all the effort you initially put into making a roux, simmering your ingredients, and just having patience for the gumbo to finish the first time around. —Missy Frederick, cities director

Frozen dinners from mom: Being far away from my family is hard, especially now that I don’t really know when I can safely go back home to New York. Thankfully, I usually have deep-frozen containers of my mother’s home-cooking in my freezer, from my last visit home. Whenever I fly home, my mother usually asks me what foods I want to bring back (my favorites: shrimp and potol, a Bengali pointed gourd; chicken with squash), along with biryani. My mom batch-cooks everything and my dad portions out the food into 16-ounce deli containers, labels each one, and carefully packs everything into a disposable cooler with ice packs, ready to be placed in my overstuffed suitcase. This way, I can hold onto tastes of home even though it’s 1,700+ miles away. —Nadia Chaudhury, Eater Austin editor

Banana ice cream: Forget cookies and cream or chocolate chip cookie dough. Banana is the best ice cream flavor, and I make sure to keep a half-gallon in my freezer at all times. Living in Newark, I’m lucky to be within walking distance of the scoop shop that makes it best: Nasto’s. I have three scoops after dinner every night, always with a drizzle of chocolate syrup, and it’s pure bliss. I understand that ice cream isn’t the most exciting thing in a freezer compared to frozen dumplings or mochi, but the flavor takes me back to sitting on my late grandmother’s balcony in Ankara, where we would split a bowl of fruit — mostly bananas — together. —Esra Erol, senior social media manager

Freezer cake: I don’t remember what life was like before I discovered Freezer Cake. I don’t care to look back on that era. There’s something special about knowing a slice of banana upside-down cake or a thick slab of banana bread is waiting there, whispering my name gently from the back corner of the freezer. In these not-very-sweet times, being able to eat a slice of cake without ever cracking an egg or dirtying a bowl feels like a victory. All you need to do is let whatever cake you’ve so wisely frozen defrost slowly on the counter. Because sometimes turning on the oven is just too much work. —Elazar Sontag, staff writer

Stock: The one thing I always try to have in my freezer is stock. Usually it’s chicken stock, either made from the carcass of a roast chicken or from a big pile of chicken wings I dumped in my Instant Pot, because so many recipes call for it, whether a little bit to help finish a sauce or several cups to make a soup or stew. Homemade stock tastes noticeably better, and since it’s easy to keep in the freezer, making up a big batch doesn’t risk any going to waste. To freeze stock, I measure it out into plastic baggies in rough one or two cup amounts, using a ladle with a half-cup measure on it, and then lie them flat in the freezer one on top of the other, so when they harden, they’re easy to stack. When I need to defrost, I zap a frozen bag for 30 seconds or a minute in the microwave and break off roughly as much as I need, or drop the whole cup or two into the pot. I have endured the shame of throwing out all sorts of things from my freezer, but I have never, ever wasted stock. —Meghan McCarron, special correspondent

Homemade pesto: My frozen secret weapon is an ice cube tray full of homemade pesto. Pesto sauce, to me, is a special thing. Basil is a precious, flavorful commodity that seems expensive if you don’t have a farmers market nearby, and it doesn’t stay for very long either. Pine nuts are also quite pricey, so when I do make a big batch from scratch, I make sure to make it last. Pesto is so flavorful that you don’t need to use a lot for any single dish. That’s where the ice cube tray comes in. Filling a tray with pesto and freezing it into cubes is a trick I learned long ago when Pinterest was new on the scene and basically church for those interested in recipe ideas and hacks. Popping out one or two cubes of pesto as needed is a great way to make use of the sauce you may have made months ago when basil was in season, without having to defrost an entire Tupperware. It’s such an easy and fast way to add flavor to a quick pasta dish, some beans, a sandwich of any kind, and even to make into a vinaigrette for a salad on the fly. —Terri Ciccone, audience development manager

Salted caramel ice cream: If it’s freezer junk food you seek, I present Lotus Biscoff Salted Caramel Ice Cream, something I started hoarding during the pandemic. I swear it’s the softest ice cream I’ve ever found. The instructions even recommend leaving it out for five minutes to soften before you dig in. There is a straight Biscoff cookie version, but I like the salted caramel mixed in. I buy it at Target, and do a search before I venture out to make sure it’s in stock. —Susan Stapleton, Eater Vegas editor

Honorable mentions: Fresh herbs frozen in ice cube trays, bags of pre-peeled garlic, brownies, Eggo waffles, tortellini, peas, pierogis, homemade marinara sauce, cooked beans, rice cakes for stir fries, cookie dough.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/3dAswSL https://ift.tt/3i4YvxC

Frozen mixed berries | CLICKMANIS/Shutterstock

From cooking fat to freezer cake, these are the items that make cooking easier for Eater editors

For active home cooks or even those who generally dread the task, the freezer deserves credit for helping get dinner (or dessert) on the table. It’s a place that offers a wealth of shortcut meals and snacks, from exceptional frozen dumplings to nostalgic treats like tater tots. Frozen ingredients like chicken stock or marinara sauce can get a home cook most of the way to a finished meal. As long as people know the best way to store and defrost their freezer items, whether they’re cuts of meat or bagels, a freezer is undeniably an indispensable tool, during a pandemic and otherwise.

Here’s a roundup of the useful items Eater editors are most likely to keep hidden away in their freezers.

Cooking fat: Meat isn’t an everyday item in our house, so when we do cook with it, my partner and I like to save every last bit. That means saving the fat. Grease is one of those pesky residuals of cooking that’s harder to dispose of. It really shouldn’t go directly down the drain. Some people wait for it to cool in a container and then pour it in the garbage. However, I recommend saving that flavor. When you cook chicken, duck, bacon, or anything else particularly precious and tasty, save the drippings in a glass container and stick it in the freezer. Then use it in place of butter or oil in your cooking to impart more flavor. Duck fat is particularly tasty for cooking fried eggs at breakfast time. —Brenna Houck, Eater Detroit editor

Ice cube tray and ice cubes: The most important items in my freezer are my two ice cube trays and the ice they hold. Since shelter-in-place has coincided with my pregnancy, I’m drinking a lot of non-alcoholic beverages, each of which is greatly improved by being even colder. I make cheater iced almond milk lattes by stirring drip coffee with ice and then adding more ice and almond milk. I cool down cups of herbal tea I discover I’ve left on the counter and enjoy iced tea. I drink so much more tap water when I remember to put ice cubes in it. The trick: Refill your tray with water every time you take cubes from it. Just make it part of your routine and it’s never empty. —Hillary Dixler Canavan, restaurant editor

Frozen fruit: My biggest freezer staple is frozen fruit, mostly because I love a good smoothie. Great for breakfast or anytime you feel like you need a Vitamin C boost, the secret to a thick, filling smoothie is to use a fresh banana and frozen fruit without adding ice. I just buy the bags frozen from my local grocery store (even tropical fruits like pitaya are now pretty easy to find), but this is also a great way to store those final few strawberries before they go bad. Other uses of fruit in your freezer: cocktail ingredients, drink garnishes, a snack (especially frozen mango). —Erin Russell, Eater Austin associate editor

Dino nuggets: Why eat boring chicken nuggets when you can eat chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs? It may be childish, but I will never stop getting a kick out of dino nuggets. It’s an easy lunch on a hectic day; just toss them in the toaster oven. Flip once. I guess you could make a side salad if you’re feeling fancy. But the only required side, as far as I’m concerned, is a dipping sauce — ideally barbecue sauce from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que because (a) it’s good and (b) obviously dino nuggets go best with Dino sauce. —Rachel Leah Blumenthal, Eater Boston editor

Homemade gumbo: Gumbo is one of my favorite meals to make at home, but let’s be real; it’s a project, a cooking task that’s going to clock in at a couple hours before it’s done. Luckily, since there are only two of us at home, making gumbo always means gumbo leftovers, and I don’t think there’s a more satisfying freezer meal for me than a bowl of gumbo that I simply pulled out of the freezer (stored in a quart container) to defrost the night before in the fridge, and reheated for dinner that evening. Gumbo doesn’t really deteriorate significantly in the freezer; all you have to do is throw some rice in the rice cooker, and you have an easy weeknight dinner that totally makes up for all the effort you initially put into making a roux, simmering your ingredients, and just having patience for the gumbo to finish the first time around. —Missy Frederick, cities director

Frozen dinners from mom: Being far away from my family is hard, especially now that I don’t really know when I can safely go back home to New York. Thankfully, I usually have deep-frozen containers of my mother’s home-cooking in my freezer, from my last visit home. Whenever I fly home, my mother usually asks me what foods I want to bring back (my favorites: shrimp and potol, a Bengali pointed gourd; chicken with squash), along with biryani. My mom batch-cooks everything and my dad portions out the food into 16-ounce deli containers, labels each one, and carefully packs everything into a disposable cooler with ice packs, ready to be placed in my overstuffed suitcase. This way, I can hold onto tastes of home even though it’s 1,700+ miles away. —Nadia Chaudhury, Eater Austin editor

Banana ice cream: Forget cookies and cream or chocolate chip cookie dough. Banana is the best ice cream flavor, and I make sure to keep a half-gallon in my freezer at all times. Living in Newark, I’m lucky to be within walking distance of the scoop shop that makes it best: Nasto’s. I have three scoops after dinner every night, always with a drizzle of chocolate syrup, and it’s pure bliss. I understand that ice cream isn’t the most exciting thing in a freezer compared to frozen dumplings or mochi, but the flavor takes me back to sitting on my late grandmother’s balcony in Ankara, where we would split a bowl of fruit — mostly bananas — together. —Esra Erol, senior social media manager

Freezer cake: I don’t remember what life was like before I discovered Freezer Cake. I don’t care to look back on that era. There’s something special about knowing a slice of banana upside-down cake or a thick slab of banana bread is waiting there, whispering my name gently from the back corner of the freezer. In these not-very-sweet times, being able to eat a slice of cake without ever cracking an egg or dirtying a bowl feels like a victory. All you need to do is let whatever cake you’ve so wisely frozen defrost slowly on the counter. Because sometimes turning on the oven is just too much work. —Elazar Sontag, staff writer

Stock: The one thing I always try to have in my freezer is stock. Usually it’s chicken stock, either made from the carcass of a roast chicken or from a big pile of chicken wings I dumped in my Instant Pot, because so many recipes call for it, whether a little bit to help finish a sauce or several cups to make a soup or stew. Homemade stock tastes noticeably better, and since it’s easy to keep in the freezer, making up a big batch doesn’t risk any going to waste. To freeze stock, I measure it out into plastic baggies in rough one or two cup amounts, using a ladle with a half-cup measure on it, and then lie them flat in the freezer one on top of the other, so when they harden, they’re easy to stack. When I need to defrost, I zap a frozen bag for 30 seconds or a minute in the microwave and break off roughly as much as I need, or drop the whole cup or two into the pot. I have endured the shame of throwing out all sorts of things from my freezer, but I have never, ever wasted stock. —Meghan McCarron, special correspondent

Homemade pesto: My frozen secret weapon is an ice cube tray full of homemade pesto. Pesto sauce, to me, is a special thing. Basil is a precious, flavorful commodity that seems expensive if you don’t have a farmers market nearby, and it doesn’t stay for very long either. Pine nuts are also quite pricey, so when I do make a big batch from scratch, I make sure to make it last. Pesto is so flavorful that you don’t need to use a lot for any single dish. That’s where the ice cube tray comes in. Filling a tray with pesto and freezing it into cubes is a trick I learned long ago when Pinterest was new on the scene and basically church for those interested in recipe ideas and hacks. Popping out one or two cubes of pesto as needed is a great way to make use of the sauce you may have made months ago when basil was in season, without having to defrost an entire Tupperware. It’s such an easy and fast way to add flavor to a quick pasta dish, some beans, a sandwich of any kind, and even to make into a vinaigrette for a salad on the fly. —Terri Ciccone, audience development manager

Salted caramel ice cream: If it’s freezer junk food you seek, I present Lotus Biscoff Salted Caramel Ice Cream, something I started hoarding during the pandemic. I swear it’s the softest ice cream I’ve ever found. The instructions even recommend leaving it out for five minutes to soften before you dig in. There is a straight Biscoff cookie version, but I like the salted caramel mixed in. I buy it at Target, and do a search before I venture out to make sure it’s in stock. —Susan Stapleton, Eater Vegas editor

Honorable mentions: Fresh herbs frozen in ice cube trays, bags of pre-peeled garlic, brownies, Eggo waffles, tortellini, peas, pierogis, homemade marinara sauce, cooked beans, rice cakes for stir fries, cookie dough.

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Purchase Toaster Oven Online At Greatest Prices In India

If our different picks have more options than you need, we advocate the inexpensive, no-frills Hamilton Beach 4 Slice Toaster Oven (model 31401). The Hamilton Beach's two quartz heating parts toasted bread sooner and more evenly than any other oven we examined lower than $a hundred. It three handbook knobs to control the settings. While it lacks most of the options included in excessive-finish fashions, reminiscent of preset cooking functions, a convection setting, and an inside light, it excels at the basics, like making toast, cookies, and frozen snacks. Its small footprint is good for kitchens with restricted counter space. It has just a few quirks which are expected with such an inexpensive model (akin to running a number of degrees cooler than its set temperature), but on the entire we predict they're negligible. In pop-up or computerized toasters, a single vertical piece of bread is dropped into a slot on the highest of the toaster. A lever on the side of the toaster is pressed down, reducing the bread into the toaster and activating the heating parts The length of the toasting cycle (and subsequently the degree of toasting) is adjustable through a lever, knob, or sequence of pushbuttons, and when an internal gadget determines that the toasting cycle is complete, the toaster turns off and the toast pops up out of the slots. Reheating. It sounds banal, however your toaster oven will be your go-to for heating a wide range of leftovers. One of the big benefits is that it preheats in a short time — not as instantaneously as your microwave, however much quicker than a full-measurement oven. It also can provide you crisp results the place the microwave may flip things soggy, reminiscent of pizza, fries or even skinny breaded chicken cutlets. I've used a toaster oven to crisp the exterior of a burrito (briefly heated within the microwave to get the inside going) after I haven't had entry to a skillet. To essentially benefit from your toaster oven, you will need one with the correct quantity of house to prepare dinner lots of your favorite meals. From giant bread merchandise to complete chickens to medium pizzas, there is an oven that may match exactly what you want. Nonetheless, you must also consider that the larger your oven, the more counter space you will need in your kitchen to accommodate it. If you wish to use this oven as an air fryer (because as we explain in How we picked , air fryers are simply tiny convection ovens), the Cuisinart also has two convection speeds, common and high. We have discovered that the excessive speed setting works better for air frying, cooking food somewhat sooner. And overall, after testing the Cuisinart against quite a few air fryers for our information to air fryers , we predict it's the better equipment for that function as a result of it matches more food, cooks extra evenly, and comes with higher accessories. https://squareblogs.net/dinhlinh2312/chuyen-gia-len-tieng-ve-2-chat-kich-doc-trong-binh-giu-nhiet-trung-quoc With dimensions of 16 by 13 by 9 inches, the Breville Mini Sensible Oven is the smallest toaster oven Breville makes, and it could possibly match 4 slices of toast or an 11-inch pizza inside. Among the many many features that make the unit simple to scrub are the detachable pull-out crumb tray. It is best to change it often to ensure the gadget would not malfunction, as most toaster ovens are designed to cease functioning when crumbs construct up to an unsafe stage. The Oster Toaster Oven is the only toaster oven that prices lower than $a hundred to make our list. What sets it aside is the graceful digital control panel that operates very like a built-in microwave oven. With dimensions of 19.5 by 14 by 11 inches, it does take up a fair amount of counter space, but it surely additionally suits a 9 by 13-inch casserole dish or baking pan. You should utilize this mannequin to toast six bread slices or bake a 12-inch pizza. A toaster oven, nevertheless, saves power. The smaller oven uses lower than half the quantity of energy as a full-sized oven, making it the greener alternative. A toaster oven can accommodate a few half-pan of cookies, muffins, scones, and other treats. Should you're cooking for a big household or vacation dinner, nonetheless, a full-sized oven can maintain a turkey and one or two trays of side dishes at a time, whereas a toaster oven can't. To function a toaster oven, controls are set, the door is opened, food is positioned on a tray, and the door is closed. If set for toasting, a toaster thermostat operates the higher and lower heating components as selected by the colour controller. If set for baking or broiling, the baking thermostat operates the heating elements as chosen by the temperature controller and probably by a timing mechanism. Although they share a reputation and a operate, toasters and toaster ovens are in many ways distinctive contraptions with their very own sets of professionals and cons to be thought of when deciding between the 2 countertop appliances. And from dwelling to home, cook dinner to prepare dinner, allegiances to both a typical toaster or toaster oven can run deep. Value to install a toaster oven or a traditional oven varies tremendously by region (and even by zip code). Toaster ovens are available in a wide range of sizes, however we narrowed our lineup by taking a look at those who had been large enough to operate as mini ovens—spacious enough to suit 6 slices of bread and tall sufficient to accommodate a 4-pound rooster. Ultimately we ended up with a lineup of 10 toaster ovens priced from about $forty five to about $270. Small cookie sheet. An eight-by-11-inch cookie sheet fits most traditional toaster ovens, however check your model's instruction guide for measurement guidelines. Don't need to head to the kitchen retailer? Aluminum foil all the time works in a pinch. I put this countertop oven to the check to see if it lived as much as the promise of quick, precise cooking. In the course of the Thanksgiving vacation, I put it by means of the paces, and I was happy with the results. It preheated quickly, and the whole lot we cooked — together with a corn casserole and roasted cherry tomatoes — came out completely. It's time to graduate from toast and frozen pizza. Your toaster oven can achieve this way more. Michael Sullivan has spent greater than 50 hours researching and testing toaster ovens for this guide since 2016. As a staff writer at Wirecutter, he has written critiques for all types of kitchen tools and devices, together with toasters This guide builds on work by freelance writer Brendan Nystedt. This Black+Decker is a great alternative if you happen to're in search of a convection toaster oven with standard controls and a large capability. One different thing to remember: Toaster ovens could be good in your mind because they supply precise nourishment. Nowadays, we can't all the time say that about cellphones. Heavy-Duty Equipment: A heavy-duty toaster oven just like the Breville Good Oven will set you again a pretty penny—on this case almost $250—however can carry out almost all of the important tasks of a typical oven in a more compact space. It is a notably great tool for those who are working with an ovenless kitchen. For those who intend to make use of the oven for one- or two-person dishes, reheating, or other easy duties such as baking a number of cookies, a smaller unit may be a smart choice. A number of shelf racks - Having options for positioning the oven shelf provides extra control over distance between food and the heating component. Toasters are typically superior at their main job—toasting—and will result in a more even and consistent brown on your bread or bagel than its counterpart, because the toaster oven depends on a rack, which might block the warmth source from portions of the floor area.

Our Toaster Oven Pan is the perfect size for reheating leftovers and heating up frozen foods like hen nuggets and fries. The unglazed cooking surface will provide you with the excellent results our stoneware is understood for each time you use it. Stoneware can be used in typical, convection and microwave ovens, and is freezersafe. Stoneware is heat-proof against 450°F (230°C). Don't use Stoneware under broiler or on direct warmth source. Comply with oven producer's guidelines.

From Cuisinart to Breville to Black & Decker, we've got a fantastic collection of one of the best toasters and toaster ovens in your kitchen. Creator Bio: I write bizarre, cynical, sarcastic, typically satirical stuff. Tech, social media, porn, video games. Question every little thing. Time is chaos. Chaotic impartial. Toasters rule. Finally, the oven's exterior can get sizzling throughout use, so again, it really works best in a roomy, ethereal kitchen. The $four hundred Breville Smart Oven Air , the equipment I used for this information, ships with loads of extras. They embrace a roasting pan (9 by 13 inches), broiling rack, and pizza pan (thirteen-inch). Breville even throws in a mesh basket rack for correct air frying. A more recent model” of the FlashXpress (the PAN-NB-G110PW ) is listed on Amazon, however it is just a white model of the identical toaster oven.

On the entire, it's probably the greatest toaster ovens in Singapore as a result of it is an amazing combination of value and high quality. The Good Oven Plus had low availability on the time of our testing, so we opted to not take a look at it. It is very similar to the Smart Oven Professional, which we have beforehand dismissed. There are a number of toaster oven models, every with its own options. Nevertheless, most operate in the same manner and can be diagnosed and repaired by making use of the solutions that observe. Convection toaster ovens typically have all the features of normal toaster ovens however may warmth food extra rapidly by circulating hot air. The 4-Slicer: For a barely bigger investment, you will get a more premium, 4-slice mannequin just like the Cuisinart Classic four-Slice Toaster While a larger-capability toaster can be useful if you happen to're preparing toast for multiple individuals directly, it would take up slightly more room in your countertop or in your cupboard. The toaster oven actually shines in its skill to brown more than simply toast. Look for an oven with a number of functions resembling broiling and baking, which let you make complete meals and baked deal with just with this one equipment. Advanced toaster ovens will actually have a defrosting choice for components that you take proper out of the freezer. Toaster ovens operate much like toasters. Nonetheless, a toaster oven is more complex and is typically dearer to purchase. The higher value signifies that repairs are easier to justify. may nuong banh mi sandwich 'll probably assume twice earlier than tossing a $75 toaster oven into the recycle bin. And since toaster ovens are much less compact, they're often simpler to work on than pop-up toasters. Beyond efficiency, there are different options that set the Panasonic FlashXpress apart from the competition. Hooks on the door assist eject the toaster's wire rack so you do not have to achieve your hand as far into the oven cavity to retrieve your food. Though this characteristic was frequent with some of the bigger, more expensive models we tested, the Panasonic FlashXpress was one of many few to include door hooks at a lower price. CR's take: The 1,800-watt Breville Sensible Oven Air Convection additionally garners a Very Good score in our baking test, like the Breville above, however it has eight rack positions and a wider temperature range (eighty° F to 480° F). It's terrific at toasting, however the slowest of the models featured right here. Past the fundamentals, it has a convection option, a setting that dehydrates vegatables and fruits for healthy snacking, and an air fryer that trims the fats from favorite foods. How? By using high heat and a convection fan to flow into scorching air to "fry" meals with little or no oil. We tried it, cooking fresh rooster wings, frozen curly fries, and a wide range of other foods, and found that they had been crispy outside and moist inside.

The most effective toaster ovens are extremely accurate at regulating temperature, even higher than some wall ovens, Bishop says. ATK's winning Breville model different no more than 2 degrees from its goal temps, as opposed to the typical 25 levels in a home oven (the poorer performing toaster oven models have been off by as much as 60 levels). Ruspino explains toaster ovens have particular wattage configurations to make sure accuracy and the precise sample of warmth relying on which perform is selected. That is useful for baked goods, such as muffins or cookies. In the event you're somebody who likes to stash cookie dough within the freezer to bake off just a few at a time, the toaster oven is the perfect solution to go. In truth, ATK discovered that sugar cookies made in convection-geared up toaster ovens by which a fan helps flow into hot air baked faster and extra evenly.

Our top-rated toaster oven was once again the Breville Sensible Oven , which prices about $250. This oven had very accurate temperature control, varying simply 1 diploma from our goal temperature over a 2-hour interval. The results of our cooking checks had been remarkably consistent: toast was evenly browned, rooster was bronzed and crispy, cheese melted simply, and cookies were completely golden and chewy. Its heating elements, that are made from quartz, heated up and cooled down rapidly. It is a reasonably large oven, and might accommodate a thirteen by 9-inch steel baking dish (with no handles) or our winning small rimmed baking sheet We also beloved its intuitive dials, nonstick inside, and black enamel pans that offered good browning but had been nonetheless straightforward to wash. The Breville Compact Sensible Oven is additional down our checklist as a result of we liked the compact design of the Mini Oven better. If you want a larger Breville toaster oven, you may think about the company's largest choice, the BOV800XL , which holds six slices of bread, a thirteen-inch pizza, and will nonetheless fit below most cupboards as a result of it's 16.25 inches excessive. With 1800 watts of power, it heats up shortly and toasts bread evenly on either side. On high of that, it employs refined-yet-user-friendly inside temperature compensation expertise, which suggests the ideal cooking time based mostly on the number of toasts. It additionally comes with a speed convection button, which lets you prepare dinner with out waiting for the oven to heat up first. The fairly priced Panasonic FlashXpress excels at making toast, cookies, and frozen snacks. In our assessments, it cooked meals evenly and didn't generate any hot spots that might otherwise cause inconsistent toasting. Impressively, it made toast faster than many of the other models we tried. At round 1 cubic foot in quantity, it takes up very little space on a counter, but it's nonetheless large enough to fit four pieces of bread or two slices of leftover pizza. We expect the Panasonic is greatest for people who just need to use a toaster oven for toast or different small jobs, like preparing a handful of frozen snacks. For engaging in greater duties, think about getting our different picks, the Cuisinart TOB-260N1 Chef's Convection Toaster Oven or the Breville BOV800XL Smart Oven , which hold nine and 6 pieces of bread, respectively. Rack positions: Most toaster ovens have two rack positions, but the largest have three. The added rack place permits for much more cooking versatility and usable house, particularly for air frying or dehydrating. As a common rule of thumb, the uppermost positions are used for broiling, while the middle are used for toasting bread and baking, and the bottom is used for baking large roasts or pizzas. This mannequin consists of nearly all of the options you'll find in our authentic Breville Sensible Oven pick. Nonetheless, the Good Oven Air has a roomier inside. It can toast 9 slices of bread, roast a 14-lb turkey, and fit either a 9×13-inch pan or a 12-cup muffin tray with ease. In addition to having a wide range of cooking functions and a vivid, easy to learn LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY display, this countertop oven contains a mild so you'll be able to easily examine on your culinary masterpiece — or your piece of toast. Either manner, it is one other useful characteristic to help ensure the cooking process goes easily.

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Essential Kitchen Gadgets

There are many great specialty gadgets available to make preparing and enjoying your favorite foods an easier, more enjoyable experience. We’re going to take a look at some that take some of the pain out of working in the kitchen. We’ll find ways to save money, eat healthier and enjoy our favorite meals with less fuss.

Kitchen timers One of the most basic of these, and one that every cook worth his (or her) salt should have, is a good timer. They come in many shapes and sizes and offer varying functionality. There is no rule saying that they must be of the kitchen timer variety; a scientific timer or even a stopwatch will suffice. Some timers are more advanced than others and may offer extra features, such as multiple timers, temperature display and more. Some have innovative designs, such as one from Sharper Image which is shaped like an egg. To turn it off, simply tip it over and it will go silent and right itself.

Food processors Tired spending tons of prep time in the kitchen chopping vegetables for stews? Had enough of the tears associated with chopping onions? Then it sounds like a food processor is the gadget for you. When choosing a food processor, be sure to choose the size that’s right for you. A larger capacity, more powerful model is going to be suited for more tasks than a smaller, weaker one. However, it is going to cost more and take up more precious shelf space in your kitchen. Sizes range from handheld units, to small counter top units and all the way up large industrial processors fit for a commercial kitchen. A good food processor will save you time and energy and take much of the aggravation out of cooking.

Juicers

A juicer can be a wise investment, both for your health and the health of your wallet. Store bought juices are often stripped of many of their health benefits. Many times they are not 100% juice, but a blend of juice, water and HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup). They lack many of essential vitamins and minerals that are present in fresh squeezed juice. To get a premium juice in the supermarket requires a premium price. Save money and drink your way to better health with a juicer. While there are non-electronic models, those are typically only good for juicier fruits, such as oranges and tangerines. The electronic models are where it’s at. With these you can juice all kinds of wonderful fruits and vegetables, such as carrots, apples, tomatoes and a whole lot more.

Bread makers Bread makers are a way to enjoy high quality, artisan foods without the associated costs. Modern bread machines have come quite a long way. This isn’t how your grandmother made bread. Newer models are nearly foolproof. They typically come with recipes and some starter ingredients so you can begin making bread right away. There are many varieties available, from simple white and wheat to more exotic breads such as pumpernickel and marbled rye. There are recipes available for specialty breads that include fruit and nuts. Fresh baked bread is something anyone can enjoy and makes a great gift. As an added bonus, bread makers make your kitchen smell wonderful. They are sure to whet the appetite of your whole family.

Toaster ovens Toaster ovens are incredibly handy appliances. From making toast, to cooking frozen appetizers, to heating up leftovers, toaster ovens can give you a huge advantage in the kitchen. They save you time because toaster ovens heat up in a fraction of the time of your main oven. When you want a quick snack, just pop it in the toaster oven, set the timer and walk away. They save you money since toaster ovens use much less energy than a conventional oven, which can make a big impact on your electric bill. Let’s face it, in the middle of summer, slaving away in a hot kitchen is the last place you want to be. Turning on the oven just adds to the problem. Using a toaster oven in place of a conventional oven emits less heat into the kitchen, saving you from becoming drenched in sweat. Conventional ovens make your air conditioner work over time, costing you even more electricity. Toaster ovens come in a variety of sizes. The larger the oven, the more things you can use it for. They can be purchased for as little as $20 at your local retailer and are a great investment.

Handheld and stand mixers If you do a lot of baking, a mixer is a valuable appliance to have. It can save your arms from becoming tired when mixing up a batch of cake batter. Mixers come in a range of sizes. Handheld mixers are versatile, as you can use them in any bowl. They’re great for cake mixes, mashed potatoes and literally hundreds of other dishes.

Stand mixers, like the ones from Kitchenaid, are workhorses. They typically have a large capacity bowl that attaches to them and work hands free, leaving you both hands to add ingredients and do other tasks while the work is getting done. These are quite a bit more expensive and as such are typically only for the more hardcore bakers. You’ll find this style of mixer in most commercial kitchens.

Coffee and espresso makers A good coffee maker or espresso maker can be another big money saver. Have you ever sat down and considered just how much our morning (and if you’re like me, afternoon) coffee at the local coffee shop costs us? If it’s simple coffee, it might not be so bad, but if you enjoy espresso drinks like cappuccinos, mochas and lattes the costs can add up pretty quickly. With a home espresso maker, a mocha costs little more than a regular cup of coffee would. Not to mention the time saving aspects of it. How often are you late for work, but can’t resist stopping to get a cup of coffee, only to find a long line? Make your drink at home, pour it in a travel mug and you’ve just removed one stop from your morning routine. Feel free to experiment with syrups such as vanilla and caramel to give your drink that extra little something.

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10 Best Toasters in India 2019 – Reviews & Buyer’s Guide

Having bread and butter in your breakfast is the old fashion nowadays. People are looking for something new and tasty. Wouldn’t you love to have something crunchier, hotter, and more delicious?

If yes, then a toaster is the perfect device for you to opt for. However, you will find several models in the market from different reputed and non-reputed brands. This may confuse you while you shop for one.

Thus, I have thought to make a complete buying guide along with some top product reviews. Going through this article will surely help you in choosing the best toaster in India that suits your requirements.

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TOASTER BUYING GUIDE When it comes to buying a toaster in India, you must know certain things about the product. You should be clear on why you are buying the toaster, type of toaster you need, timer, browning control, number of slots, etc.

Here is a complete guide for you to get the best toaster according to your requirements.

1. TYPES OF TOASTERS We know that a toaster helps in warming the bread slice. They are further classified into three different types, such as conveyer belt toaster, pop-up toaster, and toaster ovens.

Here is a brief detail about the three categories which will help you to choose the one according to your requirements.

a) Conveyer Belt Bread Toaster

Are you looking forward to buying a toaster for commercial use? If yes, then the Conveyer Belt Bread Toaster is an ideal choice. These are mostly used in fast food shops, bakery shops, and pizza joints as well.

While the device is on, heat is produced at the bottom as well as the top and the belts stay on a motion. The belt end falls immediately into the feeder once the bread reaches out the end. You can take out the bread anytime you feel like consuming.

However, these are quite expensive and thus aren’t suitable for small homes.

Advantages:

a) It is big.

b) Suitable for commercial use.

c) Multi-functionality

Disadvantages:

a) It is expensive.

b) Not for home use.

b) Pop-Up Bread Toaster

The most common toaster that is used by most of the Indians at home is the Pop-Up Bread Toaster. They are suitable for use at home. These are also called as the automatic toaster where you need to put the bread slice vertically into the slots.

The toaster will perform the browning task once you switch the device on. The device consumes a power of 600W to 1200W. They are made up of materials such as plastic, metal, or copper.

Advantages:

a) It is affordable.

b) User-friendly.

c) Has 2-4 slicing options.

Disadvantages:

a) It is not a multi-purpose device.

c) Toaster Ovens

If you are looking for a small toaster to do your regular toasting job, then the c) Toaster Ovens are your option. They are small in size and has a front door along with a detachable baking pan and wire rack.

To toast, you need to put the bread horizontally, and once done, the machine will shut off automatically. They can perform all the activities, unlike an electric oven, but the quantity is low. With this, you can toast your bread with several other toppings.

Advantages

a) It is user-friendly.

b) Setup is easy.

c) It has an auto power-off mode.

Dis-Advantages

a) It takes 4 to 5 minutes to crisp.

b) It consumes more power than the other two.

2. SIZE AND NUMBER OF SLOTS While you buy a toaster, an essential thing to consider is the size of the product. It helps you to understand the number of slots as well as the number of bread slices you can toast at a time.

Usually, a toaster comes with two slots where you can toast two slices of bread at once. However, there a few high-end models as well, which has 4 to 6 slots for a larger amount of toast at a time.

If you are willing to invest more, then you can opt for the four-slice toaster as they are the best available in the market. Two slot toasters are suitable for a family of 2-3 members.

3. EASE OF USE AND CLEANING When you think of investing in a toaster, you must look out for options that come with easy controls. Usually, toasters have no complex controlling, but you should be careful enough to choose one.

You should also remember the factor that a toaster should be user-friendly so that anybody can make their bread toast without an issue.

Cleaning a toaster can be a mess if not done correctly. Your toaster should have a crumb tray, which will make it easy for you to smoothen down the device cleaning.

4. BROWNING CONTROL Another factor to consider while you shop for a toaster is the browning control option. It is the most crucial factor to look for in a toaster according to me.

With this factor, you can control the browning factor of the bread. It allows you to control the crispiness of the toast as well.

Remember, the more the browning power is, the heavier the toasting will be. With this, you can serve your family members according to their preferences.

5. ENERGY-SAVING OPTION I feel one should check for the energy efficiency of the product before buying it. This will give you a perfect idea of how many numbers of slots you can operate as per your needs.

For say, if you are willing to toast one bread slice, you will end up having browner on both sides. And obviously, you don’t want that. Thus, it is essential to have an energy-efficient toaster as it will reduce your electricity bill.

6. DURABILITY It is very much crucial for you to check the durability of the product. The longer the durability is, the better it can withstand any problem.

People often tend to believe that premium products come with longer durability, but this can not be true always. For longer durability, you need to check the product quality. The material here plays a significant role to enhance the durability factor.

7. TOASTING TEMPERATURE Do you know about the toasting temperature? Well! It is that temperature at which the bread toasting takes place. If your toaster doesn’t have a browning control option, then it is an ideal thing to check the browning of the bread slice.

But remember, the more, the browner bread you want, the more should be the toasting temperature.

8. COOL TOUCH EXTERIOR Isn’t it great to feel a cool touch while you are using the toaster for toasting? Well! In that case, it is mandatory for you to look for a toaster with the cool-touch exterior.

This makes sure that your hands don’t get a burn while you are working with your toaster for toasting a slice of bread. It is a great feature to have if you have children at your house.

9. WARRANTY The users avoid one of the essential factors which I see often is the warranty of the product. It’s always better to look at the warranty period offered by the manufacturers rather than shelling out some extra cash afterwards.

Usually, good quality toasters come along with a warranty period of 2 to 3 years. However, an extra year of warranty can save you a lot which is unmatchable.

10. PORTABILITY Another significant factor to consider is the portability of the product. If you are buying a toaster for your house, then you should always check for the weight of the product.

If your toaster is light in weight, then it is always the best to have a lightweight toaster. Thus, it will be great for you to travel with the product according to your requirements.

11. BUDGET Once you think of buying a toaster, you should set a budget on your mind. This will help you in getting the best within your budget. However, I suggest you not to opt for a device that doesn’t have quality just to fit your budget.

You can go through the list of products mentioned below to find out the best according to your needs and budget.

12. CORD LENGTH The cord length is yet another most important factor to consider, especially when it comes to electrical appliances. The short length of the cord isn’t a problem as you can use an extension cord.

However, for kitchen appliances, it is not valid. It can be a problem if the toaster doesn’t come along with a long cord. Thus, cord size matters a lot.

13. ADDITIONAL TOASTER FEATURES There are several features which you need to consider while you are opting to buy a toaster.

Here are some of the additional features which you can look to consider if you are willing to get a new bread toaster to get started.

a) Even Toasting

Try to look for a device which has even heat distribution to all parts of the bread. This means that the toaster supports even toasting and it is placed perfectly at the centre.

b) Cancel Button

Most of the toasters come with an emergency cancel button which can quickly stop toasting the operation. It is convenient in case of any short circuit or overheating problems in a toaster.

c) Reheat And Defrost Options

If you are often busy and willing to use the leftover food or quick tidbit from your refrigerator, then you need a toaster that has defrosting options.

Though it is not a standard feature for any toaster to have such an option, having such will give you a great advantage. With this feature, you can always reheat a cold slice of toast in just a few seconds.

The defrost option is ideally a great choice if the bread is frozen. It provides the bread with a proper amount of heat and then efficiently toasts it to perfection.

You do not have to wait for it to happen manually, let the toaster with defrosting feature do the job for you.

d) Crumb Tray

The specific use of a crumb tray is to collect the loose crumbs. To maintain food hygiene, you need to keep the toaster clean. While you make toast, many bread crumbs fall onto the base plate.

So having a crumb tray means that all the bread crumbs would be collected here and you can remove them easily.

e) Timer

Though most of the initial toasters did not use to have such a feature, it has become a standard feature for most of the toasters in the modern era. The basic function of the timer is to set the time within which you want your bread to be toasted.

So it remains crispy and without any extra burns. This feature helps you to get more control over the food you wish to make.

f) Progress Indicator

The Progress Indicator comes with a digital screen that indicates or even alerts the user to get a rough idea about the time, the temperature, and the estimations.

This helps you to get a rough idea about the slices and the time they require to get the toasting completely done. Though most of the toasters do not have this feature, it is evident that the devices with such functionality will be expensive.

g) Hi-lift Feature

The Hi-lift feature is a part of the safety attributes of any toaster. It is an ideal thing to have if your kids handle the toaster and you want to take care of them.

The Hi-lift feature works to give an extra pop-up push to the bread after the toasting is done. This helps the user to pick up the bread without getting your fingers burnt easily.

h) Bagel Setting

Bagel setting in a toaster means the presence of two different heating elements within the same toaster. A bagel is formed when a toaster toasts up the bottom half of bread while the top half receives the warmth.

Toasters with the Bagel Setting may be expensive to choose because of the two different heating temperatures present.

THESE ARE THE TOP 10 BEST TOASTERS IN INDIA 2019: 1. PHILIPS DAILY COLLECTION HD2582/00 830-WATT 2-SLICE POP-UP TOASTER Philips Daily Collection HD2582/00 830-Watt 2-Slice Pop-up ToasterThe Philips Daily Collection HD2582/00 830-Watt 2-Slice Pop-up Toaster is the best toaster in India.

Specifications:

1. It is easy to clean.

2. The product is user-friendly.

3. It is ideal for small families.

4. There is an auto shut off option.

5. It consumes a power of 830 Watts.

6. The product has good build material.

Pros:

1. The product comes from a very reputed brand in India, Philips, which is known for manufacturing good quality kitchen as well as home appliances. Thus, you can rely on this toaster to do the toasting job perfectly.

2. The product consumes a power of 830 Watts. Thus, I feel it will give you the perfect efficient performance. I feel it is just perfect for the morning rush you have. It will make the toasts within a few minutes.

3. What I like more is the eight browning options that it comes with. Thus, it becomes effortless for you to serve the toast according to your family members’ need. It comes with two slice options which are perfect for the small families in India. The slots are of different sizes and thus, you can toast both small or bigger size of the bread.

4. This toaster further makes crispy, soft toast for you. It makes the toast crunchier and great in taste. The product also comes along with a bun rack that is integrated with the device. It helps you to heat rolls, buns as well as pastries.

5. Furthermore, the product comes along with features to enhance protection and safeties. There are options such as defrost, reheat as well as a mid-way cancellation option which allows you to cancel the process in midway in case you want to make a change.

Cons:

1. It is not suitable for large families.

Buy Now from Amazon 2. MORPHY RICHARDS AT-401 4-SLICE POP-UP TOASTER Morphy Richards AT-401 4-Slice Pop-Up ToasterThe Morphy Richards AT-401 4-Slice Pop-Up Toaster is number 2 on the list.

Specifications:

1. It has Hi-lift bread removal.

2. This is suitable for large families.

3. It has a good grip.

4. The product is shockproof.

5. It has a durable body.

6. It comes with two years of the warranty period.

Pros:

1. When it comes to a toaster, I prefer the brand Morphy Richards a lot. It is one of the most trustworthy brands available in India. You can rely on this product without a second thought.

2. With this toaster, you can efficiently serve a large family as it comes with a four-slice option. Thus, you can quickly toast four slices of bread at a time and serve it to your family.

3. This toaster further comes with an auto pop-up function which pops out the bread once the toasting process is done. Thus, you can do your other works while your toasts are getting ready.

4. The toaster is very efficient and high in performance as it consumes a power of 1400 watts. Thus, it performs quickly and very efficiently and makes sure your toast isn’t burnt.

5. This product further comes with a browning control regulator, which helps to deliver perfectly cooked bread as per your choice. You can control the browning of the bread as per your requirements.

6. The body is made up of high-quality plastic, which ensures the product is highly durable. I assure you will enjoy making toast using it.

Cons:

1. The knob is of not so good quality.

Buy Now from Amazon 3. PRESTIGE PPTPKB 800-WATT 2-SLICE POP-UP TOASTER Prestige PPTPKB 800-Watt 2-Slice Pop-up ToasterThe Prestige PPTPKB 800-Watt 2-Slice Pop-up Toaster is number 3 on the list.

Specifications:

1. The product is easy to clean.

2. It is a user-friendly product.

3. The product comes along with wide slots.

4. It comes with a crumb tray.

5. It is made up of high-quality plastic material.

6. This consumes 800 Watts power.

Pros:

1. My next product comes from a very reputed brand, Prestige, which is known for manufacturing excellent quality kitchen appliances. It is made up of superior quality plastic material, and thus, the product is durable.

2. The product comes along with some fantastic features that make the device very much user-friendly. It consumes a power of 800 watts, and thus, I feel this product is energy efficient. This product furthermore is useful in doing the job perfectly.

3. What I like more is that the device comes along with a shockproof body, which is great for your safety. The product looks great and has a great balance or grip, which gives you a comfortable hold.

4. Moreover, the toaster comes along with a good quality heating element, which makes sure you can toast the bread slices perfectly. This won’t let your bread slices burn, and you can have perfectly browned pieces.

5. To make the cleaning process easy, the device comes along with a removable crumb tray. This makes sure you can remove the crumbs without any hassle making the cleaning process faster and effective.

Cons:

1. The after-sales service isn’t excellent.

Buy Now from Amazon 4. MORPHY RICHARDS AT-201 2-SLICE 650-WATT POP-UP TOASTER Morphy Richards AT-201 2-Slice 650-Watt Pop-Up ToasterThe Morphy Richards AT-201 2-Slice 650-Watt Pop-Up Toaster is number 4 on the list.

Specifications:

1. It comes with seven variable options for browning.

2. There is a high lift feature.

3. It is easy to clean and maintain.

4. This has an anti-slip feet design.

5. It is of good quality build material.

6. It comes with two years of the warranty period.

Pros:

1. The product comes from a reputed brand in India, Morphy Richards. This product is reliable to work with. It can be one of the most efficient toasters in India.

2. The Morphy Richards comes along with all the desired features a toaster should have. It is has a great look and is made up of good quality material. The body has a cool-touch feature which prevents your hands from burning.

3. Furthermore, the product comes along with an anti-skid base, which is excellent for keeping the toaster at any place in the kitchen. This maintains the balance even at a slippery base.

4. The product consumes a power of 650 watts, which is excellent for a toaster to toast faster. This toaster is suitable for a small family and comes along with wider slots, which allows you to place small or even large size bread according to your needs.

5. The product further comes along with a cancel button which helps to save the electricity. What I like more are the seven adjustable browning controls which help to control you the browning of the bread.

6. The product further comes with an automatic pop-up-up option, which is excellent for the time-saving purpose.  It comes with two years of the warranty period, which makes it a hassle-free use.

Cons:

1. Heat control option may get slow at times.

2. It is not suitable for a larger Indian family.

Buy Now from Amazon 5. MORPHY RICHARDS AT 204 2-SLICE 800-WATT POP-UP TOASTER Morphy Richards AT 204 2-Slice 800-Watt Pop-up ToasterThe Morphy Richards AT 204 2-Slice 800-Watt Pop-up Toaster is number 5 on the list.

Specifications:

1. It consumes a power of 800 Watts.

2. The product is suitable for small families.

3. It has a dust cover.

4. It has an attractive design.

5. The product comes with two years of the warranty period.

6. It is an automatic pop-up toaster.

Pros:

1. The Morphy Richards AT 204 is a fantastic toaster from the brand Morphy Richards which may not be so famous, but gradually it is making its name in the market. This product is perfect for a small-sized family.

2. This product comes along with several features which makes it worthy of being in this list. It comes in an attractive design with a great colour combination of blue and white. This looks simple but has the potential to fit into any kitchen interior.

3. The product has a compact design and thus save space in your kitchen area. This device has an automatic controller which allows you to do your work while it is getting your toasts ready.

4. What I like more is that this product comes along with browning control option, which makes sure you can control the browning of the toast as per your needs. There is furthermore a dust cover to protect dust from getting inside.

5. The product comes along with a Hi-lift facility, which makes sure it becomes easy for you to remove the bread once the toast is made. With the two years of the warranty period, it makes sure you can work without any hassle.

Cons:

1. It may not toast uniformly if not appropriately placed.

Buy Now from Amazon 6. PHILIPS HD4815/01 2-SLICE 800-WATT POP-UP TOASTER Philips HD4815/01 2-Slice 800-Watt Pop-up ToasterThe Philips HD4815/01 2-Slice 800-Watt Pop-up Toaster is number 6 on the list.

Specifications:

1. The product has an elegant design.

2. It has a hi-lift feature.

3. The product has an extended heating platform.

4. It consumes 800 Watts.

5. It comes with two years of the warranty period.

Pros:

1. The product comes from the reputed brand, Philips, which is known for manufacturing excellent quality kitchen and home appliances. You can entirely rely on the product for toasting.

2. This product comes with two slice options, which are suitable for a small family. It means you can toast two slices of bread at a time.

3. The product further has an auto pop-up feature, which means you can work while your toasts are getting processed. It will pop up the bread once the toasting is done.

4. It consumes a power of 800 Watts. Thus, the performance is quite fast. The body is shockproof, which enhances safety. It has a durable body with an excellent compact design. This is space-saving as well.

5. This product comes along with three years of the warranty period, which makes sure you have assistance whenever there occurs a problem within the device.

Cons:

1. The electric cord is small.

Buy Now from Amazon 7. BAJAJ ATX 4 750-WATT POP-UP TOASTER Bajaj ATX 4 750-Watt Pop-up ToasterThe Bajaj ATX 4 750-Watt Pop-up Toaster is number 7 on the list.

Specifications:

1. It takes less space.

2. This has a sturdy and compact design.

3. The product has an affordable price.

4. It can toast two slices of bread at a time.

5. It has two years of the warranty period.

Pros:

1. This product is from a very well-known brand of Bajaj, which is known in the market for making good quality kitchen and home appliances. The toaster comes with some fantastic features which are beneficial for the ones who stay in a hurry all the time.

2. With the help of this toaster, you can quickly toast two slices of bread instantly with no hassle. This makes it an excellent buy for those who stay in a hurry in the morning.

3. This product comes along with five heating modes to make the toast you and your family members want. Thus, it is a great device to serve people according to their likings. However, I like the auto pop-up option of the toaster which pops out the bread as soon as the toasting is done. Thus, you can concentrate on your other works while your toasts are getting ready.

4. This product further comes along with a midway cancellation feature which lets you cancel the operation in the middle. Suppose, you started toasting but now willing to change the mode, you can use the above function to stop the process.

5. Furthermore, the product comes along with a removable crumb tray, which makes the whole cleansing process easy. It comes with two years of the warranty period to enhance security.

6. This product has a durable body made up of high-quality plastic. It looks simple and has a compact size; thus, it saves a lot of space in your kitchen.

Cons:

1. Build quality seems poor.

2. There is no dust cover lid.

Buy Now from Amazon 8. KORYO 750W POP-UP TOASTER Koryo 750W Pop-up ToasterThe Koryo 750W Pop-up Toaster is number 8 on the list.

Specifications:

1. It has a Hi-lift option.

2. There is an auto-thermostat.

3. It comes with a removable crumb tray.

4. There are seven adjustable levels.

5. It has an auto cut-off feature.

6. It is incredibly light in weight.

Pros:

1. If you are looking for a toaster that adds a class to your kitchen area, then the Koryo 750W Pop-up Toaster is just the perfect option for you. It has a red colour base and is light in weight. Thus, you can travel with it.

2. This product further consumes a power of 870 Watts, which makes it efficient for toasting faster.

3. It comes with an auto power-off feature that enhances additional safety. When the toasting process is done, the toaster will automatically turn off.

4. This product has a removable crumb tray, which makes the whole cleaning process easier. So opt for this product and have an easier way of toasting.

Cons:

1. The length of the wire is short.

Buy Now from Amazon 9. BAJAJ ATX 3 750-WATT AUTO POP-UP TOASTER Bajaj ATX 3 750-Watt Auto Pop-up ToasterThe Bajaj ATX 3 750-Watt Auto Pop-up Toaster is number 9 on the list.

Specifications:

1. It is easy to clean and maintain.

2. The product has an anti-skid base.

3. It is user-friendly.

4. The product reheats as well as defrost options.

5. It consumes a power of 750 Watts.

Pros:

1. If you are looking for a toaster for your office use, then your ideal option is Bajaj ATX 4. It comes from a reputed brand in India, Bajaj. Thus, you can rely on this product.

2. The product comes along with five heating options, which makes it easier for you to toast. With the help of this product, you can toast all kind of pieces of bread to serve your family members according to their own choices.

3. This toaster can toast two slices of bread at a time. The automatic pop-up feature is excellent for toasting saving the time. It will pop-up the bread once the toasting is done.

4. What I like more is that the product comes along with removal crumb tray. This makes it easy to use as well as clean. There is also a mid-way cancellation feature which lets you stop the function in case you want to change the settings.

5. The toaster has an ergonomic design and has a simple look which suits all the kitchen interior.  This product is affordable and has a compact space-saving design. It comes along with two years of the warranty period, which makes it hassle-free to use.

Cons:

1. The build material isn’t right.

Buy Now from Amazon 10. KELVINATOR KPT 2-SLICE POP-UP TOASTER Kelvinator KPT 2-Slice Pop-Up ToasterThe Kelvinator KPT 2-Slice Pop-Up Toaster is number 10 on the list.

Specifications:

1. It has a compact size.

2. The product has a simple look and design.

3. It consumes less power.

4. It can toast two slices at a time.

5. This has two years of the warranty period.

Pros:

1. The Kelvinator has marked its presence in the market with the excellent quality kitchen and home appliances it has manufactured. Thus, it is completely justified to keep this toaster in this list.

2. The product consumes 6oo Watts of power, which is low and thus, energy-efficient. However, you need to wait a little bit longer to have the bread toast done. It can toast two slices of bread at a time. Thus, you can use it for a small Indian family.

3. This product further comes along with a pop-up feature which pops out the bread once the toasting is done. Thus, you can entirely rely on the product while you focus on other works.

4. Furthermore, the product comes with slices that can be lifted at a proper height, which helps to remove the toaster easily. There is a browning control regulator which enables you to control the browning part of your toast. This lets you serve the family members according to their desires.

5. There is a cancel button which lets you cancel a running process in between if you can to change the mode. This product further comes along with two years of the warranty period.

Cons:

1. Build-quality isn’t great.

2. Toasts are not evenly heated.

Buy Now from Amazon SAFETY TIPS FOR USING A BREAD TOASTER Toasters are becoming one of our daily used gadgets because of the busy lifestyle and also the crispy bread it results in giving out. Specifically, the primary function of the toaster is to speed up the process to save time.

However, most of us use the toaster without even knowing how safe it is or also are we using it with safety concerns? Here are some important factors and tips that you need to follow while handling a toaster:

1. Always try to buy an ISI certified toaster.

2. Do not attempt to cool the device after use. Let the toaster cool all by itself.

3. Before you start to crisp the bread slices, you must go through the instruction manual carefully.

4. You need to unplug the power adapter when the toaster is not in use.

5. Try to allow some air to pass through the toaster once you clean it. If you have used a wet cloth, leave it open to dry. However, avoid direct sunlight.

6. Try to keep the plug away from any source of water. This may lead to severe damages to the toaster if it contacts with any liquid agent while running.

7. Make sure that the bread toaster is in excellent condition. Do not run the device in a damaged condition and always ask for the technician to visit your home in such a case.

Try to opt for authorized service centres for permanent repair of any damaged parts.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 1. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CLEAN THE TOASTER? You can clean the bread crumbs easily if you have a crumb tray. Before cleaning, make sure that the toaster is plugged off and it has cooled down. Try to use a dry cloth to wipe it off.

If there are stains, you can use a wet cloth. But make sure that the plug has no contact with water to avoid any short circuit. Make sure that the toaster is hygienic to use.

2. WHAT KIND OF BREAD CAN BE USED TO TOAST? You can use any bread according to your choices. Most of the toasters can accommodate thin and fresh slices, which are easier to toast.

3. WHAT IS MEANT BY BROWNING CONTROL? The browning control refers to the heating control of the toaster, which you can prefer to toast your bread accordingly. It generally depends on the amount of heat that transfers to the bread while toasting it.

The more heat the bread receives, the more brownish it becomes. So it is essential to have a browning control with your toaster.

4. HOW LONG CAN I USE THE TOASTER? The toasters usually run for a long time, and there is no limit for working. However, the average life span of any toaster is around 5-10 years.

If you are using it daily, it may require more maintenance for better results. Make sure that the toaster is cleaned and you service the parts which help to maintain a long life of the toaster.

FINAL TALK So these are the top 10 best toasters in India to look for. If you are confused, you can always check out the buying guide mentioned here.

Do you have any queries? Mention it down in the comment section, and I will be glad to help you out.

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Easy Meal Planning Tips to Use Your CSA Share

This post is from KS contributing writer Becca Stallings of The Earthling’s Handbook, with photography assistance from her son Nicholas Efran, age 13.

Two years ago, I wrote up a handy 5-step plan for using all the vegetables you receive in a weekly crate from a Community-Sponsored Agriculture farm. That article tells you all about how a CSA works on a subscription plan to bring you several pounds of organic, locally-grown produce every week. Here’s a tool for finding a CSA in your area.

My family has bought a share in Kretschmann Farm near Pittsburgh every summer since 2001. It’s fascinating to see how each vegetable appears and disappears throughout the season, from early June through mid-November. The pattern is sort of predictable, yet every year is unique.

That’s why Katie asked me to write another “how to use a week of CSA veggies” detailing my experience in the last week of July but in a different year. As you’ll see, the veggies we got this year were somewhat different than two years ago at the same time. We used the same 5 steps of veggie stewardship, and out popped some very different meals! On the other hand, the green beans found themselves in exactly the same meal as two years ago!

Not just for CSA subscribers, this strategy works anytime you have a lot of fresh produce: from your garden, from the garden of someone who likes sharing, from spotting a lot of great deals in the store or farmer’s market, from foraging, from your friend who just couldn’t resist buying a case of beautiful eggplants, etc.

Quick Review: 5 Steps for Evaluating Your Veggies

When you pick up that pile of produce, ask yourself these 5 questions:

What to swap or give away?

What needs to be eaten in the next two days?

What can wait until later?

What needs to be preserved?

What’s the plan?

Answer the first 4, and then use your answers to develop your plan for finding each veggie a good home in this week’s meals, in your freezer or pantry stash, or in a friend’s stomach! My previous article gives more detail on each question and tips on how to categorize.

One Week’s Example: Our CSA Box

I’m going to talk you through another week working through the 5 steps in our kitchen, but first I’ll have to explain our starting point.

Before This Week

Two years ago, I was able to write up our week in veggies almost with a “clean slate”–some ingredients we already had in stock came into play, but most of our meals were based around the veggies we received that week.

This year, I had decided which week I would make detailed notes about our CSA, meals, and preservation–and then, midway through the week before, I realized that the surplus of certain vegetables in that week’s crate was pushing us into some activities that would affect the new week. Instead of a “Wednesday wild card” dinner, the meal we cooked on the night we get our CSA was planned to use up the previous week’s veggies! Also, we went into the week stocked up with a healthy breakfast/snack food.

Weather conditions this year have been perfect for cucumbers, zucchini, and eggplant. I have to admit we didn’t do so well with last week’s cucumbers: We ate one with hummus, we put one in a salad, our guinea pigs ate one, and we gave away two–but we still had 4 cucumbers that got mushy and went to the compost bin. That was really a lot of cucumbers!! We should have made Cucumber Salad, which preserves them for a couple of weeks.

Last week’s CSA gave us an even larger volume of zucchini than cucumbers! (We got 6 zucchini vs. 9 cucumbers, but some of the zucchini were larger.)

Luckily, zucchini can be cooked or frozen (Kaite has 6 great preservation methods). I shredded all of it in the food processor, baked 4 loaves of whole-wheat zucchini bread, packed up 4-cup portions to freeze, and set aside 2 cups of raw grated zucchini. Those 6 zucchinis turned into 18 cups of shreds!

Tuesday night’s dinner was a slightly awkward meal of zucchini pancakes and cucumber slices with yogurt-dill dip. (The dill also was from the farm, several weeks ago—we had hung it up to dry.) My partner Daniel made the zucchini pancakes from this recipe. (It calls them “fritters,” but we thought “pancakes” would sound more appealing to the kids.) He used sharp cheddar cheese instead of Parmesan. He’d made them the previous week as well, and we were pleased that both kids ate them without complaint–one using ketchup and the other maple syrup!

We’d used a big, dark-purple Italian eggplant in chili, but we still had two thin, lilac-colored Asian eggplants. One of them was curled into this cute shape that looks like an alien pet!

When we went grocery shopping Wednesday morning before seeing our new crate of veggies, I asked my 13-year-old Nicholas what we could make to use up the eggplant. He said he would cook with my help, and we would have kebabs of eggplant and onion “and more zucchini pancakes, for protein, because they have so much egg in them.” We still had a small onion left from last week, but I reminded him that we couldn’t be certain we’d get more zucchini—although it was likely at this time of year—so we might have to thaw some.

Wednesday

Here’s what we got in this week’s CSA share!

3 cucumbers

2 Italian eggplants and 1 Asian eggplant

potatoes

carrots

4 tomatoes

kale

3 onions

green beans

2 zucchini

coffee–Of course, that isn’t grown in Pennsylvania! Kretschmann Farm has a deal with Building New Hope, a Pittsburgh non-profit that partners with coffee growers in Nicaragua. For an additional fee, we get a pound of shade-grown coffee in our CSA box once a month.

Nicholas and I started work on the kebabs: He asked me to make the pancakes while he did all the rest, occasionally asking for advice.

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I grated the smaller zucchini and adjusted the recipe to this smaller amount. I still used 1 egg and then added some breadcrumbs to soak up excess liquid. The pancakes held together pretty well, but frying them was very stressful!

I have a hard time with food that tends to burn on the outside before it’s cooked all the way through and that falls apart when you flip it. Daniel is more coordinated and less nervous than I am, so he was surprised when I thanked him so effusively for having made these before!

Meanwhile, Nicholas cut up the eggplants and tossed them with Real Salt in the colander. (This makes eggplant less bitter.) He cut the onion in big chunks and browned them in olive oil. Then he added the eggplant. He seasoned the vegetables with lemon juice, minced garlic, and bottled Tandoori Chicken Spice. He cooked them until the eggplant was soft and slightly browned.

He decided that the kebabs also should include slices of hard-boiled egg. I don’t boil eggs often enough to remember the timing, so he looked it up. He assembled a variety of kebab combinations.

The kebabs were delicious! They gave us an opportunity to teach our 4-year-old Lydia how to eat a kebab safely: One hand on each end; careful of the point! Eat it like corn on the cob. Don’t bite the stick!

I didn’t think the zucchini pancakes were really necessary along with hardboiled eggs–I would rather have had chunks of zucchini cooked along with the eggplant and onions–but their flavor blended in with the vegetables’ seasoning better than I expected.

We found that the kebabs reheated well in the toaster oven (400 degrees for 7-8 minutes) and were still good on Sunday when I finished the last ones.

Thursday

Nicholas wanted to make a salad of kale and cucumbers with strawberry vinaigrette like he’d made a couple of weeks ago. This time, he added fresh strawberries and a yellow pepper we’d just bought at ALDI.

What would go with the salad? Nicholas wanted garlic mashed potatoes (our CSA potatoes) and a can of cranberry sauce: “It’ll be like Thanksgiving!” I suggested baking some fish for a Fishgiving Feast, but it was a hot day and he didn’t want the oven on while he was making the salad.

Instead, he suggested fried eggs for the protein–those of us who like sunny-side-up eggs could put them on top of our mashed potatoes and break the yolk as “gravy” for the potatoes. I don’t think I’d ever tried this before. It was good! But it didn’t seem anything like Thanksgiving dinner, even though the cranberry sauce was a nice treat. I was feeling a little tired of eggs.

Daniel cooked the potatoes and eggs while Nicholas made the salad. By the way, if you happen to have a bag of frozen strawberries (mine were on sale at GFS!), an easy way to make strawberry vinaigrette is to thaw one big strawberry, which will become so soft that you can just mash it with a fork and mix in oil, vinegar, salt, and honey.

Friday

I cooked one of our classic favorite meals: Honey Apricot Tofu, Salty String Beans, and rice. This used up the green beans from the farm and one small onion. Here’s Lydia’s serving.

Saturday

We had so many leftovers that we didn’t cook anything new today! I ate one of the tomatoes as a snack.

Sunday

I made Creamy Lentil Coconut Curry with Roasted Vegetables. My array of vegetables was different this time: no peppers, broccoli, or green beans, but I did have zucchini. Gosh, that was a lot of eggplant!

It was a cool day by summer standards, so I didn’t mind being in the room with a 400-degree oven and a steaming saucepan—but I was glad we had enough rice left over from Friday that I didn’t have to coordinate cooking that, too!

I ended up with more than enough veggies for the curry, so I froze some for other uses of roasted veggies in the future. I also set aside a jar of raw, salted eggplant for Lydia, who loves to eat it (and refuses cooked eggplant) recently! I thought I’d heard something about raw eggplant being dangerous to eat, so I looked it up–a person her size would have to eat 2 or 3 entire raw eggplants to have toxic symptoms, and she eats no more than about 1/4 of an eggplant at a time. Whatever she doesn’t eat in the next few days, I can add to marinara sauce or anytime I want to cook up a few veggies for lunch.

Monday

Because Nicholas had made Thursday’s salad only big enough for a side dish at one meal, we still had a lot of kale. I collected other vegetables to cook with it to make Hummus and Vegetable Flatbread Sandwiches. This time I used kale, carrots, onion, and tomato from the farm, plus a red pepper from ALDI. I also threw in a handful of that salted eggplant.

I always think I have too much kale to fit in my skillet . . . but after I put in as much as can and cook it for a few minutes, it gets much less fluffy so that I’m able to mix in the rest of the kale.

I didn’t cook the tomato at all, just diced it and put it and the cooked veggies into the sandwiches after toasting them and then pulling them apart with tongs.

We had a jar full of delicious sautéed veggies left over. They make a great accompaniment to scrambled eggs for breakfast!

Recently we’ve been buying white-flour tortillas at Costco because they’re cheap and taste good, but they’re not all that nutritious. If you’re up for making homemade tortillas, try Katie’s whole-wheat tortillas or gluten-free, gum-free whole-grain tortillas!

Tuesday

Daniel and Nicholas made Salmon Limone with Couscous and Zucchini Ribbon Salad, a recipe Nicholas had found on the Hello Fresh website earlier this summer and made once before. (You don’t have to subscribe to their boxed meal kits to access their recipes–but if you see a recipe you like, make sure to print it right away rather than plan to read it from your screen! We’ve learned that sometimes their recipes “disappear” from the URL where we saw them and are hard to find again!)

Ironically, although Nicholas eagerly suggested this recipe when he saw zucchini and tomatoes in our CSA box, scheduling issues pushed this meal to the end of the week when we’d already used all our zucchini and tomatoes. But when I went to our neighborhood Giant Eagle supermarket to buy them (along with the salmon, lemon, scallions, and couscous) I found great prices on zucchini and tomatoes from Brenckle’s Farm, another local organic farm that also offers a CSA. It’s only 26 miles away; Kretschmann Farm is 28 miles from our home. So we were still eating local, organic vegetables!

This meal was delicious!

Wrapping Up the Week

How did we do with our 5 steps?

What to swap or give away? This was one week when we kept everything in our share!

What needs to be eaten in the next two days? Fresh green beans last only a short time without getting moldy. We also prioritized cucumbers, kale, and zucchini but didn’t actually get through all of them in the first 48 hours–but we used them up within the week (see below) without anything spoiling!

What can wait until later? We still have some of the carrots and the coffee. These tomatoes were firm enough to be used late in the week but wouldn’t have lasted much longer.

What needs to be preserved? Roasting and sautéing more veggies than we needed for our dinners created leftovers that will keep longer than raw veggies.

What’s the plan? We’d already planned the kebabs before we saw our new veggies. On Wednesday night, we planned Thursday’s and Friday’s dinners and the Salmon Limone . . . but meal planning for the rest of the week kind of worked out as we went along. I did make a list of the veggies before putting them away so that I could see at a glance what we needed to use.

We still had two cucumbers and some potatoes, so on the Wednesday when we got our next CSA box, our dinner side dishes were mashed potatoes and cucumbers with lemon sour cream (left over from Salmon Limone), with the main dish of soy-free veggie burgers from Trader Joe’s.

What’s your approach to an abundance of vegetables?

Source: https://www.kitchenstewardship.com/csa-meal-planning-tips/

[winter-soldier-writer-blog]

You Need A Maid? Chapter 5

Fandom: Avengers / Marvel Rating: PG13 Warnings: Swearing / Romance Disclaimer: I don’t own Marvel, blah legal stuff. Don’t sue me, I’m poor. Songs:  Next Year - Two Door Cinema Club

Chapter Menu

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Things had been calm in the house for several months. Everyone seemed to have put the awful six-month celebration behind them and moved on. The team was a little kinder to you and seemed to appreciate your work a little bit more. Finally, the day you had been waiting for arrived, your birthday.

"Oh yes, I'd love to ride the horses with you, Fabio. Your hair is so long, can I touch it..."

You were startled out of dreamland by the knocking on your bedroom door. You turned over, away from it with a groan. The night before you had taken a sleeping pill, guaranteeing you the ability to sleep in. You peeked at your phone. 6:45. This better be good.

"What?" You heard the door click open, and feet shuffle inside. You brain woke up a little bit more and you got excited. Wait, it was your birthday. Birthday surprises?!

"Y/N?" Natasha stood in your room, hands on her hips. She looked slightly worried, but only slightly. You sat up, looking a little too excited. "Yes?"

"Are you okay? You didn't get up this morning for breakfast. The guys sent me in to see if it was.." she laughed a little, phrasing it the way they did."...lady problems." You frowned. She didn't remember. You huffed and fell back into the mattress, pulling the covers back over yourself. "It's my day off. Tony sent out a memo." Natasha didn't need much to get the hint and you heard the door click behind her as she left. You slipped back into the dream world for a little bit longer, ignoring the small pang of irritation.

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You woke up a few hours later, glancing at the clock and determining that 10 was an acceptable sleep in time. You drew yourself a bath and tossed in a bath bomb, opting for glitter this time. It was your birthday after all. Soaking in the tub you toyed with your phone, smiling at the few birthday wishes you received. You weren't close to very many people, and on days like this, it sometimes made you a little wistful. There was nothing from Mom, but that was to be expected. Still, you had that sliver of hope every year. At least she was good for something, a 100% track record for being a disappointment.

You finished your bath and dried off, pulling on your usual jeans and t-shirt. You really weren't one for running around the facility in pajamas. You thought for a little while on what you wanted to do. A whole day off. The world was your oyster. You could go shopping, go to a movie, do anything. You stomach grumbled. Birthday lunch sounded like a good step one.

You headed into the kitchen and grabbed a frozen pizza out of the freezer, popping it into the oven. Just as you were setting the timer Steve walked in. "Afternoon Miss." He still hadn't listened to you about the name thing. Baby steps. Tiny, red white and blue, baby steps. "What's planned for lunch?" You wrinkled your nose, a little upset. Did no one read the memo? You turned to him and shrugged. "Whatever you cook Steve. It's my day off." He cocked his head, confused. "Oh, alright. Guess I'll go see what Buck wants to do. Tony and Sam are on a mission." He disappeared, looking for Bucky.

You decided to take your pizza up to the library, a room you had finally gained access to when Tony had given you the bracelet. Originally you didn't understand why you had been locked out in the first place. Then J.A.R.V.I.S happened.

"Afternoon Miss [Y/N], and happy birthday."

"Thanks, J.A.R.V.I.S. I'm glad someone read the memo."

"I made the memo, Miss."

You laughed and grabbed the book you had been reading the last few weeks from the shelf, and settled into a chair.

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Once you had gained clearance to go to Tony's workroom he started requesting meals and other items be brought up on a daily basis. Often you found him talking to various machines, scolding them for being stupid, but the only voice that ever talked back was J.A.R.V.I.S. It startled you at first, but Tony, and J.A.R.V.I.S, explained.

You had thought that J.A.R.V.I.S was only in Tony's workroom but when you had gone into the library for the first time and received a warm welcome that almost made you wet yourself, you understood why Tony hadn't allowed you access right off the bat. Now you had become fond of the disembodied voice.

--------------------------

You yawned, finally peeling your eyes away from the page long enough to look at a clock. God, you had been lost in your book for ages. You stomach grumbled at you, reminding you that it was again food time. You wondered if there were any plans for dinner. Your hopes were still up. J.A.R.V.I.S. had sent out the memo, there was still plenty of time to read it. They must have been planning dinner all along. That was it, the big secret! Those sneaky Avengers had remembered after all. You trundled downstairs with a bounce in your step.

Bucky had planted himself in front of the television again, watching a rerun of some old show. You walked in and settled down next to him, a big grin on your face. "So what's the plan? For dinner?" He just looked at you, blankly. "Come on, you can tell me. I'll still be surprised." You urged him on, but he just looked confused.

"That would make two of us."

"What?" Your smiled faded. He was just playing, right?

"I don't know what you're talking about. Don't you make dinner? I don't know how to cook. I don't even like the microwave. Fucking thing zaps me whenever I touch it." He flexed his metal fingers.

Your heart sank. No one had read the memo. No one had remembered your birthday.

"It's my day off. You'll have to make your own dinner." You stood up and sighed. Bucky turned back towards the TV, flicking through the channels. "How'd you get the day off?" He asked, as you slowly started to shuffle towards your room.

"It's my birthday."

---------

Bucky heard your door click shut, and once he was sure you were gone he returned to his show in peace. It took him several seconds to process the exchange. Then it finally hit him.

When it finally hit him he froze and his eyes grew wide in disbelief. They had forgotten your birthday. That was kind of a big deal to most people. Birthdays were something they didn't really do around here, seeing as he and Steve wanted to avoid the how old are you question, and getting older really just made you think about your mortality. But you weren't like the rest of them. Birthdays mattered to you. God, he didn't even know how old you were. He carded a hand through his hair and sighed. The Avengers could save the world but they were horrible fuckups in everyday life. Damnit team, mission failed.

He shut off the TV and made his way down to the gym, where Steve was doing a number on a punching bag. Seeing Bucky enter he stopped, sitting down to sip at a water bottle and talk. Bucky explained the situation, hoping Steve could figure out how to fix it. They made a plan and went upstairs to find Natasha.

----------------------------

You sat in your room nibbling on a piece of chocolate you had stashed in your nightstand, the label reading 'for emergencies only'. You felt like this was a good enough emergency. You were hurt, but somehow not completely surprised that the team had forgotten about you. Things had improved, but maybe not that much. You thought about going to bed early and putting the day behind you, but before you could unzip your jeans there was a knock. You shuffled over and opened the door.

Steve, Natasha, and Bucky stood in the hallway, Steve held a plate of stacked toaster waffles, a single birthday candle glowed in the center. "Happy Birthday Y/N." He smiled and nudged the plate your way, urging you to blow out the candle. You did and then stepped back, letting them into your room. "We're sorry we forgot. We don't really do birthdays around here." Natasha explained, perching herself on your chair. You shrugged and shook your head. "This is great you guys." You took the plate of waffles from Steve. Some were burnt, and others still half frozen. Man, they really didn't know how to cook. "The waffle cake was all Bucky's idea." Steve grinned, and Bucky tried to hide in the corner. That explained the state of the waffles. But still, Bucky being thoughtful? You just about died.

"We ordered a pizza, and figured we could rent a movie." Natasha stood up and walked towards you, putting a hand on your shoulder. She smiled, just a small smile, but it still felt like a big win. You had gotten a great birthday present.

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Later that night, with your belly full of pizza, you sat at your desk, typing something out on the computer. There was a soft knock on the door, and the click of it opening. "Y/N, you awake?" It was Sam, back from his mission. "Hey, yeah. Come in." You walked away from your desk, meeting him to sit on your bed.

"Did the mission go well?" You asked, scanning him for signs of injury. He seemed to be fine. Internally you sighed with relief.

"Yeah, it was just a quick in and out thing. I'm sorry I wasn't here today for your birthday." You saw him fidget with something off to the side.

"It's alright. Thank you for remembering, though." You smiled.

"I got you something." He offered you a box, neatly wrapped in gold paper. You tried to hide your childish grin; it was silly to get worked up over presents. You ripped into the paper carefully and opened the box, letting out a gasp. Inside was a book on constellations. He knew you loved to look at the stars.

"Aw Sam. You know me so well." You leaned over to kiss him on the cheek He turned his head and your kiss landed on his lips instead. You both pulled away, surprised, but your eyes remained transfixed on each other, your minds working on the same question.

"Sam...that was--"

"None of that. Just say thank you."

"Thank you."

His eyes twinkled with something, a glimmer you had never seen before, and it called to you, pulling you in. You leaned in, your lips barely brushing his. "Sam," You whispered, and he closed the distance, melding his lips with yours, his kiss sending shivers down your spine. His lips were soft, and he tasted faintly of oranges, something that made you smile into the kiss.

Slowly you pulled away, and you darted your eyes to the floor, suddenly shy. "I better get to sleep." You mumble, biting your lip. Sam nodded and stood up."Yeah, me too." He walked to the door and opened it. "Good night Y/N." You could hear the joy in his voice. The door clicked shut behind him and you fell backward on your bed, completely in awe.

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@thatweirdgaygirl