Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Roast chicken is a great meal, there's a ton of side dishes that can go with it. I've tried different recipes over the years until I get bored and move on to the next. My current favorite is to line the slow cooker with foil, put in the chicken with garlic, onion, thyme, etc. and let it go all day while everyone is gone. When I get home I just lift it out using the foil (so it doesn't fall to pieces in the crockpot) and put it in the oven to brown more while we get the side dishes ready. Easy and delicious.

I taught myself to cook, but I learned how to bake by watching my grandmother.

Powdry's in Albuquerque, NM

Now, chocolate chip with walnuts or pecans. But in college I had a roomate that used to make the world's best cookies. They were called Yankee Quakers, but since I lost the recipe long ago I haven't had them in years.

When I buy a bag of lemons I zest them and then juice them all. I freeze the zest in little baggies and the juice I freeze in ice cube trays and then place in baggies in the freezer. It's very convenient for baking and cooking.

We always make extra - doubling every recipe - to have leftovers and save cooking time.

If you eat plenty of salads, cut everything up and put into plastic storage containers as soon as you get home from the store.

making several days worth of meals ahead of time, always having fresh sauce frozen and also have veggies prepped ahead of time.

For boiling water--just put a lid on to bring it to the boil faster.