1. What is your “must have” kitchen gadget?
A 5-6-quart non-stick skillet like this one. I literally don't even have a place for it in my kitchen because by the time I'm putting away dishes, I'm using it again.
2. How do you make kitchen clean up easier?
A few years ago, Sara and I competed in a cooking contest at Better Homes & Gardens. While we were cooking, there were these nice people that followed us around and cleaned up after us. So that is my suggestion for making clean-up easier, because if you took a look at our kitchens most days, you'd realize we're the wrong people to ask.
3. Do your recipes do well with non-dairy products (rice milk, coconut milk, almond milk)?
Quite honestly, we haven't experimented a whole lot with non-dairy milks. Some recipes would probably translate well, but not others.
4. What is your average food budget every week/month?
More than your average grocery budget. It's kind of apples and oranges because in addition to regular household stuff, we're constantly experimenting and developing recipes and all of those expenses gets lumped into our grocery budgets.
5. When making pies in a jar, are you able to make them a few days ahead of time and freeze them?
Or at least do the crust ahead of time? Yep, definitely. You can keep them frozen for quite awhile.
6. What is your best tip for storing cupcakes? Is there a trick to keeping the cake from drying out while keeping the frosting from getting too soft?
My recommendation for long-ish term storage is to eat them. Seriously. Cake just gets yucky after a day or so.
7. What’s a good way for figuring out pounds of potato per person I should make?
Make too many and then store the leftovers in your fridge until something starts to smell funny? No, honestly, when I'm making mashed potatoes, I figure about 1 medium russet potato per person (regardless of age or eating capabilities) and then throw in 2-3 extras for good measure.
8. Any good suggestions for quick, inexpensive, Christmas neighbor gifts?
Here are some of our favorites.
Check out Kate and Sara's New York Times-bestselling cookbook Our Best Bites: Mormon Moms in the Kitchen and their equally fantastic (several of our editors have made several of the recipes) new cookbook, Savoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites, available for a limited time for 50% off.