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When building salads, it's far too easy to get stuck in a rut. You know what works, buy the same ingredients, and inevitably eat green leaf lettuce with black olives, sliced tomatoes, and shredded carrots everyday. However, with a little creativity and an open mind at the grocery store, you can enjoy a fabulous variety of healthful yet crave-worthy salads on a regular basis. To get inspired, take a walk around the produce section and be inspired by the vegetables and fruits you come across. Try a new lettuce or pick up a veggie you're unfamiliar with. Just remember: from crunchy to creamy to crispy, a good salad has an assortment of textures (and colors). Here are a few ways to shake things up in the salad department.

Filling Proteins

• Think beyond grilled chicken: Sliced steak, chunks of pork, and flaked fish are excellent additions. Deli meats, like salami, ham, and turkey are easily shreddable, too.
• Don't forget cheese and nuts:To achieve the aforementioned crunchy and creamy textures, toss in goat or feta cheese and almonds or pine nuts. Hard cheeses, like manchego and parmesan, can be shaved onto the salad, or finely grated into the vinaigrette.
• Grains are all important: Protein-rich grains like quinoa, brown rice, and barley add vegan heft to greens.
• Repurpose leftovers: Toss leftover vegetables, grains, and proteins with greens the next day to make a one-of-a-kind salad.

See more salad-making ideas.

Summer travel is around the corner. Are you planning to drown yourself in love, wine, and delicious California cuisine in wine country? Looking to escape to New York to find the beauty in the urban jungle and each other? Maybe you're setting out to sea or have designs for the ultimate romantic getaway to Paris. No matter where you are headed, you'll want to keep fighting at bay. To see four common travel pitfalls that every couple faces and solutions to help you avoid them, just keep reading.

Are you sick of watching bundles of leftover herbs languishing in your crisper? Fret not, there's an easy solution: plant an herb garden. Resilient and low-maintenance, most herbs can grow indoors or outside — a backyard, deck, or balcony are ideal, but a sunny countertop will suffice — leaving little reason not to break out the potting soil, a trowel, and some seeds or herb starts. You'll not only waste less, but will be inspired to add fresh herbs to dishes more often, a boon for both your conscience and your palate. Before you rush off to the nursery, keep these step and tips in mind.

• Assess the situation to determine what sort of set-up is ideal. Do you have a backyard? How long do you plan to live in your current home? If you can dedicate a corner of your backyard to the venture, and aren't planning on uprooting any time soon, consider a raised bed, either store-bought or DIY, which will provide enough space for a vast variety of herbs. If you're looking for a smaller-scale solution, terracotta or ceramic pots are a great alternative.
• Consider what herbs you cook with most often. It can be easy to get carried away when browsing seed catalogs or the herb start section of your nursery. Plant only what you'll realistically use in order to avoid waste; you can always add more to the mix later. Herbs like basil, parsley, mint, thyme, rosemary, and cilantro are most practical, but consider chives, dill, tarragon, oregano, or more-exotic varieties like Thai basil, marjoram, or savory if you think they'll be a worthwhile addition.
• Gather up the necessary equipment: Even if you're going the raised bed route, consider separate terracotta planters to restrict the growth of plants like mint that tend to grow rabidly, lest they overrun your other plants. You'll also need potting soil, a sturdy trowel, seeds or herb starts, a hose with a sprinkler attachment or a watering can, and a pair of gardening gloves. If your herb garden will live by a sunny window, make sure to buy planters with a saucer to collect excess water and avoid messy cleanup; alternatively, try one of these clever indoor setups.

Keep reading for the rest of the steps.

Have you ever wondered what the best practices are for what should and should not be run through the dishwasher? Years of washing mind-boggling amounts of dishes — in the name of recipe testing, natch — have left us with strong opinions, some of which may even surprise you (see the "run through the dishwasher at your own risk" category). Read through the list, and you'll be armed with the knowledge to keep your dishes sparkling clean and undamaged. Bonus points go to those who forward it to less well-informed spouses and roommates . . .

Go For It

• Basic ceramic plates, bowls, and mugs; check the manufacturer's recommendations when in doubt.
• Stainless-steel and Pyrex mixing bowls; on the top rack so that they don't block water flow.
• Pyrex and stoneware baking dishes; check the manufacturer's recommendations when in doubt.
• Plastic and wood-composite cutting boards; check the manufacturer's recommendations when in doubt.
• Kitchen shears, especially if you're using them to break down raw poultry.
• Stainless-steel half-sheet pans, cooling racks, muffin tins, and other metal bakeware.
• Kitchen sponges and scrub brushes; on the top rack only.
• Silicone and metal kitchen utensils.
• Measuring cups and spoons.
• Stainless-steel flatware.

Keep reading to learn what should never go in the dishwasher and what we recommend running through the dishwasher at your own risk.

Few culinary tasks are as simultaneously simple and complex as poaching eggs. While it's easy enough to plop an egg or two into a bath of simmering water, it takes a touch of practice and know-how to achieve consistently satisfying results. Lucky for you, we've done the legwork, testing out a variety of tips and tricks to determine what works best.

• Use the freshest eggs you can find: as eggs age the white becomes looser, more watery, and less likely to form a cohesive mass around the yolk when poached. If you have access to eggs from the farmers market, here's the time to use them; save older eggs for hard-boiling and baking.
• Rather than crack an egg directly into a pot of water to cook, crack each egg into an individual ramekin so that it can be gently turned out into the water and is therefore less likely to break.
• If using slightly older eggs, drain off any loose egg white before poaching. Crack each egg into a fine mesh strainer set over the sink, and allow any watery egg white to drain off before gently transferring each egg into its own ramekin.

Keep reading for four more tips.

Here's another reason to get serious about saving — it's a new year. Although the occasion isn't going to turn us into smart savers, it sure is a good reminder. We all have our own methods of dealing with money, but here are a couple of saving tricks that will grow your money:

• The top-down view: Instead of skimping here and there, take the top-down approach to saving money. Basically what you need to do is figure out your biggest expenses, then brainstorm ways to save and tackle the biggest expenses first.
• The $5 jar: Instead of the ole change jar, have a $5 savings jar. Whenever you have $5 in hand, drop it in the jar. You'll see your savings accumulate more quickly with fivers than with just coins.
• Improve your memory: Studies have shown that training your memory can build up a desire to save since short-term memory is linked to planning for or envisioning the future. A couple of ways to improve your memory include attaching an image to something you want to remember and practicing memorizing it over and over again, and avoiding multitasking.

Read on for more saving tricks.

If you've forgotten one too many tasks on your to-do list, perhaps it's time to reevaluate the way you organize your day. Everyone has a different way of organizing, and here a couple of suggestions that might work for you:

Post-it system: If you're using post-its to remind yourself to do tasks, a possible strategy is to write down various tasks on different sticky notes and paste them all around your computer screen (or something else that's hard to ignore on your desk). When you're done, you can peel each post-it off your computer and feel a sense of accomplishment. This might be too messy for those who like to keep their desk organized and free of paper bits.

Calendar reminders: Schedule specific times to do certain tasks and set a reminder for everything so you don't have to rely on your overworked memory. Use your digital calendar if you work with computers, and use a planner if you don't. You should check your calendar and make updates when you first get into the office so you can better plan and prioritize your day. Throughout the day, keep referring back to your calendar and make changes if needed. Using a calendar is a fail-safe method to ensure you're getting things done!

Emailing and texting self: For those who are always checking their inboxes or phones, sending reminders via texts and emails is a good way to stay on top of things. There are certain web tools that will help you with this method. NudgeMail lets you time when you want the email reminders to come in. For example, if you have a meeting with your boss on Friday, you can send an email to Friday10am@NudgeMail.com and add details in the email. The service provides a list of commands that'll help you figure out what email address to notify when you're trying to pick a time or access other functions such as deleting all active NudgeMails or receiving a list of the commands in an email. As for text reminders, there are a couple of apps and websites to check out — TextMinder ($2), Oh, Don't Forget, and textreminders.

Read on for more.

We're eagerly anticipating the announcement of the winners at tonight's Good Food Awards (and to try all the exceptional winning products). In the meantime, here's an inside look at the judging process, as well as a few jam tasting tips.

I hold onto the belief that sugar makes me sweet, and have long held a soft spot in my heart for jams, jellies, and fruit preserves. So, when I was invited to help judge the preserves category for this year's Good Food Awards, I signed up with no reservations.

As one of 28 judges for the preserves category, I was assigned to the western US states, and along with three other judges blind tasted more than 30 varieties of preserves from this bountiful region, including the usual suspects (jams, jellies, marmalade, and preserves) as well as vinegars, verjus, and even a dried fruit bar or two. And while I can't share the winners with you 'til after tonight — I don't even know who won our category as it was a blind tasting — I gleaned a few tips and tricks for analyzing what makes a truly ribbon-worthy preserve.

Keep reading for the (unofficial) guidelines that I've learned to use to distinguish between a preserve that's good and one that's great.

Yoga is supposed to be all about serenity and bliss, but there's no way you'll feel relaxed and at peace with the world if you're making these major no-nos on the mat.

1. Not connecting breath with movements: For every movement in your yoga practice, there is a breath pattern that goes along with it. For example, to start a Sun Salutation, you inhale to raise your arms up, and exhale to fold forward. Connecting your breath to your movements gives your yoga practice a sense of fluidity. This not only helps create a sense of calm, but the breath keeps you mindful, focused, and aware of each movement, which can help prevent injuries and improve balance.
2. Keeping your belly soft: Proper breathing in yoga involves bringing your breath into your chest, feeling your ribs expand and deflate with each breath. You can do this by drawing your navel in toward your spine and keeping your abs engaged, so when you inhale, you see your chest fill up rather than your belly. Aside from helping you breathe properly (which will help you with the first no-no), keeping your belly engaged also protects your lower back, which can prevent pain or injury.
3. Tensing when unnecessary: Clenched toes, scrunched shoulders (as shown above), and white knuckles aren't exactly the picture of relaxation, are they? I realize some challenging poses takes every ounce of strength and attention to hold for five breaths, but make sure to constantly scan your body for unnecessary areas of tightness. Make a conscious effort to relax the muscles that don't need to be working overtime.

Continue reading to find out what else you're doing wrong on your yoga mat.

Oatmeal may never have the magnetic allure of luscious chocolate cake or breakfast brethren like lofty dutch babies or loaded breakfast burritos. Still, one need not resign to a bland or gloppy bowl: I start almost every day with a bowl full to the brim and have yet to grow bored. Here are a few tips that are too good not to share.

1. Don't forget the salt: While the instructions on the tub of oats might imply that salt is optional, quite frankly it's not. Your bowl of oatmeal shouldn't taste salty (unless, of course, you're trying a savory iteration, like the one below), but adding a hefty pinch will help enhance flavors whether nutty, sweet, or creamy. Just make sure to season to taste after it's done cooking; if you add it at the start, the oats will release less of their starch, and the resulting texture won't be as creamy.
2. Skip instant oats: These flaky par-cooked fragments might simmer up quicker, but with a catch: the resulting bowl of oatmeal will be reminiscent of wallpaper paste. Instead, try rolled (old-fashioned) oats or steel-cut groats. Not only are these options more toothsome and robustly flavored, they'll stave off hunger longer.
3. Swap out water for other liquids: Boost flavor by experimenting with other liquids. For a creamier bowl, try milk or nondairy alternatives like almond or soy milk. For zestier flavor, replace up to half of the water with juices like pomegranate or orange.

Keep reading for three more tips.