The special-purpose scissors have a nonstick spatula base that “slides and lifts the slice.” You can buy them on Amazon or at Sur La Table.

While the nonstick base prevents scratches on metal pizza pans, at home, we use our everyday kitchen scissors to separate those clingy slices. (Pizza wheels never worked for us.)

An eight-inch kitchen knife like the one from Wustoff can do much more than slice pizza. If your knife skills aren’t as good as a culinary professional’s, you may find that a scissors can be your best friend in the kitchen.

You’ll find many uses for kitchen scissors, including:

 
HOW TO CHOOSE A KITCHEN SCISSORS

Make sure it’s stainless steel. Otherwise, you’ll find that rust spots crop up.

For a come-apart scissors, look for a screw mechanism rather than a metal bolt. A come-apart scissors design makes it easy to separate the two blades for cleaning or sharpening. But we’ve found that scissors secured with a simple bolt closure (turn and lift) may seem easier at first glance, but come apart in your hand when you don’t want them to—when you’re using the scissors!

That’s why we like the screw design of the Wustoff kitchen scissors. While Wustoff is a premier manufacturer of cutlery, the scissors are only $19.95 on Amazon.

Blade. You get what you pay for: The scissors associated with good cutlery manufacturers have blades that hold their sharpness longer.

 
How do you use your kitchen scissors?
  

We highly recommended them. We didn’t foresee then that these nutritious, slightly sweet, crunchy and flavorful biscuits would become our favorite grab-and-go breakfast and snack. (We also enjoy them as a sit-and-relax breakfast and snack.)

So we’ve promoted BelVita to Top Pick Of The Week. Read the full review and see of BelVita, which means beautiful life, can become part of yours.

The line is certified kosher by OU.

Find more of our favorite:

Asians drink soup for breakfast (Japanese miso soup and Thai pho, for example). Americans looking for something quick, hot, nutritious and comforting should consider the option.

All you need to make a bowl of miso soup is hot water and a spoonful of miso paste, available in many supermarkets as well as in Asian food stores.

You can add nutritious vegetables to your miso soup, as shown in the video, or have it plain, as it’s served at Japanese restaurants. The soup can be made in advance and microwaved in a minute, which is especially convenient if you want your soup with veggies.

Beyond a quick cup of soup before you dash out, you can carry a thermos, thermal mug or a portable coffee mug full of soup as you leave. Your soup supply can also be part of a low-calorie, healthful lunch, snack or dinner.

Here are more ways to use the miso paste.

Find more of our favorite soups in our Soup Section.

Want a more conventional breakfast? Check out our Cereals, Pancakes & Waffles Section.

When pulling together hors d’oeuvres for cocktails, it’s easy to reach for baguette slices or crackers and pile on a topping.

But here’s an alternative that doesn’t get soggy, has better nutrition and fewer carbs: the cucumber. You can place sliced meat and cheese, a shrimp with dill sauce, or other favorite directly atop a slice of cucumber instead of the bread or cracker. You can even make bite-size “cucumber sandwiches” using two slices of cucumber and a filling.

Or, you can “stuff” the cucumber for a more impressive presentation:

STUFFED CUCUMBER HORS D’OEUVRES

1. Peel and cut cucumbers into half-inch circles and carefully scoop out a well with a melon baller or other device.

2. Optionally, you can use a small cookie cutter to make scalloped/floral shapes, as in the photo (do this before you scoop out the well).

3. Then, fill the well with anything you like. Some of our favorites:

 
BLUE CHEESE SPREAD RECIPE

The better quality the blue cheese and cream cheese, the better this tastes. We use organic cream cheese (less gumminess, more flavor) and Gorgonzola or Roquefort (check out our favorite blue cheeses).

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE: In a medium bowl, mash softened cream cheese until softened. Mash in blue cheese.

2. TASTE: Blue cheese is typically salty, but adjust with salt and pepper if needed. You can make this up to a week in advance. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.

3. ASSEMBLE. Top cucumber slices with cheese spread. Since this is a thick mixture, you don’t need to create wells; but you can certainly do so if you like the aesthetic.

4. GARNISH: Top with a thin slice of fig and/or a toasted nut.

Find more of our favorite hors d’oeuvre recipes.

We saw this healthful lunch or dinner plate in the book, Healthy in a Hurry: Simple, Wholesome Recipes for Every Meal of the Day, by Karen Ansel and Charity Ferreira. We repurposed the idea as a snack or first course.

The authors suggest a healthful meal of two small tortillas topped with salsa and chicken, and a side of nutritious beans.

We especially like this idea to use up leftover chicken, grilled seafood or tofu.

Once you have your protein, make or buy fresh mango salsa (you can substitute peach salsa, but mango provides more complex flavor).

Then, just cook the tortillas, assemble and serve. If you’d like to turn this into a salad course, replace the beans in the photo with dressed greens.

Serving size for a snack, first course or salad course: 1 tortilla. The mango salsa recipe makes 1-1/2 cups, enough salsa for 8 tortillas.

FIRST COURSE OR SALAD COURSE TORTILLA RECIPE

Ingredients

 
MANGO SALSA RECIPE

Mango Salsa Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. MAKE SALSA. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and blend.

2. COOK TORTILLAS. Heat a dry cast iron skillet or other small, heavy pan over medium high heat. Add 1/6 teaspoon (half of the 1/8 teaspoon measure) olive oil to the center of the pan. Place the tortilla in the pan and swish it around so that the oil evenly coats the pan. Cook the tortilla for 5 seconds, flip and cook the other side for 5 seconds.

Assembly

1. Place the tortilla in the center of on a luncheon-size plate; if including a green salad, use a dinner plate and place the tortilla on one side of the plate.

2. Top with 2 tablespoons of drained salsa; top salsa with the protein and garnish. Add optional green salad and serve.
  
CORN TORTILLAS VS. FLOUR TORTILLAS

Corn is a whole grain, so corn tortillas are more nutritious—and more flavorful—than those made from refined white flour.

If you enjoy snacking on tortilla chips, making your own corn tortilla bowls is a better option: Chips can have quite a bit of added salt.

Want to make healthy, meals? Pick up a copy of Healthy In A Hurry. Photo courtesy Weldon Owen.

We really enjoy a “tortilla salad”—like the ones served in restaurants in jumbo tortilla bowls. Add lettuce or other greens and a protein, and you have an appealing light lunch or dinner. Eat as much of the tortilla as you like—it’s better for you than most bread.

To make your own, get a set of these nonstick tortilla bowl molds.