Since I live with two teenagers who'd eat McDonald's for every meal if I'd let them, I tried to find the fabled $12 "dinner box" at my closest Mickey D's locations.

Since my family started visiting chain restaurants for the first time about a year ago, we've dined everywhere from Ruth's Chris Steak House to Bahama Breeze.

I've never seen customers lined up just to get a table at any of them until we visited Olive Garden on a Friday night.

Recently, I visited Aldi with a $60 grocery budget to see what I could put in my cart. I bought ingredients for three nights' worth of dinners as well as several gluten-free pantry staples.

Here's what it was like shopping for my family of four on a limited budget.

Here's what it was like to order, pick up, and eat a family meal from Cracker Barrel, and why I'd definitely order a to-go dinner from the chain again.

We've tried various chains including Ruth's Chris and Olive Garden, and have found some impressive dishes while making our rounds.

But our recent visit to the upscale steak-house chain The Capital Grille blew us away. It may just be our best chain-restaurant experience to date.

My family has never cared much for chain restaurants, but in the past year, my husband and I have visited more with our teenagers.

By dining at steak houses such as Ruth's Chris and iconic breakfast spots including IHOP, we've learned to appreciate what chains have to offer, from reasonable prices to a consistent experience.

But we'd yet to try a Brazilian churrasco meal like the one offered at Fogo de Chão.

If you view salads as rabbit food—just raw veggies tossed in a bowl with dressing as the only good thing about the mix—we have good news for you. A recipe trending on social media takes salad to the next level, it's full of flavor, has a warming element to slightly wilt tough greens, and it's so good you might actually start to crave it.

It’s an Appalachian staple that’s made its way to social media feeds everywhere: Killed lettuce videos have garnered more than two million views on TikTok and a recipe for the dish has been in the Allrecipes archives since 2011.

Green-bean casserole is a nonnegotiable Thanksgiving side for me.

My go-to is the standard recipe made with canned green beans, condensed cream-of-mushroom soup, and French's fried onions.

But to make sure I'm not missing out on something better, I followed recipes from three celebrity chefs: Alton Brown, Ree Drummond, and Alex Guarnaschelli.

I'm a busy mom who tries to stick to a grocery budget, but I'm also a food writer who loves cooking with quality ingredients. Years ago, Walmart wasn't my go-to grocery shopping destination, but it's safe to say the mega-chain has really upped its grocery game as of late. From surprisingly high-quality, affordable items made for its Great Value brand to fresh meat and produce, the offerings in Walmart's grocery section have become my top pick for grocery shopping for my family of four.

For the third year in a row, the Ocala Food and Wine Festival is returning to the World Equestrian Center (WEC). The event, which features celebrity chefs, food, wine, and more, will be held from November 3 through 5, 2023, with options available to attend the entirety of the weekend or to visit only on Saturday for the “Taste of Ocala” expo. And, since the WEC is home to the Equestrian Hotel as well, guests can make a weekend out of being immersed in the beautiful hotel and grounds while sipping and tasting their way through the festival.

As someone who's been visiting Disney World for more than a decade, I know that Epcot reigns supreme when it comes to dining.

The park offers both sit-down and quick-service dining options. Plus, there are four festivals every year, each of which brings new kiosks with special food and beverage offerings.

Here are my 10 favorite places to eat at Epcot.

Booking tables at Disney restaurants well ahead of your trip is often essential to a smooth visit to Disneyland or Walt Disney World. After all, it's hard to eat dinner in Cinderella Castle or sip a mint julep at Blue Bayou without doing a bit of advance planning. But thanks to recent updates to both the Disney World and Disneyland apps and websites, it just got easier to make Disney dining reservations at all the parks.

I've been visiting Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival for a decade. This year, the festival features 25 "global marketplaces" — kiosks offering food and drinks inspired by cuisines around the world — as well as nightly concerts, themed merchandise, and fun scavenger hunts.

The event is included in normal Epcot admission, and since most menu items cost between $5 and $10, it's one of my favorite inexpensive ways to get the most bang for my buck at Disney World.

If there’s one thing social media has taught us, it’s that you can cook just about anything in an air fryer. The latest delicacies to go viral on TikTok are air fryer crab bites—imitation crab meat diced, coated in butter and seasonings, and air-fried until crispy and golden.

Not the biggest seafood fan, it had been years since I’d eaten imitation crab when this unique air fryer delight started showing up in my TikTok feed. Still, the concept seemed so strange to me that I wanted to try it out.

The San Francisco brewery scene is thriving with more than 30 craft breweries in the city, despite recent news about Anchor Brewing Company closing its doors.

Gail Ann Williams, a freelance beer writer and co-founder of beer and transit resource BeerByBART.com, says in some ways breweries in San Francisco are just beginning to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic. As was the case when veteran San Francisco beer-makers Cameron McDonald and Jesse Hayter announced plans to resurrect Enterprise Brewing Co. in SF's SoMa district.

We really love burgers in my house — and by we, I mostly mean my teenage son, who'd order a plain cheeseburger at a fancy steakhouse.

We hold a weekly burger night as faithfully as we honor Taco Tuesday, but we like to switch it up when it comes to recipes and cooking methods.

I recently put my air fryer, stove, oven, and grill to the test to see which one makes the best burger.

On a hot day at Walt Disney World, there's truly nothing better than taking a break from the crowds and excitement to find a seat in the shade and enjoy a Dole Whip. The delightful and delicious frozen treat has been a Disney Parks staple for nearly 40 years, but its roots go back to 1976, when Dole became the sponsor of Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland Park in California. Dole Pineapple Whip, as it was known back then, debuted at the Florida resort's Magic Kingdom Park in 1984 as a sweet treat sold at Aloha Isle.

Dole Whip arrived at Disneyland two years later and has since spread globally to the company's resorts, including to Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disney Resort and Aulani in Hawaii. In 2017, Dole Whip even hit the open seas, sailing aboard Disney Cruise Line.

There's no denying it: Boursin Cheese is having a moment this summer, and it’s all thanks to TikTok. Videos of home cooks making baked Boursin Lemon Pasta have amassed more than 5 million views on the social media app, with many creators praising the dish for its one-pot simplicity and fresh flavors.

Boursin, which is the brand name for a French style of cheese called Gournay cheese, is known for its creamy texture and garlicky flavor. It hails from Northern France, where it first gained popularity in the early '60s. Today, Boursin is a household name, and its versatility has made it a popular choice among cooks and creators on social media. They're using it for everything from cheese boards to pastas to easy, yet seriously impressive appetizers. And now the cheese is behind a viral pasta trend that calls to mind another baked cheese pasta that we still make to this day. Here's what you need to know about the Baked Boursin Lemon Pasta.

There’s a new flavor of Spam in town and it pairs perfectly with everything from waffles to Brussels sprouts. Spam Maple Flavored is rolling out on grocery store shelves now, bringing the brand’s total varieties to 11. While many Spam flavors, like the original, Spam Hot and Spicy, or Jalapeño, are on the savory side, the brand has released sweet flavors in the past. Allrecipes editors tried the pumpkin spice variety with mixed reviews, so we were skeptical about this new Maple Spam.

“This is by far my favorite-to-date product that we have launched,” says Jennesa Kinscher, a senior brand manager at Spam. “It’s because it just makes sense. When you think about Spam, one of the natural usages that you think about is during breakfast.”

While my family spent years avoiding chain restaurants, we recently started visiting them with our teenagers.

We've been pleasantly surprised by chains we've visited so far — from the Caribbean-themed Bahama Breeze to steak-house chains such as LongHorn Steakhouse — so I was excited to up the ante and head to Ruth's Chris Steak House.