ArcaMax

Summer might be winding down, but this pasta dish highlights some of the season’s best bounty. Blending fresh basil into reduced cream with Parmesan made a rich, savory, herbaceous sauce for tortellini, offsetting the sweetness of the fresh corn and mellowing the spice of a Fresno chile.

Tortellini with Corn and Basil Cream Sauce

Serves 4

2...Read more

Celebrate the lingering glow of a summer twilight with this Summer Twilight Berry Sorbet. This refreshing dessert combines the sweet-tart flavor of summer berries with the crisp chill of a sorbet, creating a dish as vibrant and refreshing as a summer sunset.

Ingredients 2 cups of mixed summer berries 1 cup of sugar 1 cup of ...Read more

These egg bites, a convenient grab-and-go breakfast, are filled with veggies surrounded by a light and creamy egg custard. Once you get the hang of making these, try switching up the veggies and cheese. You can also add grated garlic, chopped fresh herbs or even a few dashes of hot sauce to give them a little kick.

Roasted Red Pepper & Spinach ...Read more

Granola bars, breakfast bars, snack bars, whatever you call them, they’re extremely convenient grab-and-go hunger cures. However, while they may have started off as nutritious health food store staples, many have morphed into candy bars in disguise. Fortunately, there are still several that fit the bill for an easy, non-perishable snack to ...Read more

There is a new book out called “Nosh” penned by Micah Siva. The author is very clever and creative with her modern take on classic Jewish dishes. The book features recipes that are plant-forward like Turmeric Vegetable Matzo Ball Soup, Carrot “Lox,” Vegan “Gefilte” Cakes, and Pumpkin Kugel with Pecan Streusel. YUM! All of these ...Read more

Daylight is shrinking around here. No doubt, fall is on the approach. Tell that, however, to all the summer squash, sweet corn and multi-colored peppers that currently overflow local farmers market stands. The veg surplus proves perfect for early fall cooking inspiration.

Whenever I fire up a grill, I add slabs of squash, whole peppers, thick ...Read more

As a little inside scoop, when I first pitched this recipe, the title was “pizza beans (hear me out!),” but no one needed convincing (I mean Smitten Kitchen’s aptly named recipe is quite well-known). At the intersection of cozy and easy, you’ll...Read more

Despite my deep love of cooking and affinity for hours-long projects like multi-layered lasagna and homemade challah bread, I also have a soft spot for ...Read more

Best Food for Kids Before and After School

When I was a grade-schooler my brother and I would walk home from school each day. He was one grade behind me. It was about a mile from school to the house. If we didn’t get any other exercise at least we got that.

I do know that we went out to play after school but when we got home and ...Read more

Coffee Mate makes my go-to coffee creamer: Italian Sweet Creme. It’s just the right mix of sugar and creaminess, and it stands up well to my dark roast coffee.

So I was intrigued with Coffee Mate’s newest flavor: Kit Kat. It’s just as creamy as any Coffee Mate product but the flavor is more robust, with definite chocolate flavor to perk ...Read more

I’m not a patient cook, so traditional pickling is off the table. Too much is involved — boiling the water, sterilizing the jars, finding the right tongs — and there’s anxiety over whether or not the lid has properly sealed.

Then I stumbled across several easy and extremely fast recipes for small-batch condiments that take just a few ...Read more

Shawarma, the inexpensive protein beloved by young traveling backpackers all over the world, is usually prepared by stacking thin marinated slices of lamb, chicken or beef in an inverted cone on a large, upright rotisserie.

The meat gets browned and crispy as cooks occasionally shave off the outside pieces to stuff into pitas or pile onto rice....Read more

Six hours. That’s how long it took prolific pepper breeder “Smokin” Ed Currie to recover from his ultimate creation: Pepper X. Recognized in October 2023 by the Guinness World Records, it’s the hottest on the planet.

A “millisecond” of flavor followed by a quarter-day of intestinal cramping, the 2,693,000 Scoville Heat Unit fruit is...Read more

A rich, creamy sauce coats vegetables and pork chops for this one-pan dinner. I used bone-in thin-cut pork chops for this dinner. The bone adds extra flavor to the sauce and thin-cut chops take only a few minutes to cook.

Sliced red cabbage, mushrooms and shallots “smother” the chops adding flavor and texture to the dish. I like ...Read more

Come dinnertime, pasta made with corn, rice, lentils or chickpeas can be a godsend to those with gluten sensitivities. But it also can break their hearts, just a little.

Not only is gluten-free pasta super expensive when compared to "regular" spaghetti, rigatoni and other noodles made with milled durum wheat, but it's tough to find a gluten-...Read more

I am not a fan of doing stories about people I know but I held my nose the other day and met Josh Noel at a bar. He’s the former beer and spirits writer for this newspaper. I held my nose because he wrote a smart new book about Malört, a subject that requires a little nose holding. Regardless of your history with this Chicago-bred atrocity, ...Read more

I swear this was an actual conversation:

My wife: The refrigerator is a bad refrigerator. We hate it. We’re going to replace it.

Me: No, the refrigerator is a good refrigerator. We love it because it’s so wonderful and we want to keep it forever.

The conversation was, naturally, held within earshot of the refrigerator. That’s why we ...Read more