There’s nothing like the festive spread of beloved holiday meals to heighten the season’s celebratory gatherings. If you’re looking to enhance this year’s menu, try increasing the number of plant-based foods. Including more plant foods, like vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils and whole grains, is a great way to make a meal ...Read more

Syrup-soaked cakes are my jam. Tres leches in Mexico, baba au rhum and savarins in France, revani, a soaked semolina cake popular in Greece and the Middle East, and, most of all, sticky toffee pudding in the United Kingdom.

Don’t confuse this pudding with that popular cake; in the U.K., desserts are commonly called puddings. This amazingly ...Read more

Leftover stuffing is great for a few meals after Thanksgiving. (Even Julia Child relished stuffing sandwiches the day after!). But stuffing tends to go from marvelous to meh in just a few days. Don’t pitch the last of that bready goodness, though, for it’s got another meal to contribute to: meatballs!

I know it sounds odd, ...Read more

Every Thanksgiving, it’s not the turkey or the homeandleisure/recipes/varietymenu/s-4341418">Read more

Jiffy corn casserole is a side dish that instantly makes any fall dinner or Thanksgiving feast feel even cozier. Thanks to that retro blue box, it’s also the easiest thing you’ll make all season. Comforting Jiffy corn casserole ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Walk down a commercial street in almost any Chicago neighborhood or a busy corridor in the suburbs and it’s hard to escape some form of suspect food imagery. Burgers with weird bun patterns, burritos that might induce typophobia (a fear of holes), rice that looks like maggots, cheese dripping over a sandwich in suspicious symmetry, ...Read more

It takes a big man to admit when he is wrong.

Then again, if he says “it takes a big man to admit when he is wrong” when he admits that he is wrong, it sort of diminishes the whole impact of what he is doing.

I worked late the other night; I think I was the last person in the newsroom. I was stressing a bit over the story I was writing, ...Read more

Brown butter and sage are a classic couple that will never steer you wrong. Whether you use the sauce to dress a bowl of pasta or add another dimension to a homeandleisure/recipes/varietymenu/s-4336343">Read more

I have a pantry stocked with ingredients purchased while traveling. Truffle oil, dried porcini, aged balsamic vinegar, unusual pasta shapes from Italy, black currant cassis liqueur from France, paprika from Spain and marmalades from London. All get tucked away for special occasions. This holiday season I’m cooking the hand-harvested wild rice ...Read more

Pumpkin is a nutrient-rich and delicious vegetable to enjoy this season and all year long.

The folklore

Pumpkins are a beloved symbol of autumn: bright orange spheres lazing in pumpkin patches, decoratively adorning porches and tablescapes, carved into jack-o-lanterns, and savored in Thanksgiving pumpkin pie. A Mexico native, ...Read more

After more than 20 years of writing this column, I’m stepping away to pursue new projects. Before I say goodbye, I want to share my all-time favorite recipe: chocolate brownies. They’ve never failed me and embody the Seriously Simple approach — the entire batter comes together in one double boiler. Slightly chewy and wonderfully moist, ...Read more

Whenever I go home to Minnesota to visit my family, there’s one thing that I always request: Grandma’s overnight yeast waffles. To me, these are the quintessential waffles and all others are held to their standard. They’re crispy on the outside and tender in the middle, but they’re also a touch chewy from the overnight rise with yeast.

...Read more

French onion soup is one of my favorite cold-weather comfort foods. These pork chops transform everything I love about the classic into a hearty skillet dinner. The ...Read more

California’s vintners, struggling with a precipitous drop in wine consumption, are experimenting with making an American version of tequila.

Facing state-imposed water restrictions and an oversupply of grapes, second-generation farmer Stuart Woolf is one of those betting on agave. He has planted about 550 acres over four years on his land in ...Read more

The best weeknight dinners have a short ingredient list, require minimal hands-on prep, and come together quickly at a time of day when my energy is fading. Did I mention that it helps when those dinners taste amazing too? Some of my ...Read more

As a tween, few things felt as classy, special, and adult to me as dining at an in-mall restaurant sans parents (because, you know, they dropped us off). Because of this, even though it was more of a special splurge, California Pizza Kitchen feels so intensely core to my suburban childhood. ...Read more

Roasting a boneless turkey breast solves the problem of stuffing and carving a whole bird. It’s perfect for a small group and with luck you’ll have leftovers.

I like this Asian-inspired marinade because it adds a bold flavor without overwhelming the other traditional Thanksgiving dishes. The turkey breast is first steamed in ...Read more

Q: What is lab-grown meat?

A: You’ve probably been hearing more and more about the possibility of seeing meat products on the supermarket shelves that have been grown in a lab (instead of coming directly from a farm). And now you’re wondering: Meat from a lab? Is this a real thing? The short answer is yes, this is a real thing. So, unlike ...Read more

The struggle is real: Feeding the family in the middle of the work week proves a mighty challenge. Frozen meals and take-out often suffice, but we are partial to a family meal together at the table.

Armed with a cutting board and a heavy-duty nonstick skillet, we can handle the challenge. That is, if we invest a modest amount of time doing food...Read more

There are times for layer cakes, piping bags, and waiting patiently for butter to come to room temperature. (I’ve got the confetti birthday cake and Ding Dong cake recipes saved for a reason.) But more often, when you want cake, you want it approximately five minutes ago. This peanut butter mug cake is for those latter times. Made with creamy ...Read more