These rum balls are as easy to make as they are to eat. They’re the original no-bake treat! Rum balls are also really easy to adapt to your personal tastes or to what you have in your cupboard. My friend Joanne uses Nilla wafers in her recipe, and I’ve followed her lead with my own recipe. But I also know other folks who use gingersnaps, Oreos or even stale brownies....

Fish is best fresh, there’s no way around it. The fresher the better! So, the best attitude to approach the fish section with is, what looks best? How to Tell When Fish is Fresh With whole fish, you can usually tell just by looking at the eyes — they should be clear, not foggy and sunken. With fillets, if the surface is dried out and tired looking, that’s not a good sign....

With tropical fruit like mangoes and kiwi, you’ve got to eat the fruit just at the right time of ripeness. Under-ripe kiwi is suck-your-face-in-puckery-sour and over-ripe mangoes are blah and mushy. So what to do with imperfect fruit? Slightly cook them for a warm, tropical fruit salsa, “Floribbean” style. (Yeah, it’s a dumb name, but restaurants in Florida use it all the time. It basically means Florida + Caribbean style, if you haven’t guessed already....

The school cafeteria served many things that one would never encounter in the states (natto spaghetti, for example), but one thing they did serve that I couldn’t get enough of was seared ahi tuna, prepared fresh to order. It was usually served with white rice, a little shoyu, some radish sprouts, a few slivers of nori, and some toasted sesame seeds. One ample serving may have cost as much as 200 yen (~$2) but I think it was probably less....

In this one-skillet dish eggs and colorful red and yellow peppers simmer on the stovetop in a spicy tomato sauce infused with cumin and smoked paprika. A sprinkling of salty feta and pitted olives perk up the dish Shakshuka is a healthy, hearty meal that works for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It’s an all-purpose kind of fast dish that’s guaranteed to brighten a chilly morning or ease the mad dash on a weeknight....

While there are many ways you can enjoy your early spring asparagus, one of my favorites is to pair it with shrimp in a simple, weeknight-friendly pasta dish. The asparagus’ sweet, vegetal profile compliments the shrimp’s slightly sweet flavor, and both ingredients have a similar tender but toothsome texture. Want to hear the best part about this combination? They can be cooked at the same time—in the same pan—with a quick “sauce” of garlic, white wine, and lemon juice inspired by traditional shrimp scampi recipes....

This version of Cobb salad keeps the spirit of the familiar assembled plate of vegetables and protein, but subs in a variety of new elements. Large cooked shrimp stand in for the chicken; we lose the hard-boiled eggs, but we keep the bacon, avocados, and tomatoes. Cucumbers add a refreshing crunch, and the tropical addition of mango adds just a touch of sweetness. I finish the whole thing off with a salty, crumbly Mexican cheese called cotija, and basil dressing....

While they can be eaten raw, they’re often thrown in stir-fries, curries, and omelettes. They taste like the European-American style of green beans but the flavor is sharper and they have a crunchier texture. Incredibly healthy and now widely available in most supermarkets, Farmers’ Markets, and Asian markets, Chinese long beans are a wonderul option for adding to main courses or using for simple side dishes. How To Cook Chinese Long Beans I love to prepare Chinese long beans in a Sichuanese style using Sichuan peppercorns and dried chilies (preferably, a Chinese variety)....

Choose Good Tomatoes Job number one for making this salad is to choose quality tomatoes. The question is, how do you know you’ve got a good one? Here are a few pointers to help you score some standup produce: Buy locally grown tomatoes if you can find them. Farmers’ markets, local farm stands, specialty markets, or your own backyard garden are your best bets. That said, I’ve brought home tasty tomatoes from Costco, Trader Joe’s, and my neighborhood supermarket....

We’ve chosen three amazing cookbooks to focus on over the next three months, each covering a different region of the world, and all going deeper than just a collection of recipes to make for dinner. (Although you’ll want to do that as well!) Instead the cookbooks, and the authors behind them, show us how these recipes have evolved and flourished under the care of those who’ve passed them down and around their families and communities....

But it’s not magic – this is sous vide cooking! New to Sous Vide Cooking? Start Here Everything You’ve Been Wondering About Sous Vide Cooking at Home How to Use Your New Sous Vide Immersion Circulator How to Seal Foods Without Using a Vacuum Sealer Sous Vide and Food Safety: What to Know The Best Sous Vide Cookers Sous Vide Was Made for Recipes Like This I love love LOVE cooking big touch cuts of meat sous vide, like the top round roast we’re using for these French Dip Sandwiches....

Here’s a quiche to celebrate the green of spring, with spinach, artichokes, shallots, and goat cheese. So good! I have a couple insights to share regarding making quiche. The first is that even though every proper quiche recipe recommends that you pre-bake or “blind bake” the crust, I haven’t found it necessary. I use a frozen crust (I make my own, but you can easily use store-bought) because it holds its shape better when you bake the quiche in it....

It calls for a combination of stone fruits and summer vegetables tossed in olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt, and black pepper. The fruits release their natural juices so that no additional dressing is required. The vegetables in the fruit salad take it from sweet to savory. I absolutely love it and I am sure you will, too. Cherries and cucumbers? Peaches and chili peppers? Celery with fruit? The answer is yes, yes, and yes!...

When our son had the good sense to leave home after college, popsicles became obsolete in our kid-free zone. Silly me. It’s time for a comeback. Those cooling, refreshing treats are going to be in my freezer all summer! Why Make Homemade Yogurt Pops Of course, you could buy popsicles, but why? Why would you do that, when you can have a freezer full of all-natural, healthy treats on hand for when the temperature makes you want to lie down and take a long nap?...

Here is a version that’s perfect for any gluten-free or Paleo guests at your table! This stuffing is full of rich ingredients, like sweet potatoes and ground pork, and it has plenty of big holiday flavor. And yes, it’s great with turkey! I’ll admit, my first attempts at this Paleo stuffing came out a bit too heavy and one-note. I found myself missing the bread, which is off limits to anyone on a gluten-free or grain-free diet, of course....

Waffles for supper are an especially comforting way to end the day. They’re relatively quick to make from scratch and they change up the meal routine in an unexpected way. Any break in routine feels slightly festive, no matter how simple. Speaking of festive, these sweet potato waffles would be a great choice to serve a house full of guests on a holiday weekend. They’re good any time of day, really – breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner....

There’s something wonderfully comforting about enjoying a big bowl of ripe, juicy, sweet mandarins in the middle of dismal, dreary winter. Walking around the neighborhood, oranges stand out like light bulbs against their bushy green trees among most of the other trees, now skeletal from the cold. If you love the flavor of tangerines as much as I do, mandarins are available by the box load at most markets, and Odwalla makes an excellent fresh tangerine juice that you can only buy now, during winter....

This main dish Tex-Mex inspired salad makes a family-friend supper that’s teaming with texture and flavor. Crunchy vegetables and sweet corn pair with a tangy, cilantro-flecked dressing. It’s tossed with chicken thighs dredged in old-school taco seasoning mix and cooked in a hot skillet. Crunchy tortilla chips and salty Cotija cheese help the whole thing come together. It’s a crowd-pleasing dish that runs on the lighter side, a perfect warm weather meal....

Making cold brew at home is technically very easy, and two kids ago I would have convinced you that I loved every minute of loading my Toddy and patiently waiting for the cold brew magic to happen. Now I am much older and wiser, and fussing with those messy coffee grinds is just not fun, nor easy anymore. Enter: the Cold Brew Coffee Bags from Trader Joe’s. Not to be dramatic or anything, but this product has seriously changed my life....

But given the wide array of shapes, sizes, and styles that are available, why wouldn’t you stop to consider what kind of sink you’ll be using? From the trendy farmhouse sinks to a copper basin that will age gracefully with your kitchen journey, an excellent sink can complete the look of your kitchen and prove invaluable to everyday life. As you’ll see with our top pick, the BLANCO Diamond Silgranit Super Single Undermount Kitchen Sink, sinks can come with a lot of surprising features you didn’t know you wanted—like scratch-resistance....