The Washington Post

If you’ve had just one or maybe two minestrones in your life, you might be excused for thinking that they’re always the same — summer vegetables, say, with tomatoes and beans and tiny pasta. But the beauty of this Italian soup is that it is many things to many people, and it varies widely by…

Winter tempts us to roast everything — even fruit. Roasted fibrous apples or almost-ripe pears fill crostatas and crisps, turn up next to meat and game, or get added (sometimes clumsily) to salads.

Associated Press

It’s Jan. 8. Have you already ditched your totally unrealistic, pie-in-the-sky New Year’s resolutions?

This salad offers just the bright spot needed on a gray winter’s day. It’s healthfully aligned with most New Year’s resolutions, but in a way that feels like a fresh celebration rather than a penance. It not only nourishes — it crunches, bursts and pops!

From early December through Jan. 1 (or beyond, depending on how fervently you hang on to the holidays), the pop of a Champagne or sparkling wine cork is a welcome and frequent sound. Fizzy wine is just the most festive of drinks, whether sipped straight up in a flute or mixed into cocktails.…

I’m sure it’s my Texas upbringing, but I never trust a chili recipe that doesn’t pack some heat. Generally, I’m not as much of a purist about the dish as I once was; moving to a plant-based diet will do that to you, especially when it comes to something as meat-heavy as a traditional chile c…

There seems to be little that Americans can agree on these days when it comes to current events, but politics is far from the only arena where we’re divided. Even in the food world, tribalism rears its head. I prefer to focus on what unites rather than divides us. Still, when it comes to mus…

Breakfast bakes are a holiday morning mainstay for good reason. They have a special-event quality to them, standing out as something you wouldn’t necessarily whip up on an average Wednesday. They are prepped the night before, and so offer the cook a relaxed morning. They can feed a house ful…

The Washington Post

To say my taste in food growing up leaned mild over spicy would be an understatement. Case in point: our regular trips to our local Chinese spot. While most of my family opted for the hot-and-sour soup, I stood alone on wonton island.

Even nowadays, some people think tofu is good for only a few select treatments. I love crispy cubes of roasted tofu as much as the next vegetarian. But that’s not the only way to cook it, nor the only set of qualities I’m going for. I also like crumbling it into a pan, spicing it up and serv…

An individual grain of fonio is tiny, like a speck of sand. But this humble, mostly unknown grain has a massive mission: Stimulate the economy in sub-Saharan Africa, undo the lingering effects of colonization — and save the planet, just maybe.

Decades from now, when historians look back at this year, they will refer to it as 2019 A.P., for “anno pullam” rather than “anno domini.” Because this, without question, was the Year of the Chicken Sandwich. Apologies to the deities who have been watching the fast-food poultry shenanigans t…

Special To The Washington Post

This is not the airy, sugary kind of cake you’d typically stick a candle in for birthdays — this cake satisfies in a completely different way.

The Washington Post

I know it’s the holiday season; the calendar assures me of this. The ornaments appearing in my office’s cubicle warren assure me of this. The traffic in the grocery store parking lots — full of drivers seething with goodwill as they careen into hotly contested slots, signaling their merry ju…

Family Features

Dips, in general, are perfect party starters because they get everyone mingling and allow guests to nibble without having to put down their drinks. But when a dip is just out of the oven, bubbling and browned, it brings a whole other level of excitement to the room.

Edible gifts are my favorite to give — and to get. Among those I like to make around the holidays, candies are at the very top of the list. Most have a longer shelf life than cookies, meaning a few hours spent now and those goodies will still be giftable at the end of the month, when your ne…

This holiday season, you could fashion a cheese plate with a curated selection of pricey items you deliberated on long and hard. Or you could take the safer but no less dazzling route: Grab an everyday cheese you know you like and transform it into a stand-alone centerpiece. With a few drizz…

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but if you’re not careful in the kitchen, loved ones could end up sick.

I don’t have many fond memories of school cafeteria lunches. There are two main reasons for that. One, my mom packed my lunch most of the time, and two, when I did partake in what was on the menu, it was pretty abysmal. There was one shining exception, however: the rolls.

Root vegetables are synonymous with fall — well, some of them anyway. Carrots, sweet potatoes and beets get the most love and adoration. But what about some dark horses? I’m talking about turnips, rutabagas, parsnips and parsley root.

Two local entrepreneurs have built their businesses through some unique and interesting foods: caramel apples and cranberry sauce.

Thanksgiving leftovers can be either a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective. The good: There’s a whole lot of food that you’ve already cooked. The bad: You don’t feel like taking the trouble to reinvent the extras before you get tired of them.

These little cups each cradle a perfect portion of creamy, cinnamon-scented, whipped sweet potato, which gets topped with a crunch of brown-sugar-kissed pecans. They are just the thing to satisfy an afternoon sweet craving, cap a cozy dinner or curl up with at night in your PJs and fuzzy slippers.

Whoever coined the phrase “It’s all gravy” really knew what they were talking about. Sure, the other parts of many of our Thanksgiving meals — the turkey, the pies, the rolls — are worth singing about. But I’ve learned that the gravy can easily turn into the star of the show.

If you have small group for Thanksgiving and would rather not spend the entire day in the kitchen, you could go the prepared food route. But then you lose a central pleasure of the holiday — a home-cooked harvest meal. Besides, from my experience, takeout turkey dinners tend to be expensive …