Cooking

Are you ready for a huckleberry hunt? Harvesting huckleberries should be a pleasant, joyful experience. To avoid chronic back pain, sprained ankles and painful sunburn, experienced huckleberry pickers dress wisely. They wear shoes with a good grip, strong long pants (blue or other dark-colored jeans are ideal), and a shirt that can tolerate purple batik created by squashed huckleberries.

Just saying the word “pancakes” makes me smile – it’s a food that conjures countless joyful memories. When eating them, I get the same wave of elation I had as a small child with a plate of mini “silver dollars” in front of me at IHOP. The family outings we had there always felt like a thrilling occasion. When I make pancakes at home, I can still feel the pride my sister and I had as tweens making our first totally unsupervised batch together.

Our country’s 250th birthday is this Saturday. That’s not an insignificant achievement. America has the oldest continuous constitutional democracy on Earth. It’s a big deal, so celebrate and enjoy the event, and participate in the local festivities. After all, they’ve taken 250 years to materialize.

My wife Julie and I love huckleberries. Our decadeslong love affair with the treasured fruit of the Northwest forest began shortly after moving to North Idaho from Hawaii back in 1983. We encountered huckleberries for the first time while sightseeing on Gleason Mountain near Priest Lake.

Father’s Day, this Sunday, is set aside to honor the dear ole dads of the world. It’s a good time to express our appreciation for everything our dads have contributed to making our lives better. Take the opportunity to do something special to show Dad your gratitude; perhaps treat him to dinner out or a memorable meal at home.

I decided to give my usual Maryland-style crab cakes a fresh twist by incorporating a vibrant new flavor. A touch of pesto blended into the mayonnaise adds a bright note that complements the sweetness of the crab without overpowering it. Finished with a sprinkle of fresh basil, the cakes feel light, fragrant and perfect for warm weather.

As we approach the season of ice cream carts and icy-cold treats, we had a quandary scheduling Community Cookbook’s summer menus. We could stagger the heat-relieving desserts over the summer months, a balanced approach, or group most of them in a single blowout column near summer’s start so readers could enjoy the treats at their leisure. They’re predicting a hot, dry summer for the Inland Northwest, so we’re going with the blowout, and here it is.

When sisters Reyna and Maritza Vazquez emigrated from Mexico to Austin as teenagers, their first encounter with what was labeled Tex-Mex or Mexican food confused them. Nachos, liquid cheese, enchiladas drowned in red gravy and overstuffed burritos – top of mind when many of us think of Mexican food – were completely foreign to them. In the United States, we tend to get stuck on this limited idea of the cuisine. In reality, though, it is much more varied and healthful. The Vazquez sisters had never even seen these dishes in their native Veracruz, the coastal region famous for its vegetable- and seafood-based dishes.

Today’s recipes will build a delicious dinner around a classic main dish: Kraft Classics Tangy Italian Spaghetti. This dish serves up a generous portion of nostalgia, having been a popular food product back in the 1960s and ’70s. The box contained everything needed to make the dish except for tomato paste. It was a unique product back then, sitting on the grocery store shelves alongside its also-popular sister products, macaroni and cheese and chicken noodles.

How do I best maintain the longevity of my pots and pans?

For years, plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy have tried – and failed – to beat the real thing on price and taste.

The scope of Memorial Day, this Monday, has broadened over the years and now encompasses a variety of activities, often spanning the entire weekend. Of course, it’s a time to remember and honor those who have passed on, especially our military members and veterans. Part of the traditional Memorial Day celebration includes the solemn practice of decorating graves with flags and flowers. Parades and special ceremonies honoring our military personnel and veterans are common.

I remember standing in the kitchen with my mum, lining up jars of pickles on the table, ready to be sealed and carried outside. In winter, our apartment balcony became an extra pantry: a barrel of sauerkraut beside jars of fermented green tomatoes and gherkins, vinegar-pickled bell peppers and bottles of tomato juice.

Every Monday during Mom’s last three years living in her duplex, except for the several Mondays she was out of town, I took her a batch of home-cooked dishes, often the products of my incessant recipe testing. If you’re a Community Cookbook regular, you know that she must have sampled quite a variety of dishes.

Looking for a way to take your baking to the next level? Try rye flour, a sneaky way to add complex flavors, a tender crumb and a little nutrition, especially in sweet baked goods.

Cinco de Mayo is on May 5. It is more than a holiday celebrating a military victory in the distant past or a single culture. At a deeper level, it’s a celebration of the human spirit and of mankind’s quest for freedom and dignity. Cinco de Mayo isn’t just a once-a-year holiday; it’s a process and a state of mind.

Rhubarb, the perennial vegetable with its characteristic red stalks, is primarily available in a short window of spring. It can be baked, pickled, poached or otherwise cooked and still retain the delightfully tart flavor it’s known for. Often, it is paired with sweet strawberries to tame its sharpness.

Spring in the Inland Northwest is an invigorating time of year. The warming temperatures and increasing daylight hours are melting the winter doldrums away. The vast, rolling fields of Eastern Washington and North Idaho are turning green with emerging crops of wheat and other grains, potatoes, lentils and beans. Farmers are fully engaged in the new growing season.