Cooking

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.

The answer to “What’s for dinner?” usually revolves around the choice of protein, but it doesn’t always have to. While we tend to think of sauces as a condiment or supplement to the food at the center of the plate, a good one can easily be made the star.

There’s nothing like a fried chicken sandwich to put a giant smile on a sandwich lover’s face.

Mardi Gras heralds the start of the Christian Lenten season with its 40 days of prayer and sacrifice culminating in Easter Sunday. Shouldn’t there be a kind of Mardi Gras-style celebration at the end of this long, austere process?

If you’re feeling burned out by your daily cooking routine, you might reflexively try to pare things down, using fewer ingredients and bare-minimum recipes, but cookbook author Jerrelle Guy does the opposite – she adds something. She was able to reclaim her joy and creativity in the kitchen by sprinkling a little extra flair into her meals, tapping what was already in her pantry as inspiration to make everyday food feel special.

What do America’s national parks taste like? In Northern California, perhaps it’s the earthiness of forest mushrooms and sweetness of crab meat. Along the Southern border, maybe the basso of pine nuts and tang of cactus paddles. And in the East, how about … a whole lot of country ham? That delicious thought came up while Nina Elder and Melissa Knific were researching their 2026 book, the ...