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It’s fun to dream, right? For now, I’ll stick with the minimalist system that has (mostly) worked for Ben and me in recent years, which is to grow tomatoes exclusively in our single raised bed and various herbs in a few pots. I say mostly because I’ve only had varying degrees of success with herbs, and cilantro, one of my favorites, has been particularly uncooperative. I recently learned why while chatting with A Way To Garden’s Margaret Roach: I haven’t ever planted cilantro seeds more than once a season....

Kohlrabi once was a vegetable I stared at blankly. Now I seek it out. Last Sunday, I spotted a basket of the alien bulbs at the Barber’s Farm table at the Schenectady Greenmarket, and I bought half a dozen to bring with me to CT so I could make this salad. Yesterday I did the same. Unless you subscribe to a CSA or grow kohlrabi yourself, you may not know kohlrabi very well, if at all—I’ve never seen it in a grocery store....

If you find yourself overloaded with zucchini or summer squash, here’s a great recipe to turn to: fritters! Fritters can made from anything from cabbage to corn. In short, they’re finely chopped or grated vegetables bound by flour and egg. The key to making good fritters lies in finding the balance of egg and flour: too much flour and the fritters can taste gummy; too many eggs, and the fritters will taste, well, eggy; too much of both, and you’ll make pancakes!...

Over the years, more often than not, I’ve made this soup as instructed, without a ham bone and with water alone (as opposed to stock). Every time I make it, I am amazed by the result, by how such basic ingredients — carrots, onions, celery, split peas — can simmer into something so tasty. I am also always amazed, as my mother noted: by how incredibly FILLING this soup is....

I don’t think there is a gadget in my kitchen that gives me more pleasure than the shredder attachment of my food processor. Last night, in an effort to clean out the vegetable bin, I pulled out my favorite tool and began sending my bounty down the shoot. In seconds, one zucchini, one summer squash, a head of broccoli (stem and all), and a block of cheddar cheese disintegrated into perfect little wisps....

Although a chocolate or white chocolate coating is unnecessary, it adds a festive touch: white chocolate pairs especially well with the cranberry and pistachio variety. Chocolate is nice with almond or walnut and coconut. I like using the large white and dark chocolate disks from Nuts to You for the glazes. Regular chips probably work fine, but the Nuts to You chips harden relatively quickly, making the finished biscotti easy to store....

I bet you won’t be able to eat just one of these Urad dal ki pinnie — they’re THAT good! Collectively Urad dal ki pinnie means – round ball-shaped sweets made of Split black lentils, ghee, jaggery, and dry nuts. These little pinnis are similar to atte ki pinni in richness, flavor, and indulgence. I’ve been making these pinnis for quite a few years now, and they are an absolute favorite because they’re- Made with pantry staples Sinfully delicious and irresistible Serve them at an event and will always have people coming back for seconds....

But today, they’re cooking! For Valentine’s Day dinner at home, they’re making this bucatini carbonara with leeks and lemon, an adaptation of a longtime favorite recipe here on AK. If you’re still looking for something to make for dinner tonight, this one couldn’t be simpler to throw together: cook bacon, reserve the fat, use the fat to cook leeks; boil pasta, toss with eggs, fresh lemon juice, grated parmesan, and a little bit of pasta cooking liquid....

Be sure all ingredients are at room temperature. Using milk in place of water will produce a softer crust. Common Substitutes used in Baking 1 cup buttermilk = 1 cup of milk plus 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice. 1 cup low fat or no fat yogurt = 1 cup of buttermilk. 1 teaspoon baking powder = 1/4 teaspoon baking soda plus 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar. 1 tablespoon butter or margarine = 1 tablespoon unsweetened applesauce....

In an effort to figure out what to bake on Christmas morning, I turned to an old standby, buttermilk blueberry breakfast cake, and swapped cranberries for the blueberries, orange zest for the lemon, and increased the sugar a teensy bit. It worked beautifully! Not too sweet, festively studded with cranberries, this cake is a wonderful Christmas morning treat. Best of all, you can prepare the batter the night before and bake the cake in the morning....

My bagel-making experiments began earlier this summer in, of all places, the modestly equipped kitchen of a rental cabin at Lake George. We had just tasted the first good summer tomatoes, found at a farm stand in Bolton Landing, and all at once, all I wanted to eat was a good, toasted bagel, smeared with cream cheese, topped with a beefy tomato slice, sprinkled with sea salt. I’ve longed to find/adapt/create an easy or easy-ish bagel recipe, but past summers have escaped without more than the odd experiment....

A few weeks ago, in the daily cooking newsletter from the NY Times, Kim Severson discussed the joys of cooking with friends, the benefits of learning from others, the potential discoveries that might be made, such as peach and blackberry crisp, “whose luscious secret, borrowed from the pastry chef Nancy Silverton, [is] four tablespoons of butter browned in a saucepan with a vanilla bean poured over the fruit before the sugar and nut topping [goes] on....

In addition to that, this simple yet filling moong beans sprouts salad is super easy to make and completely customizable to your liking. It’s amazingly delicious! I love this sprouts salad so much, and I can eat it every single day for lunch and for dinner too. The best part, sprouted moong is an interesting way to include some nutritious sprouts in your kid’s diet. » Aids digestion. It is tough for some people to digest grains, legumes, and seeds because they are hard on their stomachs....

In recent years, I’ve learned I love yogurt sauce just as much with vegetables — I love how its tang so nicely complements the earthiness of roasted squash, cauliflower, eggplant and others. I love how it turns vegetable side dishes into more substantial entities, meals in their own right. I love how it assumes the flavor and seasonings of whatever vegetables it finds itself with, thinning as it absorbs the excess liquid, ultimately becoming the perfect consistency to mop up with slices of crusty bread....

For our lunch, we spread it onto French bread and made paninis filled with artichoke hearts, golden cherry tomatoes, and fontina cheese; for the children’s dinner, we tossed it with pasta; for our meze-style dinner, we spooned it onto grilled bread, which we ate all evening along with some olives, feta, and various other treats. It was a delicious spread, but this dipping sauce received the most attention by everyone who joined the party....

This baked ziti recipe from Cook’s Country’s Cook It In Cast Iron, has the added bonus of being a one-pot wonder: after you crush the tomatoes with a potato masher (or whisk or spoon), you add the dried pasta and water directly into the pan and simmer everything together until the pasta is cooked and the liquid has evaporated. After a quick pass under the broiler, your one-pan, no-fuss baked ziti is done: crisp noodles, melty cheese, bubbly sauce....

Whether it’s a family dinner or a special occasion, an irresistible bowl of warm or cold Indian kheer is the perfect way to sign off the meal. This one-pot decadent dessert is a sign of celebration as it brings out many different rituals and traditions. Seviyan Kheer, Sabudana Kheer, Makhana Kheer, Badam Kheer, Mango Kheer, and many others. Though known by different names, this dessert’s core taste and flavor lie in three main ingredients: milk, rice, and sugar, which blend into a heavenly dish....

Sabudana namkeen or falahari sabudana namkeen is a quick and easy snack is an ideal fasting recipe. 15 minutes and a handful of ingredients is all it takes to create this delicious snack. RECIPE DETAIL – Sabudana used in this recipe is different from khichdi sabudana. It’s bigger in size and after frying it becomes fluffy. This namkeen is usually a combination of fried sabudana, peanuts and thin potato wafers....

Have you ever salt-roasted beets? Don’t worry: the beets don’t taste overly salty; in fact, they don’t taste salty at all. They taste perfectly seasoned, sweet and earthy with a nice firm texture. I was inspired to blog about this method after reading an article in the March issue of Saveur — all about where to eat in Los Angeles — which offered a recipe for Wolfgang Puck’s beet and goat cheese napoleons, an appetizer served at Spago....

And then an unsettling image flashed through my head: me, hovering over a sauté pan, flipping burgers in my 100-degree kitchen as my guests reveled outside. Did I dare make this vision a reality? How could I not? I’ve always considered burgers one of the hardest things to get right, and this post offered a path to burger domination. I followed the tutorial nearly to a T, and Ben, completely unaware of the experiments I had been conducting, declared it the best burger he’s ever eaten....