You can also sink into summer vibes with an easy little feast. Grill some peppers and toast thick slices of country style bread to douse with olive oil while you’re at it. Then set the table with olives, capers, cheese, a little charcuterie if you like, and some ice-cold rosé. Now that has lazy summer written all over it. 5 Ingredients + 15 Minutes for These Grilled Peppers! Grill the peppers directly on the hot oiled grill grates until their skins blacken and wrinkle and the flesh softens....

The cross-hatch pattern on top is the defining touch for a peanut butter cookie. One look and you know what the cookie is, right? Who Invented the Peanut Butter Cookie? The peanut butter cookie recipe that most resembles modern peanut butter cookies, and introduced the now familiar cross-hatch pattern, first appeared in Ruth Wakefield’s Toll House Tried and True Recipes in 1936. Over the years, similar recipes followed, including Betty Crocker’s peanut butter cookie recipe....

Zucchini at this stage hardly needs any adornment. I like to cut my zucchini into thin coins and toss them in a hot skillet with some oil until they start to turn golden-brown. That’s it! With only six ingredients and about 15 minutes of your time, you have a beautiful vegetable dish for your summer table. How to Slice the Zucchini I like to use a mandoline to slice the zucchini into thin, uniform circles, but you can also use a food processor with a slicing blade or your chef’s knife....

Let’s start with the French bread. It’s magic—soft, chewy, and everything you want in sandwich bread. The bread is stuffed with crispy cornmeal crusted fish, fresh chopped lettuce, thick tomato slices, dill pickles, and a remoulade sauce that has all of the spice and some texture from celery and relish. A sandwich that tastes fresh, with both crispy and creamy elements? Sign me up! The best part is, this is easy enough to make on a weeknight but also fancy it up for the weekend get together!...

Or perhaps it’s because while our bloodline is Chinese, my mother was born and raised in Vietnam, and my father in Indonesia. The actual sharing of food with the family was more important than any of the other practices. As a child, Chinese New Year meant large family gatherings with my mother’s side of the family, where there would be several dishes including dumplings, noodles, whole steamed fish, and spring rolls if we were lucky....

While corn on the cob is probably the purest way to enjoy the seasonal vegetable, it’s also nice to turn it into a quick and easy main meal. This creamy pasta keeps fresh sweet corn front and center where it belongs. A simple sauce of corn, cream, garlic, shallot, and Parmesan comes together very quickly, with red pepper flakes adding a touch of heat and fresh lemon and parsley keeping things bright....

Arguably the best martini is one in which a good amount of a fairly decent dry gin makes just a touch of room for a good dry white vermouth. Add a single dash of orange bitters and you can practically call it a day. The vermouth amplifies and brightens of the gin with some acidity and sweetness, and the gin gives structure and body to the vermouth. Gin’s characteristic botanical notes and high-proof spirit are balanced by the flavor and acidity (and sometimes sweetness) of the vermouth....

Why Is It Called a Godfather? While the creator of this drink is lost to cocktail history, bartenders and drink historians tend to agree that the Godfather was named after the popular movie and novel (based on its initial appearance on menus in the early 1970s). At one point, there was a story floating around that the Godfather was actor Marlon Brando’s favorite drink, but that rumor was quietly put to rest....

But here we are, and I couldn’t be more pleased to share this recipe with you from my friend Ree Drummond’s new cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: A Year of Holidays. Fresh green beans are slowly cooked with bacon, onions, and tomatoes, until just done, which takes about an hour, more or less. Ree says this is one of her family’s favorite Thanksgiving recipes and I can see why! They’re absolutely delicious, and super easy to make....

Tender as it is, pork tenderloin on its own isn’t the most flavorful of pork cuts. But it lends itself to all sorts of spice rubs, in this case herbes de Provence, a mixture of herbs typical of the south of France. The mix I’m using includes thyme, rosemary, tarragon, and lavender. The floral notes of the herbs work great with both the peaches and the pork, and act as a flavor bridge between the two....

Add some ham, a spoonful of tomatoes, and a side of toast, and this makes a perfect breakfast! Baked eggs and ham is not from Dr. Seuss, though they’re cute enough to have been! Dip your spoon into the soft yolk of the egg and after a few bites, you’ll find the ham in the bottom of the dish. It adds a smoky note, underscored by fire-roasted canned tomatoes. Before you bake the eggs, add a teaspoon of cream on top of each egg....

Most importantly, winter demands stick-to-your-ribs chicken stew that warms you from the inside out. Video: How to Make Roasted Vegetable and Chicken Stew Winter in the Midwest Calls for Stew I live in an area of the country where winter temperatures regularly drop to 30 degrees below freezing. Toss in wind howling over the barren farm fields that surround my home and it’s not uncommon to reach those “feels like” temperatures of -20°F or worse, depending on the year....

One time when George came to visit my family in Carmichael, I put him to work, showing me the way he makes his rye bread. What Is Rye Bread? Rye bread is simply bread that is made with rye flour. Rye has an earthy flavor, and using more or less of it in combination with other flours a loaf will give it more or less of that flavor. Rye bread is often made with additions like molasses and cocoa powder, which add color and flavor....

What Is Hot Smoked Salmon? Hot smoked salmon is salmon that is cured and then smoked with heat so that it’s fully cooked. You’re likely more familiar with cold smoked salmon, which is cured and smoked without heat so that it doesn’t cook. The latter is sliced thin and most often enjoyed on a bagel with cream cheese. Hot smoked salmon, however, looks like a cooked fillet of salmon and can be flaked in a similar manner....

Freezing bread is so easy! Do it and you’ll be rewarded with a slice that tastes very close to the way it did the same day you pulled it out of the oven. How Long Will Bread Last in the Freezer? When the bread is wrapped well, it will last in the freezer for up to 6 months. If you plan to use it more quickly, maybe within a few weeks, you can sometimes get away with storing the loaf in a freezer-safe bag....

When you use frozen green beans in recipes, you don’t have to hide them among other vegetables in a soup or beef stew; they can be the star of a side dish just as easily as fresh green beans during summer! Can I Freeze Raw Green Beans or Do I Need to Blanch Them? First of all: freeze green beans that are as fresh as possible. Make sure that there are no deep blemishes on the skin that could indicate that they are beginning to go bad....

Shellfish are made for live-fire cooking. The shells provide protection from the heat of the grill and act as a container to concentrate their rich flavor. When you grill shellfish, the reward is leaps and bounds over the effort! Grilling Prep Before you throw a lobster tail or some shrimp on the grill, here’s what to do to get ready: Buy the freshest shellfish possible. Do everything you can to find the freshest shellfish possible....

I remember as a kid looking into the fridge and seeing a jar of solid white stuff and wondering what it was. When my mother told me it was bacon fat, well that somewhat grossed me out for a while, for decades actually. It wasn’t until I got into cooking again in my 40s, that I gained a new appreciation for this readily available, highly flavorful cooking fat. Just last week my mother used a little bacon grease to cook up some spring peas....