This luscious vanilla custard is full of vanilla flavor and can be used for all sorts of desserts. Serve it in your prettiest ramekins, or use a generous spoonful in place of vanilla ice cream with your slice of pie, piece of cake, or bowl of fruit. Layer it with cake for a trifle or fruit for a parfait. Once you learn how to make homemade vanilla custard, you’ll be adding it to all your favorite desserts....

While the word queso is directly translated from Spanish to English as “cheese,” here it refers to a cheese dip, served hot and melty. Queso is ubiquitous in Texas—at restaurants all over the state, it’s served as an appetizer with chips. It can be served straight up or topped with pretty much anything you’d put on nachos—think salsa, hot sauce, jalapeños, cilantro, guacamole, or sliced avocado, pinto or black beans, seasoned taco beef or plant-based meat crumbles....

Everyone dug in with relish, yumming at the delicious flavors—salty Kalamata olives, juicy artichokes, oozy mozzarella, sharp red onions, and sweet yellow bell peppers scattered over a thin blanket of tomato sauce. This recipe is a blueprint for a classic vegetarian pizza, like the one you get from your local casual pizza joint. This colorful and utterly irresistible pizza should get you started on your own path to vegetable heaven....

Named after his love interest, and (spoiler alert) double agent, the original recipe from Bond was as follows: “‘Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon-peel.” If you’re thinking, wow, that sounds boozy? You would be correct. But I updated the recipe to balance out the booze while still keeping it true to its roots....

What to Know about Flaxseed Oil Flaxseed oil is the oil pressed from dried flax seeds. It has many unique properties that work well for more commercial applications, from wood finishers to the manufacturing of linoleum, but in the culinary context it’s used as a finishing, not cooking, oil. Flaxseed oil is not your typical cooking oil and is generally sold in much smaller, 8-ounce bottles, often in the refrigerated section....

Where Does Zabaglione Come From? The Gourmet Sleuth writes, “Zabaglione is said to have been invented in the 16th Century in Florence, Italy in the court of the Medici. This dessert is classified as a ‘caudle’ rather than a custard. A ‘caudle’ is a sauce used as a custard to fill pies or tarts. The original pre-sixteenth century version was a drink made or wine or ale thickened with egg yolks....

You cook the zucchini batons until they are just cooked through, still firm, and gently infused with the flavor of the thyme. The original recipe calls for the zucchini to be cooked for 20 to 30 minutes, which is too long for our tender garden zucchini. My mother tells me that depending on the source and the time in the season, zucchinis can widely vary in toughness. So my advice is to watch it closely and when it is close to being done, take it off the heat....

Perry is a jam maker based in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the owner of Jam According to Daniel. He sells this jam at local farmers markets (his anchor business), at various shops in town, and online. I first met Perry at the farmers market when I bought a jam called Golden Red Raspberry, a magical combination of raspberries, turmeric, ginger, and pepper that’s sweet, bright, earthy, and peppery. It’s easy to get to the bottom of the jar quickly when spread on thick slices of sourdough bread....

These nutrition recommendations come out every five years and are based on reams of scientific data. The tagline this time around is Make Every Bite Count, and it emphasizes nutrient-rich foods with minimal empty calories. While it’s full of fascinating stuff (at least to me!), the document also happens to run nearly 150 pages long. To save you the hassle of wading through every detail, I’ve pulled out the highlights, as well as a dozen recipes to bring good nutrition right to your table....

But vegan baking skills don’t materialize overnight, even if you’ve had years of practice with conventional baking. Trust me, I’ve been there. After transitioning to a vegan diet a few years ago, I had to relearn how to make the basics without dairy milk, butter, or eggs, like the humble but essential chocolate chip cookie. To be honest, it’s a process and I’m still learning. But here are the tips I wish someone would have given me before I unwrapped my first stick of vegan butter....

Here you’ll find a collection of chicken recipes that emphasize ease. Indeed, most will take no more than 30-ish minutes to get from fridge to table because they all start with boneless breasts. Don’t forget this useful tip when working with chicken breasts: Pound your chicken with a rolling pin or mallet. One end of the chicken breast is typically thicker than the other. This sometimes causes one piece of the chicken to cook quicker and come out drier than the other....

There are two kinds of celebratory meals—those that require you to plan ahead, prep, and cook all day long, and those that are so easy and quick that you have time to soak in a warm tub before guests arrive. Pick what works for you. Either will be impressive and delicious! Below I compiled our tried-and-true holiday main dishes. You’ll find recipes for gatherings both intimate and large. Oftentimes our holiday main meals showcase special cuts of meat, so there are lots of crowd-pleasing recipes like chicken, fish, lamb, pork, and beef, but we also have stunning vegetable mains to delight everyone at the table....

These brownies have a kiss of aromatic spices—cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves—the perfect complement to chocolate. They are sweetened with brown sugar, which also pairs perfectly with chocolate. It is Ramadan after all, and these brownies are extra special for those who are fasting. These are not your everyday brownies, though nothing should stop you from baking them every day! A Little Parchment Paper Hack I like to line the baking dish with parchment paper slings....

Remember how Rebekah and I came home for lunch every day from middle school through high school? It was one of the perks of living in town instead of on a farm, like most of my peers. I always enjoyed the brisk five-minute walk to our quiet house, away from the drama and chaos of school. My twin sister and I walked home in the stifling heat of August, through the bone-chilling winters, and every day until the end of the school year....

For those of us who might have any lingering doubts as to how truly easy this sandwich is to make, Alden has prepared a short video on exactly how to make one. (Food Network, watch out!) For more information on apple varieties, check out our Guide to Apples.

It was a lot of work, but I always got first dibs on the freshly made dumplings! Now that I live away from my family, I still try to keep that weekend dumpling-making tradition alive. If you have never made dumplings before, these vegetable and cream cheese baked wontons are a great place to start. The filling comes together quickly and folding the dumplings is quite simple compared to other, more elaborate dumplings....

But if you take the exact same mixture and make it into something bite-sized, it’s instantly more accessible for a kiddo. Like these BBQ Meatloaf Bites, for example! These small meatloaf bites also have the added benefit of being easy to freeze and reheat. And they are the perfect size for a meatball sub. Classic Meatloaf, But Bite-Sized! The base of this recipe is a very standard meatloaf and one that I make often....

Even more overwhelming is the sheer number of tutorials, classes, and websites that give instructions on how to decorate cookies. We sifted through the options to find the best online cookie decorating classes for you. Best Online Cookie Decorating Classes of 2022 Best Overall: Arty McGoo Best for Beginners: Paper Street Parlour Best Free Class: The Bearfoot Baker Best for Those With Basic Skills: SweetAmbs Cookies Best for Virtual Events: Edible Impressions Best Live Class: Arlos Cookies Best Class With a Kit: The Flour Box...

Yes we do break into song occasionally around here. It’s good for you and it warms the soul. What better song to sing than Home on the Range when enjoying an all (North) American buffalo burger? And yes, this is more accurately called a bison burger. For the record we are talking about an American buffalo (bison), and not an Asian buffalo. There used to be just a few American buffalo still alive, but now they are no longer endangered, and enterprising ranchers are raising bison as a leaner alternative to beef....