Feeling lonely and bored, Mike and his wife Zoraida sent out an email to roughly fifty of their neighbors that read, “On the last Sunday of each warm month, starting in April, our yard will be open to you and your kids all afternoon for eating, drinking, playing, soaking in the outdoor tub, and even napping in the hammock or camper if you need to sleep off the hooch!” The night before the first cookout – there have now been two – the couple lay there in dread, certain they’d made an irreversible mistake. But happiness ensued.

Teff, one of the world’s earliest domesticated crops and the grain used to make the traditional Ethiopian bread injera, is our latest infatuation for weeknight cooking. We chose whole grain teff and stone ground teff flour for June because it goes unexpectedly well with summer produce. And these three new spins on familiar recipes are so versatile, you’ll want to adapt them to try in all the seasons.

Cold pasta is a no. Don’t ever heat up pesto. Do not put oil in your cooking water. When it comes to pasta, what are the absolute dos and don’ts? Avid cook and multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi runs down his (extensive!) list, with humor and lots of background.

It’s a beautiful time to share a few of Holly’s current citrus-centric favorites: a labor-intensive but incredibly fun to eat kumquat posset, set right in the kumquat skin; a vegan olive oil cake using whole calamansi; and a mezcal Negroni-inspired granita.

Garnishes might be meant to add balance or create the “perfect bite,” but when they’re treated with care, they holds up on their own; from crunch factor and spice level to brightness and brininess, the small but mighty choices here are designed to stir up your senses.

For years I ignored the dried limes I saw in Middle Eastern markets—just walked right past them. Dusky brown things slightly larger than ping-pong balls, ringed with faint, ghostly stripes, they always seemed vaguely sinister. But a clerk in a local Middle Eastern store mentioned them to me several times, and then one day, when my partner Stephen and I were shopping for other things in a store specializing in spices, he picked up a bag of them and said, “Why don’t you try these? They seem like they’re right up your alley.” So I did—and found one of my new favorite ingredients.

There’s ranch—that hidden dressing mix or bottle you have stashed away for guilty pleasures—and then there’s real ranch, where you unbridle the secret to the telltale tang we know as “ranch.” That essence doesn’t come from liquid buttermilk or even mayonnaise. The surprise ingredient is buttermilk powder. Here, three brand new recipes that let ranch shine.

We were on a mission to find some excellent kitchen tips and tricks, and we did just that, as evidenced here – all paired with recipes that put each tip to good use. Cold butter made room temp, perfectly seasoned meatballs, salads ASAP, easy herb chopping, an easier way to use parchment, making the best use of your broiler, and more.

Picnic night is one of the easiest things to prepare for. During the week, pick up a few fresh supplies: a baguette, thinly sliced pepper salami, cheese, fruit. The rest should straight from your pantry, fridge, and freezer: pickles, artichokes in oil, nuts, hummus. Break out the breadboards and let them do the heavy lifting. Here, some guidelines and many suggestions.

“No, thanks, I don’t like tofu.” It’s usually said with complete certainty by someone who either has never actually tried tofu, or who has tried it but has yet to have it prepared well. And so, after many dinner parties and a bit of experimentation, Ben Saccone — a recent student of Mark’s at Columbia — finalized his recipe: the tofu burger for anyone who thinks they don’t like tofu. If you’re one of that number, try this recipe and get ready to expand your palate and culinary prowess.

Turns out quinoa soaks up non-dairy milks like nobody’s business. The creamy richness rivals butter or cream, and the flavor is both complementary and adjustable — as in our Double-Quinoa Casserole with Asparagus and Dill. The real shock, however, is how well quinoa flour performs in these two sweet and savory baked treats: Quinoa Party Puffs and Quinoa Pecan Sandies.

Recipes that take into consideration things like time, class, income, and sustainability may be few and far between. But they are, we believe, representative of how recipes should start to look. Our partner in this story, the ​Economic Hardship Reporting Project,​ supports independent journalists as they forward fresh narratives about inequality. EHRP’s journalism is then co-published with mainstream media outlets, to help readers understand and address systemic hardship. This piece also appears on Mother Jones.

The cruciferous spotlight has previously been reserved for cabbage’s glory-hogging cousins — svelte and sexy ​Brussels sprouts​, ​cauliflower that can be roasted whole​ and served as a star, ​broccoli​ that is, like the movie, everything everywhere all at once, and ​Savoy​ and ​Napa​, with their interesting textures and shapes. And that doesn’t even touch on the Asian branch of the family, like ​Bok Choy​ and ​Tatsoi​. Plain green cabbage, however, “appeals to a deeper, more primal corner of my psyche than any of its kin,” Adam Ried writes.

Hash browns and home fries and Spanish tortilla are all incredible, but why aren’t there more mashed, smooth, or soupy varieties of potatoes on breakfast menus or brunch spreads? These are underrated and underutilized opportunities to get potatoes on the breakfast plate in ways that incorporate the same warming qualities as soft scrambled eggs. Here, three of your new favorite ways to eat potatoes.