ArcaMax

Lemon bars are deliciously sweet (and tart!) for Mother’s Day. For bright citrus flavor, successful lemon bars depend on ample amounts of fresh lemon juice, yes, but also a generous amount of lemon zest, which provides round, floral notes. We used four lemons for our lemon curd filling, which yielded a whopping 2/3 cup of juice and 1/4 cup of ...Read more

Apricot jam adds just the right amount of sweetness to balance the spicy, salty and umami flavors in this sauce that lightly coats tender pieces of pork and crisp green beans. If gluten is not a concern, soy sauce may be used instead of tamari.

Pork & Green Bean Stir-Fry

Serves 4

Active Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

1/4 cup ...Read more

Papaya is a sweet fruit ripe with vitamins, minerals, and health protecting compounds.

The folklore

The popular tropical treat papaya is native to the warm, humid regions of southern Mexico and Central America. Ancient Mayans, who ate the fruit and used it medicinally for skin problems and other issues, called the papaya tree ...Read more

The other day I was talking to my dentist, who shared his recipe for avocado pesto. Since avocados are rich in healthy fats and fiber, I thought, what a good idea! I wondered how it would be to replace olive oil with avocado and discovered that this adapted Seriously Simple recipe offers a pleasant flavor and satisfying texture.

Pesto is ...Read more

Chives and mint sprigs have been pushing up in the garden for several weeks now. Thankfully, much of this country will see the first skinny, emerald green asparagus spears and tiny, tender peas at local farmers markets soon.

Green is the color of spring itself, especially the green of a perfectly cooked asparagus or pile of sweet peas. The ...Read more

Simple, creamy, and ridiculously delicious, buttercream is what our sweet dreams are made of. This buttercream whips up super fluffy super quickly, and is literally the icing on the cake of any homemade treat. It’s made with simple, real ingredients, like butter and vanilla, and it’s ready in a handful of minutes. It’s time to stop buying ...Read more

I am a sucker for shrimp. I grew up with an uncle who mastered the art of cooking seafood. He made his way from Nayarit, Mexico, to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he is now the chef and owner of homeandleisure/recipes/varietymenu/s-3698009">Read more

When you need to throw something together for a fast and easy weeknight meal, tacos are often a busy cook's first choice.

That's because you can stuff almost anything inside a hard or soft tortilla — including leftovers — top it with some shredded lettuce and/or crunchy veggies, add a generous sprinkling of cheese and feel like a total ...Read more

We can’t help ourselves. We are, after all, merely apes — or at least close enough relatives to share 98.7% of their DNA.

Apes like sugar. So it is only natural that humans, too, are drawn to sugar.

I recently read a long and funny article in the New York Times by Caity Weaver where she made this very argument.

“How My Trip to Quit ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — My Japanese grandmother lived on the opposite coast when I was little. I only met her a couple times, but she would annually send a box of homemade Japanese treats, including red bean-stuffed buns.

As a kid growing up in a New York suburb, these were not exactly something I yearned for. I probably — no, definitely — would ...Read more

Boxed pasta is an easy sell for so many reasons.

For starters, you can find it just about everywhere. Even the tiniest grocery or camp store in the teeniest, out-of-the-way town is bound to stock it.

It's also really easy to prepare (just boil!) and even without a cookbook to guide you, pasta is incredibly versatile, lending itself to sauces ...Read more

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, here's a quick and delightful recipe that you can whip up in under 10 minutes.

This shrimp salad is served in a bowl made from fresh, tender Bibb lettuce — small, round, and crisp, and part of the butterhead variety. I always keep frozen shrimp on hand for a quick meal, as they defrost in just a ...Read more

Let’s admit it, whole wheat pasta is misunderstood.

It’s different from the white, semolina pasta — nuttier, denser and toastier — and delicious when allowed to shine in its own right. Don’t use it as a one-to-one swap; rather, lean into its nutty flavor and grainy texture. It’s a perfect match for savory, earthy and/or oniony ...Read more