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A Rich, Chocolatey Banana Bread Dear banana bread lovers, putting chocolate chips in your banana bread is like having your bananas and chocolate go on a date. Lovely and sweet, yet still separate and distinct. After a while both want something more—a merging of wills, a commitment! Well, if chocolate and banana were to marry, this would be the result—a richly chocolate banana bread, infused with cocoa, speckled with chocolate chips, with warm hints of butter, vanilla, and allspice....

As I grew up and became interested in baking, I quickly gravitated to pie. Since those early days messing around in the kitchen, I’ve made hundreds of pies, many of them pecan. I’ve experimented with different recipes using molasses, dates, and brown rice syrup, but I keep coming back to my mother’s recipe. While I’ve put my own spin on it by adding chocolate and bourbon, the base of this pecan pie remains the same and couldn’t be simpler....

Bruschetta is the perfect lazy summer dinner—it requires less than 30 minutes (from start to finish) and I never use more than five ingredients (not including pantry staples like butter, salt, and pepper). And the form is extremely flexible; I can top the toasted bread with any seasonal vegetables I’m craving or to use up whatever I have in my refrigerator or pantry. Your Bruschetta Can Be Topped With More Than Just Tomatoes Many people probably think of bruschetta as small pieces of bread topped with chopped tomato, but the form is actually far more flexible....

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You hear it before you see it: the sound of someone’s laugh being drowned out by ice hitting a cold glass. The hot hiss of food hitting the grill, the scrape of a peel taking homemade pizza out of a wood-burning oven. You see long tables stretched out lazily in the sun-spattered yard, pockets of seating areas asking to be filled. Tucked in the corner, you’ll find a small pool, its glassy exterior waiting to be disrupted....

This bowl is packed with healthy Mexican-inspired ingredients such as black beans, corn, tomatoes, and lettuce, all served on top of rice with a spicy cilantro dressing. Let’s Talk About That Spicy Cilantro Dressing Speaking of that dressing, this spicy cilantro dressing couldn’t be simpler to make, but its flavor is complex: heat comes from a jalapeño, acid from the lime and apple cider vinegar, and a fresh, herbal taste from the cilantro....

A good punch mixes together spirits, juice, and spices in a communal bowl with a ladle for filling up the cups. Guests serve themselves, and you can relax and enjoy the night as the glamorous doyenne you know you are. A Punch With Holiday Spirit This punch is a particular favorite of mine. It brings together winter flavors such as cranberry, orange, and cinnamon in a delightful drink that leaves you glowing with cheer....

This is a reliable recipe you can use in a pinch (when you don’t have time to run to the grocery store and guests are arriving at your backyard BBQ in less than an hour.) This ketchup is a balance of sweet, salty, and most of all, a little sour from the vinegar. We don’t want a cloying dollop of sugary tomatoes or complicated spices. Ketchup is one of those condiments you can depend on, so this is a super straight forward version that will get the job done....

My freezer is jammed to the gills—and not only with normal things like frozen fruit and chicken sausage, but also with the random bits of food that one tends to collect as a professional food writer and recipe tester. (Witness: several cups of unused rugelach filling, enough frozen whipped cream to last for months, and more Thanksgiving turkey than you need to know about.) This is all to say that I have learned a trick or two regarding Freezer Tetris and how to maximize space....

Unfortunately, peeling tomatoes can be more complicated than a typical vegetable. If you try to use a vegetable peeler for the task, you will often lose more flesh than you might like. There are other ways, too, such as microwaving or freezing tomatoes; both approaches seem simple enough, but the former can unevenly heat the fruit while the latter takes too long. So, what’s the best way to peel a tomato?...

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Mango chutney is easy to make! And a great way to take advantage of mangoes when they are in season and plentiful at the market. A Sweet Chutney With Notes of Spice This chutney is spiced with ginger, mustard seeds, garlic, and red chili pepper flakes. It gets its tangy-ness from the acidity in the mangoes and added vinegar, and it gets its sweetness from the mangoes, raisins, and sugar....

Mexican Chicken Casserole This Mexican Chicken Casserole is the answer to that age old question, “Mom, what’s for dinner?” When I am flat out of ideas, I know I can always come back to this warm, hearty, and delicious recipe. Even our pickiest eaters gobble it up! The chicken simmers all afternoon in the slow cooker, then the rest of the ingredients come together in a snap! Serve with a side salad, chips and guacamole or some fruit and you have a meal that everyone loves!...

This Paleo hot chocolate is high on the cocoa content, lower on sugar. It’s sweetened with dark amber maple syrup and gets a flavor boost from espresso powder. Make a double batch of the cocoa syrup base and store it in the fridge so you can have truly great hot chocolate in the time it takes to heat up some milk! For the milk component of this hot chocolate, use any type you like....

For some reason, saffron is a spice that sort of tastes like soap to me. Not a big fan. But, I’ll try just about anything once, and in this case, thank goodness. I couldn’t stop eating this saffron rice! Elegant and Simple Browned in clarified butter, with cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves, cooked in a saffron infusion, and tossed with nuts and raisins, this rice is the bomb. Kerissa came over the other day to make it with me....

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Some pan-seared fish can be on the table in the same amount of time it takes to set the table. But if you’re apprehensive about flipping fillets or being left with a lingering smell, baking fish is a great alternative. High-quality fish won’t have a strong fishy odor, but it’s worth noting that the tilapia here is mild in both aroma and flavor. The fillets are easy to handle, and they bake in about 30 minutes....

Shrimp Spring Roll Recipe If there are Shrimp Spring Rolls on the appetizer menu, then I am ordering them. I love the fresh, bright flavors and the crispy crunch of the veggies. Of course, I also love the peanut dipping sauce. I always saw them as a special treat to only have when I was eating out. But, I never realized how easy it was to make them at home! Now that I know how to make these, they are honestly on my weekly lunch rotation at home....