(Image credit: Joe Lingeman)

Roasted red peppers (or any form of bell peppers, for that matter) are easily one of my husband’s least favorite things. When served this pasta, however, he practically inhaled it. Leave it to heavy cream and cheese to solve all problems.

Blend a jar of roasted red peppers into a classic alfredo sauce and you not only improve on the peppers themselves (which can often be slimy and uninspiring straight from the jar), but you also improve on the sauce itself, giving it a rich, smoky sweetness and the prettiest red-orange hue.

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It’s hard to get motivated to clean the kitchen. There’s Netflix to be watched, and Instagram to be checked, and honestly has anyone ever felt truly inspired to scrub the floor? The problem is, if you procrastinate too much on the cleaning, it turns into a really big chore that can take hours to accomplish. So the key is to figure out a happy medium — the least amount of time you can spend on cleaning to be effective and not get burned out either.

We’ve discovered that the magic number is, wait for it, 20 minutes.

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There are countless apple cakes in Germany, but this one, in which a rather plain batter rises up and bakes around sliced apples, has to be one of the most popular. Cakes like these are often called Mittwochskuchen (Wednesday cakes) because they can easily be made during the week when time is short.

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I love food — cooking it, eating it, and sharing it with others. Sometimes, though, my enjoyment of food can feel like an act of defiance. With so many complex issues bundled up in the act of eating — from health to body image to gender — it can be intimidating to just sit down and really relish a meal.

When I started a food blog in 2011, I knew I wanted to infuse some of that chin-up attitude into my writing. Every food blog needs a snappy name, and I wanted mine to capture the joy I find in food even when it feels complicated.

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There is still plenty of summer to be had, even though the calendar says Labor Day is approaching much faster than I’d like it to be. So I am soaking up every little bit of the season in these lingering weeks of August. Aside from beach days and picnics on my agenda, there are these 15 recipes. Each of them — whether they are dinners, snacks, desserts, or drinks — are celebrations of summer, so there is no arguing that they need to be checked off my list before September arrives.

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Getting kids to try new foods is simply an exercise in marketing. Case in point: When I made falafel for dinner one night, I called them chickpea nuggets instead of falafel and my children gobbled them right up. They asked for chickpea nuggets again and it got my mind churning with an idea for an actual chickpea nugget recipe — one with all the flavors and textures of chicken nuggets, but baked and egg-free.

These chickpea nuggets look like chicken nuggets, but are vegan and require only six pantry staples.

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Food waste is a global problem. To spotlight the issue, Anthony Bourdain has a new documentary — Wasted!: The Story of Food Waste — focusing on the matter.

Slated to have a theatrical and video-on-demand release on October 13, the 90-minute film is directed by Anna Chai (The Mind of a Chef and The Layover) and Nari Kye (The Mind of a Chef and No Reservations), and produced by the team behind Bourdain’s popular CNN series Parts Unknown.

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(Image credit: @kindsnacks)

An art installation in New York City’s Times Square is making a statement about the sugar consumption of American children. It’s conceptualized and executed by KIND Snacks, and reportedly went up Tuesday morning before 5 a.m.

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Experiencing food is a multi-sensory affair. It’s not just about taste and flavor profile, you know. Equally important are aroma, visual aesthetic, and the auditory experience. If you’re skeptical on the latter, then know that there’s an entire world for individuals with Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (or ASMR) who enjoy specific food sounds, and there are tons of videos to prove it.

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(Image credit: Trader Joe’s)

Cauliflower crusts are all the rage these days. They’re made from vegetables, after all, and are a low-carb option for those looking to cut back or who can’t eat gluten. Trader Joe’s brought a pre-made cauliflower pizza crust to its supermarkets earlier this summer, which quickly gained cult-favorite status, and now they’re going the extra mile. The grocer is back with a ready-to-bake gluten-free cheese pizza featuring a cauliflower crust.

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