(Image credit: Cambria Bold)

For years I resisted buying a mortar and pestle — how could it really be all that useful in the kitchen, anyway? I feel that way about most non-essentials since I live in a minuscule apartment. Then, finally, after years of grinding my cumin seeds with the bottom of an old saucepan, I gave in and bought a lovely one from a favorite kitchen store. Almost instantly, I was converted. That’s because a mortar and pestle can prepare a whole lot more than I originally thought. Here are 10 things to start.

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Do you have a jar of turmeric languishing in your spice cupboard? Or perhaps you’re looking for ways to add it to your diet in response to all the recent studies indicating its health-promoting and disease-preventing properties. Turmeric has long been a staple in Indian curries as well as in foods like mustard (it provides that golden yellow color!), but there are lots of other ways to eat and drink this spice. Here are seven easy ideas.

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These days, drinking outside the wine bottle doesn’t have to mean a massive headache the next day. Good things come in boxes — promise! And while we fully support pulling out the box o’ wine when friends stop by this holiday weekend, we also get that you may want to dress things up a bit.

Enter: Beso del Sol sangria. Pour it in a pitcher with some ice and sliced fruit and you have yourself a festive holiday weekend sipper. The fact that it’s low in alcohol — 8.5% ABV — is the cherry (or orange wedge) on top.

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If you love the way ripe summer tomatoes and peaches play together, you will simply love this blend of tomato and mango. When combined with serrano chiles, fresh cilantro, and lime juice, you’ll be reaching for the chips and spooning the mild mixture over grilled fish and chicken.

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(Image credit: Casey Barber)

College might feel like a free-for-all some days (okay, some nights and weekends, too), but it comes with a whole set of rules of its own — especially if you’re a budding cook who wants to escape the tyranny of cafeteria salad bars and dorm rules that forbid anything fun like a Hot Pot or toaster oven. (Although, as someone who regularly did the 2 a.m. fire alarm shuffle down four flights of stairs, I understand why that restriction is in place.)

And if you don’t have a car, going off-campus to a real grocery store can be tougher than throwing together a final senior thesis on James Joyce’s Ulysses in relation to Italian Futurism — or maybe that’s just me.

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Perhaps it’s all the time I’ve been spending at the beach, or that I’ve been reading a wonderful new book on sea vegetables, or the fact that seaweed seems so cooling on a hot day, but I’ve been craving seaweed salad in a major way this summer. Recently at a Japanese restaurant I had a seaweed, or kaiso, salad garnished with deep-fried rice crackers, which offered a nice, crispy counterpoint to the tender seaweed. Making my own salad back at home, I came up with a simpler, and healthier, alternative: popped amaranth.

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(Image credit: Marina’s NYC apartment, photographed for Apartment Therapy by Dylan Chandler)

This week we’re delving into some of the trends in drinking — ’tis the season for something cold and alcoholic, right? Not that we need an excuse. Beverage delivery service Minibar (it’s like Seamless for your grown-up drinking needs) has given us some insights into what’s buzzy and boozy, including their “bestselling bottle of all time.” Of course, “all time” is relative, since they’ve only been around for three years, but we were intrigued nonetheless.

Ready to find out the number-one bottle?

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Tips for Choosing and Drinking Red Wine in the Summer

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy )

Today is the last day of August, and although there are still 21 days of summer left, we know they’re going to fly by. School will start back up again (or has already), the days will get cooler, and soon we’ll be preparing for the holidays. Yeah, they’re coming. Ready or not.

So we’re making the most of the season by raising a glass of wine whenever possible. But what to drink?

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(Image credit: Maria Midoes)

This is the part of summer we’ve all been waiting for — when the best tomatoes of the season take over the tables at the market. Of course you’ll want to get your fill or them eaten as is. Along with creamy mozzarella and fresh basil, these tomatoes are the simplest way to perk up that weeknight chicken breast.

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(Image credit: Christine Gallary)

My bookshelves are filled with mostly cookbooks, and I’m inundated with new recipes every day, but as much as I love trying new recipes, there are some classics out there that have been around as long as I have, and for good reason — they’re delicious.

A lot of these recipes are found in the most convenient of places: right on the back of the box or package! No need to copy the recipe down or try to remember where you saw it — just pick up the package and start cooking. Here are some of our favorite back-of-the-box recipes we hope never disappear from the packaging.

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