When you’re cooking on the go — whether you’re roughing it in nature or testing the limits of your Airbnb kitchen — it’s smart to think simple. Do go for these three-ingredient roasted potatoes; maybe save the two-day pasta sauce for when you’re in your kitchen at home.

But simple doesn’t have to mean boring — especially if you have a spice kit on hand. The right spices can take a meal from tasting so-so to great. Of course, the right spices for you might not be the right spices for me. It all depends on what flavors you love and what you tend to cook at home.

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It’s that special time of year when we make doubly sure our pantries are stocked with multiple cans of pumpkin purée. It’s an essential ingredient in getting our seasonal pumpkin fix; we use it in everything from pies and muffins to soup and chili.

Which begs the question: What exactly is in canned pumpkin purée? It sounds simple, but what’s inside just might surprise you.

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There’s science behind the logic of noodle slurping. First, you get more taste from the eating method, and second, it’s just wildly fun to do. Unfortunately, in many social circles, it’s not polite to slurp your food — even noodles. But Nissin, the maker of Cup Noodles, has found a way around that. Want to see how it works?

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As a single parent, there are very few foods that I make just for myself. Cooking is, more often than not, about making sure my three kiddos have something homemade in their bellies. If they don’t like it, they probably won’t eat it (or they’ll eat it, but grumble about it).

This is why I almost never make cheesecake. I love it, but my kids do not. I know that if I made one, I’d be responsible for eating the whole thing and that’s a lot of pressure! Recently, though, I gave into my craving for this sweet and tangy dessert, and let me tell you: It was totally worth it.

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I can’t live without ginger paste. It’s the base for my cilantro chutney, a key element in one of my favorite cups of chai, and a staple ingredient in my potstickers and strawberry-rhubarb jam. So when a simple kitchen task like grating ginger on a microplane results in gashed fingers, I get a little annoyed. For one, it really hurts, and it also ruins a perfectly good pile of grated ginger.

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Let’s get one thing straight: As adults, we might be too old to go trick-or-treating, but we’ll never be too old to eat Halloween candy.

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Save the tricks for another time — this year Halloween is all about the treats. From homemade candy corn and adorable candy spiders, to jack-o-lantern sandwich cookies and a graveyard dirt cake, these 15 sweet recipes are perfect for kids and adults alike.

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Halloween is here and it’s time to turn up the campy factor. We can’t think of a better way to do that than by dressing up your drinks!

In this collection of spooky cocktails and punches, the Halloween kitsch is dialed all the way up — because what other time of year gives you the green light to shoot glow-in-the dark gin-and-tonic jello shots, serve a boozy swamp punch, or sip on a tropical pitcher drink that looks like a giant candy corn?

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I’ve been reviewing kitchen equipment for more than 30 years and I’ve seen it all, from potato-peeling mitts (fuhgettabout ’em) to cooking robots (for those who don’t actually like making dinner). It takes a lot to impress me, and yet this month at the Smart Kitchen Summit in Seattle, I saw something that made me think, I want that in my own kitchen!

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The real gift of pumpkin season is what’s hiding inside: the (all-too-often-discarded) seeds. When toasted in the oven with a little olive oil and some salt, the soft seeds from inside pumpkins turn into the crunchiest, savory snack of the season. They certainly make sticking your hand inside a squishy pumpkin worth the hassle, anyway. Here’s the simplest, easiest method for cleaning pumpkin seeds and roasting them in the oven.

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