How to Cook Fresh Green Beans

Learn how to cook fresh green beans perfectly every time! Serve them as a side dish, or add them to your favorite green bean recipes.

Nearly all of my fresh green bean recipes begin with blanching the beans. If you ask me, everyone should learn this method for how to cook green beans. It’s quick and easy, and it yields beans that are vibrant, crisp-tender, and not at all mushy. They’re perfect for serving as a side dish or adding to salads and sandwiches. Heck, they even make a great green bean casserole! Below, you’ll find a step-by-step guide to how to cook fresh green beans, as well as my favorite green bean recipes. They include ideas for Thanksgiving, summer picnics, and dinners all year…

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How to Cut a Pomegranate

Learn how to cut a pomegranate like a pro! Plus, find delicious pomegranate recipes to showcase this vibrant, juicy, feel-good fruit.

fall

Who else loves pomegranates?! As soon as these vibrant, ruby red fruits appear at the grocery store each fall, Jack and I start eating them like crazy. We can’t get enough of their sweet/tart flavor and their juicy, bursty texture. I sprinkle the seeds over desserts, salads, and even dips, while Jack eats them by the spoonful as a snack! But…how do you cut a pomegranate fruit, anyway? If you’re asking that question right now, you’re not alone. Learning how to cut a pomegranate can seem intimidating, and done the wrong way, it can be a huge mess. Not to…

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Cranberry Sauce

This easy cranberry sauce recipe is tart, lightly sweet, and scented with orange. Ready in 15 minutes, it's a classic, delicious holiday side dish!

fall / side dishes

Meet my best cranberry sauce recipe! Easy to make with 5 ingredients in under 15 minutes, it’s delectably tart, not too sweet, and studded with whole cranberries. I’m not a turkey eater, and I still spoon this sauce all over my Thanksgiving plate—it’s just that good. This homemade cranberry sauce is an updated version of a recipe I shared a few years ago. I’ve added more orange juice and zest for bright, fruity depth of flavor and shortened the cook time, which is 1) convenient and 2) means that more cranberries stay intact. If you ask me, their bursty texture…

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Mashed Cauliflower

This creamy mashed cauliflower recipe is an easy, delicious low carb side dish! Roasted garlic and a little butter fill it with rich, nutty flavor.

fall / side dishes

When I asked Jack to taste this mashed cauliflower recipe, I told him it was mashed potatoes. Call me cruel, but I wanted his honest opinion. He loves mashed potatoes more than anyone I know! He wasn’t completely fooled (“I was standing next to you when you bought the cauliflower…”), but he did happily enjoy bite after bite. Since then, he’s devoured several bowls of this mashed cauliflower and accidentally called it “mashed potatoes” more than once. I’ll take it! In the past, I’ve made cauliflower mashed potatoes with a mix of potatoes and cauliflower. But this year, I decided…

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Creamy Butternut Squash Pasta

This butternut squash pasta is healthy, comforting, and delicious! Roasted squash, sage, and thyme fill the creamy sauce with cozy autumn flavor.

fall / dinner

The first time I made this butternut squash pasta sauce, Jack couldn’t stop talking about it for days. “That sauce!”, he kept saying. “That sauce!” Of course, I teased him for it, but if I’m being totally honest, I was completely smitten with it too. Looking at this butternut squash pasta, you might expect it to taste like mac and cheese. But don’t be fooled. The creamy sauce is rich and nutty, with bold autumn flavor from herbs like sage and thyme. Because it’s so flavorful and complex, this butternut squash pasta would make a show-stopping vegetarian main dish at a special…

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Sautéed Broccoli

Learn how to sauté broccoli like a pro! This easy sautéed broccoli recipe is a light, healthy side dish or delicious addition to pastas, bowls, and more.

side dishes

I’ll say it: I don’t cook sautéed broccoli often enough. I don’t know why, but whenever I have broccoli on hand, my first impulse is to roast it. But a few weeks back, I was making this butternut squash pasta for dinner, and I needed a quick and easy side dish to pair with it. I chopped up a bunch of broccoli and cooked it on the stove with lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic. The broccoli florets came out vibrant green and tender, while the stalks kept a nice al dente bite. It was so simple, flavorful, and refreshing…

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Pumpkin Bars

These easy pumpkin bars are super moist, perfectly spiced, and slathered in tangy cream cheese frosting. What more could you want in a fall treat?

vegan / fall

If you’re looking for a fun, festive, and sweet-but-not-too-sweet treat to make for Halloween, this easy pumpkin bars recipe is just the thing for you! It’s based on the pumpkin bread recipe that I make every fall. Like the bread, these bars are moist, tender, and filled with pumpkin spice flavor. UNlike the bread, they’re topped in a rich, tangy cream cheese frosting, which really highlights the warm spices inside them. On cool fall afternoons, they’re the perfect treat to pair with a coffee or tea. But heads up: these pumpkin bars are seriously addictive. Eat one, and you’ll have…

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Vegan Frosting

This vegan frosting recipe is perfect for cakes, bars, cookies, and more! With just 4 ingredients, it's sweet, creamy, tangy, and super easy to make.

cooking basics

The next time you need to dress up cookies, bars, or cake, make this vegan frosting recipe! Made with just 4 ingredients, it’s an easy way to turn everyday baked goods into special occasion treats. Want to transform a simple carrot cake into a birthday-worthy layer cake? Make this vegan frosting! Wish that your muffins were a little more like cupcakes? This vegan frosting can help with that too. This recipe is my plant-based riff on classic cream cheese frosting, so its flavor is rich, sweet, and tangy. I especially love it on my vegan carrot cake and pumpkin bars,…

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Wheat Berry Salad

Roasted squash and shallots fill this wheat berry salad with sweet and savory autumn flavor. Serve it as a side dish, or make it ahead for lunch.

fall / salads

I can’t think of a better way to start the week than by sharing this wheat berry salad recipe with all of you! I try not to play favorites when it comes to recipes, but this one is something special. It’s that rare sort of dish that really can do it all. Make it on a Sunday for lunches all week, or serve it as a side dish at your Thanksgiving dinner. No matter when you eat it, I think you’ll savor every bite. Wheat berries may not be the trendiest grain these days, but if you try them here,…

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Apple Cake

This easy apple cake recipe is the perfect fall treat! Moist, tender, and warmly spiced, it's a wonderful dessert, breakfast, or afternoon snack.

fall / baking

This easy apple cake recipe is simple and delicious—the perfect treat for a crisp fall day. The batter comes together in one bowl, and it bakes up into a moist, tender cake that’s delicious for dessert, breakfast, or an afternoon snack. It’s packed with fresh apples, and brown sugar and cinnamon fill it with rich, spiced flavor. On a gray afternoon, nothing lifts my spirits like a slice of this apple cake. The recipe comes from Yossy Arefi’s cookbook Snacking Cakes: Simple Treats for Anytime Cravings, a gorgeous collection of 50 snacking cake recipes that are easy to make and acceptable to…

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15 Fresh Beet Recipes

Don't underestimate beets! They might be a humble root veggie, but these fresh beet recipes prove just how versatile and delicious they can be.

fall / favorites

One of my many missions in life is to create fresh beet recipes that will win over even the biggest beet skeptics. Luckily, Jack has given me ample practice over the years. When we first met, he wouldn’t come near a beet, let alone taste one. But with time (and only a little trickery), I’ve gotten him to try and enjoy a host of beet recipes. Just last week, he devoured an entire beet salad at dinner, proclaiming how much he loved it with every bite. So if you’re still on the fence about beets, I get it. Their earthy…

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Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.