Parties

Why build 12 separate sandwiches when you could make one?

Is there anything more Southern than sweet tea and bourbon? Well, what if you were to mix these two together to make the ultimate Southern sipper?

When I decided to host a casual yet elegant weekend brunch for my book club, I knew immediately that the main dish would be a quiche. For me, quiche is the ultimate special brunch treat, combining flaky, buttery crust with a rich yet light egg custard studded with flavorful mix-ins — in this case, sweet roasted cherry tomatoes, fragrant basil and tangy bits of goat cheese.

The ultimate summer refreshment.

The ultimate mash-up of two childhood favorites.

You just need one bowl and a few minutes to make them.

I mean, their name says it all.

They're the exact kind of finale this very long year deserves.

From punches to tonics to mocktails, there's something here for everyone.

Mimic vacation vibes with this refreshing sipper.

It's loaded with strawberry flavor, slightly sweet, and the perfect way to cool off from the summer heat.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream sandwiches.

Rosé season officially starts with that first balmy day in May. Come mid-summer, if you’re a fan of the pink wine, you’ve likely hit it a little too hard. Because when it’s hot and you could be sipping a crisp, cool glass, when is it not rosé o’clock? Let’s be completely honest here — rosé fatigue exists.

Chef Einat Admony knows a thing or two about “leaning in.” As creator of the popular New York eateries, Taim Falafel and Balaboosta, she has helped bring inspired Middle Eastern fare to New York City. The Israeli-native (her mother is originally from Iran; her father from Yemen), has a brand new cookbook out too. Also called Balaboosta, it shares many of her best dishes pulled from the restaurants and her Mediterranean roots. (See our peek inside it here.

If you get the colors right in any food, you can almost guarantee the flavors are going to be good. When I first discovered all the varieties of colorful cauliflower, I knew the common white type might be forever banned in my kitchen. This flavorful dip is shocking purple and changes colors before your very eyes, thanks to a hit of lemon juice.

Expect to pour this all wedding season long.

This is the Halloween cocktail you’ve been searching for. With no smoky special effects from dry ice or creepy eyeball garnishes, this deep, dark red wine sangria comes together without fuss yet feels just as celebratory as those other spooky drinks. It’s an understated take on the holiday — something that fits in at the big costume party but also feels right being sipped with friends from the neighborhood while the kids are out trick-or-treating.

The best cocktails don’t require a whole lot of effort, but win accolades with friends. This is one of those cocktails. It starts as a classic crowd-pleaser — the margarita — and then leans into fall with the help of plenty of tart cranberry juice. If you’re hosting Friendsgiving this year, this is the easy pitcher drink to serve while the turkey is roasting and friends trickle in with stuffing and mashed potatoes and pies.

Sometimes an end-of-summer sunset can feel bittersweet. You know the number of sunsets is dwindling, yet the beauty of it never wears off. Much like those sunsets, this punch brings together bitter and sweet flavors with a combination of Campari and pineapple juice for a big pitcher cocktail that looks and tastes like those bittersweet sunsets themselves.

As our wardrobes change from flip flops to socks, fall cocktails typically turn golden brown (just like the leaves!) and pick up some warm spicy notes to keep us toasty. This pretty pitcher drink is a serious sip that captures all of the above. It’s a great choice for any fall gathering and it was a perfect match for the menu we planned for The Kitchn’s Thanksgiving Dinner Outdoors! Sangria and fruity Champagne pours aren’t the only cocktails that can be served in a pitcher!

There’s one fatal flaw of an ice cream sundae that keeps it from being fodder for front porch fare: it melts! A simple solution is to swap the ice cream for cool creamy vanilla pudding and build a beautiful little parfait that can be eaten on the front porch, stoop, or balcony without fear of ice cream puddles. The hardest work you’ll do for this recipe is in making the vanilla pudding. Luckily, pudding is a dessert that only requires heating up the stove for about 10 minutes.

Rich chocolate cake seems erroneously reserved for special occasions only, and instead we make cookies or brownies for everyday celebrations. Chocolate sheet cake will revolutionize your celebration cakes — decadent enough to rival layered birthday cakes, yet simple and easy enough for celebrating that B+ in algebra. This chocolate sheet cake and its four-ingredient frosting come together in about 30 minutes, so the only hard part is waiting for the cake to cool.

The absolute best party! It's so good I throw it every year. Here's everything you need, from the menu to super simple decor ideas.

We are smack dab in the middle of the Dungeness crab season here on the West Coast. Which means, of course, it’s crab fest time! Boil ’em, steam ’em, or roast ’em, just be sure you get your fix while they’re here. A big batch of crabs requires company, of course, so here’s a menu to make it a crab fest to remember.

Memorial Day weekend is the official summer kick-off. Every year, this weekend marks the calendar with family picnics, backyard BBQs, and pool parties. In our neck of the woods, it inevitably rains, but that never stop us from celebrating like it’s sunny outside! Grab a pitcher and join me in turning summer’s favorite staple — lemonade! — into the perfect cocktail for happy hour.

This week I showed you the freezer meal party I hosted with my mom and sisters. We spent an afternoon in the kitchen chopping, prepping, cooking, and bagging up meals for our freezers. It’s a fun and productive way to spend time with people you like, and a wonderful opportunity to stock your freezer. It’s also amazing how many meals you can put in your freezer in one afternoon, if you’re organized. My menu was just one possible way to do it.

The ice cream truck may have shunned the streets of the deep-woods neighborhood I grew up in, but my parents made sure that my brother and I didn’t miss out on the joy of a Popsicle on a hot summer day. They kept a second freezer in the basement, and though I’m sure it was used for important things like storing meat, vegetables, and the odd set of important documents, it was reliably stocked with what seemed to be a never-ending supply of Flav-Or-Ice Pops.

My family has a tradition of seeing a movie together in the week leading up to Christmas, and usually there’s much discussion beforehand, with arguments and advocates for certain films. But the last two years haven’t been contentious: we all knew we’d see The Hobbit, conveniently broken into (bombastic) pieces as it was. And last year, as I was on Christmas Eve dinner duty, I thought I’d cook up a surprise after our movie experience: a full hobbit dinner!

A bridal shower is mostly about showering the bride-to-be with gifts and love and playing silly games — but that doesn’t mean the food should be an afterthought. In fact, I don’t think there is a better way to show your affection and support for the bride than to also shower her, and her closest family and friends in attendance, with good food and drink. This menu will help you do just that, and do it with ease.