It's about this time of year that I start getting antsy, culinarily speaking. It's still winter and my body craves those hearty dishes of squash and legumes. But I'm also ready for the bright, fresh flavors of spring. This couscous salad with its roasted squash and citrusy vinaigrette bridges the gap. More

As a vegetarian, I tend to eschew most meat alternatives such as veggie hot dogs or fake hamburgers. I know they don't taste like the real thing and many varieties are full of processed ingredients. But one interesting and hearty vegetarian ingredient I've just come upon is the soy curl. Have you tried these out? Here's a quick recipe for sesame ginger soy curls on salad. More

That's not my kid. Mine is younger and not nearly as tidy with a spoon. But (for now) she loves anything labeled soup, which is great, because soup? It's easy, it makes a lot of leftovers, and it's a great way to shovel in vegetables without tricking her into eating them. Here are two favorites. More

Thai stir-fried greens have been in my weeknight cooking repertoire since I began cooking. It's the first Thai dish I ever prepared that tasted straight-outta-Thai-Town authentic, and it's so simple, I make it — usually with rice and a Thai omelet — whenever I want a quick, flavorful dinner with lots of healthy leafy greens. More

The perfect baked potato is crispy on the outside and pillowy in the middle. Cracked open and still steaming, it's ready to receive anything from a sprinkle of cheese to last night's stew. Here's how to make them. More

This is one of the first dishes I ever learned to make on my own. It was also the first that I stopped needing a recipe to cook, and the first that actually received compliments from my dinner companions. And it's still one of my standby recipes! This simple tomato sauce hits all the requirements for a weeknight dinner: easy, versatile, and ready in about thirty minutes. Oh, and lick-the-pot good. More

Fair warning: You should only make these bread sticks when surrounded by plenty of people to help you eat them. Otherwise, there is a very serious danger of proceeding directly from the last bite of one bread stick to the first bite of the next. Especially if there's a little bowl of tomato sauce for dipping and no one to stop you. More

You can call this oven-fried chicken or crunchy baked chicken or breaded chicken or any number of things. I like calling this dish Fake Fried Chicken because I feel like I'm getting away with something sneaky. More

Like many people I occasionally (often?) find myself faced with the classic dinner dilemma: It is 6:00pm, I'm hungry, and I haven't even begun to plan dinner. How can I get something on the table relatively fast without a lot of fuss and bother? My secret weapon in these moments is to reach for a favorite ingredient — sausage! More

Last week a New York-based photographer, Miho Aikawa, emailed me with a project that she wanted to share with our readers at The Kitchn: a photographic series exploring the way real people eat, and what their mealtime environments look like.

As I paged through the photographs of her project, titled Dinner in NY, I found myself face to face with young professionals, eating on their beds and watching television; a mother feeding her baby while Skyping with grandparents; an extended family at a raucous and lively table; a monk from Myanmar about to share food with his neighborhood. I found the series both touching and insightful and it evoked in me the exact question that Aikawa is asking: "What is a quality dinner?" More