Laurel Randolph

When you consider taco fillings, sweet potatoes might not be the first thing to cross your mind—but they should be. The naturally sweet, creamy vegetable is a delicious base for bright sauces and toppings and makes for a satisfying vegetarian meal.

The best way to store whole onions is in a cool, dark, dry place, where they can last up to two months.

Risotto is delicious in a classic Italian sort of way—it only requires a few high-quality ingredients and some patience to turn plain rice into a deeply flavorful and creamy dish. While I’m willing to seek out good ingredients, I lack the patience required to make risotto on a day-to-day basis. And I want risotto more than once or twice a year, I want it monthly. Sometimes weekly. Enter my friend the Instant Pot.

Mother’s Day is a hard-earned holiday through years of all-consuming, exhausting motherhood. It’s not the time to hold back, especially when it comes to the sweetest part of the meal—mom deserves all the dessert she desires after what you (or your kids) put her through. Celebrate the special woman in your life by serving one of our favorite homemade Mother's Day desserts, from fruity cakes and tarts to chocolate treats and lightly boozy desserts.

Buttermilk is often thought of as a Southern ingredient, but the cultured milk brings great flavor and texture to a wide variety of baked goods.

I wrote a piece for Kitchen Table magazine about food in The Simpsons including a recipe for Marge's pork chops.

Granola is a perfect breakfast food, packed with heart-healthy whole grains, nutritious and filling nuts and seeds, and naturally sweet dried fruit. You can eat it with yogurt, milk, or by the handful as a snack. It also happens to be extremely easy to make at home, allowing you to customize the flavors as you see fit.

Freezing bananas is a quick and easy process that preserves the sweet, fresh flavor of the fruit, while allowing you to save them for making something delicious.

Tofu is a truly versatile ingredient, light on flavor but in the best way. It soaks up whatever flavors you cleverly pair it with, from spicy to salty to sweet to tart. Treat it as a wonderfully textured blank canvas, grilling, frying, and baking firm tofu as a stand-in for meat or puréeing silken tofu as a stand-in for dairy or eggs. In our favorite tofu recipes, however, this wonderful block of soy isn’t simply a stand-in—it’s a star.

I do regular copy editing and editing for The Spruce Eats. This includes countless recipes, round-ups, and articles.

Discover a whole rainbow of possibilities with our 33 best smoothie recipes and you just may find your favorite new glass of blended bliss. Smoothies are the ultimate grab-and-go meal or snack. Quickly toss ingredients into a blender, press the power button, and you’ve squeezed the nutrition of a whole meal into one delicious, icy, colorful drink.

Hashbrowns are a delicious addition to any breakfast or brunch spread, but they're also high in carbs. If you're on a low-carb or keto diet, try swapping the potatoes for cauliflower. You can make almost anything from tortillas to pizza crust with cauliflower. The results for these hashbrowns are surprisingly tasty, with a similar look and texture to the starchy version.

Everything you need to know about storing potatoes, with tips and tricks from the experts

These steamed dumplings are often served with a garlicky yogurt sauce, but chef Naseema Kashefi, of the L.A.-based New Arrivals Supper Club, adds a swirl of tomato sauce to the mantu for a colorful, flavorful counterpoint. Source: EatingWell Magazine, January/February 2020

Red cabbage gives this fattoush salad extra crunch. Recipe adapted from New Arrival Supper Club chef Maysaa Kanjo.