I’m always searching for ways to make a healthier version of risotto, one of my favorite winter Italian dishes.

The turkey may be the centerpiece, but a classic Thanksgiving dinner simply isn’t complete without a bevy of traditional sides. To accompany our cider-brined bird, we went with a gently sweet cranberry sauce cooked with peaches for a delicate texture and fruitiness to balance the tart berries. For the mashed potatoes, we kept it basic — sour cream, butter and chives — but delicious.

Year after year, the glossy food magazines scream that you have to tart up your turkey and pimp out your pumpkin pie. But the truth is, when it comes to Thanksgiving, most of us don’t want exciting, new-fangled dishes. We want classic, comforting food, the stuff of Norman Rockwell.

Lemon doughnuts generally involve fried dough filled with sticky, tart-sweet yellow goo that tastes more of sugar than of serious lemon.

Weeknight cooking generally is pretty utilitarian. It may not be very pretty or impressive, but it usually is tasty and gets the job done.

No fruit says fall like apples. Baked into pies, pureed into sauces, sauteed with meats and stews both savory and sweet, it is one of our most comforting and versatile fruits. But which apple to use for what?

Toward the end of every summer, my family and I abandon New York City for my parents’ Massachusetts farmhouse, where the fields out back are lined with blueberry bushes. Some years the crop is tiny. Other years it is so good we are overwhelmed, calling up visions of Lucille Ball wrapping chocolates in the candy factory.

Light, chilled and refreshing with a toothsome texture, ceviche is summer in a bowl. Add tortilla chips and it becomes a cross between a meal and a snack.

Let’s say you just finished an intense workout, or you have a child that plays an outdoor sport. Maybe you’re a construction worker with a physically demanding job or a salesperson in and out of your vehicle during the hot, summer months.

To me, summer is margarita season.

Even for major holidays, I’ve never been much into spending a lot of time on dessert.

Strawberries and rhubarb all but scream summer.

Are you about over the pomegranate trend yet?

It’s a beet, minus the root.

There’s really no way around it. Kumquats are an odd little fruit.

There’s really no way around it. Kumquats are an odd little fruit.

Ed Tompkins and I have just finished eating 12 different dishes prepared by Horizon Community Learning Center students and I think I finally know what it feels like to be Gordon Ramsey, but maybe just a bit nicer.

Holidays are a great time for family, traditions and, of course, sweet treats.

Holidays are a great time for family, traditions and, of course, sweet treats.

Prickly pear gelée, wood stone fired black sea bass, and blueberry lemon curd tart are just a few of the delicacies fine diners will enjoy when culinary students at the East Valley Institute of Technology open the 5th Season restaurant on Oct. 6.

IHOP welcomes the apple harvest with its Caramel Apple Sensations, a limited time menu celebrating the delicious flavors of a seasonal favorite.

Anybody can sell a cup of frozen yogurt once, but, like many small business owners will tell you, you have to stand out and offer something different to keep customers coming back.

Whether you just finished an intense workout, or your child plays an outdoor sport, or you're a construction worker with a physically demanding job, anytime you sweat, spend time in the sun and intense heat, you experience a loss of electrolytes, especially sodium and potassium.

Whether you just finished an intense workout, or your child plays an outdoor sport, or you're a construction worker with a physically demanding job, anytime you sweat, spend time in the sun and intense heat, you experience a loss of electrolytes, especially sodium and potassium.

What with its focus on a hefty ham or robust leg of lamb - not to mention all those chocolate bunnies - Easter dinner can be a heavy affair.