Serious Eats / Amanda SuarezLemonade has plenty of zip, but there's always room for a touch more zing, and what's zingier than the fiery heat of chiles? I'm not the first person to think that spicy lemonade is a good idea, and I sure won't be the last. But I might be the first to come up with this particular method for making it—and the method makes...

Serious Eats / Amanda SuarezWhen you’ve got a bunch of bananas slowly turning spotty on the countertop, the common course of action is to mash them up and turn them into banana bread, right? But the next time this happens to you, I suggest making banana cookies instead. Serious Eats / Amanda SuarezI understand why banana cookies, or bananaramas as I...

Serious Eats / Amanda SuarezI have a love-hate relationship with iced coffee. No, that's not quite right, it's not love-hate, it's love-meh. As a staunch drinker of black coffee, I have long known, deep in my bones, that the iced coffee I crave as soon as the hot weather rolls around is not as delicious as the hot coffee I drink the rest of the year....

Serious Eats / Amanda SuarezWhen I was a kid, most “junk food” was forbidden in my household, but ice cream was a fairly frequent treat. Looking back, I think this had a lot to do with my mom’s own love for the frozen dessert—she was happy to ban the fluorescent cheese puffs she didn’t personally like, but she wasn’t going to deprive us of the same...

Serious Eats / Victor ProtastioCucumbers are nature's twofer: Botanically, they're a fruit, but their savoriness keeps them firmly in the vegetable category. Similarly, cukes can be a satiating food, but their water content is high enough to quench thirst as well. We've gathered a dozen cucumber recipes that celebrate the dual nature of cukes. Most...

Serious Eats / Amanda SuarezUntil recently, chocolate sauce was the only sauce I wanted on an ice cream sundae. Lately, however, this simple strawberry sauce has squeezed its way into my heart and onto my sundaes. It’s subtly sweet, and is just tart enough to beautifully complement creamy desserts like vanilla or strawberry ice cream, couer à la crème,...