Leites Loves™

David is wooed when Michael Ruhlman waxes poetic about one of his can’t-live-without ingredients. A love story, with recipes.

It had certainly seemed innocent enough. It was, after all, just a mushroom growing kit. Or that’s what she thought….

LC’s Queen of Recipe Testing, Beth Price, has a dirty little secret. She hates to peel garlic. Here she shares her shameless solution.

A splurge at Anthropologie reveals some unabashedly girlie French knives with an unmistakably masculine appeal.

So long, microwave. We’ve found a far more reliable contraption for popping popcorn, and it’s dancing buttery circles around you. Jenna Levy says good riddance.

These nifty little expressions of body art are the perfect stocking stuffers for commitment-phobic culinistas (just like LC’s own Lindsay Myers).

An iconoclastic mustard appeared via what can only be described as divine intervention. Then it led us straight into temptation.

Sweet solutions to stubborn problems. That’s a motto our managing editor loves—and the reason she’s head over hand-mixer for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer.

When the consummate chocolate chip cookie goes gluten-free, Renee does a little happy dance–and explains why she thinks you will, too.

How to pack your child’s lunch with panache? Eco-friendly Bazura Bags, crafted in the Philippines by underprivileged women, bring more than a little elan to any midday meal. Allison explains.

Wendy Costa’s whimsical tiles are hand-painted one-of-a-kind works of art. But these works are functional, as trivets, as well as decorative, as wall art.

This ain’t your childhood caramel sauce. Goat’s milk meets sugar as they’re slowly cooked down into a tangy, earthy, oomphy sauce. Booyah.

Taza Chocolate, a Boston-based company, sources raw, organic cacao beans from a cooperative in the Dominican Republic for its superb flavored chocolate.

Taste No. 5 Umami Paste from Laura Santtini is a cook’s secret weapon. A little dab’ll do ya, adding a subtle umami hit to any dish.

Flying Pigs Farm’s leaf lard is just one of the farm’s superb pork products made from free-roaming and foraging heritage pigs.

Corny? We say not. These heart-shaped measuring spoons, each engraved with a sentiment (“a heap of happiness”), bring a smile to the cook and whimsy to a recipe.

The Grill Daddy Pro Grill Brush uses water to steam off baked-on food while two heavy-duty steel brushes make short work of grill grate clean up. David Approved.