Readers sometimes wonder how The Connection chooses which recipes to publish, and though the criteria are far from strict, we generally look at a few factors:

First, and most important, do the recipes on these pages guide readers in creating something they will want to eat and serve to friends and family?  If the answer is no, you will not see it here.

We also consider the difficulty level of recipes and try to include an even mixture of both simple-to-prepare recipes (some salad and fresh-produce recipes are more about assembly and don’t require cooking or baking at all) and more difficult dishes.  It is rare that we include recipes that require preparation spanning several hours or lots of expert know-how, so if we do, our food editor is pretty confident that the time and effort will be worth it.

For the most part, recipes we gravitate toward do not require specialty shopping for tools or ingredients, and nearly everything is fairly budget friendly. Most of the selections you’ll find here are based on either traditional favorites for a particular time of year, or what is growing in the fields and readily available at the supermarket or the farmers market.  Much of what we write about are recipes our food editor has made hundreds of times with consistent results.  We do experiment with new things too, and if it’s tasty, you’ll probably read about it here.

Finally, we are thrilled to say that this column is interactive, and sometimes readers catch something we’ve missed, give feedback for how a recipe could be improved, or simply contact us to let us know they have particularly enjoyed something they have read here in their own kitchen.  Please join in!

We hope you enjoy our collaboration with other cooks, testing their recipes and sharing the enjoyment that results.