Growing your own fruits and vegetables at home may feel intimidating. Perhaps you have a history of sad houseplants and swore off all things requiring a “green thumb,” or maybe you don’t have a yard. Adding home-grown basil to your spaghetti marinara, biting into a fresh strawberry, and grilling up vegetables from your backyard can be rewarding and delicious experiences!

Not only do nasturtiums make a colorful and easy addition to any Inland Northwest garden, but all parts of the plant are edible, too. The nasturtium’s iconic round leaves can be baked to create chips that are similar in shape and size to classic potato chips and carry a brittle crunch like seaweed snacks.

It is customary if not mandatory to indulge in a libation or two on St. Patrick’s Day, whether your blood runs green or not. St Patty’s Day signature beverages are often concoctions crafted around either beer or whiskey, possibly dyed green and/or mixed with a splash or more of Irish cream. But the big bold flavors associated with traditional Irish fare can certainly stand up to a good red or white wine if beer and whiskey aren’t your lucky charms!

We all waste food as consumers in our own kitchens. It is estimated that between 30-40% of the food we produce in the United States goes to waste. Food waste from consumers and retailers also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and ultimately our changing climate. Let’s be intentional to reduce food waste in our own kitchens.

From coffee to groceries and dining to drinks, Cheney’s growing food and drink scene is lighting up the small town and is giving people a reason to visit. With a population of roughly 12,200 and only a quick 20-minute drive from Spokane, Cheney is best known as the home of Eastern Washington University. But who knew that there were so many noteworthy food and drink destinations?

Adding flowers to dishes adds incredible beauty to your plate while enhancing the flavors from the rest of the food. Whether you grow or buy these specialty garnishes, here is a flower guide to fancy up your next recipe or drink.

Foraging for wild asparagus will add flavor to your meals, make for a beautiful day out on the Spokane River and save your money. Take advantage of these tasty plant shoots and incorporate them into your next recipe.

Spokane author Kate Lebo is known for her love of pie, whiskey, and the local arts community. In The Book of Difficult Fruit, Lebo explores a variety of tasty but troublesome items. This exploration of produce ranging from the mundane to exotic is sure to teach you something new make you think twice next time you’re offered fruit salad!

Despite its global influence and larger-than-life reputation, Diedrich remains headquartered in Sandpoint, Idaho, its home home since the early 1990s. Specialty coffee roasters are utilizing the company’s machinery not only in the Inland Northwest but across the world. They’re trusting Diedrich with their beans for some very good reasons.

What started online in 2015 as an inspiration for better health for her family has quickly become more than just another packaged food company. Idaho’s Snacktivist Foods is a Gluten Free and Vegan, Woman Owned, B-Corp company that actually works towards the true goal of making a better product for everyone, including the earth.

After honing their coffee craft in Portland, Jamie Kay Christianson and Hope Hines return to Spokane with Espuma Coffee. Now the pair plan to build a brand that can make an impact on both a local and global level.

Bolstad studied pastry at New York’s French Culinary Institute, but it is the memories of cooking with her father as he imitated the Swedish Chef and enjoying Scandinavian sweets with her grandparents that influenced her nostalgia-inducing treats as much as her work in a Michelin-starred kitchen and with Seattle’s Relay restaurant group.

In 2017, Katy and Ethan Bean decided to start baking pies with as many local ingredients as possible. Now, Bean & Pie is a mainstay at locals farmers markets and has their own shop in Downtown Coeur d'Alene.

After years as a pastry chef and consultant, Ricky Webster used COVID-19 to make himself the client. The result is his Browne's Addition bakery & cheese shop, Rind and Wheat.

Adriana Janovich recounts how she and her husband went over a year without having to buy food at the grocery store. Janovich lasted 422 days by sourcing direct from local farms and markets as well as individual growers and artisans, but there are some foods that just can't be found in Washington.

You won’t find Snickers or birthday cake flavors at Spokane Cheesecakes, with chef-owner Thomas Speight opting for real, natural ingredients like berries and citrus at his outpost on Sprague, just east of Downtown. Spokane Cheesecakes instead showcase the simplicity and authenticity of what a good cheesecake can be without compromising flavor or quality.

Rosehips are the fruit you see hanging from rose bushes across the Inland Northwest after the flowers and leaves fade away in autumn. After a few frosts, rosehips become sweet and tender. Perfect for topping many desserts, you can purée them fresh and use them as a sauce over cake and ice cream or dry them and use for tea.

At The Rusty Mug, you can enjoy decadent chocolates, ice cream, sodas, and freshly brewed coffee in Spokane's Sprague Union District. But unlike most coffee shops, this place also serves nostalgic trips down memory lane. Grab a cup of locally roasted coffee or a tasty truffle and wander around their collection of vintage wares and kitschy gifts.

Founded during the pandemic, Gage Lang and his team started out by delivering their cookies straight to customers around Spokane and the Valley. Breaüxdoo has expanded their offerings from just cookies, now selling full-sized slices of cake and even cookie dough and cake pops.

MiFlavour's flagship store takes its cues from contemporary French retailers, with mirrored surfaces and video screens that tempt you with all of the bakery's sweet desserts. The aroma of coffee and chocolate greets customers as they peruse the carefully curated display cases, full of locally-crafted pastries, gelato, macarons and more!

The holidays are about spending quality time with family and friends expressing love and gratitude, but there's always plenty of food and drink to go around, too. Registered Dietitian Monika Jacobson of Spokane gives us tips to hosting a holiday gathering this year with a healthy twist!

If you aren’t familiar with Turkish Delight, you might imagine all manner of delicious morsels. This rose-flavored substance halfway between jello and mochi isn't all that familiar to the American palate, but in England, Turkish Delight is a popular Christmas treat.

Every Sunday at 9am outside of the Main Market Co-Op, you can find volunteers with Spokane Community Against Racism distributing free coffee and breakfast burritos provided by local restaurants Boots and Ruins to anyone looking for a warm breakfast as a way to foster community and fight hunger.

Huckleberries are a popular summer staple across the Inland Northwest, but after a career of having to use them in beers and BBQ sauce, Joshua Martin explains why he hates this forageable fruit.

While many vegetables are planted in spring, it is important to plant garlic in fall. Most varieties of garlic need a few months of winter weather to produce strong and large bulbs that will be ready to enjoy come summer!

Between work, school, sports, activities and everything in between, planning nutritious dinners can be stressful! If you feel overwhelmed when trying to plan meals or stick to healthy nutrition, you are not alone! Here are 5 ways to simplify, and hopefully inspire, some back-to-school dinner ideas!

Stacie Kearney never expect her bread-making hobby to go any further than the confines of her home kitchen. But when COVID-19 shut down businesses and yeast flew off store shelves, Kearney sprung into action selling loaves of her Lucky Lady Bread and sharing her beloved sourdough starter “Carl" with those in the community in need of a little lift.

Sometimes you want to relax, get some peace and quiet, and sleep in. In many lodging establishments, this isn’t strictly possible. A quiet moment with a book beside the pool becomes a splash-fest with sound effects. The buffet breakfast is punctuated with negotiations over how many more bites must disappear from a small plate. The walls can be thin, and the hours different from the ones you’d like to keep.

As the owner of Chaps and Lucky Vintage & Pretty Things, Celeste Shaw is one of the most recognizable personalities around Spokane. While all her outward achievements are enough to keep her busy 24/7, Shaw’s benevolent work behind the scenes doesn’t get as much attention. So it should come as no surprise that in the days following the COVID-19 shutdown, Shaw devised a plan to benefit others. The message being spread was simple, but universal: “food is Love.”

After developing a loyal following at local farmers markets, Annie Stranger and her ice cream company, Sweet Annie’s Artisan Creamery are set to open a shop of their own in Liberty Lake.

Barely an acre in size and nestled on a hillside in Davenport, Washington, Renegade Farm exemplifies a unique way of growing crops that relies mostly on the self-sustaining nature of its terrain.

If you have visited any of Spokane’s local farmers markets recently, you have likely heard Jared Kuck of K2 Greens asking passersby “Have you ever tried a microgreen?”