Recipes with water

Orzo with fresh tomato sauce: rice-shaped pasta tossed with quickly cooked summer tomatoes, garlic, basil, and red pepper flakes. Ready in 20 minutes.

Sunshine cake is a tall, lemon-kissed cousin of angel food and sponge cake, leavened entirely by whipped egg whites and yolks with bright lemon zest and juice.

Slow-simmered beef chuck chili with dried red chiles, tomato paste, and kidney beans that rests 24 hours before serving for deep, concentrated flavor.

Northwest fish veggie cioppino simmers tomatoes, white wine, and chicken broth with peppers, carrots, celery, and garlic before folding in flaky fish fillets. Hearty Pacific-style stew, ready in under an hour.

Soft gingerbread cake with molasses, sour milk, and four warm spices in the Pennsylvania Dutch tradition. Dense, moist, and deeply spiced with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.

A thin-crust homemade pizza baked on hot tiles for a crisp base, with garlic oil, tomato sauce, mushrooms, peppers, onions, and cottage cheese in place of mozzarella. A lighter, vegetable-loaded family-night pie.

White chocolate cream filling stabilized with gelatin for cakes, pastries, and holiday desserts. Grated white chocolate baking bar melted into whipped cream with vanilla for a rich, pipeable filling.

Espresso cake is a coffee-infused angel food cake: 12 whipped egg whites, cake flour, and espresso baked in a tube pan, then finished with a coffee-cocoa icing. Feather-light and caffeinated.

Chocolate cake ala Florence made with unsweetened chocolate melted in hot water, cake flour, buttermilk, and butter. A one-bowl, dump-and-beat method with rich, dark crumb.

Cheddar spoonbread made with yellow cornmeal, eggs, and sharp cheddar cheese. A puffy Southern cornmeal casserole that's part souffle, part cornbread, and all comfort.

Crock pot lemonade chicken: chicken browned and slow-cooked in a sweet-tangy glaze of frozen lemonade concentrate, brown sugar, ketchup and vinegar, then thickened into a glossy gravy and served over rice. An easy set-and-forget dinner.

Sourdough biscuit dough: a refrigerator dough made with yeast and buttermilk that bakes into tender, fluffy biscuits anytime. Improves with age, lasting up to a week in the fridge.

Crispy vanilla rosettes fried on a decorative iron, then dipped in vanilla icing. Scandinavian holiday cookies that look like edible snowflakes. Yields 12 cookies.

Triple pear puree, a silky autumn condiment built on Anjou pears simmered to applesauce thickness with pear vinegar, sugar, and a finishing splash of pear brandy. The pantry staple that transforms a cheese board.

Hazelnut chocolate toffee layers crunchy buttery brown-sugar candy with toasted hazelnuts and a melted-on chocolate chip topping. Holiday gift candy that breaks into rough shards.

Hidden Jewels are brown sugar bar cookies studded with colorful gumdrops and walnuts, lightened with folded egg whites. A retro candy-filled treat kids love.