Recipes with water

Cheesy creamy Mexican lasagna layers crushed tortilla chips with cottage cheese custard, green chilies, Monterey Jack, and cheddar. A no-noodle vegetarian Tex-Mex casserole in 30 minutes.

Curried lentils and vegetables simmered with fresh ginger, curry powder, carrots, and celery. Low-fat, high-protein, and served with a cool yogurt-tomato topping.

Miss Hulling's chicken pot pie made from scratch with a whole stewing hen simmered into rich broth, loaded with potatoes and carrots, and topped with golden pastry. Old-fashioned comfort food done right.

Low-calorie gumbo-style vegetable soup with okra, tomatoes, corn, celery, and rice. A thin, snackable broth for when you want something hot and filling but light on calories.

Green pepper steak stir-fry with thinly sliced round steak marinated in soy sauce, garlic, and fresh ginger, then tossed with bell peppers, scallions, celery, and tomatoes in a glossy cornstarch sauce.

Stuffed soft-shell crawfish: Louisiana bayou classic with shells packed full of buttery crawfish-bread stuffing, fried golden, and crowned with rich hollandaise. A full-on Cajun centerpiece.

Genuine Texas chili, the real-deal bowl of red: chuck roast and coarse ground beef simmered 3 hours with cumin, chili powder, tomatoes, and enchilada sauce. No beans, by Texas law.

Citrus bread for the bread machine with orange marmalade, lime juice, and lemon zest. A bright, fragrant yeast loaf with triple citrus flavor.

Split pea and lentil soup with onions, celery, carrots and rosemary, simmered in a vegetable stock built right in the pot. A high-protein, oil-free vegan soup ready in under an hour.

Red braised pork shoulder slow-cooked in dark soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, star anise, cinnamon, and rock sugar. A classic Chinese hong shao technique for meltingly tender pork.

Whole wheat bagel bread made in a bread machine with honey, vital wheat gluten, and just 6 ingredients. Chewy, dense crumb with that classic bagel texture in loaf form.

Sauerkraut casserole with browned Italian sausage, sliced apples, brown sugar and caraway seeds. The classic German-American Oktoberfest one-dish dinner. Hearty, tangy and forgiving.

Khachapuri, a Georgian cheese bread stuffed with muenster, Swiss, and cheddar in a pleated yeast dough. Baked golden in a springform pan, sliced into warm, melty wedges.

Sali Jardaloo Murgi: Parsi chicken braised with dried apricots, tomato, cinnamon, and warm spices in a tangy-sweet sauce, crowned with crispy fried shoestring potato straws. A Bombay Parsi wedding classic worth the work.

Stir fry pork with snow pea pods, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and fish sauce over rice. A quick, light Asian pork tenderloin stir fry ready in 25 minutes.

Slow cooker Italian beef rollups stuffed with prosciutto, pine nuts, and fresh herbs braised in red wine and dried porcini mushroom broth. Elegant and hands-off.