10,000 fast food recipes

Soft sour cream drop cookies with apricot preserves baked right into the dough. Brush with warm apricot glaze for a fruity shine. Makes 5 dozen in about 30 minutes.

Guisado rico, a Mexican pork stew with roasted loin simmered in green chiles, tomatoes, beer, and chicken broth. Served in bowls with cilantro, refried beans, and warm tortillas.

Italian-style pot roast is a beef chuck braised for three hours with soffritto, tomato paste, red wine, and Italian herbs. Sliced beef plus pasta sauce over spaghetti, feeds eight.

Swedish herring and potato casserole layered with sauteed onions, dotted with butter, and baked in cream until golden and tender. A traditional Scandinavian comfort dish.

Chocolate pistachio cake made with white cake mix, pistachio pudding, and orange juice with a chocolate syrup swirl. A marbled tube cake that looks impressive with minimal effort.

Savory meat-filled manicotti stuffs pasta tubes with seasoned ground chicken, mozzarella, parmesan, and bread crumbs, baked in marinara with melted cheese. Italian-American comfort food, lighter version.

Extra-creamy potato salad with a cooked dressing made from mashed egg yolks, hot cream, butter, and vinegar, plus bacon and mayonnaise folded in.

Roasted acorn squash halves filled with honey-glazed figs, toasted almonds, and warm spices. Elegant fall side dish with cinnamon and nutmeg ready in an hour.

Pressure cooker Swiss steak braises chuck cubes with tomatoes, onion, garlic, celery, and bell pepper into fork-tender beef in a rich tomato gravy. Ready in 30 minutes instead of 3 hours.

Baked empanadas with a flaky cornmeal pastry crust stuffed with spiced ground beef, raisins, and spaghetti sauce. A Mexican-inspired hand pie with sweet and savory picadillo-style filling.

Buttery scones studded with mini chocolate chips and orange zest, baked golden then drizzled with both melted chocolate and white chocolate. A bakery-worthy breakfast treat in under an hour.

Jelly Christmas Eyes are sandwich cookies with a window cutout showing raspberry or strawberry jelly through the center, coated in sugar. A festive holiday cookie plate classic.

Georgia barbecue sauce: a tangy ketchup-and-vinegar Southern classic with brown sugar, mustard, garlic, and a half lemon simmered right in the pot. Perfect for basting pork, ribs, and chicken on the grill.

White chicken chili with great northern beans, green chiles, and cumin in a creamy Monterey Jack broth. The Tex-Mex alternative to red chili, slow-simmered to silky.

Creamy Northwoods wild rice soup with chicken, ham, carrots, and celery in a half-and-half broth thickened with a butter-flour roux. A Minnesota classic with a splash of sherry.

Homemade sour cream cinnamon rolls with a soft yeasted dough, brown sugar cinnamon filling, and vanilla confectioners sugar icing. The sour cream makes them impossibly tender. Makes 12.