10,000 four four recipes

A tender quick bread studded with chewy dried apricots and crunchy walnuts, sweetened with brown sugar. No yeast, no kneading, just one bowl and one hour in the oven.

Thin-pounded beef tenderloin steaks, pan-seared golden and draped in a flambéed brandy sauce with mushrooms, shallots, and Dijon. A classic bistro showstopper in just 25 minutes.

Creamy seafood chowder loaded with tender imitation crab, potatoes, and tomatoes in a velvety milk-based broth ready in under 40 minutes for cozy weeknight comfort.

Mint spritz cookies with peppermint extract and green food coloring pressed into festive shapes with a cookie press. A crisp, buttery holiday cookie ready in 30 minutes.

Escalloped salmon bakes flaked canned salmon in a buttery white sauce topped with bread crumbs until golden and bubbling. Old-fashioned American comfort dish from the canned-fish era, ready in 30 minutes.

Thin, lacy Italian Florentine cookies loaded with nuts and candied orange peel in a caramelized cream base. Shatteringly crisp with just 6 ingredients. Drizzle with melted chocolate for the classic finish.

Bread machine English muffin bread bakes up with the signature nooks, crannies, and tangy crumb of a Thomas's English muffin, but in slice-able loaf form. Toast it up for breakfast.

Cornmeal and bacon pancakes with crumbled bacon in the batter and bacon drippings for richness. A savory-sweet breakfast with a golden, gritty crunch in every bite.

Fruit bread made with Grape-Nuts cereal, raisins, and orange zest. The cereal softens in scalded milk to create a hearty, nutty-textured quick bread with a citrus lift.

Lemon-sweet crockpot chicken browned in seasoned flour then slow-cooked in frozen lemonade concentrate, brown sugar, ketchup, and vinegar. Tangy-sweet with a glossy sauce over rice.

Buttery laminated dough enriched with cardamom and orange creates flaky Danish pastries through careful rolling and folding for serious bakers seeking a challenge.

For a bread machine. I've done these both 'full fat' and 'reduced fat'. It's hard to tell the difference, so we go reduced, including using light (Neufchatel) cream cheese. I've tried ALL the fat free cream cheeses and NONE of them work.

Whole wheat 7-grain bread with honey, eggs, and seven grain cereal baked into a hearty, no-knead loaf. Makes two dense, nutritious loaves with a chewy, multi-grain texture.

Hard-boiled eggs baked in a silky apple-curry sauce that marries sweet caramelized onions with warm spices. Ready in 30 minutes for an easy vegetarian brunch or light supper.

Fakes xithati is the traditional Greek sour lentil soup, slow-simmered with garlic, olive oil, and coriander, then finished with a splash of vinegar for a tangy, soulful Mediterranean bowl.

A 6-ingredient low-fat spinach casserole with cottage cheese, egg substitute, and cubed cheese. High in protein, simple to prep, and baked until golden. Serves 4.