Recipe Sifter

Low-fat country potato patties with shredded boiled potatoes, onion, celery, green pepper, and whole wheat flour. Griddle-cooked with no added oil or butter.

Bow-tie pasta in a cheddar-Parmesan cheese sauce with sauteed broccoli, mushrooms, and red bell pepper. A veggie-loaded mac and cheese made from scratch on the stovetop.

Lobster tails in patty shells spoons sweet lobster meat in a sauterne-spiked cream sauce with mushrooms, olives, and pimento into golden puff pastry shells. A retro special-occasion dinner straight from the supper-club era.

Baked tofu spaghetti balls with walnuts, oats, and Italian herbs, smothered in tomato sauce. Vegan meatballs that hold up on pasta or stuffed into a sub roll.

Cajun chicken sauce piquant with a dark roux, Chablis wine, tomato sauce, stuffed olives, and hot pepper sauce, slow-cooked for hours and served over spaghetti. Big-batch Cajun cooking.

Sauteed smallmouth bass meunier dredged in cornmeal and flour, pan-fried in butter, and finished with a vinegar pan sauce. A classic French-meets-camp fish preparation.

Breaded chicken breasts in a mushroom-sherry cream sauce tossed with fettuccine and Parmesan. A restaurant-quality one-skillet dinner ready in just 30 minutes.

Ham and cheddar casserole over French-cut green beans with a homemade white sauce, hard-cooked eggs, and crushed herb crouton topping. A weeknight one-dish dinner in 40 minutes.

Microwave-poached sole fillets bathed in a creamy white-wine shrimp sauce. An elegant fish dinner from the 1980s microwave-cooking era, ready in 40 minutes without dirtying a stovetop pan.

These plant-based sausages taste great, contain no added fat except the vegetable oil they're fried in, and are easy to make. These ingredients yield fairly mild sausages; after you've tried them, adjust the seasonings to please your palate.

Vegan tofu vegetable pizza topped with shredded frozen-then-thawed tofu, sauteed peppers, garlic, fresh tomatoes, and olives. Finished with a snowfall of nutritional yeast for that cheesy umami hit.

A savory carrot quiche with homemade butter crust, Edam cheese, cream, and bacon. Arranged in a star pattern, this European-style tart makes a gorgeous brunch or light dinner centerpiece.

Cheesy fisherman's grill: canned salmon and fresh crab folded into a parsley-tomato béchamel, topped with parmesan, and broiled bubbling gold. A quick seafood gratin for two.

Handmade tortelloni stuffed with acorn squash, escarole, ham, and ricotta, finished in a buttery pecorino-tomato cream sauce. An Italian masterclass worth every minute.

Pan-fried sweetbreads and button mushrooms baked under a golden yogurt, egg, and cheese gratin. A refined dinner for two that's ready in an hour.

Savory quick bread loaded with sun-dried tomatoes, provolone cheese, pine nuts, and scallions. A no-yeast buttermilk loaf that keeps for days.