Recipe Sifter

Oysters Mosca: chopped fresh oysters cooked down with garlic, scallions, lemon, and Romano cheese, then spooned into puff pastry shells. The classic Italian-Creole New Orleans appetizer from the legendary Mosca's restaurant.

Bisquick beef pizza skips the yeast dough entirely with a quick biscuit-mix crust topped with seasoned tomato sauce, ground beef, peppers, and cheese. A 30-minute homemade pizza for busy weeknights.

Greek-style red snapper bakes fillets under red onion, fresh tomatoes, oregano, lemon juice and crumbled feta. A foil-covered Mediterranean fish dinner that flakes apart in 30 minutes.

Pizza soup with stewed tomatoes, pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers, basil and oregano, topped with broiled mozzarella. All the flavor of pizza in a chunky bowl.

Stromboli stuffed with salami, capicola, provolone, and mozzarella, then rolled in pizza dough and baked golden. An Italian-American deli classic that slices clean for sharing.

A hearty ground beef and spinach casserole layered with cottage cheese and bubbly mozzarella in a rich tomato sauce with mushrooms. Like lasagna without the noodles.

Crispy phyllo triangles stuffed with seasoned ground chicken, rice, spinach, ricotta, black olives, and toasted pine nuts. Mediterranean flavors wrapped in shattering golden layers.

I use crushed Ritz crackers instead of bread crumbs and add 2/3 cup of shredded sharp Cheddar. A simple gravy to go along with the meatloaf can also be made using another packet of soup mix, 2 Tbs. flour and 2 cups of cold water. Simmer until thickened.

This soup came out so tasty and flavorful. The pan-fried tortilla strips added some nice crunch, and I also served the soup with some sour cream, Monterey Jack cheese, cilantro and scallions. It was an easy, light yet tasty soup.

Oven-baked eggplant slices coated in seasoned egg whites and crushed corn flakes. Crispy without frying, no oil needed, and just as good cold as hot.

Hamburger pie with a homemade biscuit crust, seasoned ground beef with tomato sauce, and a cheesy egg-and-milk custard topping. A hearty weeknight dinner pie baked golden.

Whole rainbow trout baked in a creamy yogurt and herb sauce with parsley, chives, fennel, thyme, oregano, and tarragon. An elegant British-style fish supper ready in under an hour.

Greek gyro sandwiches blend ground beef and lamb with oregano, thyme, and garlic into thin patties, then tuck into pita with homemade cucumber-yogurt sauce and sliced onion. Street food classic done at home.

Chicken gyros with cucumber salsa and tsatsiki turn leftover roast chicken into a fast Greek dinner. Garlic-herb oil, cool yogurt sauce, crunchy cucumber-tomato salsa, warm pita.

No-boil overnight lasagna with Italian sausage, ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan. Assemble the night before and bake it straight from the fridge.

Cornbread stuffing layers crumbled herbed cornbread with chicken livers, chestnuts, dried apricots, raisins, pine nuts, almonds, and apple. Rich and complex Thanksgiving showstopper.