Recipe Sifter

Layers of seasoned ground beef, canned chili, and melted cheddar stacked between crunchy corn chips. This microwave taco bake is on the table in 40 minutes flat.

Cuban red beans and rice with soaked kidney beans, bay leaf, cumin, and oregano. Cook beans with bell pepper strips until tender, sauté aromatics, then simmer rice in bean stock for fluffy, flavorful grains.

Silky cauliflower soup enriched with curry spices, saffron, and sweet apples, then blended until cloud-smooth. Golden Delicious apples add natural sweetness that balances the warm curry in every spoonful.

Curried fruit pizza topped with apples, pears, banana, grapes, and candied pineapple simmered in curry cream on crispy pizza dough. Sweet, spicy, and totally unexpected.

Tri-color rotini tossed in a creamy Dijon vinaigrette with crispy bacon, hard-boiled eggs, celery, and scallions. A make-ahead pasta salad for potlucks, picnics, and summer cookouts.

Double cappuccino heaven is a mocha angel food cake bursting with espresso and cocoa, finished with a fluffy marshmallow frosting. Fat-free, light as a cloud, and rich in coffee flavor.

Dried porcini and tomato sauce folds earthy rehydrated mushrooms and their soaking liquid into a garlicky canned tomato base, then tosses it with fusilli. A deep, umami-rich vegetarian pasta dinner.

Marshmallow cream chocolate cake whips egg whites with marshmallow fluff and folds in cocoa for a virtually fat-free chocolate cake with a soft, almost angel-food crumb.

Indian eggplant curry with peas and cilantro: a vegan dry-fry baingan masala built on tempered mustard and cumin seeds, turmeric, and cayenne. Soft, almost buttery eggplant served over rice, topped with bright green peas.

Eggplant kottu with boiled eggplant and mashed chickpeas in a ground coconut-cumin-green chile paste, tempered with mustard seeds and bay leaves. A South Indian vegetarian comfort dish.

Emeril's funky fried steak: Southwest-seasoned beef cutlets double-dredged and pan-fried crisp, plated over mashed potatoes with a Worcestershire drizzle. Southern comfort with a Cajun twist.

Danish chocolate shortbread cookies shaped into finger-thick ropes, filled with raspberry preserves, and drizzled with melted chocolate. An elegant holiday cookie with a buttery cocoa base.

Stir-fried chicken fajitas marinated in lemon juice, cumin, and fresh coriander. Sauteed chicken strips rolled in warm flour tortillas with salsa, lettuce, and sour cream.

Classic cake doughnuts spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, rolled, cut, and fried golden in hot oil. Old-fashioned cake donuts ready in 30 minutes, served plain, sugared, or frosted.

Favourite leek and potato soup is a classic British comfort bowl: sweet leeks, potatoes and onion gently sweated in butter, simmered in stock and pureed velvety smooth, finished with a swirl of yogurt or cream.

No-cook peanut butter fudge with chunky peanut butter, corn syrup, dry milk powder, and chopped peanuts for added crunch. Skips the candy thermometer and the soft-ball stage entirely.