Recipe Sifter

A classic and healthful comfort food dessert dish. Using brown rice retains all the goodness of the bran for leaps and bounds added health factors. Sweeten only with apple juice concentrate the recipe stears you clear of refined sugars.

California ricotta cake: devil's food cake layers brushed with orange liqueur, filled and frosted with sweet ricotta whipped with cream, orange zest, almonds, and chocolate chips.

Plump shrimp tossed with pasta in a curry-tomato sauce spiked with ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and a splash of orange liqueur. A Caribbean-meets-Asian fusion dinner ready in 45 minutes.

Cheddar broccoli potato soup with a creamy blended potato base and tender broccoli florets. A kid-friendly weeknight soup that makes broccoli irresistible.

Cheddar cheese pretzels made with aged cheddar, butter, Dijon mustard, and cayenne, topped with poppy seeds. A savory make-ahead appetizer that keeps for days.

Cherry quick bread with maraschino cherries folded into a buttery buttermilk batter. A sweet, tender loaf with pops of bright red cherry in every slice, baked in one hour.

Cherry streusel coffeecake with almond-scented batter, cherry pie filling center, and a crunchy almond crumb top. Springform pan dessert, brunch-ready.

Chicken in silky almond sauce with yogurt, cardamom, coriander, and slivered almonds pureed into a rich Mughlai-style gravy. A fragrant Indian chicken korma that improves overnight.

Tender yellow summer squash layered with sauteed onions, green chilis, and cheddar cheese, topped with crunchy cracker crumbs and baked until bubbly. A Southwestern-style squash casserole.

Chili meets spaghetti in this 30-minute ground beef and kidney bean sauce spooned over hot pasta. A Midwest-inspired comfort food mashup that kids and adults both love.

Chocolate chow mein clusters bind crunchy chow mein noodles with melted caramels, peanut butter, and chocolate chips. A no-bake retro candy ready in 20 minutes.

A rich cocoa bundt cake with a sweet coconut macaroon filling swirled through every slice and finished with chocolate glaze. Two classics, one spectacular cake.

No-bake chocolate peanut butter bars loaded with oats and raisins. Mix, roll into a log, and freeze for a chewy, crunchy snack that's Weight Watchers friendly.

A moist Christmas quick bread with orange juice, mashed banana, prune puree, candied fruit, raisins, and nuts, topped with a thin powdered sugar icing and glacé cherries. Freezes beautifully for gifting.

A chunky vegetarian minestrone loaded with cannellini beans, tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, and spinach, thickened with rice instead of pasta. A hearty, one-pot Italian soup finished with Parmesan.

No one who loves to eat can visit Cincinnati without falling in love withthe most eccentric and delicious noodle dish of all--5-Way Chili. Invented by Greek immigrants in the 1920s, it is unique to southern Ohio, and served only in chili parlors, most of which are fluorescent-lighted luncheonettes that haven't changed much since 1950. Nobody in Cincinnati gives out their recipe. It is a dish of startling complexity, so dizzingly spicy....