Recipe Sifter

Individual French-style apple tarts with homemade butter pastry, applesauce base, thinly sliced apples fanned on top, and an apricot glaze. Elegant, bakery-quality dessert from scratch.

Pizza Presto on a Boboli shell loaded with pepperoni, sauteed peppers and onions, black olives, and two cheeses. A fast homemade pizza ready in 25 minutes.

Pumpkin pie in a buttery walnut crust with a warmly spiced custard of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. The walnut shell adds nutty depth that elevates classic Thanksgiving pie.

A quick chicken noodle casserole for two, made in the microwave with egg noodles, canned chicken, cream of mushroom soup, sour cream, and melted cheddar. Ready in 30 minutes flat.

Southern-style no-bean chili with 4 lbs of beef, banana peppers, and a 3-hour simmer in beef stock with barbecue sauce, hot sauce, and a deep spice blend. Bold and beanless.

Poppy seed pasta casserole with ground turkey in tomato sauce layered over creamy fettuccine tossed with Neufchatel, cottage cheese, and sour cream.

Buttery Italian pine nut biscotti brightened with fresh lemon juice and zest. Twice-baked until golden and crisp, with toasted pignoli in every bite. A cookie that keeps beautifully for weeks.

Pumpkin pecan pie combines spiced pumpkin custard with a broiled brown sugar pecan crumble topping. The best of both Thanksgiving pies in one slice, with five warm spices.

Hearty low-fat vegetable soup with potatoes, zucchini, squash, carrots, pureed tomatoes, and kidney beans. Oil-free and loaded with garden veggies, this make-ahead soup tastes even better the next day.

Traditional Scottish lamb and barley soup simmered with turnip, carrots, and celery. Bone-in lamb builds a rich broth while pearl barley adds hearty body.

A hearty, full-scale borsch loaded with beef, bacon, kielbasa, beets, cabbage, potatoes, and navy beans. This is the real deal: slow-simmered, sweet-sour balanced, and crowned with sour cream. Feeds 10.

Wheel cookies with ground almonds, currants, anise seeds, and cinnamon in a buttery dough. Pressed with a fork and baked golden in just 12 minutes.

A vegetarian look on a delicious pasta dish your whole family will enjoy down to the last forkful.

Chocolate cookies rolled in chopped walnuts with melted mint wafers pressed on top mid-bake: two-tone mint-chocolate treats perfect after dinner with coffee.

Chinese cashew chicken stir-fry with snow peas, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and toasted cashews in a soy-cornstarch sauce. A classic takeout favorite made from scratch at home.

Old-fashioned molasses cookies made with lard and sour cream for a tender, flaky texture butter can't match. Spiced with cinnamon and ginger, chilled overnight, then rolled thick and soft.