Recipe Sifter

Scrambled eggs piled on toasted English muffins with fresh tomato and mock hollandaise sauce. A lighter, fun spin on eggs Benedict that's ready in 30 minutes.

Fruit and pasta shell salad with fruit cocktail, banana, apple, and cinnamon whipped topping. A creamy, sweet side dish or potluck dessert served cold.

Peach sundae with vanilla ice cream, cling peach halves, a homemade ginger-walnut sauce, and a splash of Southern Comfort. A grown-up dessert in 15 minutes.

Cold pasta salad with blanched asparagus, tuna chunks, ham strips, black olives, and linguine tossed in garlic olive oil and lemon juice. Great at room temperature or chilled.

Chili Krieghauser with ground beef, French onion soup, kidney beans, and a splash of cola plus cocoa for unexpected depth. The midwestern-style cookoff chili with a secret ingredient list.

Seasoned tempeh aspic: grated tempeh browned with tamari and paprika, set in an agar-based vegetarian aspic with dill pickle and bell peppers. A meat-free spin on old-world cold cuts, served with rye and mustard.

Roux-thickened Creole onion soup loaded with golden onions, three cheeses, cayenne, and herbs, topped with seasoned bread cubes. French onion goes full Louisiana.

Genoise cake brushed with amaretto and layered with a whipped chocolate ganache filling. Italian sponge meets boozy almond and dark chocolate for a classic celebration dessert.

Pan-fried sole fillets in a quick rice wine and ginger sauce, brightened with lemon and finished with toasted pine nuts and scallions. A light, Asian-inspired fish dinner on the table in about 30 minutes.

Crispy oven-baked chicken breasts coated in a garlicky Dijon-breadcrumb crust, baked alongside Parmesan-topped tomatoes in one dish. A light, no-fry dinner with a crunchy crust and juicy roasted tomatoes.

Butternut squash soup with honey and a roasted barley risotto center, a restaurant-plated autumn soup where creamy risotto sits in the middle of a pool of silky squash soup. Elegant fall entertaining in a bowl.

Quick pita bread pizza topped with pan-fried eggplant, roasted red pepper, pepperoni, and spaghetti sauce. A Greek-meets-Italian snack or appetizer baked in just 5 minutes.

Spanish potato salad with new potatoes tossed hot in olive oil, white wine vinegar, crushed garlic, and sweet red pepper. No mayo, served warm with chives. Ready in 30 minutes.

Homemade water bagels with just five ingredients: flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and water. Shaped by hand, boiled, then baked for that chewy, dense New York-style crust.

Fungus among us salad tosses crisp iceberg, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, and red onion with chilled creamed spinach as a green, gloopy 'fungus' dressing. A Halloween party gross-out salad kids love.

Vegetarian nori rolls (murreita) wrap brown rice, mung sprouts, carrot, cucumber, daikon, and umeboshi plum in toasted nori. A macrobiotic-style sushi roll with no fish required.