Recipe Sifter

Pueblan tinga, a smoky Mexican stew of shredded pork or chicken with charred tomatoes, chipotle in adobo, chorizo, and warm spices. Serve over rice or stuffed into bolillos.

Texas-style chocolate sheath cake with buttermilk and a warm marshmallow-nut cocoa icing spread on while the cake is still hot. One pan, one hour, and feeds a crowd.

Oatmeal peanut butter drop cookies with plumped raisins, cinnamon, and vanilla. A hearty, old-fashioned cookie packed with oats and peanut butter flavor. Makes 3 dozen.

Bolognese sponge cake layered with vanilla custard and rum, frosted in coffee zabaglione buttercream, then crowned with chocolate-dipped almonds and walnut sides. From Il Cantoncino restaurant in Bologna.

Vegetarian lentil stew simmered with carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf, finished with red wine and plum tomatoes. A hearty, high-fiber one-pot meal with no added fat.

Try a different kind of bread with this scrumptious recipe that calls for shrimp, sweet bell peppers and red hot pepper sauce.

Chocolate fruitcake with cocoa, candied cherries, pecans, golden raisins, and mixed dried fruit, topped with a semisweet chocolate-almond glaze and toasted almonds.

Whole wheat carrot oatmeal cookies fold shredded carrots, rolled oats, molasses and warm spices into hearty drop cookies. A lunchbox-friendly bake ready in 25 minutes.

Saag vali khichri is a soothing Indian rice and mung bean porridge stirred with fresh spinach, cumin, coriander, and ghee. Nourishing comfort food with Ayurvedic roots, gentle on the stomach and big on warming spice.

Herb crusted cod plates a parsley-cilantro breadcrumb crusted cod fillet on wilted baby bok choy with a silky corn-ginger broth. Fusion fish dinner ready in 45 minutes.

Navy bean borscht with beef, bacon, kielbasa, beets, cabbage, and potatoes in a sweet-sour broth. A hearty Polish-style beet soup thickened with a butter-flour paste and topped with sour cream.

Fennel focaccia made with frozen bread dough, olive oil, fennel seeds, and cornmeal. A crispy, aromatic Italian flatbread appetizer ready in just 30 minutes.

Hill Country pickled peaches preserved in a sweet vinegar syrup with cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, ginger, and white pepper. A Texas tradition for canning season.

Mock peanut brittle made with corn flakes, peanut butter, corn syrup, and sugar. Four ingredients, no candy thermometer needed. A crunchy no-bake treat kids love.

Thin, crispy oatmeal lace cookies with brown sugar, heavy cream, melted butter, and brandy-soaked currants. Delicate, caramelized wafers that shatter with each bite.

Egg-free and dairy-free cookie dough made with soy yogurt, applesauce, and oats. Customize with chocolate chips, dried fruit, or nuts for a vegan cookie that's all your own.