Recipe Sifter

Soft Southern cream cookies made with sour cream for a pillowy, cake-like texture. Pressed flat with a cinnamon-sugar coated glass and baked until barely golden.

Ratatouille bread bakes the classic Provencal vegetables (zucchini, summer squash, bell pepper, tomatoes, basil, garlic) into a savory bread machine loaf. A Mediterranean-flavored sandwich bread.

Chilled Molokai sweet potato soup with fish: a silky Hawaiian chilled soup of purple Molokai sweet potato, leeks, and limu seaweed, topped with chilled poached snapper. An island-inspired starter.

Baked white bean and brown rice patties with Mexican seasoning, chili peppers, and garlic. A high-protein vegetarian burger alternative with serious spice and crunch.

Low-fat unfried rice with marinated shiitake mushrooms, bell peppers, brown rice, and teriyaki. All the flavor of fried rice without the oil, using rice wine to keep vegetables from sticking.

Reduced-sugar oatmeal cake with rolled oats, raisins, molasses, and warming cinnamon and nutmeg. Egg whites and a sugar substitute keep things lean. The lighter take on a Southern church-supper classic.

Southwestern sweet potato and corn soup with green chile, cumin, and red bell pepper, half-pureed for a thick and creamy texture. A naturally vegan, low-fat soup with bold Southwestern spice.

Wear your old polka dot shorts with this scrumptious bread made with cranberries and walnuts.

This savory vegetable stock is quick and easy to make and is perfect to use when making soups.

Chocolate-dipped California figs stuffed with walnuts or marshmallows. An elegant no-bake candy with just three ingredients. Perfect for gift boxes.

Chocolate nougatines are a classic candy made from honey-sweetened nougat with chopped nuts, cut into squares and coated in melted chocolate. Chewy, nutty, and rich with old-fashioned candy-making technique.

Minestrone pasta salad with kidney beans, chickpeas, carrots, bell pepper, and Parmesan tossed in Italian dressing. Served warm or cold in 25 minutes.

Indian pakoras made with chickpea flour batter spiced with garam masala, coriander, and turmeric. Dip eggplant, potato, pepper, mushroom, or onion and fry until crisp. The chaiwala classic at home.

Dense fudge truffle cheesecake on a chocolate cocoa-wafer crust. A pound and a half of cream cheese melted with sweetened condensed milk and 12 ounces of melted chocolate chips. Eats like a giant chocolate truffle.

German chocolate pies: two pies at once, gooey cocoa-pecan-coconut filling in flaky shells. One to eat now, one to freeze. A Southern dessert for holidays and church suppers.

Old-fashioned raisin bread made with yeast, molasses, and plump raisins creates tender, slightly sweet loaves perfect for toasting.