Recipe Sifter

Whip up this glossy sweet and sour sauce in minutes using your blender. Pineapple juice concentrate, brown sugar, vinegar, and green pepper make a thick, tangy glaze for roasted or broiled meats.

Beach-style steamed crawfish layer fresh crawfish, red bliss potatoes, sweet corn, and lemon over hot seaweed. A New England-meets-Cajun shore feast.

Blended cherries and peaches with fresh orange juice, poured into custard glasses and topped with an orange wedge and whole cherry. A 10-minute Valentine's Day fruit dessert.

Cookie ice cream sandwiches made with slice-and-bake chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream. A two-ingredient frozen treat kids can help assemble in 20 minutes.

Big-batch melon and citrus fruit salad with honeydew, cantaloupe, oranges, grapefruit, pineapple, bananas, and cherries in fresh orange juice. Feeds 20 and keeps a week.

Pineapple orange muffins made with quick bread mix, crushed pineapple, orange zest, and pineapple juice in the batter. A tropical, semi-homemade muffin that's moist and citrusy.

Saffron-tinted rice simmered with sautéed chicken breast, garlic, and onions, topped with bright steamed broccoli. A complete one-pot meal in about an hour.

Fast pita pizza topped with tomato sauce, mushrooms, peppers, and alfalfa sprouts. A 10-minute vegetarian single-serving pizza using pita bread as an instant crust.

Middle Eastern sesame soup made with tahini, lemon juice, and stock in just 5 ingredients. A creamy, nutty, tangy vegetarian soup that comes together in minutes. Serve with crusty bread.

Old-fashioned potato sourdough starter: a yeast-and-flour starter fed with raw potato for biscuits, breads, and pancakes. Pioneer-style starter that improves with age.

Potsticker crisps made by baking dumpling wrappers until golden and shatteringly crisp. A one-ingredient appetizer chip ready in under 10 minutes.

Savoury mushroom sauce is a rich vegan gravy made from dried porcini extract, tamari, maple syrup, and arrowroot. A gluten-free, dairy-free topping for rice, potatoes, or pasta.

Orange-carrot gelatin salad with mandarin oranges, crushed pineapple, shredded carrots, and pecans set in orange Jell-O and unmolded on a bed of lettuce. A retro potluck classic.

Bread machine blueberry oatmeal bread combines rolled oats, bread flour, and canned blueberries for a soft hearty loaf. Hands-off yeast bread with chewy oat texture and berry color.

Grilled marinated tofu sandwiches with horseradish mayo, sliced tomato, red onion, and lettuce. Firm tofu charred on the grill until crispy, then stacked on bread like a BLT.

These plant-based sausages taste great, contain no added fat except the vegetable oil they're fried in, and are easy to make. These ingredients yield fairly mild sausages; after you've tried them, adjust the seasonings to please your palate.