Recipe Sifter

Crisp-fried pasta nibbles boiled until almost tender, then deep fried until golden and crunchy. Sprinkled with garlic salt for an addictive party snack.

Toasted pita chips split, cut, and bake pita bread into crisp triangles for dips, soups, and lunchboxes. Two ingredients, eight-minute bake, much better than store-bought.

Four-ingredient almond macaroons: ground almonds, sugar, almond extract, and egg whites piped from a pastry bag and baked to chewy-crisp perfection. Naturally gluten-free.

Chicken braised in a mix of regular and dark beer with onion soup mix for a rich, savory sauce. Four ingredients, one pan, and zero fuss. Serve over rice.

Homemade elderberry wine fermented with fresh berries, sugar, lemon juice, and yeast. A traditional country winemaking recipe that needs just five ingredients and three months of patience.

Elva's carne guisada with beef chuck braised in a cumin-spiced gravy with Rotel tomatoes, onion, and bell pepper. Tex-Mex comfort food ready in 40 minutes.

Fried plantains sliced thin on the bias and deep-fried until golden brown and crispy. A 3-ingredient Caribbean and Latin American side dish ready in minutes.

Chicken with a hint of lemon and basil that goes hand in hand with the summer weather.

Pavlova: a crisp meringue shell with a soft, marshmallow-like center, topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit. The Australian summer dessert that lets seasonal berries and stone fruit shine.

Fiddleheads on toast turn early-spring foraged fern shoots into a brunch dish with white sauce three ways: with hard-boiled eggs, crispy bacon, or rolled in ham and broiled.

Fluffy pink grapefruit frosting is a seven-minute frosting made with egg whites, sugar, and grapefruit juice beaten over a double boiler into billowy, citrus-scented peaks.

A simple overnight yeast sponge starter made with just flour, water, and active dry yeast. The base for flavorful homemade bread with better texture and deeper taste.

Fresh berry tarts: a pair of giant 10x15 inch sheet tarts with vanilla cream over sweet pie crust, one tart piled with glazed cherries, the other with glossy blueberries.

Fresh fruit frappe blended with watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, mango, strawberries, and orange juice over crushed ice. A refreshing no-cook summer drink.

Homemade apple fruit leather sweetened naturally, spiced with a pinch of cinnamon, dried slow in a low oven. A pantry snack with no added sugar or preservatives.

No-bake low-calorie fruit truffles made with mashed bananas, orange juice and zest, ground almonds, rolled in cocoa and crushed almond coating. Naturally sweet, gluten-free.