Recipe Sifter

Chicken liver pate with brandy, dry sherry, and unsalted butter, finished with a hint of marjoram and optional truffles. Silky smooth and served chilled as an elegant appetizer.

Applesauce cake waffles spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Fluffy from folded egg whites, these taste like fall in every crispy bite.

Slow cooker Texican chili with bacon, cubed round steak, kidney beans, tomatoes, and vegetables. A hearty, Texas-meets-Mexican beef chili that simmers 10 to 12 hours until fork-tender.

Overnight pineapple French toast soaked in pineapple juice custard, pan-fried golden, and topped with strawberry-pineapple-coconut ambrosia salsa.

Granny's sourdough starter: a four-ingredient old-fashioned starter that uses commercial yeast as a kickstart, then matures into a true wild starter you feed every ten days.

Crunchy ramen noodle salad tossing coleslaw cabbage, toasted almonds, and crushed uncooked ramen in a sweet-and-tangy dressing made from the seasoning packet, oil, sugar, and vinegar. A no-cook potluck favorite.

Quick garlic marinara sauce with canned Roma tomatoes, olive oil, oregano, and parsley. A 5-ingredient Italian tomato sauce ready in 20 minutes.

Chocolate peanut butter frosting made with cocoa powder, peanut butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar. A no-cook, no-butter frosting with rich chocolate-peanut flavor.

Quick sauteed salmon steaks pan-finished in butter with soy sauce and garlic powder, plated with lemon. Five ingredients, 15 minutes, weeknight-dinner heroics for under $10 a serving.

Texas-style spicy spareribs baked low and slow for 4 hours with lemon and onion slices, then glazed with spicy barbecue sauce. Fall-off-the-bone tender.

Gai Paht Meht Mamuang Himapahn is the Thai chicken cashew stir-fry where dried red chilies fry to blackened smoke, then meet seared chicken strips, onion wedges, fish sauce, and roasted cashews. A 15-minute weeknight stir-fry that punches above its ingredient list.

Pressure cooker soy chicken with mushrooms, celery, onion, and brown sugar in a savory-sweet soy glaze. Tender chicken in just 5 minutes of cook time.

Fresh lump crabmeat in a creamy Chablis and mustard sauce with pimiento and green pepper, spooned into baking shells and microwaved in just 13 minutes. An elegant seafood appetizer for weeknight entertaining.

Sirloin steak salad with rice, corn, black olives, cherry tomatoes, and a spicy picante-lime dressing. A Tex-Mex main dish salad with serious substance.

Eggs poached in a simmering skillet of tomatoes, jalapeno, and cilantro, then topped with toasted ground pumpkin seeds. A quick Yucatan-style breakfast in 20 minutes.

Spaghetti Bolognese: a chunky, vegetable-packed beef ragu simmered low for hours until rich and deep, then piled over spaghetti. Hearty comfort with hidden veggies in every bite.