877 lounge recipes

Homemade graham crackers from-scratch with whole graham flour, brown sugar, and a long overnight chill. Crisp, lightly sweet wholewheat crackers ready for s'mores, pie crusts, or straight-up snacking.

A homemade vanilla pecan liqueur: brandy slowly infused with pecans, vanilla beans, and cinnamon, then sweetened with sugar syrup. A smooth, nutty after-dinner sipper worth the weeks-long wait.

Lovage, potato, and buttermilk soup with a velvety puree and tangy finish. A light, herbaceous soup that works hot or chilled with just five ingredients.

Easy Hungarian-style beef soup with paprika, caraway, wide noodles, and a finish of sour cream. Made with canned tomato soup as a shortcut for weeknight goulash flavor without the long simmer.

Indian-spiced chicken thighs marinated in yogurt, mango chutney, curry powder, cumin, and fresh ginger, then baked until brown and fork-tender. Bold flavor with minimal effort.

Yummy chicken curry: tender curried chicken in a quick, creamy sour cream sauce with sweet golden raisins, ready in about 20 minutes. A fast, mild weeknight curry that skips the coconut milk and the long simmer.

Mashed banana and chopped apples baked into a tender, cinnamon-spiced quick bread with sour cream for richness and walnuts for crunch. One loaf that won't last long on the counter.

A Cajun-style homemade beef seasoning blend with paprika, garlic powder, file powder, and bay leaf. Mix it once, jar it up, and season steaks, roasts, and stews all month long.

Butter-sauteed shrimp deglazed with white wine, served over thin pasta with a slow-simmered Provencal tomato sauce rich with basil and oregano. Worth every minute of the long, lazy simmer.

Cocoa dough shaped into long rolls, baked, then sliced on the diagonal into elegant strip cookies loaded with chocolate chips. Drizzle with melted white or dark chocolate for a bakery finish.

House Park beans are Texas-style pinto beans slow-boiled with chili powder, garlic, and a touch of sugar. No soaking, no meat, just simple seasoned pintos cooked low and long.

Texas-style chili con carne with diced beef, whole red chili pods, paprika, and a cornmeal-flour thickener. No beans, no tomato, just deep meaty heat from a long slow simmer.

Easy cinnamon ornaments made from just applesauce and ground cinnamon, rolled, cut into festive shapes, and air-dried into fragrant, long-lasting holiday decorations. A no-bake craft, not for eating.

Old-fashioned raisin pie with brown sugar, walnuts, and a hit of orange drink mix in the filling. The double-crust country dessert often called funeral pie for its long shelf life.

Kalamarakia is classic Greek fried squid dusted in flour and pan-fried in olive oil, then finished with white wine and fresh lemon juice. A simple taverna-style appetizer ready in 30 minutes.

Canned garlic dill pickles with pickling spices, dill seed heads, red chili peppers, and a sweet-salty vinegar brine. Water bath processed for shelf-stable storage that improves over two months.