649 simple recipes

Rice and kidney bean salad with sauteed celery, red wine vinegar, and a touch of sugar. A simple, budget-friendly side dish served at room temperature or chilled.

Marmaliga is a Romanian cornmeal porridge cooked in milk and water until thick and creamy, served with cottage cheese and sour cream. A simple, comforting Eastern European staple.

Low-fat frosted brownies made with applesauce instead of butter and egg whites instead of whole eggs. Topped with a simple cocoa icing, no oil or butter needed.

Simple sourdough starter made with unbleached flour and active dry yeast mixed into a thick batter and fermented for 24 hours. The foundation for sourdough breads and pancakes.

Depression-era eggless, milkless, butterless cake with brown sugar, raisins, ginger, and cinnamon. A simple wartime recipe that bakes into a spiced, dense loaf with minimal pantry staples.

Stuffed summer squash halves filled with scooped squash flesh mixed with diced cheese and cream, topped with buttered bread crumbs and baked until golden. Simple, seasonal comfort food.

Homemade semolina pasta with just durum semolina flour, all-purpose flour, and water. No eggs needed. A simple, eggless fresh pasta dough with satisfying chew and golden color.

Steamed chickpeas soaked overnight and steamed until tender but chewy, seasoned with salt and garlic salt. A simple, high-protein vegetarian snack or side dish from dried beans.

Raisin bulgur pilaf with cumin, made by soaking cracked wheat in boiling water with no stovetop cooking. A simple, high-fiber vegetarian side dish with just five ingredients.

Light vegetable stock: a simple homemade base of onion, garlic, celery, carrot, and bouquet garni simmered for an hour. The clean vegetarian foundation for soups, sauces, and risottos.

Steamed corn pones are simple masa dough logs wrapped in softened corn husks and steamed until tender. A rustic Mexican-Southern US sidekick to beans, chili, or stews.

Fortune Christmas Cookies, tiny marble-sized dough balls baked into bite-sized holiday treats. A simple, quick-baking variation of the Mysticandy cookie dough for the Christmas tin.

German apple cake made with baking mix, sliced apples, and a brown sugar cinnamon streusel topping. A simple one-bowl cake with tender fruit and a crumbly, spiced crust.

Double-crust blackberry pie with a flaky shortening pastry and a simple sugar-and-flour-thickened filling. The kind of late-summer fruit pie that lets the berries do the talking.

Rabbit cake is an old-fashioned Pennsylvania Dutch comfort bake: tender deboned rabbit layered with creamy potato filling and a simple stock gravy, then baked until golden and bubbling. Frugal, deeply savory.

Pacific pot roast studded with whole garlic cloves, braised low and slow in a Dutch oven, then served with a tomato-spiked flour gravy over rice. Simple, old-school comfort.