80 smart recipes

Feed this sweet, yeast-based starter with flour, sugar, and milk every few days to keep it alive. Use it for Amish friendship bread or share with friends to start the tradition.

Start your own sourdough with just flat beer and flour. Stir 3 times a day for 5 to 10 days and you've got a bubbly, tangy starter ready for any sourdough recipe.

Bread machine Swedish limpa rye with anise extract, molasses, orange zest, fennel seeds, and applesauce for moisture. A fragrant, slightly sweet Scandinavian rye loaf with zero hands-on effort. Just press start.

A dark, earthy bread machine rye with caraway seeds, molasses, and a touch of cocoa for deep color and flavor. Just load the machine and press start for a fragrant homemade loaf.

Oat wheat bread for the bread machine. Half whole-wheat flour, rolled oats, and a touch of sugar make a nutty, hearty loaf with a tender crumb. Dump, push start, walk away.

Cayenne corn bread made easy in a bread machine. Cornmeal and bread flour with a kick of cayenne pepper and a touch of applesauce for moisture. Just load the machine and press start.

A milk-based sourdough starter jump-started with yeast: flour, water and yeast left to ferment, then enriched with milk, sugar and flour. Keep it in the fridge and feed it after each use for ongoing baking.

Traditional French onion soup starting with homemade beef bone stock simmered for 3 hours, then finished with caramelized onions and melted Gruyere. This from-scratch version takes patience but delivers deep, rich flavor.

Sybil Carter's homemade barbecue sauce starts with bacon drippings and builds layers of tangy tomato, brown sugar sweetness, mustard bite, and hot pepper heat. Doubles easily and keeps in the fridge for weeks.

Swiss cheese potato bread from the bread machine, with potato flakes for a soft, moist crumb and melted Swiss for nutty, savory flavor. Just add everything, press start, and bake a tender golden loaf.

Sourdough starter from scratch in two days using water, active dry yeast, sugar, and flour. The fast-start version that skips the wild-yeast wait, refresh with flour and water as you use it.

Tender beef short ribs get a head start in the microwave, then hit the grill for smoky, charred edges and sticky honey-chili glaze. Ready in under an hour with a quick ketchup-based barbecue marinade.

Outrageously oatmeal bread is a soft, lightly sweet bread machine loaf with rolled oats, a spoon of applesauce, and a drizzle of honey. Dump everything in, press start, and wake up to a tender sandwich loaf.

No-bake chocolate mousse pie made with blended cottage cheese, skim milk, and cocoa on a cinnamon-graham cracker crust. Light, creamy, and high in protein. A smarter way to satisfy a chocolate craving without heavy cream or butter.

My hearty soup starts with a homemade stock simmered low for hours, then strained and skimmed clean before a load of vegetables, pasta, and pulled meat go in. A from-scratch, stick-to-your-ribs bowl made the old-fashioned way.

This simple fruit salad works at the start of the meal or as a dessert. The fruit is lightly glazed with either a simple syrup or agave syrup. Ginger, a bit of lemon, and some savory thyme which pairs amazingly with summer fruits accents the tartness of the berries and the sweetness of the stone fruit.