Make Ahead

This classic sugar cookie and tart shell dough is also known as pâte sucrée. Like the Chocolate Sugar Dough, it is very versatile and works as tart shells or sugar cookies, or whenever you need a sweet, sturdy crust to hold delicacies like strawberries and cream or chocolate mousse. You can also mix all the ingredients in a food processor—just pulse until the ingredients come together.

This recipe offers treasures of the Caribbean “sugar islands”: chocolate, sugar, and rum. It’s a classic French buttercream using a cooked sugar technique, pâté à bombe, to blend and aerate the eggs and sugar, which creates incomparable richness. Or maybe it’s the butter. Or maybe it’s the chocolate. You get the picture—it’s rich! One batch makes enough to ice one 2-layer cake, but if you like generous layers and rosettes, double this recipe. Allow time to chill the buttercream. If soupy, chill it for another half hour. If stiff, heat it over a saucepan of hot water, then whip it. For children, you can omit the rum.

This hearty dinner in a bowl is a great comfort after a hectic day, especially since you don’t need to chop anything to prepare it.

For a delicious Italian dinner, serve this flavorful combination of portobello mushrooms, bell peppers, and plum tomatoes with brown rice or on your favorite whole-grain pasta.

Rich-tasting, thick, and so flavorful—no one will miss the meat in this stew.

When your meat-loving guests taste this chili, they’ll be amazed that a meatless dish can be so hearty.

Everyone needs a tuna casserole recipe. Ours abounds with color, flavor, and crunch.

This pleasant pasta salad is even tastier the second day. Enjoy it as an entrée for six or a side dish for twelve.

Capture the traditional flavors of huevos rancheros with this any-time-of-day casserole. You can make it and bake it right away or prepare it ahead of time and bake it the next day.

Use leftover turkey from the holidays for this festive soup, or for a grilled turkey version, use leftover turkey from the Grilled Turkey Cutlets with Pineapple—without the pineapple (page 162).

Fresh herbs add a lively taste to this refreshing, light soup.

This trail mix, updated with crystallized ginger, is ready in a flash. It’s great to have on hand when you need a grab-and-go snack.

I always keep shrimp in my freezer. I buy it in bulk or when it’s on sale so it’s there when I want it. Shrimp is a great source of lean protein and one of the few proteins you can easily defrost in minutes and without affecting quality. Simply run the frozen shrimp under cold water until it thaws. This recipe technically makes boiled, not steamed, shrimp. The result is similar, but I have found boiling to yield more consistent results.

Let’s face it, baking cookies or making candy can take a lot of time—time we sometimes just don’t have. But we do still want to offer treats that are made with love. These truffles are a simple, fast, and fun answer that will keep you from slaving over a stove and will keep your family fit and happy. In fact, they’re the perfect homemade sweet treat to impress everyone whether they’re interested in eating healthfully or not. And, they’re even perfect for getting the kids in the kitchen with you.

This dessert is great to take out the door, to sell at a bake sale (if you store the cups in a tub of ice), or even to just open the refrigerator to. There’s just something so much more appealing about food that’s ready to go. Feel free to make this in any resealable plastic container you have sitting around your kitchen. But if you want it to look like it was made by the pros, next time you go to a warehouse or club store, buy 12-ounce clear plastic take-out cups with lids. If you’re making a lot, line them up and fill them assembly-line fashion. If you have a few extra minutes and want the shortcakes to be even more decadent, try following this recipe using the Sexy Strawberry Tapenade (see page 207) instead of plain strawberries—a 1/4-cup serving of the tapenade has only 50 calories and 2 grams of fat. Just layer a serving (or two) of the tapenade between the angel food cake and whipped topping in a 12-ounce cup, and you’re in for an extra-special treat.

This dish is insanely great for potlucks. Instead of other lasagnes that you can slave over for hours, you can now spend just 10 minutes throwing this together. And the best news is that it can be assembled up to 1 day in advance. After preparing it, simply cover it with plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator (be sure to remove the plastic wrap before baking!) so it can be baked just before serving. Make sure you find a brand of ravioli with as little fat as possible. Some are laden with tons of fat and calories, yet they don’t taste any better than those that are lower in fat and calories. Rosetto also makes a whole-wheat ravioli that’s delicious and just as low in fat and calories but packs 6 grams of fiber per serving (I buy it at Whole Foods). Though the bag is slightly smaller (22 ounces instead of 25), so you’ll need a bag plus a few more ravioli to make the recipe as written, it’s worth buying.

This London broil really couldn’t be easier, especially if you buy the meat already trimmed. If your grocery store sells it with a big layer of fat, save time by asking the butcher to trim it for you while you shop. They don’t charge for this service at most major grocery stores (though they don’t decrease the price to reflect the new weight, either). Though I always love the flavor an outdoor grill provides, as a second option, this dish can be prepared under a broiler for 4 to 5 minutes per side for medium-rare, or until the desired doneness is reached.