Cookbooks

You don't need a bowl or even beaters for this treat. Just mix all the ingredients in your food processor, then bake—so clever! I can never turn down an excellent cream cheese frosting either, and this is one of the best.

Chicken potpie is a dish many of us crave when we want to conjure up the warmth of home and hearth, and chef Ashley Christensen, owner of Poole's Diner in Raleigh, North Carolina, is no different. "This potpie is inspired by my mother's kind of cooking: dishes that shout out the classics, but with clean flavors and crisp textures," she says. Christensen grounds the pie in colder-month offerings of sweet potatoes and rutabagas and tender leaves of kale instead of the usual carrot and celery combo. Adding another bit of Southern flair, the chef uses a small amount of cornmeal in the crust, which provides a nutty, toasty flavor with an echo of sweetness to match the filling. "Though some potpies are encased in crust, I like the "island" approach, letting the gravy bubble up around the pillow of crust," Christensen says. "Crust is potpie's defining moment, no matter how delicious the filling."

Bourbon Balls function as the ultimate easy dessert for Southern cocktail parties, and they put a sweet, slightly boozy finish on any get-together. Think of them as an edible digestif. Crushed vanilla wafers hold all the chocolatey goodness together. Buy an 11-ounce box and remove two dozen wafers to save for another use, like Banana Pudding.

Folks in St. Louis pride themselves on their ribs. You could say it's the city's signature dish. Growing up in the projects like we did, we didn't have a barbecue pit or a smoker, so when we wanted ribs, my mom came up with this way of doing them in the oven. Another way she'd make her ribs was to cut the rack into small slabs of two or three ribs, marinate and season them, and then fry them up—just like you'd do a pork chop. Serve with potato salad or mac and cheese.

The combination of melon, marjoram, and sweet moscato vinegar in this delicate salad tastes like summer to me. When I serve guests this dish, I like to watch them take their first bite and enjoy a moment of pure bliss as the melon juices run down their chin.

In this classic dish, native to the Yucatàn peninsula, warm corn tortillas are dunked into a pumpkin seed salsa, rolled up with crumbled hard-boiled eggs, and topped with a duo of sauces: more pumpkin seed and tomato salsa to boot.

Skillet-toasting quinoa will add texture and flavor to a dish. I recommend using a nonstick skillet for this. If you use a standard skillet, the quinoa requires more attention and the skillet needs occasional scraping. The goal is for the quinoa to retain its tenderness but acquire a toasted exterior. You can cook the quinoa more or less, according to your taste preferences.

This California-style burger was tested numerous times to perfect and ensure that the patties are crisp, firm, tasty, and delicious. The combination of rolled oats, raw walnuts, chia seeds, and flaxseed meal will keep you totally full on protein and fiber. Top with delicious avocado slices, and you've got a veggie burger unlike any you've ever tasted! The patties will last up to a week, refrigerated.

We all know how much we like our coffee in the morning, well here's a healthy version that will wake-up your taste buds as well as delivering a gelatin protein boost. You will know you are onto a good thing.

This is one of those ingredient combinations that, like the Little Black Dress, always seems to be in style, and it's no wonder: earthy, sweet beets, sharp and creamy blue cheese, and bitter greens simply go together beautifully. Skillet-Toasted Quinoa provides additional texture and protein. Like Chimichurri, this vinaigrette's flavors grow more robust if allowed to sit at room temperature for at least 1 day.

My favorite apple pie recipe comes from a friend who shares my name, and who was kind enough to share with me a recipe for an apple pie that's practically a work of art. More than a thousand words long, it features little anecdotes here and there, making the recipe valuable for the writing alone, never mind the pie that comes off its pages. We wanted to re-create the flavor of apple pie in ice cream, but pie crust didn't quite work out when tucked into custard—it got too soggy for it to be any good. Instead, we decided to keep the filling and use bits of cooked crumble topping as cookielike bites mixed in with bits of apple. Calvados is a nice way to bump up the apple flavor, but if you don't have that on hand, rum or brandy should do in pinch.

Dress up any dip, sandwich, or dressing with this flavorful and healthy mayo that also offers the nutrient value of raw kale and fresh garlic. This creamy condiment will soon take the place of butter on your breakfast toast. Go ahead, we won't watch. Spread em'.

Missing those fried fish tacos you had that one time at a shabby little beach restaurant in Southern California? Or the fish-and-chips from the chipper? Yeah, me too. The nice thing about this recipe is you can fry up a batch easily—no deep-fat fryer required. The batter is made with quinoa flour and gets added texture and crispness from toasted quinoa. Serve the fish as a main dish with whatever side you life, douse it in malt vinegar, or satisfy that California craving and use it to make tacos.

Nourish your body with this welcoming salad complete with a warming ginger dressing. Lentils provide a fabulous source of protein and the beet adds that splash of color I love so much.

Puréed kale leaves give this lighter guacamole an extra dose of fiber and Vitamin A.

We don't really understand why most mint chip ice cream comes in this odd shade of green that doesn't look like any plant, never mind mint. Our mint chip ice cream is a creamy white speckled with chocolate chips and is one of our best sellers. It's incredibly easy to make and is most certainly a crowd-pleaser. We recommend showing some restraint with the mint extract—after all, you can always add more—lest your ice cream wind up tasting like toothpaste.

You may not think of coleslaw as sexy, and you'd be right—most coleslaw is far from a turn-on. But this colorful, lighter version brings the sexy back with superfoods like carrots and red, yellow, or orange bell peppers. It's also a great way to enjoy your kale in the raw.

Tacos al pastor—made from marinated pork that's been roasted on a vertical spit—are wildly popular in Mexico City, particularly at night. The best taqueros put on a show, slicing off bits of caramelized meat and catching it in one hand (or behind their back!), and then reaching above the meat to slice off a piece of warm, juicy pineapple. According to city folklore, these tacos were invented in the capital. The dish is a direct descendant of shawarma, brought by Lebanese immigrants who arrived in Mexico in the early twentieth century. The marinade in this recipe comes from Tacos Don Guero in the Cuauhtémoc neighborhood, whose taqueros were kind enough to explain their ingredients to me at six a.m. one weekday morning. Obviously very few people at home will have a vertical spit—part of what gives tacos al pastor its signature flavor—but a grill would work well, or a blazing-hot cast iron skillet or griddle greased with a little lard.