7-Up Biscuits are one of my favorite shortcut breads when I want warm biscuits without cutting cold butter into flour or worrying about a complicated dough. They are soft in the middle, buttery around the edges, and made with a simple combination of baking mix, sour cream, lemon-lime soda, and melted butter. The dough is much softer and stickier than ...

Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding is a simple baked dessert made with instant rice, milk, sugar, butter, vanilla, nutmeg, raisins, and cinnamon. It bakes slowly until the rice is tender and the milk mixture becomes creamy. This is the kind of dessert I like when I want something warm and comforting without making a complicated custard. Everything goes into one buttered baking ...

Almond Joy Cookies are soft, chewy cookies loaded with chocolate chips, sweet coconut, and chopped almonds. This big-batch recipe is easy to bake, share, and freeze. ...

3-Ingredient Banana Bread is one of my favorite shortcuts when a few bananas have gone soft on the counter and I want something warm from the oven without pulling out half the pantry. The base is incredibly simple: ripe bananas bring the moisture and flavor, eggs give the loaf structure, and yellow cake mix takes care of the flour, sugar, ...

Easy Homemade Honey Bread is a simple yeast bread made with just five basic ingredients: warm water, honey, active dry yeast, salt, and bread flour. There are no eggs, milk, or butter in the dough, which makes this a handy recipe when I want homemade bread without making a special grocery run. The honey gives the loaves a gentle sweetness ...

Best Ever Prime Rib uses a high-heat start followed by a closed-door oven period to build a browned crust while the center cooks gently in the oven’s residual heat. It is a useful holiday method, but the timing should be treated as a guide rather than a guarantee because ovens lose heat at very different rates. The part I would ...

These No Bake Chocolate Oat Bars are the kind of easy dessert that feels rich, homemade, and comforting without turning on the oven. They are perfect for busy weeks, bake sales, lunchbox treats, holiday dessert trays, or anytime you want something sweet with pantry ingredients. The bars have a buttery oat crumble on the top and bottom, with a smooth chocolate peanut ...

Creamy Lemon Squares are one of those desserts that look simple but still feel special when you set them out on a plate. The bottom is a buttery graham cracker crust, and the filling is smooth, bright, and creamy from sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, and fresh lemon juice. What I like most about this recipe is the contrast. The ...

Old Fashioned Beef Stew is the kind of dinner that makes more sense when you have a little time to let it simmer. Beef stew meat cooks slowly with broth until tender, then potatoes, carrots, rosemary, corn, green beans, and a few optional vegetables turn the pot into a full, hearty meal. I think of this as a weekend dinner, ...

Bisquick Cinnamon Rolls are a quick no-yeast version of classic cinnamon rolls. Instead of waiting for dough to rise, the dough is made with baking mix, milk, and egg, then rolled with brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, and optional chopped nuts. I like this style of cinnamon roll when I want a warm breakfast without planning several hours ahead. The texture ...

Old-Fashioned Banana Cream Pie is the homemade kind: a baked pie crust, sliced bananas, and a vanilla custard cooked from scratch on the stovetop. There is no instant pudding mix here. The filling comes from milk, sugar, flour, egg yolks, butter, and vanilla, then it gets poured over fresh bananas and chilled until firm enough to slice. What I like ...

Old Fashioned Goulash is one of those dinners I turn to when I want something filling, familiar, and easy to make in one pot. This American-style goulash combines ground beef, elbow macaroni, tomatoes, broth, Worcestershire sauce, and simple seasonings into a hearty pasta dinner that feeds a family without a long ingredient list. I grew up knowing this kind of ...

Homemade Strawberry Shortcake can mean a few different things depending on how you grew up eating it. This version is cake-style rather than biscuit-style: a soft vanilla butter cake is baked in one pan, cooled completely, then topped with whipped cream and plenty of fresh strawberries. I like this style when I want something that slices more like a traditional ...

Juicy Roasted Chicken is one of the simplest ways to turn a whole chicken into a comforting family dinner. This version uses salt, black pepper, onion powder, margarine, and celery, so the ingredient list stays short while the chicken roasts with a browned exterior and tender meat. I like roasting a whole chicken because the oven does most of the ...

Dorito Chicken Bake is a creamy, cheesy casserole made with cooked chicken, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, Ro-Tel tomatoes, taco seasoning, Mexican-blend cheese, and crushed Doritos. It is the kind of dinner that comes together quickly when you already have cooked chicken on hand. Rotisserie chicken works especially well here because it cuts down the prep. The filling is ...

This Chicken Bacon Ranch Tater Tot Casserole is the kind of cozy, cheesy dinner that disappears fast from the table. It is creamy, crispy, smoky, and loaded with the flavors people already love: tender chicken, ranch, bacon, cheddar, and golden tater tots. This is a great recipe for busy weeknights, casual family dinners, potlucks, game day, or any night when ...