Monterey Jack

This is one of the most requested dishes in my home, especially when we have children over. Instead of making a béchamel sauce, Marja simply blends her ingredients and bakes them into a rich custard that suspends the pasta. Her blend of five cheeses creates layers of flavors in this homey casserole. Marja’s always happy to bake it for a crowd, and everyone’s always happy to eat it.

Because we’re a barbecue joint, we’ve always got pulled pork on hand, so it was just natural for us to turn it into a delicious appetizer. Don’t let our habits limit you. Make these quesadillas with some cooked turkey or chicken thigh meat or any chopped or shredded leftover meat you have lurkin’ in the fridge.

Chicken tortilla soup became really popular in restaurants a few years ago, but it was never something I made at home. Garth loves this soup and orders it almost every time he sees it on a menu, so I started studying the different versions at each restaurant and questioning Garth about what he liked and didn’t like about each one. This recipe I finally came up with doesn’t actually taste like any of those we tasted in restaurants, but we love it—and now we can enjoy it whenever we want!

No offense to salsa, but come on, who doesn't love a gooey, cheesy bean dip, bubbling hot like lava from the broiler? If you're a chile head, you'll probably want to up the number of chiles and leave the seeds in. If your friends are more, ahem, delicate, then stick with one chile and remove the seeds and ribs.

This dip is a perennial hit. The last time I made it guests practically licked the bowl.

Use the extra loin from the Pork Loin with Figs and Port Sauce (page 217) in the recipes below (you’ll have enough meat to make both).

This Southwestern-style salad makes excellent use of shortcut staples such as canned beans, frozen corn, and prepared salsa. Fresh varieties of each can be used instead. Serve additional chips, cheese, and salsa on the side.

THIS MEATLOAF IS DRESSED-UP COMFORT FOOD. Made with ground turkey, chicken sausage, and cheese curds, it’s a healthy dish that might just replace your mom’s recipe as the best meatloaf around. You can use any cheese, but we like using curds because they don’t melt completely, adding texture in every bite, while the cheese curds on the outside of the meatloaf get deliciously caramelized. The leftovers make terrific meatloaf sandwiches.

WHY IT’S LIGHT Just three-quarters of a pound of beef serves four as a main course when rolled around a filling of peppers and cheese and accompanied by a leafy salad. This dish is just as delicious (and even leaner) with chicken or turkey cutlets instead of beef.

WHY IT’S LIGHT This rendition of a Tex-Mex favorite uses lean chicken breasts, corn tortillas, and just enough Monterey Jack cheese to create a luscious topping. The gentle, moist heat of pan steaming keeps the chicken breasts juicy and tender without any oil.

Quesadillas, cheese-filled tortillas cooked until crisp and melted, are a simple quick pick-me-up. They are a standby for hungry kids after school. Served with rice, beans, and salsa, they make a complete lunch or dinner.

This spicy, cheesy rice dish was served on a regular basis at my parents’ house. It’s also perfectly delicious if you prefer to omit the crema and cheese and just serve the poblano rice on its own, saving you a few calories.

Manchego, a mild-flavored Spanish cheese, makes this classic Mexican soup a hit. As good as this is when served as a starter, it is also great paired with water crackers for the perfect pre-dinner snack or boiled down until thickened and transformed into an alfredo-like sauce for pasta or poultry. All told, you need to buy about 3 ounces Manchego for this recipe.

I was visiting my father one afternoon when unexpected guests stopped by for a game of futbol. He turned to me and said, “Quick, make me an appetizer, chef!” There was nothing remotely exciting in the fridge and the pantry appeared to be just as hopeless, until I noticed a jar of jalapeño-stuffed olives. Stuffed with cheese, breaded, and panfried, these little guys disappeared before anything else I made was given a second glance. They are great with an ice-cold cerveza and store-bought tartar sauce for dipping.

The original and superior version of nachos with cheese has the smoky spiciness of roasted chile and chorizo. While it can be served with tortilla chips, it is best scooped and wrapped into warm corn or flour tortillas. This makes a great simple lunch served with salad or soup.

A street snack of Central America and the Caribbean, empanadas can really be filled with anything you have on hand. This recipe and its variations offer several of the traditional fillings. Masa harina can be found at most supermarkets and Latin grocery stores. It adds a nice crunch to the dough, but regular flour works well, too.

Dora Charles—my head cook, my soul sister, and my friend—really puts her big toe in this dish. In fact, Fodor’s Travel Guide called it “The Best Baked Spaghetti in the South.” Go, Dora! (P.S. Dora doesn’t really put her toe in this, that’s just a Southern expression we use when someone has done a dish just right!)