The Perfect Pantry®

Recipe for whole wheat macaroni and cheese with mushrooms and thyme

Not all that long ago, I had room in my brain for all the details I wanted to store there: birthdays, phone numbers, shopping lists, passwords, my car's license plate number, and the high-point three-letter Scrabble words. I also remembered who among my family and friends didn't eat strawberries, black olives, fish, dairy, stinky cheese, or green vegetables (bet you can guess that last one). Someone doesn't love mushrooms. I can't remember who, but I feel sorry for that person, because he (I'm certain it's a he) will miss out on this irresistible whole wheat mushroom mac and cheese when it appears on my Thanksgiving buffet this year. Whole wheat pasta isn't my favorite, but paired with woodsy cremini mushrooms and thyme from my garden, along with Gruyere or Danish fontina cheese, the more dense pasta seems so right. Serve this mac and cheese as a hearty vegetarian main course, or a side dish for any holiday meal.

Recipe for slow cooker baked apples, or chunky applesauce

What happens when a good recipe goes kerplooie? You end up with two good recipes. Kathy and I were aiming for these beautiful slow cooker baked apples when, the first time around, we left them in a bit too long. The apples burst in the cooker, and with some gentle encouragement from a wooden spoon, the large remaining chunks became spoon-sized chunks and the whole thing morphed into the most indulgently rich applesauce. I decided to share both recipes with you -- the one we intended to make, which worked perfectly the second time around, and the one we made by accident, so good that we made it again on purpose. If you don't have a 7-quart slow cooker (CrockPot), buy smaller apples that will fit into a 6-quart cooker. Baked apples or applesauce, laced with dried cranberries and crunchy granola and brown sugar -- only one thing could make them better -- a scoop of vanilla ice cream melting slowly on top.

Recipe for roasted shrimp po' boy sandwich with Greek yogurt cole slaw and remoulade sauce

New Orleans' gifts to the world include jazz, Mardi Gras and two famous sandwiches: the muffuletta, layered with meat and cheese and pickled olive salad; and the po' boy. Clovis and Benjamin Martin, brothers who opened a restaurant on St. Claude Avenue in the 1920s, are credited with inventing the po' boy. When streetcar drivers went on strike in 1929, the Martins created an inexpensive sandwich of gravy and roast beef scraps on French bread; according to local legend, when one of the unemployed drivers came to get a sandwich, the cry would go up in the kitchen that "Here comes another poor boy." The sandwich became known as a poor boy, shortened to po' boy, and these days it's most often filled with fried shrimp or oysters. I tasted my first po' boy many years ago in New Orleans, as is only proper. More recently, at a farmers market in Atlanta, I treated myself to a fried shrimp po' boy (oh so good), dripping with remoulade sauce and sweet cole slaw. This recipe really cuts the calories -- roasted shrimp instead of fried, and judicious use of nonfat Greek yogurt -- while still letting the good times roll in your mouth.

Recipe for green chile cheeseburgers

Folks in Hatch, New Mexico, home of the famous Hatch green chile peppers and the annual festival that celebrates them, might not give first prize to my New Englander's version of a green chile cheeseburger, but the rest of you will swoon. For my husband Ted, and for Chelsea, my summer intern, and for me, it was love at first bite -- love at every juicy bite. I mix two pantry staples, canned fire-roasted chiles (from the supermarket) and shredded cheese, in with the beef, which keeps it moist. Then, I kick things up with a slightly-spicy slather on the bun, and a slice of melted pepper jack cheese on top. If any of my friends who've recently moved to New Mexico are reading this, how about a trade: this amazing recipe for a few cans of Hatch chiles? You know where I live.