Cheese

When Jack’s cousin Baby Lizzie first started picking up food and feeding herself, we started making macaroni and cheese in mini muffin pans for her. Big cousin Jack likes to take a large bite, so for him regular muffin pans fit the bill. You can make these in either one. The crispy Ritz cracker crumbs on the outside form a little crust for these pies, making them perfect to eat with your hands. We’re not saying they will be much neater than regular mac and cheese, but these sure are fun and delicious.

Rather than making pizza dough from scratch, patting out biscuit dough for mini pizzas is a quick, fun shortcut that older kids, like our eleven-year-old niece Lauren, will enjoy joining in on. And the kids can top their own pizzas, too, if they like, piling on the cheese and pepperoni or, if you’ve got a strange kid who likes them like Bobby always did, with sliced olives.

If you’re looking for the answers to your sandwich prayers, I assure you this is it. Okay, so it’s probably not a great combo for your PB&J, but your panini will definitely make a quantum leap up the yum scale from delicious to ridiculous.

Before the success of Animal restaurant, the glowing New Yorker profile, and their new fish spot, Son of a Gun, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo Were upstart caterers to the stars. Bummer, they can't cater your Oscar party (they're already booked), but they've shared the recipe for one of their most popular dishes: melted petit basque cheese and chorizo dip with grilled bread. animalrestaurant.com

Room temperature ingredients make all the difference in this cake. You can get more loft from non-chilled egg whites, and room-temperature butter is easier to cream (beat together) with sugar than the straight- from-the-fridge stuff. The fluffy egg whites and properly creamed butter and sugar mean tender, light cake. And room-temp butter and cream cheese will translate to creamy, smooth frosting instead of a sticky mess filled with lumps.

This multi-culti recipe brings a moroccan flavor (the spice blend ras-el-hanout) to pastitsio, the classic Greek pasta dish.

This traditional French sandwich is topped with a classic Mornay sauce (a béchamel sauce with cheese).

The saucy mixture of Parmesan, cheddar, bell pepper, and sweet-tangy Peppadew peppers coats the pasta perfectly—and the panko topping adds just enough crunch.

This hearty, veggie-filled rigatoni recipe requires a little bit of work, but makes plenty for a group and is full of flavor.

Salt-and-vinegar chips and Guinness will turn this into a pub dinner.

For an easy dinner party, round this out with orzo on the side, a green salad, and a light Italian red wine like Dolcetto. Finish with sorbet and chopped dark chocolate.

Chef Cathal Armstrong of Restaurant Eve in Alexandria, Virginia, shared this recipe as part of a St. Patrick's Day feast he created exclusively for Epicurious. Armstrong says, "Kids go mad for this super-easy side dish"—so it's a great way to get your little ones to eat their veggies.

Enhance eggs with spinach, which has mounds of magnesium, a mineral that helps keep blood pressure steady.