Southwestern

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are adapted from Elizabeth Karmel's Web site, girlsatthegrill.com . On the road to Lockhart, Texas in the Hill Country outside of Austin, I discovered barbecue heaven where smoke meets beef. This slow-cooked brisket is crunchy and almost burnt on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside. After tasting a delicate 2-pound portion, I got some tips from the pit master himself and promptly went home and created my own version. The simple salt-and-pepper Lockhart Dry Rub is favored by the old guard and the Tricked-Up Brisket Rub is akin to what some of the younger up-starts in the barbecue world are doing to add a little more dimension to their burnt ends. Both rubs are great for slow-cooking and smoking brisket. You only need to make one rub to make this brisket so just pick whichever is more appealing to you. Be sure to purchase an untrimmed brisket. The meat needs all of the fat cap to keep it moist during the long cooking time.

Burger bonanza: Lean protein satisfies you; the salsa and bun add fiber.

Thickened with peanuts like some Veracruz sauces, and made with the classic Mexican technique of blending and then frying the sauce ingredients, this mild chili makes for an earthy modern-day meal.

Top this hearty vegetarian omelet with sour cream and chopped red onion. Serve with warm tortillas.

This easy main-course soup is great on its own or with toppings, such as tortilla chips, avocado, and sour cream.

For a vegetarian version, substitute Soyrizo for the chorizo.

These Southwestern pancakes are vibrant to the eye and the palate. For a spicier version, leave in some — or even all — of the jalapeño seeds.

I once considered making more authentic smoked ribs for a tailgate party and, in the planning, realized that not only would I need to be at the parking lot hours before everyone else, but my grill was not large enough to smoke enough ribs for everyone in my party. And to try to pass off just "a taste" of barbecued ribs is like trying to arm-tackle Priest Holmes. So it was a choice between shelling out for another grill or devising another method of cooking the ribs. Baking them first in a slow oven produced moist, flavorful meat I then had only to finish on the grill.

Talk about convenient! Baking a whole sweet potato takes about an hour, but sautéing the grated potato takes only fifteen minutes from start to finish — and you end up concentrating the flavor to boot. This recipe dresses up your potato with Southwestern ingredients, but there's no reason not to go Asian (add ginger and soy) or Italian (add sage, brown butter, and pine nuts) as the mood strikes you. For that matter, you could swap out the sweet potato and use butternut squash instead.

The trick: Sear in juices.
For her Southwestern Shrimp Soft Tacos, Jacki Pearson, executive sous-chef at Green Valley Spa in St. George, Utah, turns on the high heat to lock in the marinade and the shrimp's natural flavors — with hardly any oil. Use this technique with thin cuts of pork, beef, or poultry, too: Toss a piece of meat into an extra-hot pan and sear both sides (a minute or two) until a golden crust forms and meat cooks through.

An egg breakfast was once dubbed heart-stopping, but we now know that the egg's cholesterol needn't be a liability. Experts say one a day is OK, and its protein can keep you full until lunch. This burro — too big on satisfaction to be called a burrito — partners eggs with another protein player: lean machaca, a beef filling borrowed from Mexican ranchers. Adapted from A Real American Breakfast by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison (William Morrow), this dish will give you the energy to wrangle presents for even the toughest-to-buy-for relative.

Turkey's tryptophan spurs your brain to produce feel-good serotonin. Have this burger with a chocolate shake (chocolate has stress-relieving polyphenols). You can whip up an easy lowfat chocolate shake with frozen yogurt, skim milk, and a few vigorous squirts of chocolate syrup. Wrap any unused burgers in plastic wrap and freeze for your next stress attack!

Enriched with coarsely mashed potatoes, this lively soup makes for an easy supper. Serve the Accompaniments in separate bowls for an interactive touch.

Duck breast is a sadly underrated meat. Served rare to medium-rare and sliced on the diagonal, it has the mineral tang of beef. This southwestern version, with its slightly spicy sauce, elicits every ounce of flavor from the bird. And it's so easy!

A bold medley of cumin, cayenne, corn, and cilantro ups the flavor here. Great with: Grilled-fish tacos, steak fajitas, or chipotle-rubbed chicken.

No rolling required: Here the tortillas are layered with the filling (New Mexico-style) so that each person gets a neat stack. Rewarm the turkey in broth or water in the microwave, or in a skillet on the stove.

Here, sautéed polenta triangles add another dimension to a southwestern-style stew.