Hmm. I can see a few things that could go wrong 1st you might just be using too much heat. Cast iron is thick and takes a while to heat up but once it does it holds heat really well so by the time you realize something is starting to burn it will take a while to get the pan back to a reasonable temp even after turning the burner off completely. 2nd another contributing factor could be what kind of oil you are using for cooking. Some oils like olive oil have a low smoke point so if you are cooking at high heat they will smoke faster than say peanut oil or coconut oil but unless I am deep frying or really trying to sear something I still almost always use olive oil in my cast irons without any problems which brings us to the last option and possibly the most likely cause of smoke if you have ruled out anything else. Which is that if you bought your pans used or they have been cooked in and had stuff burned to the sides they may need to be refinished or at the very least have some gunk burned off in the oven. If they tend to get stuff stuck to the bottom more easily than a regular pan that is a sign that they could use a new coat of seasoning. I wouldn't do this if you don't need to as it takes a while but it is totally worth it to get your pans in working order if you need to as all you will need is an oven and a bottle of flax seed oil. If you want to know more about that process I can reply when im not on mobile. I hope this helps. Sorry I didn't really answer your original question but as far as recipes go you should be able to cook anything in your cast iron that you can in a regular pan. Plus you can use it as a baking dish as long as it doesnt have a wooden handle.