Bean and Legume

This pita wrap is bulging with vegetables combined with a lime and sour cream dressing.

The contrasting bright green edamame, shiny black beans, and snow-white feta cheese in this dish will please your eyes as well as your palate.

This pleasant pasta salad is even tastier the second day. Enjoy it as an entrée for six or a side dish for twelve.

As an accompaniment for anything from roasted turkey at a holiday feast to grilled burgers on the patio, this side dish is hard to beat.

Here’s a new twist on chicken salad. Serve this one with baked tortilla chips on lettuce-lined plates, garnished with jalapeño rings.

The dillweed provides a pleasant aroma, the red pepper flakes give a bit of a kick, and the feta cheese adds tanginess to this attractive green bean and tomato pairing.

Flavors of the Mediterranean are blended in this simple, easy-to-love salad. Serve it as is or on lettuce.

The lemon and dill vinaigrette is a wonderful complement to the flavors of this salad.

Capture the traditional flavors of huevos rancheros with this any-time-of-day casserole. You can make it and bake it right away or prepare it ahead of time and bake it the next day.

With its sweet and sour crunch, this salad is sure to be a winner at your table.

Soup’s on! This colorful and creamy soup is a delicious way to eat your veggies.

For a taste of Italy in minutes, prepare this simple vegetarian soup. Serve with a hearty whole-grain bread.

You can make this robust soup in less time than it takes to have a pizza delivered. The soup is a lot more nutritious—and costs less, too.

This light, garden-fresh soup is double-quick to fix. Just bring it to a boil, remove it from the heat, and let it stand for a few minutes!

These nachos use mushrooms instead of high-fat fried chips as their base. Plan on having plenty around—they disappear quickly!

You can enjoy this protein- and fiber-packed, easy-to-prepare dip on baked tortilla chips or in Vegetarian Taco Salad (page 94).

Green beans are such a versatile vegetable. I love coming up with different flavor combinations for them. They steam quickly, so they are always a great throw-together side dish. I love jarred roasted red peppers for the same reason—they are a flavorful, convenient ingredient to have on hand. So it made sense to combine the two to create this simple and tasty side dish. Note that, as the recipe is written, these green beans are very crisp, which is how I like them. Feel free to cook them longer if you like softer beans.

This simple recipe actually makes quite an elegant side dish. Though the sauce contains only two ingredients, it has a complex flavor. Your guests will think you spent a ton of time, but you can have the dish ready in the few minutes it takes to steam the green beans.

These beans are a great prepare-ahead option. They reheat well, and the flavor is even better after a couple of hours. Try them chilled with a few baked tortilla chips for an excellent high-fiber snack. Or heat them up—they’re fantastic stirred into brown rice for a tasty side dish to accompany Luau London Broil (see page 105). Or simply toss the chilled beans into a salad.

Have you ever tried using fancy sea salts in your cooking? This recipe is a great place to try a special salt. Because the flavors are so simple, a nice salt really stands out and pairs perfectly with the beans and lime juice. If you happen to have little girls, it’s always fun to use pink sea salt that you shave yourself—they’re likely to think it looks like a jewel. That said, traditional sea salt tastes great, too. If you’re entertaining with this dish, be sure to toss the beans in the lime juice and salt just before serving your guests. The acid in the lime juice may cause the beans to eventually turn brown (though even if this happens, they’ll still taste great).