Spinach

Be sure to buy four extra cups of spinach if you plan to make the frittata.

All the other kids at school will be jealous when they get a look at these delicious, colorful, healthful wraps.

No need to call your local pizza joint. Thanks to prepared dough and bottled roasted red peppers, making your own calzones can be easy and far more satisfying.

It's delicious, but even better, it's deconstruct-ible. (You can remove any offensive elements for the kids without sacrificing your own dinner.)

The terms spring onions and green onions aren't synonymous, but the two vegetables are often interchangeable. Spring onions have a larger, rounder bulb end, and they’re slightly stronger in flavor. Look for them at farmers' markets and specialty foods stores.

Blanching the root vegetables shortens the stew's cooking time and keeps the flavors bright. Plus, the blanching water makes a great quick stock.

The three main elements in this recipe make an unbeatable combination. The soft, sweet taste of the lamb coupled with full green flavor of the spinach and the nutty, full-bodied taste of the lentils makes every bite a gastronomic pleasure. These lentils are one of my favorites. I've interpreted a recipe from the masterful chef Judy Rodgers of San Francisco's Zuni Café.

Leafy green vegetables are an ideal source of iron and calcium, but cooking them can destroy many of the water-soluble minerals you hope to gain from eating them. This preparation retains most of the nutrients that would otherwise be lost in the cooking process and imparts an earthy green flavor that you will surely enjoy.

Replacing full-fat coconut milk with a light version reduces fat, not flavor.

Lean turkey cutlets benefit from a slightly sweet Marsala wine sauce and the twofold richness of prosciutto and Italian Fontina.

In the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, lasagne bolognese is usually made with a besciamella sauce. Italian-American cooks often replace that time-consuming step with ricotta. In this wickedly good interpretation, food editor Melissa Roberts combines the two traditions by whisking milk into some of the ricotta, creating a billowy pseudo-besciamella (the remaining ricotta mixture is stirred together with spinach). We rarely call for specific brands, but we did find that widely available Barilla no-boil dried noodles produced an exemplary lasagne. An egg pasta, this one comes very close to the flavor and delicacy of homemade.

Packed with veggies and two kinds of cheese, this dish is hearty and surprisingly luxurious.

The sandwiches can be refrigerated one day ahead (chill the chicken and spinach before assembling).

Fresh truffles cost hundreds of dollars per pound. A drizzle of truffle oil gives a similar flavor and aroma for a fraction of the price.

Here, we pepped up the fail-safe brunch combination of bacon, egg, and cheese by adding handfuls of flavorful sautéed arugula. They'll be jumping out of bed for this one.

This simple dish has a quiche-like filling and baguette slices for a crust.