Beet

Adding moisture and flavor without fat is achieved in the beet and Asian pear salad: Its oil-free dressing is made with mustard, lemon juice, and apple jelly (substituting apricot preserves for the jelly works well in other salads, especially those using bitter greens).

Use canned beets to cut the preparation time of this colorful salad.

Beets--both pickled and boiled--have long been a popular German side dish for meats. The sour cream dressing gets a kick from vinegar and mustard.

Stir-frying--an unorthodox technique for red flannel hash--yields a dish whose components are crisp and separate rather than melded into a cake, as is traditional. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

When preparing beets, trim off all but 1 inch of the roots and the stems. Cooking time may vary, depending on the size of the beet.

For this fabulous salad we used red onions, beets, zucchini, eggplant, and bell peppers, but any mix of summer vegetables would work. The salad gets served with grilled bread and is nice with a white wine, like Sauvignon Blanc.

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 2 hr

Active time: 2 hr Start to finish: 3 hr (plus 1 week for flavors to develop)

This dish is a particularly good accompaniment to beef or lamb. Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 45 min

At The Painted Table in Seattle, Washinton, the fish comes with just the beet broth, but the beets themselves are delicious, too.

"I had three kids in three years when I was a 'young married' in my twenties," writes Sheryl Hurd-House of Jupiter, Florida. "That’s when I started cooking and realized I liked it. But I’m having even more fun cooking now that our children are grown and it’s just me and my husband, Garry." Fresh greens and a variety of colorful veggies add up to a great salad you can throw together in minutes.

If blood oranges are unavailable, simply use the sweetest oranges you can find.