Black Bean

Make the salad in a clear glass bowl to show off the colors. Pass some purchased red wine vinaigrette or buttermilk dressing alongside.

Susan Richardson of Edina, Minnesota, writes: "My mother worked full-time when I was growing up, so as the oldest daughter in a family of six children, I did a lot of cooking. From the time I was seven years old, my mom taught me how to cook and bake — salad, bread, vegetables, and dessert were pretty much part of every dinner. Even today, I make it a point to prepare and eat dinner with my two teenage children. Though we're very busy, we'll never abandon our dinner ritual. It's the time when we can talk and reconnect."

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Because the lamb in this recipe is marinated in a barbecue-style sauce and then grilled, the hotel nicknamed the dish "paniolo", which means "cowboy" in hawaiian.

Serve as a side dish with enchiladas. The beans can be topped with grated Monterey Jack cheese, then covered to melt.

The texture of this spicy Brazilian dish falls in between a soup and a stew. Cook it down if you prefer it thicker.

Indigo's chef and owner is Glenn Chu, who was born in Hawaii and learned to cook from his Chinese grandmother — and by watching Julia Child on television. The result: Eurasian cuisine, which Chu showcases in selections as eclectic as goat cheese wontons with four-fruit sauce, and grilled shrimp with Thai macadamia-nut pesto. The romantic dining room has a tropical-island motif, with ceiling fans, bamboo, and bird-of-paradise.

Start with vegetable sticks and dip from the supermarket. Warm tortillas and a plate of sliced red onion, orange and avocado are nice sides. To end, sprinkle rum and brown sugar over fresh pineapple chunks. Look for the coconut milk in the Asian foods section of the grocery store.

This recipe can be made in 45 minutes or less.

This is one of my mother's recipes and call me biased, but it's the best around. This is a vegetarian black bean soup, and one of the keys to its success is the quality of the olive oil: use the very best you can find. You can make the soup a day in advance and it will taste even better the next day. This is a no-fail recipe that I know you're going to enjoy.

Serve this over the Baked White Polenta with Two Cheeses, and season with any — or all — of the suggested toppings (chocolate adds mole flavor).

Coca-Cola was invented in the late 1800s by Atlanta pharmacist John Styth Pemberton, and it really hit its stride after the turn of the century. The company has introduced several variations over the years (Diet Coke, Cherry Coke and the short-lived New Coke), but Coca-Cola Classic has always been the big seller. And it has made its way into quite a few recipes, including a Coca-Cola cake and a Coke-glazed baked ham. Here it adds a sweet caramel note to a simple version of baked beans.