Corn

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Serve the frittata with chunky salsa, and put together an avocado, jicama and red onion salad with cumin vinaigrette to have alongside. Melon wedges and pine nut cookies are just right for dessert.

Mary Risley, director of Tante Marie's cooking school, says, "I dreamed up this recipe years ago when I was trying to cook Thanksgiving dinner on a four-burner stove with only one oven. And I've found that this is really the only vegetable needed to go with the turkey and mashed potatoes. It has the creamed onions everyone wants, it has the corn the Pilgrims must have eaten, and it has the fresh vegetables my Northern California friends and family have come to expect."

If you have cooked lamb, beef, or turkey on hand, use it instead of the chicken.

Delicious with orzo or rice.

A hearty soup that's very low in fat.

Use alphabets or little stars, orzo, or tiny circles. Or use a combination of them all. The child in your life will love this, and so will the child in you.

"When I was a kid, corn was often served with the turkey dinner in our house," says Jim Fobel, cookbook author. "Even though corn season was over, my mom thought that it seemed appropriate for the meal. Here, I've used corn to make little pancakes. The good news is that they can be made a day ahead and then rewarmed in the oven just before serving."

Succotash is a corn and bean dish introduced to the early settlers by Indians. The Yankees most likely used local cranberry beans, a kind of shell bean, but lima beans have become the preferred, readily available substitute. We've also added tomatoes for their bright color and fresh flavor, even though they probably did not enter the New England culinary mainstream until the nineteenth century.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

The tofu in this chowder provides a richness surprisingly similar to that of cream but with much less fat.

This soup is particularly delicious when made with sweet white corn. Serve it as an appetizer or with an avocado and orange salad for a luncheon or a light dinner.

Offer this hearty and satisfying salad with grilled lamb or tuna.

The poblano chilies can be prepared one day ahead, and the vegetables can be chopped and sliced one day ahead and then refrigerated separately in resealable plastic bags. Then the whole dish just requires a few minutes of cooking time before serving.

This elegant first course from American Seasons is topped with parsley oil, which is easy to make and could also be drizzled over roasted fish or steamed potatoes, and other vegetables.