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Brimming with color and texture, this substantial side salad will keep for up to four days in the refrigerator.

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.

This sweet, fragrant breakfast dish is even more delicious and healthful when topped with slices of banana or strawberries and additional fat-free milk.

Have a nutritious start to your morning when you add oatmeal and whole-wheat flour to your pancakes. Topped with granola, bananas, and maple syrup, they’re amazing!

These delicious, good-for-you breakfast sandwiches are reminiscent of traditional Danish pastries straight from the bakery.

This versatile Asian-flavored slaw can be as mild or as spicy as you like. Use it as a salad, or add chicken and serve over rice for a main dish (recipe on page 65).

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.

Use leftover turkey from the holidays for this festive soup, or for a grilled turkey version, use leftover turkey from the Grilled Turkey Cutlets with Pineapple—without the pineapple (page 162).

Simple to prepare, this chowder has a rich flavor and an interesting texture that make it enormously satisfying. For a delectable light dinner, serve it with a crisp salad and follow with fruit for dessert.

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!

Probably one of the easiest soups you will ever make, this smooth, creamy delight is perfect whether you’re entertaining or curling up in front of the fire.

Using presliced fresh mushrooms and frozen chopped onions will hurry things along in this recipe.

Fresh herbs add a lively taste to this refreshing, light soup.

This recipe is a great one to make on a Sunday night. Not only will you have a great dinner, you’ll have leftovers (unless, of course, you have a large family, in which case I suggest you make two at the same time) to slice thinly for use as deli meat or to cube for use in salads. It’ll have a lot less sodium and less processing than most deli meats you’d buy at your grocery store, and it’s much less expensive. Though I always love the flavor an outdoor grill provides, as a second option, this dish can be prepared under a broiler for 4 to 5 minutes per side for medium-rare, or longer until desired doneness is reached.

I almost always have Basic Grilled Chicken on hand in my refrigerator. Not only is it great for adding to salads, it makes it a cinch to make nachos, pizzas, and so much more. Plus, it’s great cubed when I just get the munchies and want something healthy to snack on.

This chicken is excellent to have on hand if you’re as huge a fan of Mexican cuisine as I am. Add it to salad, soups, Southwest wraps, and more. If you use just a touch of salt along with a salt-free Mexican or Southwest seasoning, it will have a ridiculously small fraction of the sodium of any taco, burrito, or fajita seasoning I’ve seen in grocery stores, not to mention far fewer preservatives.

I always keep shrimp in my freezer. I buy it in bulk or when it’s on sale so it’s there when I want it. Shrimp is a great source of lean protein and one of the few proteins you can easily defrost in minutes and without affecting quality. Simply run the frozen shrimp under cold water until it thaws. This recipe technically makes boiled, not steamed, shrimp. The result is similar, but I have found boiling to yield more consistent results.

Depending on the flavor and thickness of the brand of dressing you buy, you may want to consider adding a little lemon juice to it before tossing it with the salad. Lemon can really brighten the flavor and/or thin thicker dressings (thus requiring less dressing). Be careful, though—some brands are already pretty acidic, so adding lemon juice may make the dressing sour. Buy prewashed lettuces to save time.