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All Southern cooks have their own ways of making gumbo. Our recipe contains neither okra nor filé powder, producing a thinner, lighter gumbo.

Steamed asparagus and a baguette are good accompaniments. Drizzle Champagne over raspberries and diced pineapple for dessert.

Serve this flavorful chili with chopped green onion, cilantro and red bell pepper.

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."

Marinated vegetables from the supermarket salad bar and potato chips are nice with the sandwich. Chocolate cake is a great ending.

(CREPES DE NOIX AUX FRAMBOISE ET FIGUES) In Provence, crepes are often served simply, embellished with sugar, jam or liqueur. Here, they get dressed up a bit more.

Pass hot pepper sauce and warm buttered tortillas to complete this easy dish.

The following antipasto is based on an octopus and cannellini salad served at La Baraonda in Florence.

A simple salad with a tangy dressing-perfect for and April picnic.

This recipe is an accompaniment for Blood Orange Tart with Orange Caramel Sauce.

Somen Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 1 hr In a six-part series in 1975, correspondent Elizabeth Andoh taught us about the reverent seasonality of Japanese cuisine. It was with this summer recipe that many of us learned that noodles as well as rice are eaten in Japan. The concept of icy-cold noodles took only one taste to grasp: Andoh's recipe for somen is one of the lightest and most refreshing pasta preparations we've ever had.

Turnips stand in for the usual potatoes, giving this gratin a rich, hearty taste.

New herbed chicken broth is used in this soup; adding the cheese-garlic bread makes it a filling entrée. Serve with a salad of chopped tomato and herbed olives tossed in bottled or fresh balsamic vinaigrette with chopped fresh marjoram. End with slices of pound cake spread with bottled lemon curd and surrounded by tangerine sections.

Oranges and kiwis are among the fruits highest in calcium; almonds are the nuts with the most. This is a light and refreshing finish to any meal.