Quick

Here’s a nice change of pace from “white” coleslaw. It adds a refreshing note to spicy meals and adds vibrant color to the plate.

It goes without saying that this is best made with fresh, just-off-the-vine tomatoes!

As close to “classic” coleslaw as any of the slaws here, this is especially good with sandwich meals and veggie burgers. See the super-easy menu below. It’s a quick and nourishing meal you can make even if dinnertime finds you exhausted.

This slaw is a delightful companion to spicy dishes, veggie burgers, and bean dishes. It’s festive enough to serve with more elaborate meals and at holiday celebrations.

Cabbage and corn kernels are a salad marriage made in heaven.

What luscious flavor from such basic ingredients! Pureed soft tofu or white beans make a deceptively rich base for a soup sure to please mushroom enthusiasts. Serve this soup as an introduction to light pasta or potato dishes.

Nutritious sweet potatoes need little embellishment to make a flavorful soup. This one is made extra easy by microwaving the sweet potatoes ahead of time, sparing the cook from having to scrape and dice them. Just scoop, mash, and heat for a comforting, nearly-instant soup.

With a generous portion of tofu, this soup is perfect to team with a light noodle dish.

This nicely flavored miso soup is made more substantial with the addition of tofu. Fresh shiitake mushrooms impart the best flavor to the broth. Follow with an Asian-style noodle dish, such as Asian Sesame-Soy Noodles (page 85).

If you find yourself with too much lettuce and some leftover rice, here’s a great way to use both.

A trip to an Asian market to find exotic noodles is no longer necessary. Most well-stocked supermarkets feature an array of imported noodles in the Asian foods section. See the menu with Instant Tofu and Mixed Vegetable Stir-Fry (page 144).

Here’s a great way to take advantage of late summer’s sublime tomatoes. Use the ripest tomatoes possible.

Here’s another nearly-instant cold soup. While cucumbers may not be the most nutritious of vegetables, they are undoubtedly one of the most refreshing. On a very hot day, if you want to be as cool as one, serve this lilting cucumber soup.

Fresh herbal overtones lift the flavor of this instant soup. White beans make a creamy base for soups, dips, and sauces.

This features a base of canned beans and is best served at room temperature.

Fish is my fave thing to serve with this.

Boiling corn leaches out all the flavor and natural sweetness. Once you try corn this way, you will never look back.