Pasta

Arugula replaces lettuce in this clever pasta dish. Serve with: Whole-wheat breadsticks and carrot sticks with blue cheese dip. Dessert: Cherry-vanilla ice cream cones.

Meatless pasta loaded with bold flavors.

Crisp broccoli and a creamy blue cheese dressing give new life to pasta salad.

Couscous is easy to cook—just add it to boiling water, remove it from the heat, and let it stand for a few minutes until the water is absorbed. The addition of cinnamon, lemon peel, garbanzo beans and golden raisins gives this side dish a Mediterranean flair.

This Asian-style stew features egg linguine, an easy substitute for Chinese egg noodles. Look for Chinese five-spice powder and hoisin sauce in the spice aisle or the Asian foods section of the supermarket.

People who turn their noses up at rice often find this tiny pasta irresistible. Active time: 40 min Start to finish: 40 min

This rich, satisfying main course would be nice with a salad of chopped fresh tomatoes, yellow bell peppers, black olives, and sweet onion. Crusty breadsticks round out the meal, which might end with a plate of assorted grape clusters and anise biscuits.

Marjorie Farr, Silver Spring, Md.
Use fresh spinach in this dish — frozen will not do. A sprinkle of parsley before serving adds a fresh touch.

Celebrate the last days of the tomato crop with this recipe. A hearty vegetarian main course, it needs only a salad and a loaf of Italian bread to complete the menu. End with fresh figs (dried are okay, too) steeped in Pernod and spooned over vanilla ice cream.

Carey Paquette of Arlington, Virginia, writes: "When it comes to cooking, I make an effort to prepare healthful meals, but wouldn't call myself a fanatic. I believe that olive oil goes in everything and wine goes with everything; I just use them in moderation."

"I've always loved to cook," writes Mary Gareffa of East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, "and though at eighty-nine I'm slowing down, I still love it. My grandfather and my father were both cooks in a monastery in Reggio Calabria, Italy, before they moved to this country, and luckily for me, my father was my cooking teacher. He showed me how to make the tomato-and-sausage sauce for the pasta. When my son was young, he used to tease me for standing over the pot of sauce, stirring and simmering it slowly, but that's the way my father showed me. A sauce is like a baby; you have to be gentle with it. And I know I must be doing something right, because my grandson, Jason, called me just last week to get the recipe." Tender meatballs — bound with bread softened in milk — in a good old-fashioned Tomato-Sausage sauce.

Crusty bread, an arugula and endive salad with balsamic dressing, and lemon sorbet with chocolate-dipped biscotti turn this simple Italian dinner into a special one.

"For me, cooking is a very relaxing and creative process — I just wish I had more time for it," writes Katherine Burk of Seattle, Washington. "I make a point of fixing dinner during the week, but with my hectic schedule (I work in information technology), there are some nights I'm too wiped out to attempt anything more complicated than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Usually, though, I can put something together in under thirty minutes." A fast, colorful, and delicious pasta dish loaded with goodies.

Typical Provençal ingredients give this satisfying pasta salad a French accent. Refrigerate this at least two hours before serving.

This classic Roman soup appears on many menus in the city, but we were disappointed with the versions we were served. Our recipe is more of a crowd pleaser. Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 20 min