Vegetables

This vegetarian stew is similar to an Italian winter minestrone. It starts with carrots, onions, and celery, which are sauteed in olive oil over low heat for a long time. Tomatoes, white beans, and two bunches of Swiss chard go into the stew. That much chard may seem bulky but it wilts and quickly cooks down, lending the stew its robust flavor and lots of vitamins and fiber.

Serve as a vegetarian main course or as a side dish with steamed fish or roasted chicken. If you don't have any leftover brown rice on hand, use a package of frozen cooked brown rice as a shortcut.

Cauliflower replaces potatoes as the secret Phase 1 ingredient in this South Beach Diet classic.

Mirin is a sweet rice wine often used in Japanese cooking. If you don’t have any on hand, substitute 1 tablespoon honey for the mirin instead.

The buttermilk, cream, and cheddar are nostalgic, while the addition of caramelized shallots and sage add a modern touch.

Vegetables from the supermarket salad bar get an Asian spin. Start with purchased wonton soup, and serve a mixed green salad with ginger vinaigrette alongside the rice. Sliced pineapple with coconut sorbet is the perfect finish. Look for hoisin at Asian markets and in the Asian foods section of most supermarkets.

For vegetarians, bake hollowed out eggplant halves filled with zucchini, tomatoes, and feta, and topped with bread crumbs and Parmesan. For a hearty second-day dish, mix leftover eggplant with pasta, ricotta, and feta.

This gratin of sliced potatoes baked with cream and milk is a French classic. Some versions contain grated cheese, but this one does not. You can also blanch the potatoes first, which we skip here. Slice the potatoes very thinly, either on a hand-held slicing gadget or fancy mandoline. Food-processor feed tubes are so narrow that potatoes must be halved or quartered lengthwise first, which will taste fine in the finished gratin, but it won’t look as elegant in the dish. Layer the potatoes with milk, cream, salt, and pepper. Not much to it.