Rice & Grains

A delicious, healthful breakfast treat.

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This crowd-pleasing risotto works well as a main course—accompanied by green salad and crusty bread—or as a side dish for leftover chicken. Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 45 min

Three classic heartland ingredients — corn, smoked sausage and wild rice — combine to give this appealing first-course soup its sweet-spicy flavor and interesting texture.

Studies from Northwestern University and the University of Kentucky indicate that fiber-rich bran from oatmeal can actually reduce cholesterol levels in the blood.

When I first heard about Ari Weinzweig's delicatessen in Ann Arbor, Michigan, I couldn't believe it. A deli in the home of my alma mater. It's not really a deli but more of an international food emporium like New York's Zabar's with a definite Jewish touch. Mr. Weinzweig, a drop-out Ph.D. candidate, has taken an academic and appetizing interest in updating Jewish recipes like mushroom and barley soup, going back in history to the nineteenth-century Eastern European version similar to that served at New York's Second Avenue Deli.

(Grain and Tomato Salad) One summer my husband, Massimo, and I vacationed with our son, Max, near Lucca, about an hour from Florence. There we discovered a local specialty, farro, an ancient grain (emmer, often called spelt, in English) similar to barley, traditionally used in bean soup there. We bought lots of it, and Massimo then made a salad based on panzanella but substituting the boiled farro, for soaked and squeezed bread — a terrific idea that has become a warm-weather favorite.

Spiced, tender meatballs get cooked atop a bed of rice pilaf speckled with pistachios and plump golden raisins in this quick, one-pot dinner.

This grandma-inspired soup is equal parts cozy and bright.

This one-pot dinner cooks chicken thighs directly on top of a bed of flavorful cilantro rice studded with black beans for a complete dinner.

Not your grandma’s bran muffins, these fiber-rich baked goods are loaded with dates, almonds, and slivers of dark chocolate.

Tingly, salty, and irresistibly crunchy, this salt-and-pepper shrimp with cubes of crispy polenta (yes, from those tubes!) is a weeknight MVP.

This no-oven-needed crisp can be made with almost any fresh berry (we’d avoid raspberries) and comes together within 45 minutes.

The first thing you should make with sweet summer corn.

Celebrate the best of the season—zucchini, tomatoes, corn, and more—all in one pot.

A nourishing, cozy breakfast you can throw together with fresh or frozen berries.

With crunchy cabbage, sweet mango, and ripe avocado, this salad will keep you full.