Rice & Grains

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.

Because most of us do!

The golden, crunchy corners are worth fighting over.

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 comforting savory porridge is nearly impossible to overcook.

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.

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

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

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.