Salad recipes

Kinome-ae is a classic Japanese dish pairing dashi-simmered bamboo shoots with a vivid green miso dressing colored with spinach paste. Finished with fragrant sansho pepper powder.

Horenso no goma-ae is a Japanese spinach side dish dressed in a paste of toasted sesame seeds, sake, soy sauce, and rice vinegar. Classic side served at room temperature with rice and miso.

Wilted spinach with lemon, garlic, and toasted pine nuts. A five-minute Italian-style side built from five ingredients and a hot pan.

Indian style lentils simmer canned lentils with tomatoes, onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, and frozen spinach into a weeknight dal. Ready in about 15 minutes.

Caprese-style spinach salad: ripe tomato wedges and fresh mozzarella cubes tossed with a basil, lemon, and olive oil dressing, then arranged over a bed of baby spinach. Light, summery, and fast.

Tomato mozzarella and basil salad over fresh spinach with a lemon-olive oil dressing. A light caprese-style salad ready in 15 minutes, no cooking needed.

Traditional Korean namool with seasoned spinach, daikon, soybean sprouts, and fiddlehead ferns in sesame and garlic. A colorful banchan platter of individually dressed vegetables.

Nutty spinach dip with creamy ranch dressing, frozen spinach, dry vegetable soup mix, and chopped walnuts. A no-cook party dip that doubles as a stuffed mushroom filling.

Gado Gado (Mixed Vegetables with Peanut Sauce) recipe

Creamy green herb dip made with fresh spinach, parsley, watercress, sour cream, and garlic. Serve chilled with a rustic spread of raw and boiled vegetables for a vibrant, make-ahead appetizer.

Start off with a salad, then serve the spinach tofu pie with wild rice and you've got a great veggie meal.

Tangy vinegar meets crisp spinach, juicy tomatoes, and smoky bacon in this quick 15-minute salad that's both refreshing and diabetic-friendly.

Garlic fettuccine with broccoli and walnuts tossed in a seasoned lemon-basil butter sauce. A quick 30-minute pasta dinner that pairs well with a fresh spinach salad.

Here is a kind of throw together recipe I came up with: If you are entertaining you can garnish with fresh parsley and serve with a caesar salad, garlic bread and a nice chablis. The vegetables can vary. I've used mushrooms, spinach, cauliflower etc. Grouper works well with this because it has a lot of flavor. I've used fresh tuna and halibut but prefer grouper.

Baked couscous casserole with black beans, corn, roasted red peppers, and creamy ricotta, served over fresh spinach. A hearty vegetarian one-dish dinner for six.