Ground Beef

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Loaded with vegetables and topped with Parmesan cheese, this will satisfy the biggest hunger on the coldest winter night.

This upscale meat loaf deserves contemporary partners like sweet potatoes whipped with maple syrup, and some steamed broccoli with lemon-herb butter. End with a sure winner-devil's food cake. This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

The leftovers make outstanding sandwiches.

Standard fare at church suppers throughout the region. New England meat loaves often use crushed crackers rather than bread crumbs as a binder. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Spruce up some purchased pasta salad with drained marinated artichoke hearts and marinated mushrooms for a hearty side dish. For dessert, spoon raspberries and sliced peaches over vanilla frozen yogurt.

Robert Colombi of Paris, France, writes: "My mother was Sicilian and my father, Corsican, but I was born in Morocco and lived there for many years. I learned how to cook mostly from my mother, but also from my many travels throughout Morocco (which is why my favorite spices are coriander, thyme, and cumin). As I became older, I developed a stronger interest in cooking, especially after I moved to France and got married. I guess I started to feel very nostalgic about the country of my childhood, and it became more important for me to remember and re-create those tastes for my French friends and family."

Meat loaf has been a favorite throughout the century, especially during the 1940s when meat was rationed and ground beef was a bargain cut. We’ve put a contemporary stamp on this suppertime classic by adding lots of caramelized onions.

"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.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. Along with corn on the cob, serve some deli macaroni salad gussied up with chopped carrots and green bell peppers. Also have lettuce, sliced tomatoes and other condiments to pile onto the burgers. Strawberry shortcake is just right for dessert.

To make this a vegetarian chili, use an additional eight ounces of lentils instead of the pound of ground beef.

Voli are marbles, the multicolored little balls that were so popular with kids during my childhood. But unlike the glass versions, which were quite expensive, the ones we used to play with were made of clay and colored in various bright, glossy shades. They were fragile, and their glaze would crack, revealing their dark red insides, similar in color to these delicious meatballs with bulgur. This recipe comes from the island of Rhodes, and bulgur is probably the grain originally used. Later, in the stewed meatballs of the mainland, it was replaced by rice.

Here's a hearty and satisfying "Mexican lasagna" that comes together quickly.

You can use purchased sauce here, your own homemade or the versatile This is terrific over pasta.