Squash

The pleasant bite of goat cheese contrasts deliciously with the smooth sweetness of potatoes.

These simple kebabs may become a staple for you if you like grilled foods. In the colder months, they turn out well from the broiler. Serve with corn on the cob, diced fresh tomatoes, and a simple slaw made from shredded cabbage and your favorite vinaigrette.

This quick and colorful pasta dish will give you a summery feeling any time of year.

Combine one filled pasta with one mild vegetable, and if you are lucky as I am, your kids might actually like this as much as you do! Serve this with fresh bread or focaccia and a platter of raw vegetables. Or, to make this a more sophisticated meal, serve with any of the mixed greens salads on pages 50 to 53, and some good wine.

I used to think of lasagna as quite labor-intensive until no-boil noodles came to the rescue. It’s always a great company or potluck favorite. Now that lasagna is so easy to assemble, you might consider it everyday fare (remember, though, it does take time to bake). This is hearty enough to complete with fresh bread and a big salad.

A food processor with a grating attachment makes this delicious soup easy to prepare. Use smaller zucchini, as they are more flavorful than large ones.

Great for holidays. Even good as a dessert.

This is a fat, stuffed vegetable sandwich that’s great for a picnic. The olive tapenade is also good spooned on bread toasts and served as an hors d’oeuvre.

“Grandma-style” means the vegetables are cooked like a stew in a big pot until they’re soft and delicious. The vegetables taste better and better as you cook them down, and the broth tastes nourishing. This is one of the classic recipes I pull out in a pinch, and it’s always welcomed.

Pumpkin pie is a custard-type pie that bakes most easily in the convection oven at a steady temperature. Because ovens can vary, if your pie gets too dark too soon, reduce the oven temperature by another 25 degrees. The pie is done when a knife inserted just off center comes out clean and the center of the pie still jiggles but is not liquid. This will be in 10 to 15 minutes less time than if baked in a conventional oven. I prefer pumpkin pie chilled rather than hot from the oven, which allows me to bake it a day in advance.

This salad is wonderful served warm or at room temperature with French bread and a green salad.

Roasting brings out a deep concentrated flavor in foods. This soup tastes incredibly rich, but is low in fat and calories. However, I sometimes garnish the soup with a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream.

Here’s a soup for late summer when eggplants, tomatoes, and red peppers are luscious and ripe. Top the soup with a dollop of plain yogurt and pesto for added zip.

There are two kinds of pumpkins—those intended for carving jack-o’-lanterns, and those that are usually smaller and rounder, with thick, fleshy skins, which are intended for pumpkin pies. Either kind of pumpkin is suitable for soup, though you may need to drain the jack-o’-lantern’s cooked flesh to concentrate the pulp. In the convection oven, you can roast the pumpkin to make pumpkin puree. See the Note below.

This updated classic soup of Mexico is easier to make when you let the convection oven do the cooking. Add a squeeze of fresh lime juice to each bowl when you serve it.

Serve small wedges as an appetizer or large wedges for a vegetarian main dish.

Eggplant, zucchini, sweet onions, and tomatoes all roasted together thicken by themselves to make a deeply flavored sauce for pasta. It’s a meal that’s ready in less than half an hour.

For pizza lovers, here are eight varieties to choose from. The basic dough makes two pizzas. The dough is easy to mix in the food processor.

This is a perfect accompaniment to an autumn meal of roast pork or chicken. You’ll use two oven racks for this recipe. To serve as a vegetarian main course, serve sautéed greens and steamed, herbed wild rice on the side.