Meal Planning 101

This warming vegetable barley soup uses easy-to-find produce and frozen veggies, making prep simple and easy. It makes plenty to feed a hungry family, plus it freezes beautifully so leftovers can be enjoyed again and again.

To avoid a watery sauce, choose tomatoes that are fleshy and have few seeds. Romas (aka plum tomatoes) fit the bill, but there are plenty of heirlooms with a similar flesh-to-seed ratio. The addition of cherry tomatoes brings a burst of sweetness to the dish.

A touch of cornmeal adds texture and nutty flavor to buttery pastry dough in this tomato tart recipe.

This cold pesto pasta salad will cool you off on a summer day. Fresh tomatoes and roasted red peppers add a pop of bright color and juiciness here, but any of your favorite pasta-salad veggies, like blanched broccoli and fresh bell peppers, would be delicious too.

You'll end up with more peanut sauce than you need in this zucchini noodle recipe, and that's a good thing! It makes a great dip or stir-fry sauce.