The small azuki bean is widely cultivated throughout China where it is known as hungdo, or simply "red bean," as well as in Korea and Japan. In all Asian cuisines, it is almost always eaten as part of sweet desserts or boiled and puréed with sugar to make red bean paste as a stuffing for pastries. On the other hand, savory dishes featuring the azuki bean as the main ingredient are quite rare, but fortunately this recipe from Yunnan Province in southwestern China provides an absolutely delicious and simple-to-prepare example of using the bean as a meal. Like many Chinese dishes, there is a wonderful (and, according to the Chinese, healthy) contrast in colors.

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These baked egg and ricotta cheese muffins are loaded with good proteins and other nutrients to get you started on the day, and, with the addition of cayenne and jalapeño peppers, they pack the spicy flavor that I like for kicking off just about anything. Once they cool down a little, they also make portable little snacks. Make sure you use whole milk ricotta.

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After five days of sweltering heat outside, temperatures and tempers have finally reached the simmering point right here in my kitchen - even the butter has melted down in its dish. Time for an undemanding, light meal that, most importantly, doesn't involve any cooking. A baby spinach salad with lots of fresh vegetables and goat cheese along with a nice French baguette from the market will go a long way today, even if just slicing the salad ingredients had me sweating.

This ranch dressing takes minutes to prepare and has a cool, refreshing and authentic flavor that will go well with any green salad on a summer's day. You can use it as a delicious dip for fresh cut vegetables as well.

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Mushrooms are the mainstay of this and many other beautiful creamy Italian risottos, but the leeks and lemon in this risotto ai funghi give it an appealing background pungency that will turn heads, not to mention noses and mouths.

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