Basil

Delicious with seafood and veggies.

What to drink: Sangiovese wines are a classic pairing with robust pasta dishes. Try the Cantina di Montalcino 1999 Poggio del Sasso, a good-value Super Tuscan.

These no-bake bites can be made two hours ahead and are designed to taste best at room temperature, making them perfect for parties.

Elisa Mazzaferro-Rosenberg of Fort Collins, Colorado, writes: "I love to entertain, but between coming home late — I just completed my Ph.D. in small animal clinical sciences — and feeding my husband, Adam, and myself plus our little family of five cats and two dogs, I haven't had the time to have friends over much."

Add a simple green salad to our updated version of the grilled cheese sandwich, and dinner is served.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Grilling the fish makes it moist and tender.

Try these inside an omelet, with steak or on toast as a first course or snack.

The delicious sauce is also very nice with chicken and shellfish.

I, who struggled for years to achieve perfectly cooked, lively green beans love Aunt Enza's overstewed green beans, soft, almost creamy, tasting of bean, cooked far beyond crunch. Although Aunt Enza cooks the green beans in an onion and garlic-flavored tomato sauce she pointed out that leftover green beans can be subjected to the same treatment. Aunt Enza has a heavy Tuscan hand with extra virgin. I've cut down on the oil but my husband Massimo always adds a little extra at the table.