Antipasto – an abundant and colorful spread of cured meats, cheeses and vegetables in a garlicky vinaigrette – is a traditional Italian appetizer that also makes a fun and casual main dish.

Black Bean Soup is thick and chunky, warmly spicy, and rib-sticking. Topped with cool and creamy sour cream and avocado it’s an entire meal in one bowl.

Pasta e Fagioli is thick and hearty, packed with two kinds of beans, ditali pasta, ground beef and veggies, in a flavorful, tomato-y broth.

Turkey Meatball Soup glows with warm colors, and tastes as vibrant as it looks with aromatic rosemary, creamy white beans, and tender turkey meatballs in a tomato-y broth.

Southwestern Vegetable Beef Soup is a Tex-Mex take on Minestrone – thick and chunky, packed with vegetables and beans in a smoky, spicy, creamy tomato broth.

Bea’s Beans burst with the warm, sweet/savory flavors of mustard and brown sugar, and the gorgeous, golden and earthy colors of fall.

There are three ways to prepare these sweet, smoky and saucy baked beans – slow, fast, and in between.

Get your veggies and then some in this thick and hearty minestrone soup, crammed with nine varieties of vegetables plus pasta and savory chicken meatballs in a flavorful broth perked up with V8.

For a fireside lunch on a blustery fall day, winds howling and leaves swirling, try this thick and smoky-tasting soup, preferably with a chunk of bread still warm from the oven. 

This flavorful but not-too-hot beef chili is easy to make on the stove, but a lot more fun to make over an open fire.