Bacon

Pasta e Fagioli Venetians prize a soup made thick by using mashed beans. This recipe is based on the preparations at Venice's Fiaschetteria Toscana and Osteria alla Bomba. A tablespoon of salt may sound like a lot, but it is needed to bring out the beans' flavor.

If you have leftover roast chicken or turkey, use it here and save a step. You'll need 3 cups of shredded meat.

A favorite steak-dinner starter served at Cattlemen's Steakhouse in the historic Stockyards City area of Oklahoma City.

Thanks to precooked bacon and enhanced bottled dressing, this salad is a snap. For dessert, go all out with brownies à la mode.

Chiles Rellenos con Huevos y Tocino con Salsa de Queso Chihuahua Translated, Las Ventanas al Paraíso means "Windows to Paradise." With an ocean view from nearly every room, four infinity pools that seem to stretch to the sea, and a personal escort to your room (no front desk), the name is no exaggeration. The peacefulness is a sharp contrast to the bustle of Los Cabos, just outside the property's doors. If you can bear to venture outside your beautiful room, try the resort's two restaurants — the Sea Grill, where you'll find contemporary Mexican offerings like this breakfast version of chiles rellenos, and The Restaurant, which uses local ingredients to create delicious Mediterranean-inspired dishes.

(Salade de Lentilles Vertes aux Lardons) Smoked ham and bacon give this lentil salad a rich, robust flavor. Serve it alongside roasted meats or poultry.

Team this hearty side dish with a pork or chicken entrée, or just add some crusty bread and make a meal out of it.

Rich and sweet, these onions are adapted from Angela Shelf Medearis's recipe for Honey-Baked Onions in The African-American Kitchen. They're great with baked ham, pork roast, or broiled chicken.

Tender Iowa corn was the inspiration for these terrific biscuits. They are best eaten the day they are baked; extras can be warmed up the next morning for breakfast or brunch. Be sure to serve them with plenty of butter.

Although these are called fritters, they more closely resemble pancakes. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

"On my last birthday, I enjoyed a special dinner at Brasserie Le Coze in Atlanta," says Diane Sullivan of Alpharetta, Georgia. "The entire meal was fabulous, but the white bean soup with truffle oil was absolutely divine." White truffle oil, should you happen to have a bottle of it, is a delicious "garnish" for this rich and hearty soup.

Slow-cooked garlic combines with bacon and mushrooms to give this first-course pizza a smoky, woodsy and oh-so-satisfying flavor. Serve a crisp green salad alongside.

Pine nuts provide a buttery contrast to the tart capers in this sophisticated veal dish.

Pitted prunes replace the more customary mushrooms in this delicious variation.

If you're from the South, you're probably used to collards cooked long and slow. What makes this simple, flavorful Brazilian dish unusual are greens that are finely sliced and barely cooked. Active time: 25 min Start to finish: 25 min