This hearty vegetarian soup eats like a stew. Loaded with vegetables, plant-based protein, and a simple but complex-tasting spice blend, it is a complete and satisfying meal. Make a double batch and freeze for a quick meal later.

Holiday dinner favorites like roast beef and turkey, served up with potatoes, stuffing and mac and cheese can leave your plate looking drab — all brown and white. I joined ABC7’s Britt Waters and Kidd O’Shea on Good Morning Washington to share four colorful sides to make your holiday dinner as merry and bright as the rest of your home this Christmas and New Years.

This fall salad celebrates the farmers market with candy-sweet, roasted Delicata squash, peppery arugula, meaty Shitake mushrooms, and toasted pepitas - hull-less pumpkin seeds - for a nutty crunch. A sweet balsamic vinaigrette brings together a salad special enough for Saturday guests and simple enough for a weekday, work-from-home lunch.

Watermelon gazpacho the way it was meant to be: cold, bright, sweet and refreshing! Honey brings out the sweet fruit, a pinch of salt pops the tangy tomatoes, lime and jalapeño bring brightness!

Classic Italian flavors — sweet summer tomatoes, bitter, salty capers and a bright red wine vinaigrette loaded with fresh basil and oregano — come together with Farfalle bowties for a quick, fresh and clean pasta salad ready for your next cookout. It might inspire your guests, like mine, to say this is the best pasta salad ever.

Meaty white fish delicately poached in a floral, fresh and pleasantly spicy green curry and coconut broth. Mushrooms add meaty richness while radishes lose their pepperiness adding a tender but hearty bite. Finished with lots of wilted, fresh spinach this is everything you want takeout to be and so good you may never go back.

Irish soda bread’s humble beginnings welcome the addition of butter and an egg, caraway seeds and currant, transforming into a rich, flavorful loaf, best served slathered with butter. Irish of course. Best of all? This will be ready to eat in under an hour with no proofing.

Get ready to like cooked carrots. The floral notes of apricot and earthy chile flakes ground the sweetness of the carrots and preserves. A little heat makes them pop! Recipe from my cookbook Seasons to Taste: Farm-fresh Joy for Kitchen and Table.

Fresh greens and earthy, funky mushrooms are folded into eggs and then slathered with a rich, soy sauce gravy for this farmers market-inspired take on a Chinese takeout classic.

Rich, spicy and fresh, this is everything you’ve wanted in a tomato soup. Coconut cream, Panang curry and cilantro add summery, Thai flavors that still pair deliciously with your crispy, buttery grilled cheese sandwich.

Need something fresh and bright for your winter table? The grassy, chlorophyll notes of kale lose their bitterness to the balance of sweet fruit and rich balsamic vinegar. Bonus! This delicious and colorful dish comes together in just 5-7 minutes on the stove.