Good morning! Today we have for you:

• A chicken and rice soup that doesn’t stint on the ginger

• My quinoa salad with chicken, almonds and avocado

• And, baked oatmeal breakfast bars

Happy New Year! Today’s the day for that annual kitchen refresh, to clear out the ends of party platter cheeses and charcuterie, finish off the last of the holiday cookies. It’s time to head to the store and stock up on vegetables and come home to simmer them into soup.

I’m starting with this lovely pot from Yossy Arefi, who uses water like a prism, refracting ginger, garlic and turmeric into a spectrum of flavors that soak into chicken, brown rice and zucchini. Everything simply simmers together for half an hour and yields a dish that becomes different meals. Enjoyed right away, it’s a soothing broth with the soft heft of chicken and rice against tender zucchini. The next day, the rice and zucchini swell with the golden liquid and break down when stirred for a bowl of savory porridge like congee.

Featured Recipe

Ginger Chicken and Rice Soup With Zucchini

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Also known as jook in Cantonese and juk in Korean, these silky rice dishes are a balm. With Cybelle Tondu’s slow cooker approach and Kay Chun’s pressure cooker method, they don’t even require paying attention to the stovetop. Instead of seasoning it with chicken, you can try Kay’s mushroom version or Hetty Lui McKinnon’s take with butternut squash.

And if you’d like more easy, healthy dinner ideas — 21 of them, to be precise — we have exactly that in this new recipe collection.

21 Easy, Healthy Recipes for Busy, Tired People →

Here are more of my favorite dishes to start the new year:

West Indian kedgeree (coconut curry rice with cod): I think I’ve subconsciously rebelled against the collective obsession with protein, skipping dishes that double up on it. To fix that, I’m going to start with this recipe from Ashley Lonsdale. When I was testing it, I asked her if the boiled eggs are necessary; she said that their jammy yolks enrich the spiced rice and cod. She’s absolutely right. I’ve been preparing this exactly as written since.

Greens and beans with toasted crumbs: Rick Martínez originally pitched this as a vegetable-only take on French cassoulet. I couldn’t imagine how greens and beans could replicate that stew of pork, sausage and duck cooked in thick duck fat, but then I made his dish and remembered what I’ve known for decades: Rick is a kitchen genius. He gently simmers scallions, chard, celery and garlic in olive oil to build a base as intense as cassoulet’s but with the distillation of green vegetables instead of meat fat. He suggests serving this with crusty bread for soaking up the broth, but I prefer making a double batch of the toasted crumbs to eat with the vegetables and then sipping the broth.

Winter minestrone with cabbage pesto: Leave it to Yotam Ottolenghi to turn cabbage into a lovely winter pesto, grassy with parsley and rich with pine nuts. It makes this take on minestrone even more vibrant than its tomato-based version. He writes: “Minestrone — vegetables, beans and pasta — shouldn’t be too strict,” and then simmers this one with orzo and black beans, which gives each spoonful a bit of texture.

Quinoa salad with chicken, almonds and avocado: I never get tired of this go-to desk lunch, though I often swap the chicken for chickpeas or white beans. Tricolor quinoa soaks up a shallot-sherry vinaigrette that brings out the tang in dried cranberries. When I first developed this recipe, I was told my choice of dried cranberries was very ’90s, but I consider those crimson treats timeless. They offer a satisfying chew and sweetness to any salad. If you’re packing this for lunch, keep the almonds separate so they stay crunchy.

Baked oatmeal breakfast bars: Samantha Seneviratne has succeeded in making cake for breakfast feel as nourishing as oatmeal and as easy to throw together as, well … oatmeal. The batter comes together in one bowl and takes all of five minutes to mix. These not-too-sweet bars are tender with applesauce and yogurt and fragrant with cinnamon. I’m going to swap half the cinnamon for cardamom and grate a little nutmeg into the mix, too.

Thanks for reading!