Sara Dickerman

This recipe straddles the line between sweet and savory: It works equally well as a chunky accompaniment to steamy fish at dinnertime and as a stir-in for a morning porridge.

Orange-flower water is very potent, and a couple of drops can go along way. Don’t worry if you don’t have any on hand; the salad is lovely without it too.

Nuts and nut oils are an easy way to change up your weeknight grain game. Try tossing in different toasted nuts and drizzling with their respective oils.

Regardless of the color of quinoa, make sure you rinse it before you cook it.

This slight riff on traditional miso soup is your shortcut to a flavorful, bone-warming snack when you need it most. Just pack a thermos with veggies, tofu, and miso in the morning, and when hunger comes knocking, all you need is a cupful of hot water and a couple of minutes. (Using homemade dashi instead of water, or adding instant dashi powder, brings it to the next level.)

We're a big fan of keeping some frozen mahi mahi on hand in case you don’t have time to run to the fish market. Feel free to substitute swordfish, ono, bluefish, or salmon.

The active cultures in kimchi and miso may also provide your body with an immunity boost. This recipe can also easily be halved.

Cooking grains in a bigger pot of boiling salted water is a great way to cook all of your grains from brown rice to barley.

Cacao nibs are unprocessed bits of the cacao pod. They are intensely flavored, not at all sweet, and give a wonderful depth and crunch to meals. Try blending them into smoothies, or use them to top a long-braised stew.

We’ve always loved the slightly sweet and nutty crunch of water chestnuts, which are actually the bulblike growth of a marsh-grown, grasslike plant. We use it unapologetically in spur-of-the-moment stir-fries. Learn how to make this recipe and more in our online cooking class with Sur la Table.

Name a more iconic trio than beets, quinoa, and goat cheese!

Avoid whole grain mustards that are aggressively sweetened with honey; you want a bit of sharpness here.

Portion out the oatmeal in individual containers so even if you're running out the door, you won't skip breakfast.

Regular old bark gets a bit spicier with a pinch of cayenne pepper and bitter orange.

You can find Chinese five-spice powder, a combination of star anise, fennel, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns, and cloves, at many supermarkets. We really like the fresh intensity and balance of the five-spice powder from World Spice.