Serves: 5

* Perk up steamed veggies by tossing them with a few tablespoons of your favorite prepared sauce or salad dressing. Some yummy combinations to try: broccoli with teriyaki sauce corn with barbecue sauce zucchini with creamy peppercorn dressing carrots with honey Dijon dressing.

* Make an easy cheesy sauce for vegetables. Just before the veggies are done, drain them and stir in cheese spread. Cover and let stand a few minutes until heated through. Stir in a little milk if cheese is too thick.

* Purchase packaged cleaned mixed greens-half the package is just right for a tossed salad for two. For a different side dish, heat some vinaigrette dressing and toss with salad greens until they are wilted. Top with crumbled cooked bacon.

* Jazz up coleslaw with some tasty toppers: try nuts, sunflower seeds, chopped dried fruit or crunchy chow mein noodles. They'll keep their crunch if you mix them in right before serving.

* Mix vegetables and beans with rice or couscous and herbs or seasonings rather than eating them separately. For a quick Mexican dish, stir chopped tomato, green onion, shredded cheese and chilies into steamed rice for a flavorful Moroccan side, mix drained canned garbanzo beans, golden raisins, chopped onion and a pinch of ground cumin into prepared couscous.

* Add your favorite combination of frozen mixed vegetables to cold pasta salads for color and flavor. It's an easy addition since frozen vegetables need only be thawed, not cooked.

* Top baked sweet potatoes or cooked winter squash and carrots with butter and sprinkle with brown sugar and your favorite spice-cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice or ginger.

From "Betty Crocker's Cooking for Two." Text Copyright 2005 General Mills, Inc. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

More Recipes from the Betty Crocker's Cooking for Two Cookbook:
-SOLUTIONS FOR 2 * vary your veggies
SOLUTIONS FOR 2
Asparagus Parmesan
Baked Potato with Toppers
Buttercup Squash with Apples
Couscous Pilaf
Green Beans and Red Peppers
Grilled Vegetable Kabobs
Hawaiian Yam Casserole
Hurry-up Potato Salad
Maple-Glazed Carrots and Apples
Marinated Broccoli and Carrot Salad
Mediterranean Bread Crisps
Orange Salad with Blackberry Dressing
Orange-Pecan Muffins
Peppery Corn and Tomatoes
Poppy Seed Fettuccine
Roasted Fall Vegetables
Sesame Fingers
Sesame Vegetable Medley
Southwestern Corn Salad
Spicy Bown Rice Veracruz
Sweet-and-Sour Cabbage Slaw
spicy brown rice veracruz
Sweet-and-Sour Vegetable Stir-Fry
Teriyaki Spinach Salad
Tex-Mex Corn Muffins
Warm Biscuits