Pre-made sauces, ingredients can spice up any occasion

When the days are short and the nights are cold, nothing perks up your family’s dinner table more than spicy cuisine that evokes sun-baked climes and warms you from the inside out.

Unless you cook fiery ethnic food on a regular basis, it doesn’t make much sense to keep all those special spices and seasonings jumbled in your cupboard, growing stale until you find the time to cook from scratch. Better to stock up on some of the excellent pre-made, authentic tasting sauces and ingredients available at the grocery store, so you’re ready to assemble a delicious meal on short notice.

And, it’s easier on the household budget than going out to a restaurant every time you’ve got the craving for something a little different. Here are some of my family’s favorites:

Quick Bean Enchiladas with Rice

My son loves our home version of Mexican-restaurant enchiladas. Make sure to pour some of the hot sauce on the accompanying rice.

2 cups water

1 cup white rice (basmati or jasmine)

6 to 8 soft flour tortillas

1 (15-ounce) can refried beans

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 (15-ounce) can enchilada sauce

Store-bought salsa, sour cream or plain yogurt, and guacamole for condiments

Put two cups of water in a medium saucepan, and heat on high until boiling. When boiling, pour in 1 cup of white rice, place lid on pan, turn heat to lowest setting, and then leave it alone while you prepare the enchiladas.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 1 1/2 to 2 quart casserole dish with vegetable oil spray.

Put a large spoonful of refried beans in the center of each tortilla and spread out toward the edges, dividing the contents of the can evenly among the tortillas. Sprinkle a handful of cheese on top of the beans, reserving at least 1/2 cup cheese.

Pour just enough enchilada sauce to barely cover the bottom of the casserole dish.

Roll up the filled tortillas and nestle them together in the casserole dish. Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce all over the top of the filled tortillas, distributing it over the surface as evenly as possible. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

Bake uncovered for 20 to 30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling, the exposed edges of the tortillas are browned, and the cheese is browned and bubbling. Turn heat off from rice, lift lid, and fluff rice with a fork. Serve enchiladas hot, with a side of rice, salsa, sour cream or plain yogurt, and guacamole.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving without condiments or rice, based on 6: 482 calories, 19 grams fat (9 grams saturated, 37 percent fat calories), 19.5 grams protein, 56 grams carbohydrate, 45 milligrams cholesterol, 6 grams dietary fiber, 978 milligrams sodium.

Quick Polenta with Italian Sausage and Tomato Sauce

Polenta is not hard to cook from scratch and doesn’t take very long, but if you’re really in a hurry you can buy it pre-cooked in a tube from the store. It is used in many dishes as you might use pasta and makes a novel change from the same old spaghetti.

1 (16-ounce) package pre-cooked polenta, removed from plastic casing, and sliced into 1/2 inch thick rounds

1 jar tomato-based pasta sauce

1/2 pound spicy Italian sausage, crumbled into little bits

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Selection of store-bought marinated artichoke hearts, marinated mushrooms, olives, prosciutto, and slices of fresh mozzarella, for antipasto accompaniments

Spray a baking sheet with vegetable oil pan spray. Place polenta rounds on the sheet, spray them with the vegetable oil spray, and heat in a 350 degree oven while you prepare the sausage and sauce. Check occasionally to make sure they don’t get too brown.

In a skillet, sauté the crumbled sausage over medium heat until it is browned. Pour off the grease into a heat-proof container and discard when it’s cool, or smear onto a pine cone to hang outside, for a delicious treat for the birds. (Don’t let it go down your drain!)

Pour the pasta sauce into the skillet with the sausage and heat on medium until it is hot all the way through.

Remove the polenta rounds from the oven. Arrange them, 2 or 3 overlapping a bit on a plate, and top with a generous ladle of the sausage-tomato sauce mixture. Sprinkle a little parmesan on top of each round, and serve hot with the cold antipasto accompaniments.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving, based on 6: 297 calories, 16 grams fat (6 grams saturated), 15 grams protein, 25 grams carbohydrate, 29 milligrams cholesterol, 3 grams dietary fiber, 1,249 milligrams sodium.

Quick Thai Curry

You can use chicken, tofu or fish in this recipe, or just vegetables. If you have spice-sensitive children, cook the dish in just the coconut milk and remove their servings first, and then add the curry paste last, to the adults’ portion of the meal. Serve the curry with rice, or rice noodles. These clear noodles take just a few minutes to cook in boiling water; simply prepare them according to the package directions. For a sweet, juicy, cooling accompaniment, buy some canned sliced pineapple or mango.

1 tablespoon red or green Thai-style curry paste

1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk

About 1 cup of raw, cubed chicken meat, extra-firm tofu, or de-boned firm, white fish (optional)

2 tablespoons fish or oyster sauce

2 tablespoons brown sugar

About 1 cup of frozen vegetables (try peas, diced sweet potatoes, diced broccoli, or sliced potatoes; use 2 cups if no meat, tofu, or fish is included)

Bring coconut milk and curry paste to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the meat, fish sauce, and brown sugar. Simmer until the meat is cooked through, about 10 minutes – add a little water if it seems too thick. Add the vegetables and simmer until they are warmed through. Serve in a bowl, on top of rice or rice noodles.

Yield: 4 servings

Approximate nutrition per serving: Unable to calculate due to recipe variables.