Provencal Marinated Fennel is great with pork or fish.

The Washington Post / JULIA EWAN

Resolutions that involve better eating could start right here. These recipes fall within these nutritional guidelines as healthful, and they all taste great.

The criteria for main courses and entree-size soup portions: up to 500 calories; up to 20 grams of total fat and up to 6 grams of saturated fat; up to 600 milligrams of sodium; up to 80 milligrams of cholesterol. For side dishes, salads, soups (as a first course) and desserts: up to 250 calories; up to 10 grams of total fat and up to 3 grams of saturated fat; up to 300 milligrams of sodium and up to 40 milligrams of cholesterol.

Start with the Garlicky Spinach and White Bean Soup. Given its high water content and satiety value, eating an entree of soup is a good way to control your diet, and it can help you work in lots of vegetables. Here, the beans provide plenty of fiber, a key to weight management. Using unsalted homemade chicken broth is the best way to limit the amount of sodium when making soup.

Make the Chicken and Blueberry Pasta Salad ahead. The salad ingredients may be combined and refrigerated up to 1 a day in advance, except for the blueberries and salad dressing; refrigerate them all separately. Toss the berries and dressing in with the rest of the salad just before serving.

Raw fennel is delicious and may cleanse the palate, but cooked fennel has its charms as well. Try Provencal Marinated Fennel, a preparation which could accompany roast pork or a firm fish such as tuna or salmon.

For dessert, Banana Snack Cake has soft, tender batter, lightened with egg whites. Make it whenever you have a ripe banana on hand. It freezes well.