Unlike many other orange vegetables rich in beta-carotene, carrots are versatile in both their raw and cooked states. I grate raw carrots and use them in salads, cakes and breads. You can cook carrots quickly in a stir-fry, simmer them for soup, or give them a long roast in the oven. (Roasting will intensify their sweetness, while simmering will yield a delicious broth.)

Sometimes the texture of carrots is as important to a dish as their flavor — they really can bulk up a sauce or stew. And if you’re stumped trying to get more vegetables into your kids’ diets, carrots may be the answer, as most children like them raw or cooked.

Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup With Mint or Tarragon

This easy, beautiful purée makes a nice Thanksgiving opener, with the added benefit of extra doses of vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium and fiber. If you’re looking to get ahead with your meal, you can make this dish up to two days ahead of the big day.

1 tablespoon canola oil or unsalted butter

2 medium shallots, chopped

1 1/2 pounds carrots, peeled and diced

1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

6 cups water, chicken stock or vegetable stock

2 sprigs tarragon

A 1-inch piece of orange zest

Salt to taste

1 tablespoon minced fresh mint or tarragon

1. Heat the oil in a heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the shallots. Cook, stirring, until tender, three to five minutes. Add carrots. Cook, stirring often, for five minutes until they begin to soften. Add the sweet potatoes, water or stock, tarragon sprigs and orange zest, and bring to a simmer. Add salt to taste, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 45 minutes or until all of the ingredients are thoroughly tender. Remove the orange zest, and discard.

2. Purée the soup in batches in a blender, removing the stopper from the top and holding a kitchen towel tightly over the top to avoid splashing, or in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Return to the pot, heat through, and adjust salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the mint or tarragon, and serve.

Yield: Serves four to six.

Advance preparation: This will keep for three to four days in the refrigerator.

Nutritional information per serving (four servings): 204 calories; 4 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 40 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams dietary fiber; 192 milligrams sodium (does not include salt added during preparation); 4 grams protein.

Nutritional information per serving (six servings): 136 calories; 3 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 grams cholesterol; 27 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 128 milligrams sodium (does not include salt added during preparation); 2 grams protein

Martha Rose Shulman can be reached at martha-rose-shulman.com. Her latest book, "The Very Best of Recipes for Health," was published recently by Rodale Books.

1 1/2 cups (1/2 pound) unsalted toasted almonds

1/4 cup raw brown (turbinado) sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

4 large eggs

1/3 cup organic white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups finely grated carrots (about 10 ounces)

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees with a rack in the middle. Oil a 9-inch springform pan, and line it with parchment. Lightly oil the parchment.

2. Combine the almonds and the turbinado sugar in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Blend until the almonds are finely ground. Add the baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon zest, and pulse together.

3. Beat the eggs until thick in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or with an electric beater. Add the organic sugar, and continue to beat until the mixture is thick and forms a ribbon when lifted from the bowl with a spatula. Beat in the vanilla. Add the almond mixture and the carrots in three alternating additions, and slowly beat or fold in each time.

4. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan. Place in the oven, and bake one hour until firm to the touch and beginning to pull away from the pan. A toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean. Remove from the heat, and allow to cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan, and carefully remove the spring form ring. Allow the cake to cool completely, then wrap tightly in plastic.

Yield: Serves 10 to 12.

Advance preparation: This cake is a good keeper if wrapped well. Refrigerate for up to five days.

Nutritional information per serving (10 servings): 209 calories; 13 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 85 grams cholesterol; 18 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 135 milligrams sodium (does not include salt added during preparation); 7 grams protein

Nutritional information per serving (12 servings): 174 calories; 11 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 71 grams cholesterol; 15 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 112 milligrams sodium (does not include salt added during preparation); 6 grams protein

Martha Rose Shulman can be reached at martha-rose-shulman.com. Her latest book, "The Very Best of Recipes for Health," was published recently by Rodale Books.

2 pounds carrots, peeled quartered or cut into sixths lengthwise (depending on the size), then into 2-inch lengths

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped

1/2 teaspoon oregano

3 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Oil a sheet pan or a baking dish large enough to fit all of the carrots in a single layer. Place the carrots in a large bowl, and toss with the olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme and oregano.

2. Spread in an even layer in the prepared pan or baking dish. Cover with foil, and place in the oven for 30 minutes. Uncover, and if the carrots are not yet tender, turn the heat down to 375 degrees and return to the oven for 10 to 15 more minutes until tender. Add the parsley, stir gently, and taste and adjust salt and pepper. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Yield: Serves six.

Advance preparation: These will keep for four to five days in the refrigerator.

Nutritional information per serving: 123 calories; 7 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams cholesterol; 15 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 106 milligrams sodium (does not include salt added during preparation); 1 gram protein

Martha Rose Shulman can be reached at martha-rose-shulman.com . Her latest book, “The Very Best of Recipes for Health,” was published recently by Rodale Books.

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/2 pound carrots, peeled and finely diced (1/4 inch dice or smaller), or finely chopped in a food processor fitted with a steel blade (1 1/2 cups)

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 pounds tomatoes, seeded and grated, or peeled, seeded and chopped; or 1 (28-ounce) can chopped tomatoes, with juice

1/8 teaspoon sugar

1 sprig of fresh basil, if available

Salt to taste

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (optional)

1. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, wide nonstick skillet or saucepan. Add the carrots. Cook, stirring, until tender, five to eight minutes. Add the garlic. Cook, stirring, for 30 seconds to a minute until the garlic begins to smell fragrant. Add the tomatoes and their juice, the sugar, basil sprig, salt, tomato paste and oregano. Stir, and turn up the heat. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, lower the heat to medium, and cook, stirring often, until thick and fragrant, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the basil sprig, and wipe any sauce adhering to it back into the pan. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Variation: Substitute 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme for the basil.

Yield: 2 1/4 cups (about eight servings).

Advance preparation: The sauce will keep for four to five days in the refrigerator and freezes well.

Nutritional information per serving (per rounded 1/4 cup): 65 calories; 4 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams cholesterol; 8 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 27 milligrams sodium (does not include salt added during preparation); 1 gram protein

Martha Rose Shulman can be reached at martha-rose-shulman.com. Her latest book, "The Very Best of Recipes for Health," was published recently by Rodale Books.

For years, employees have seen what they pay toward health care go up as companies ask them to contribute more to premiums and deductibles. But now, as people enroll in health plans for the coming year, the sticker shock is more jolting than ever because so many companies are passing on to their workers most, if not all, of the higher costs.

A worker’s share of a family policy is approaching $4,000 a year on average, and is most certainly going to keep rising through the next few years. For lower-salaried workers, those costs have only compounded their struggle in a brutal economy.

More and more companies in the last year or so have begun signaling their recognition of the added burden shouldered by workers in low- and middle-income jobs by varying the premiums they pay based on salary. Consultants say the trend is likely to continue, as employers devise various ways of spreading increased health care costs among their staff and balancing that side of the ledger against fewer raises and other compensation.

Vanderbilt University, for instance, has adopted a wage-based benefit program for 2011 under which premiums will remain the same for employees who make $50,000 or less, while everyone else will pay up to $75 more a month. “We’re trying to help those lower-paid employees cope with hard economic times,” said Jerry Fife, a vice chancellor. Even as companies warily eye the uncertain landscape of the new health care law, especially with the Republican midterm election gains at the federal and state levels, they also are seeking novel ways to deal with year-after-year increases in health care, because the share-the-pain era is coming to an end.

Corporations had absorbed some higher costs in recent years, along with their workers, but have recently passed all, on average, onto employees. In 2010 alone, a worker’s share of the cost of a family policy jumped an average of 14 percent from the previous year, according to a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. In real money, that is an additional $500 a year deducted from a paycheck.

“It feels so much worse this year than it has in prior years,” said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, which represents employers providing health benefits.

Across the country, the percentage of workers with coverage in large companies whose premiums vary with their wages climbed to 17 percent in 2010, up from 14 percent two years ago. About 20 percent of employees who are covered by large companies in the Northeast, which has suffered from a combination of high unemployment and steep medical costs, have the premiums they pay tied to their wages, according to Kaiser.

“If health care reform hadn’t happened, there would be more companies going in this direction,” said Ms. Darling, alluding to the period between the law’s passage this year and 2014, when it is expected to take full effect.

Some corporations have gone further than others in trying to spare their lowest-paid workers, even as they increased the cost of premiums for everyone else. This year, for example, employees at Bank of America who make $100,000 or more a year will pay at least 14 percent more for coverage for 2011.

But workers who make less will actually see their contributions decrease, although their deductibles and co-payments will stay the same. Employees earning less than $50,000 could see as much as a 50 percent drop in the amount deducted from their paychecks, as compared to 2010. The bank says it is making up the difference.

”We’re obviously committed to helping our associates and their families manage rising health care costs,” said Kelly Sapp, a spokeswoman for the bank. At Vanderbilt, the university was mindful that employees had gone with no or small raises for the last two years. The university typically pays about 80 percent of the cost of coverage, with employees paying anywhere from $41 to $370 a month in premiums. The concept of tiered plans is not new, with employers that typically offer generous benefits, like universities, being quicker to try it. General Electric, for example, has long divided its work force into separate tiers to determine how much an employee has to contribute toward insurance coverage.

Often, companies will keep premiums steady or lower for low-income workers by asking them to pay less of the overall increase, while high-income workers will pay more to make up for the difference, according to Joshua Miley, a principal at HighRoads, a Woburn, Mass., health benefits management consultant. Faced with an overall increase of 9 percent, the company might ask the lower-paid workers to pay 4 percent more, while the higher-paid group would pay 14 percent more. “They’re doing it on the backs of the higher-paid,” he said.

Some companies may be reluctant to ask certain of their employees to pay more, especially if workers belong to unions that have negotiated a certain level of benefits for all their members.

Other companies could be wary of a system that could be viewed as unfair since salary may not be the best indication of household income. Some low-paid employees whose spouse is a high earner may not need the help, while a single person with a higher salary could. The other concern is not being able to move away from a wage-based benefit structure once it is in place.

For most workers, however, the trend has been very clear: the increase in health care costs has easily outstripped any rise in their incomes. Since 2005, while wages have increased 18 percent, workers’ contributions to premiums have jumped 47 percent, almost twice as fast as the rise in the policy’s overall cost, according to Kaiser.

Companies have also become increasingly creative in the ways they shift costs. Instead of simply raising premiums or increasing the size of the deductible workers must pay before their coverage kicks in, employers are increasingly asking their workers to pay more of the cost of coverage for their dependents, or to pay more of their share of a hospital stay or an emergency room visit. “Employers do a bit here and do a bit there,” said Gary Claxton, a policy expert at Kaiser.

The result is that employees may be paying more, but they may not know how much. Mark Rukavina, the director of the Access Project, an advocacy group, said, “You need multiple spread sheets to figure this out.”

During her company’s open enrollment period, Marilee Fisher, for example, tried to scrutinize the three plans being made available by her employer. She is liable for any medical bills she accumulates when her 5-year-old son, who has Down syndrome, has therapy more times than allowed under the specific plan.

More companies are adopting plan designs that require employees to pay more of their own medical bills under specific circumstances so workers are increasingly feeling the pinch. Companies “are taking the usual cost-trend reduction measures, but more of them are doing it,” said Beth Umland, director of health and benefits research at Mercer, the consulting firm.

This has clouded exactly how much more workers are paying. “Employers have shifted costs for the past 10 years,” Mr. Miley said. “The confusion allows them to push it further.”

When Jim Hewes, a San Diego painter and Vietnam veteran, received the diagnosis of colorectal cancer in February 2008, his wife, Libby, suddenly became his aide, therapist, homemaker and advocate — his everything. Through long months of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, she dressed wounds, changed colostomy bags and tried to hold onto her own equilibrium.

Courtesy Libby Hewes Libby and Jim Hewes in the summer of 2005, before learning he had cancer.

“That first year, I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, asking the social worker for a support group, some help, anything,” she said.

Spouses caring for cancer victims endure such trials. But a new report suggests the job can grow still more complicated and demanding when the people they care for are combat-era veterans with service-connected illnesses or disabilities.

“Because of the stresses during this period, his P.T.S.D.” — post-traumatic stress disorder — “came to the fore,” Mrs. Hewes said. “The anger, the road rage — it got scary for me at times.”

And frustrating. After she’d spent months in polite, protracted discussions with the Social Security Administration trying to get disability coverage for her husband, “They called here one day while I was at work, asking for paperwork, and Jim blasted them. They hung up.”

He stalked out of a clinic, too, when the wait got too long. “He’d get angry and explode, and I had to mop up the damage,” Mrs. Hewes said. Both had severe depression.

Gail Hunt, director of the National Alliance for Caregiving, knows plenty about the sacrifices caregivers make, in part because the organization regularly conducts nationwide research. But she was startled by the results of “Caregivers of Veterans: Serving on the Homefront,” an online survey of people caring for veterans with service-related disabilities suffered from the World War II era through Iraq and Afghanistan.

Of the 462 caregivers of veterans responding to an online questionnaire, 30 percent said they’d filled that role for a decade or more, and 68 percent called their situation “highly stressful.” The proportion of veterans’ caregivers who reported a high level of physical strain, who left their jobs or devoted more than 40 hours a week to caregiving — all were several times higher than figures reported in the past by caregivers of adults whose disabilities are not related to military service.

In part, this difference stems from the long duration of caregiving for veterans, who may be injured while young and then require decades of help.

But it also reflects what medical professionals call “co-morbidities.” High rates of depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses accompany vets’ physical injuries and disabilities, the caregivers reported.

While we may think of P.T.S.D. and traumatic brain injury as contemporary injuries (President Obama called them “the signature wounds of today’s wars”), more than half the vets in this sample who served in Vietnam or earlier conflicts also had P.T.S.D. and 14 percent had a traumatic brain injury, in addition to more common diseases like diabetes, cancer and Parkinson’s.

On Capitol Hill on Wednesday, representatives from the National Alliance for Caregiving and the United Health Foundation, which underwrote the survey, and from veterans’ organizations will hold a lunchtime briefing for Congressional staff members. “We want to let Congress know what we found,” Ms. Hunt said.

The recommendations the alliance and its partners will make, based on the survey and also on focus groups and phone interviews, are fairly modest: immediate training for caregivers, even while injured veterans are still in hospitals, so that they will know what to expect and what to do; mentoring programs and support groups, online and offline, that will connect veterans’ caregivers with others in similar situations; and legal advisers for families.

Compared with the medical costs of caring for veterans, these are not big-ticket items.

“I’d like to see an advocate, someone to walk us through the system,” said Betty Sullivan of Texas, who for three years cared for her husband, Charles, a Vietnam vet in the late stages of Parkinson’s disease at 71, in their home in San Antonio. “Everything with the government is overwhelming.”

Mrs. Sullivan reluctantly moved her husband into a residential center when she was no longer able to lift him or physically care for him. He is now in hospice care.

But Jim Hewes is cancer-free, his doctors say. And slowly he and Libby have regained their footing, in part because of a caregivers class she finally found this year — the kind the report recommends for any veteran’s caregiver.

“I learned so much,” Mrs. Hewes said. “It was life-changing for me. I could get off the roller coaster.”

Paula Span is the author of “When the Time Comes: Families With Aging Parents Share Their Struggles and Solutions.”

Stephen Scott Gross Pumpkin Dumplings With RadicchioStephen Scott GrossSilvana NardoneDelicious no-meat recipes for your holiday table.

When Silvana Nardone’s son Isaiah was diagnosed with gluten intolerance three weeks before Thanksgiving, the Brooklyn mom knew she faced a particularly challenging holiday meal. But as the owner of a bakery and founding editor of the food magazine Every Day With Rachel Ray, Ms. Nardone was up to the challenge.

“Cornbread was the first thing Isaiah wanted me to make,” says Ms. Nardone. “I tested it and failed. But once I finally got it, that was my platform for many other dishes.”

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye and barley, so it can be challenge to cook without it. Ms. Nardone’s adventures in gluten-free cooking are documented in her new cookbook, “Cooking for Isaiah: Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Recipes for Easy Delicious Meals.”

For Well’s Vegetarian Thanksgiving series, Ms. Nardone offers three gluten-free vegetarian dishes that celebrate the season: pumpkin dumplings with radicchio, apple-pecan corn bread stuffing (made with her “double corn” cornbread,) and pumpkin muffins with crumble topping.

With a husband who is a vegetarian and a son who requires gluten-free food, Ms. Nardone has learned that cooking challenges can boost creativity in the kitchen.

“It forced me to be a better cook,” says Ms. Nardone, who blogs about gluten-free cooking at DishTowelDiaries.com. “It opens up a whole new way of cooking that you didn’t even know existed.”

See Ms. Nardone’s recipes below, and go to “Well’s Vegetarian Thanksgiving” to see all the dishes in the series that have been published so far.

Silvana Nardone’s
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Dumplings With Radicchio

Something to keep in mind when you make this recipe — it’s a lot easier than you think. The dumplings are super light and pillowy, but if you prefer a firmer texture, add more gluten-free flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to the pasta dough.

1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin puree
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup store-bought gluten-free flour blend
Salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 small head radicchio, sliced into 1/4-inch strips (about 2 cups)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, eggs, flour and 1 teaspoon salt to make the dough.

2. In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and red pepper flakes and cook until softened, about five minutes; remove from the heat and set aside.

3. When the water comes to a boil, use a teaspoon to scoop up the dough and form a dumpling, then carefully slide the dumpling off the spoon and into the boiling water. Continue forming dumplings until half the dough is used. Cook until the dumplings float, then simmer for about two minutes; remove with a slotted spoon and add to the saucepan with the onion. Repeat with the remaining dumpling dough.

4. Return the saucepan with the onion to medium-high heat. Toss in three-quarters of the radicchio and stir gently until just wilted, about two minutes; season with 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste. To serve, divide the dumplings and sauce among four bowls and top with the remaining radicchio and parsley.

Yield: Serves 4.

Stephen Scott GrossApple-Pecan Cornbread Stuffing

Silvana Nardone’s
Gluten-Free Apple-Pecan Cornbread Stuffing

Instead of toasting the cornbread, you can spread out the pieces on a baking sheet and let them sit on your counter top overnight, uncovered, to dry out.

Double Corn Cornbread:
1 cup rice milk
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup cornmeal, preferably medium grind
1 cup store-bought gluten-free flour blend
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup corn kernels (from about 1 ear of corn)

Stuffing:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing
1 small onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
Salt
Pepper
4 cups Double Corn Cornbread (see recipe below), toasted and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
2 teaspoons dried herb blend, such as McCormick Italian Seasoning
1/2 cup chopped pecans

1. Prepare the cornbread. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 4 1/2-inch by 8 1/2-inch loaf pan. In a small bowl, stir together the milk and vinegar. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in the milk mixture, eggs and oil until just blended; fold in the corn kernels. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

2. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack.

3. Prepare the stuffing. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease an 8-inch square pan with olive oil. In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook until softened, about five minutes; season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, or to taste.

4. In a large bowl, toss together the onion mixture, cornbread, apple and herb blend. Transfer to the prepared pan. Scatter the pecans on top and cover with foil; bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil; bake until crispy and golden, about 20 minutes more.

Yield: Serves 6 to 8.

Stephen Scott GrossIsaiah’s Pumpkin Muffins With Crumble Topping

Silvana Nardone’s
Isaiah’s Pumpkin Muffins With Crumble Topping

If you make these muffins around the holidays, stir a handful of dried cranberries or 1/4 cup chopped walnuts into the batter. You can also make pumpkin muffin tops with this recipe — just use a muffin-top pan and bake for about 10 minutes.

Topping:
1/4 cup store-bought gluten-free flour blend
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
4 tablespoons all-vegetable shortening
Confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling

Muffins:
1 3/4 cups store-bought gluten-free flour blend
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup canned pure pumpkin puree
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

2. Prepare the crumble topping. Whisk together the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar and pumpkin pie spice in a medium bowl. Add the shortening and, using your fingers or a fork, blend together until coarse crumbs form.

3. To make the muffins: Whisk together the flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a large bowl.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, oil and vanilla until smooth. Add to the flour mixture; stir until just combined.

5. Fill each muffin cup almost full; top each with crumble topping. Bake until the muffins are springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool in the pan, set on a wire rack. Using a sieve, sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.

Yield: 12 muffins.