Tracey Seaman

These flat, chewy, half whole-wheat cookies are for the chocolate chip purist: no nuts, no frills—pure bliss. They will fly out of the kitchen mysteriously. Use a 1-ounce (2-tablespoon-capacity) ice-cream scoop for easy measuring.

Peanut butter goes well with more than just jam, and this interesting combination proves it. This is delicious with whatever fruit is in season.

The Seaman and Steel families are addicted to this homemade granola with dried blueberries and sweet dates. Serve it with a splash of milk or a spoonful of yogurt or ice cream, sprinkled on pancakes, or in a smoothie.

These chewy oatmeal cookies are spicy with ginger and not too sweet. Look for candied ginger that's cut into cubes and is not dusted with sugar — it'll be more tender and easier to chop.

Be sure to start this recipe at least 1 1/2 hours ahead so the components have time to cool. Mix up the syrup and chill it until it's cold. Cut the melons into wedges and refrigerate them in plastic containers. Then, just before you leave, chop the mint and stir it into the syrup, then drizzle the syrup over the fruit.

For easy eating on a picnic, chicken thighs and drumsticks are great because they can be firmly grasped without the use of utensils. This moist and flavorful recipe is delicious either warm or cold. Be sure to start the chicken marinating at least 30 minutes ahead.

These slender, snack-sized sandwiches, with rich rare beef, creamy avocado, lemon, and chives, will get appetites going, especially out in the fresh air.

This thick, cheesy dip is delicious with broccoli spears or bread sticks, or even as a spread on slices of bread. Serve any leftovers on baked potatoes or tossed with potato salad.

This frosting is fluffy and foolproof. For ease, use a handheld electric mixer.

These little gems stirred up our childhood memories of coconut-filled candy bars. We baked them in extra-large muffin cups to make them more like little individual cakes. If you choose to use regular-sized muffin cups, the recipe will yield 24 cupcakes and the cooking time will be shorter.

Look for tender greens, such as mâche, Boston, and red leaf lettuces, which appear in farmers' markets at this time of year. Or, as an alternative, use premixed baby greens.

This roast, with its light, flavorful vegetable gravy, is perfect for spring.

These creamy potatoes would be a welcome addition to any meal. Leftovers reheat nicely in the microwave.

If you wish, feel free to make these hors d'oeuvres on a regular charcoal or gas grill instead of a grill pan.

A semifreddo is a frozen, molded mousse. Here, we combine it with a walnut-shortbread crust for a tart that celebrates the coming of spring fruit.

Radishes are in their prime right now. If you can find the small French Breakfast or Easter Egg varieties, just trim them and keep them whole, rather than slicing them. Spring onions, immature onions harvested before their bulbs grow large, are available in farmers' markets at this time of year. If you can't find them, scallions make a fine substitute.

This lightly sweet, tangy bread pudding is a snap to assemble. Feel free to use any kind of white bread you like — presliced sandwich bread (cut into 1-inch pieces) will give a smoother texture, while cubes of French or Italian bread with their crusts will make the pudding chunkier.

In this simple recipe, salty, smoked ham is paired with sweet mango and onion. The fruit and vegetables are cooked alongside the ham in the covered roasting pan, leaving them meltingly tender. To ensure even cooking, leave the ham out at room temperature for an hour before baking.

The Easter Bunny will get a kick out of these deviled eggs that are a little Mexican and a little Asian.

Kutia This lightly sweetened pudding is the first of 12 traditional dishes served on Christmas Eve in Eastern Europe. Countries such as the Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania each have their own version, sometimes chilled, sometimes served as a warm porridge. (The dish used to be a tradition in Russia as well, but because of the communist Soviet Union's official atheism, it has become extinct there.) Our version is based on the baked Ukrainian style, which is traditionally made with wheat berries, which require overnight soaking and long cooking. For convenience, we've substituted quick-cooking barley, which packs the same nutty-chewy punch. For the best results, prepare the pudding a day ahead: Let it cool, cover it, and chill it overnight to let the flavors meld. Serve it chilled, plain or sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar.