Fruit

Sprinkle these simple cookies with sanding sugar and serve them with ice cream. Or leave off the sugar and serve with tea for a more savory option.

In this simplest of summer desserts, sour cream adds a pleasant tang to lightly sweetened vanilla whipped cream.

Enough to marinate 2 pounds of pork (tenderloin, shoulder, or bone-in chops) or fish (firm, white-fleshed fish such as sea bass; shrimp or scallops)

Forget the plates and forks (but not the napkins): This is the best way to bring pie to a picnic.

How it fights fat Prosciutto's protein helps build calorie-blasting lean muscle, and the fiber in melon begins to fill you up so you can slow down and savor the next two delicious courses but not overdo it. Now that's a smart start!

These paletas are quick to make. The only effort is in squeezing the limes, and it’s worth it. Don’t use that bottled stuff or the flavor will suffer. Lime pie isn’t a typical paleta flavor, but the pie itself is popular. I wanted to make it into a paleta, and the result is this creamy, lip-smacking treat.

These paletas may seem very time-consuming, but the sweet and subtle flavor of fresh coconut is well worth the effort. You can prepare the shredded coconut up to a week in advance and refrigerate it in an airtight container. Choose a coconut that feels heavy for its size and inspect the eyes, making sure there’s no liquid around them, as that indicates a rotten coconut. I usually like to buy two just in case one is bad. The worst thing that can happen is that you have extra coconut, which you can store in the freezer or dry in a 250°F oven to make dried shredded coconut.

You’re probably familiar with the little tune that announces the ice cream truck is coming down the street. In Mexico, there’s a specific whistle (admittedly, not at all pleasant) that lets you know a cart with warm sweet potatoes and plantains is on its way. The purveyors wander through the streets pushing carts that steam the sweet potatoes and plantains in their skins. The whistle is the cry of the steam coming out. For this recipe, you can use either bananas or plantains. Either way, roasting heightens their sweetness and gives them a more complex flavor. If you use plantains, be sure to buy ripe ones: they look black on the outside and feel mushy.

Avocado ice cream is fairly common in Mexico, so I decided to make avocado one of the flavors of paletas when I launched my company La Newyorkina (“the girl from New York”) at the Hester Street Fair in New York City’s Lower East Side. I was unsure of how people would receive them, but avocado paletas rapidly became a customer and personal favorite! An avocado ice pop may sound unusual, but it’s very tasty and has a luscious creamy texture without any dairy. The lime juice not only helps keep the paleta green, it also enhances the flavor of the avocados.

Adas Polo
This is a delicious, nutritious dish that can be served as a vegetarian meal or accompanied by lamb, chicken or Miniature meatballs. In Shiraz, in southern Iran, it is traditionally cooked without raisins and dates, especially when accompanied by chicken or meat. However, the combination of green lentils, raisins and dates creates a very good vegetarian dish. It is a useful recipe as the ingredients are available all year round. It is not time-consuming to prepare and cook and the result is very rewarding.

Adapted from The Daily Scoop, Barrington, RI You'll be hard pressed to find two foods creamier than ripe, sweet bananas and peanut butter; when they're combined in this ice cream it's sensational.

Anthony Ross, executive chef at the Langham Hotel in Melbourne, once took me on a tour of the kitchen. The food there is amazing and so I asked Anthony for his recipe for pork belly tandoori as it is my favorite. He said it was quite funny because in India pork isn't really seen as a popular choice for tandoori, but in Australia it is his bestseller. I have changed the pork belly to loin as it suits the grill better.

I have to give Sabrina, my business partner at BabyCakes NYC, 100 percent of the credit for creating this incredible cake. Normally, pineapple upside-down cake just isn’t my thing, but the texture, spice, and fluffiness of this recipe really won me over. If you’re a beginner, this is a good cake to start with because it’s a snap, it can be ready to eat in just about an hour, and it looks gorgeous. Feeling adventurous? Make some Vanilla Sugar Glaze (page 127) and drizzle it all over.

My younger son loves these cupcakes and calls them Strawberry Spongecakes. These pink-flecked pleasers are best made at the height of strawberry season.

My younger son eats this straight out of the bowl!

Buttermilk and honey makes these muffins remarkably tender and indescribably delicious. We love this recipe with raspberries, but you can also use any berries you have on hand.

Pudding cakes are little culinary marvels. Take what is basically a thin cake batter, fold in whipped egg whites, put the batter into a baking dish (or several ramekins as I do here), and voilà! As it bakes, the batter separates and forms a sponge cake on the top with a thick, kind of custardy pudding on the bottom. Lemon pudding cakes are common in the South, but I've swapped lemon for Key lime juice. To coat the insides of the ramekins with sugar, grease them with nonstick cooking spray or butter, put 1 tablespoon sugar in one, and then tilt and turn it around, tapping to coat all the inside surfaces. Tap the excess sugar into the next ramekin and repeat the process until all are dusted, adding more sugar as needed.

A bowl of this succulent soup can help you burn up to 30 percent more fat during a later workout, courtesy of the vitamin C in subtly sweet mangoes.

Chef Dale Van Sky's healthful version of the classic cuts out butter and adds fruit for a sweet, crunchy start to the morning (or afternoon, if that's more your style).