Bon Appétit

Be sure to buy four extra cups of spinach if you plan to make the frittata.

There's no oil in this easy main course and, if you'd like to make it even healthier, low-fat or nonfat yogurt can be used instead of the whole-milk variety. Round out the meal with dal (Indian-style lentils) or some sautéed spinach. The yogurt marinade is also great for chicken.

The dip gets better the longer it sits, so make it a day ahead.

This recipe makes enough salad for a picnic in the park, or to pack in your lunch all week.

If you can’t find haricots verts, look for slender green beans.

This shows how well green beans play with other vegetables.

Quick-cooking bulgur can be found at some supermarkets and at natural foods stores.

Bake the potato in the microwave to save time. You can use any mild white fish instead of cod.

This pie was almost my obsession. I desperately wanted a banana cream pie that wasn't too sweet, and I couldn't find one with the right consistency or the right banana flavor. I think this is pretty close to perfect, and the flavors marry well with the Elvis-inspired peanut butter layer.

As befitting a diner dessert, this ice cream is thick and rich and perfectly accents the apple tartlet. Cinnamon ice cream generally falls into three categories: infused via cinnamon sticks during the milk warming; ground cinnamon added during the milk warming; and ground cinnamon added at the very end. You can't get a real cinnamony flavor from the sticks alone, and adding ground cinnamon too early makes for a very strange texture. The third option lends a nice flavor and texture and leaves the custard pleasantly speckled.

This recipe comes from Katrina and Carmelo Turillo, owners of La Divina Gelateria in New Orleans.

This tartlet is complex, but well worth the effort. It sprang from the mind of our bakery's apple-obsessed chef, Eric Wolitzky (he is from the apple heartland of upstate New York), who was attempting to wring more flavor from the traditional apple pie. We’re still huge fans of the classic, but this version—with its perfect ratio of caramel to apple to buttery crust and crunchy topping—is now our must have apple dessert. At the bakery, we put the tartlets out at noon, and they are gone by 12:30 p.m., so we feel fairly confident that people share our new obsession.

I have never understood why pudding has not inspired the same passion as the ubiquitous cupcake. Pudding is Americana personified and every bit as interesting and delicious as any other dessert, but for some reason it is not as glorified as some of its peers. Perhaps it's because pudding is not as visually exciting? In an attempt to add a bit of visual flair to puddin', we created a S'mores version that looks great in a clear glass (or glass container). To us, diner desserts equal layered desserts, and the layers of dark chocolate pudding look terrific with the alternate layers of toasted graham. The marshmallow topping is both tasty and a tad sexy. It’s about time pudding got its groove back.

The attraction of mile-high desserts is undeniable. Unfortunately, the taste doesn't always pay off. Sometimes there is an imbalance in the layering (too much filling, too much frosting), so we tried to balance this version flavorwise while still making it look delicious. The base is a chocolate cake we use regularly at the bakery; we filled it with a not-too-sweet buttercream. A cake this tall covered in white frosting would be too sweet, so instead we added a chocolate glaze that drips down the sides.

Try as we might, we couldn't find a substitute for mac and cheese—and we certainly weren't going to leave it off the list. This is the dish that will still be appearing on American tables hundreds of years from now. But mac and cheese in 2009 certainly doesn't look—or taste—the same as it did back in the day. The casserole keeps reflecting our changing tastes. We've seen versions made with every kind of pasta, lighter variations packed with veggies, and super-luxe options redolent of truffle oil. To make mac and cheese truly your own, get creative with the cheese. Here, we use a combination of two of the Netherlands' best-known cheeses: Gouda and Edam.

Before a revolution breaks out, we want to assure you that we still think real fried chicken—soaked in buttermilk and fried in peanut oil until it’s crispy—is the gold standard. But there's no denying that in the past 20 years two factors have had a huge influence on how we cook: speed and healthfulness. Oven-baked chicken satisfies on both counts, offering a crispy, tasty coating and moist meat with less fat and fewer calories. Plus, it's quick enough to make on a Tuesday night. Add a light, bright arugula salad and you’ve got dinner.

This recipe wasn't created, per se; it was a happy accident. One of our new (though lovely) bakers was working on a tray of brownies and pulled them out too early from the oven. They were too underdone for sale, so we cut some out, pressed them into the bottom of a springform pan, and used them as the base of our cheesecake. It has been on our menu ever since.