Berry

Actress Marissa Matrone shares a recipe her grandmother taught her. It's almost like ice cream!

Saturday breakfast. From Lake Austin Spa Resort in Austin, Texas. These Southwestern-style pancakes (with antioxidant-rich blueberries) run rings around an a.m. bagel. Executive chef Terry Conlan uses dried or frozen berries when fresh aren't available. Invite pals over and whip up an impressive stack.

Sunday-night dessert. From Golden Door in Escondido, California. Talk about sweet justice: You can eat "cream" with our spa meal plan. This dessert drives its silky texture from tofu and its tangy flavor from orange zest, plus it's loaded with beta-carotene from the squash. Look for squash without green streaks — they're the sweetest.

Another option: Make your melba with plums.

Tip: Replace the cream (but keep the flavor) with 2 percent milk.

Actress Lauren Graham has fun grating the "prehistoric-looking" horseradish root for this recipe from Scott Uehlein, executive chef at the renowned Canyon Ranch Health Resort in Tucson, Arizona. And she wonders: Am I the only person who thought you battered fish by dipping it in egg first? For any of you similarly misdirected, the order is seasoned flour, then egg.

These hearty, highly addictive pancakes are an ideal start to an active day. For easier outdoor cooking, mix the dry ingredients before you leave.

Cardamom-scented whipped cream tops a light, crisp meringue in this pretty paean to the season's fresh berries.

The buttery, cookielike topping in most crisp recipes is usually a calorie bomb. But chef Dean Rucker uses a whole-grain crumble of whole-wheat flour and rolled oats that's gently sweetened with honey, so you save calories and get almost 5 grams of fiber per serving. Feel free to swap in other fruit options to take advantage of the season's freshest picks.

Fruit may become your first choice for dessert after you try this dish: Fresh blueberries are the ideal topping for the almond-date crust. You'll get a helping of antioxidants and fiber, and don't be afraid of the fat: It's mostly the healthy kind. Bonus: This dessert doesn't require any baking.

Let guests mix their own Bellinis — it's a great ice-breaker, and allows everyone to custom-blend their drinks.

One slice of this gorgeous strawberry pie from chef Barb Peters delivers nearly three fourths of your daily dose of vitamin C.

Sweet early strawberries in their prime and a good bottle of fruit-forward red wine — you just can't go wrong with the simple combination of these two stellar ingredients.

Prepare this a day ahead so all of the elements can meld and the ladyfingers to soften fully.

Ann Gillespie of Alexandria, Virginia, writes: "Because I'm balancing graduate school and a family, I try to cook things that don't take a lot of time. But I love experimenting with ingredients, so most of my recipes are easy to make and use interesting flavor combinations. During the week, salads are our mainstay. When we get bored with veggies, we add different fruits, like the blueberries in the recipe here."

Because the blackberry coulis flavors the glaze for this dark chocolate cake, it should be made ahead of the cake.