Vegetarian

We like to brush this sweet sauce on steaks, grilled or roasted chicken legs, and slices of roasted eggplant. Try it on salmon, too.

A malfatto (Italian for "badly made") is a tender dumpling with rustic character. It's a bit of work to trim and cook the chard; you can simplify the recipe by substituting frozen spinach, if desired.

These peel 'n' eat chestnuts are truly finger-licking delicious. Make sure to score the nuts deeply so that the peels will open as they roast.

Low-fat yogurt with fresh oranges is a quick, sensible alternative to an ice cream sundae; the red wine gives the caramel a fruity acidity.

Blanching the mustard greens and kale ahead of time both softens them up and helps keep their color.

The classic technique of covering simmering vegetables with a parchment-paper round (known as a cartouche) yields perfectly moist, evenly cooked pieces.

The fried olives used to garnish this colorful salad just might become your new favorite. Try scattered over crostini or salads.

Browned edges mean great flavor for this side. If the squash hasn't browned, roast it a little longer.

Throughout France, these traditional fried cookies are called "marvels" for good reason. For crisp, golden results, be sure that the oil is hot enough before you begin.

These buttery, heart-shaped French cookies are great for dunking into hot cocoa—or serving with coffee.

Roasting the carrots intensifies their sweetness.

Holiday spiced nuts meet the candied street-cart variety. Send any extra home as gifts for your guests.

Rich, chocolaty cocoa is poured over a scoop of peppermint ice cream for a kid-friendly twist on the Italian espresso- ice cream dessert.

My mom, Betty Keller, was a creature of habit. She worked very hard at her job managing restaurants while raising five boys and a daughter as a single mother. She loved to have cookies on hand at the end of the day, and she especially loved the Keebler pecan sandie. It was part of my childhood, and it's a flavor combination, vanilla and pecan, that I associate with her. It was an adult cookie to me. There was always a bag of them in the cupboard. Or almost always. We were six kids, and we were voracious. That was a problem when it came to my mother's cookies. We had our own cookies, Oreos and Nutter Butters, but when we'd dispatched those, there would be that bag of Mom's pecan sandies, daring us. It was really hard. Those cookies were sacrosanct, but sometimes, guiltily, we ate her cookies, one by one, until they were gone. Mom had very few things she could call her own. She had no real luxuries. We didn't have winter family vacations; we didn't go to a cabin by a lake in the summer. She worked, and she gave us everything we wanted and needed. But we didn't appreciate it then. How could we know? How could I, youngest of the boys, know? But I do now. Day after day, year after year, Mom set an extraordinary example for me. An example of hard work, attention to detail, and an all-consuming love for our family that I still have today. Food is a powerful connecter of who we are to who we were, to our past, to our memories, and, for me, to a different and simpler time. Even the smallest thing—a cookie—can help us understand what we feel now while reminding us of what we once felt and who we've become versus who we were then. So much of who I am today is tied to who my mom was, the choices she made, the way she worked, and how she lived her life. What success I have today, I owe to her. All of which is why the pecan sandie is so important to me.

Greek yogurt gets transformed into a bright fresh cheese in this Middle Eastern-style dish. Spread it onto toast with jam for breakfast, or serve as part of a cheese platter.

These easy-to-assemble bar cookies free you to use whatever crunchy things you love. Can't get enough of those candy canes? Love pistachios and almonds? Crush 'em up and sprinkle 'em on.

Lightly spiced little cookies are the perfect canvas for your holiday decorations. To keep the dough logs from flattening on one side, set them in empty paper-towel rolls before freezing.

The best—and easiest—brownies you'll ever make. This recipe belongs in your repertoire.

Roast these sweet, tangy carrots—a perfect foil for the deliciously fatty rib roast—while the beef rests.

Star-shaped cookies will certainly put you in the holiday spirit, but feel free to use any cookie cutters you have in the drawer.