Easy

Gazpacho is traditionally made by adding olive oil to vegetable purée; in this light version, we left out the oil and used only a small amount to cook the shrimp.

A cup of this soup is delicious, served hot or cold. Try packing it in a thermos for a light picnic lunch. To chill quickly, place the soup in a bowl and set that bowl into an ice-water bath. Stir frequently until cool.

Capture the sweetness of fresh corn in this three-ingredient soup. Freeze portions for up to six months, then heat them straight from the freezer.

When iced, these carrot-filled cupcakes make heavenly desserts or snacks. Unfrosted, they are perfect for breakfast on the run or a lunch-box treat. Use the large holes of a box grater, or the shredding disk of a food processor, to shred the carrots.

Here’s a foolproof recipe that involves nothing more than assembling a few store-bought ingredients with a five-minute chocolate sauce. Make it once and it’ll soon become a stand-by whenever you want a little something sweet.

Baking the desserts in a hot-water bath keeps them creamy and custardy beneath their golden, cakey tops. Lining the roasting pan with a dish towel helps the water circulate under the cups for even cooking.

Rhubarb is a vegetable, although it is typically used in jams and desserts; its tart flavor makes it the perfect companion for fresh strawberries, or in this case, strawberry ice cream.

These treats aren’t fancy; they’re just plain good and full of memories. You can prepare the strawberries up to a day ahead, but wait until just before serving the dessert to assemble it.

This pasta features a few flavors of the season—mint and peas—along with lemon and ever-popular salmon. It’s just the thing to hit the spot on a crisp spring evening.

Adding a bit of the pasta cooking water thins the goat cheese-and mustard-based sauce and helps it adhere to the fettuccine.