Broil

Forget juggling a plate of food with your cocktail glass: These no-fuss kebabs make it easy to munch while mingling. Plus, just one savory skewer delivers nearly half of your daily protein needs.

No soiree is complete without a scrumptious dessert, and these low-cal treats are diet-approved, so dig in—twice!—without the guilt.

Walkers Shortbread comes as close to a homemade cookie as anything you'll find in a supermarket aisle. It's made with the same pure ingredients—flour, butter, sugar, and salt—that you would use yourself. And when you dip these cookies in chocolate and coat them with nuts and toffee, well, you can imagine how tempting they are. Sometimes you can find Walkers Shortbread discounted at the warehouse clubs or at Target. If you do, grab as many boxes as you can (Walkers says its shortbread will stay fresh, unopened, for more than a year). That way you'll be prepared for any cookie swap invitation that comes along.

Bacon and maple are a classic combination. Here, the dynamic flavor duo teams up in a sweet-and-salty maple sauce studded with caramelized bacon. The sauce is spooned over ice cream and sprinkled with toasted pecans to create the ultimate sundae. Serve any leftover sauce with pancakes or waffles.

Slices of Braeburn apples hold their shape well when baked until crunchy—perfect for a batch of munchable homemade chips.

Fresh crab meat is so rich, fabulous, and sweet that, for this dip, I wanted to highlight the texture and flavor of the crab without masking it. Served bubbly hot with a crisply browned, lemon zest–panko topping, this dip will be a party favorite—easy to put together, quick to bake, and quick to disappear, too.

Colt & Gray galloped onto the Denver dining scene in the summer of 2009. Since then, diners have lined up for the casual, pub-like atmosphere and the modern take on comfort classics (burgers, pork chops). One of the most delicious examples? The salty-sweet caramel corn studded with cashews and bits of bacon.

Think of this as Mexican toast.

Tomatillos are usually the star of salsa verde, but pureed zucchini makes a surprisingly convincing stand-in.

If black cod isn't available, a firm white fish, such as halibut or barramundi, would also work well.

These Provençal eggs, laced with softened onions and chard, never fail to elicit sighs of appreciation. I'm forever grateful to Nathalie Waag for making trouchia when she came to visit—it has since become a favorite. The trick to its success is to cook everything slowly so that the flavors really deepen and sweeten.

These skewers of marinated barbecued shrimp are pure cocktail fun because you can eat the sugarcane skewers as well. The cane gives the shrimp a subtle sweetness and everyone loves to suck on the skewers after the shrimp are but a memory.

Sugar snap peas and pea tendrils (the young leaves and shoots of the snow pea plant) give this dish a double hit of spring flavor.

Thinly shaving the asparagus gives the familiar vegetable a new look—and a delicate taste. Because the asparagus is shaved so thinly, there is no need to cook it.

Nothing could be easier than stirring together chopped scallions with a dollop of mayonnaise, and this quick coating adds considerable verve and oniony bite to meaty arctic char fillets. And it looks great, too—the green of the scallions contrasts nicely against the pink flesh of the fish. For this recipe, we use the leftover scallions from our Tuna Steak au Poivre recipe, but it would also work fine with a full bunch.