Sam Talbot

Roasted garlic adds a rich dimension to so many different dishes—and it's super easy to prepare. I usually roast about 2 heads of garlic at a time, but this recipe is easily halved.

Crab may be my favorite food of all time—except maybe for scallops or octopus#151;and I like it any way I can get it, including in this totally kicky ceviche dish. I know this combination of foods sounds totally off the wall, but I love to play with food, and this play knocks it out of the park. Trust me! (And if you don't want to trust me, trust the diners at The Surf Lodge, where this dish is a top seller and the one people always ask for.)

Frozen yogurt! I mean let's face it: Everybody loves a good frozen yogurt. Adults, tweens, teens, kids, whoever. You've seen it a hundred times at your local ice cream parlor on Sunday in the summer: 9:00 p.m. and the place is packed! A line around the corner, kids playing, everybody's happy; it's the sweet life. For a diabetic, that could go two ways: One way is horribly wrong, and that's if there're no sugar-free items on the board. Or, totally great because they do offer some special items for people with some sort of dietary restriction. Or there's Plan C, which is that you make a batch of this silky, creamy, coconut yogurt at home and relax with the fam on Sunday night. Let the others rush to the corner store and wait in line; your only fear will be whether or not your family leaves you any.

This one is Italy, pure and simple. Which is precisely what Italian cuisine is all about: Get yourself fresh, pure ingredients in season, plus some fine, real condiments and seasonings, and put it all together without a lot of fuss, and ecco! A simply superb meal, as healthy as they come and as good as eating gets. It's also beautiful on the plate. Note that scampi does not, in fact, mean shrimp, as many people think, but rather refers to the popular lemon, garlic, and oil preparation for shrimp in so many red-sauce Italian joints.