Backpacking Food

Karen DeMasco's crumbly soft, jammy-sweet bars travel well, so they're ideal for school bake sales. She says, "They are quick to put together with pantry staples, and everyone seems to love them." They're delicious made with any flavor of jam, as well as the raspberry preserves called for here. (Recipe adapted from The Craft of Baking.)

Applesauce is a wonderful "secret ingredient" for gluten-free baked goods. You can use store-bought sauce or make your own by pureeing chopped apples with a little bit of water and a squeeze of lime or lemon juice.

At the end of their wine-and-cheese parties, Cheesewhizzes Helen Jane Hearn and Natalie Wassum gather any leftovers to make an incredible mac and cheese later in the week. The adaptation below, based on a recipe from Marion Cunningham's The Supper Book, works beautifully with any semihard cheese but is particularly good with an international blend of French Mimolette, aged Dutch Gouda and American Vella dry Jack. A fine layer of Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano forms a crisp topping.

The secret to Andrew Zimmern's cold noodle recipe, inspired by the ones he had in China's Sichuan province, is the oil that gets drizzled on top. Made with chiles, Sichuan peppercorns and lots of spices, it is called Ma La ("numbing and spicy").

A recipe from Giada De Laurentiis, from the 2007 Classic in Aspen.

Celebrate figs in this oatmeal cookie recipe with dried figs for added natural sweetness, flavor and dried fruit texture.

This fantastic sweet-savory mix of pecans, almonds and walnuts from The Casual Vineyard Table, by Carolyn Wente and Kimball Jones, makes a great gift.

Find the best tomatoes you can for this effortless pasta dish. Head to the local farmers' market for in-season tomatoes.