As you stroll through the farmers' market this April, keep your eye out for ramps. This is their season, and it's a fleeting one. These wild leeks have a pungent garlicky flavor, and pair wonderfully with eggs and creamy dishes, like risotto. If you have a bunch in hand, try one of these 10 recipes spotlighting this quintessential spring ingredient. But do it fast — they'll be gone before you know it.

Spring seems to be the season for moving — at least judging by the number of my friends who are packing up and moving homes right now! As soon as the books are on the shelves and the forks are back in a drawer, it's time to invite the masses over to check out your awesome new digs. A bag of chips and bowls of dip will not suffice for this housewarming, oh no! Let's make sure this party is the memorable first of many more to come.

Quiche — that wonderful savory breakfast pie — is the perfect make-ahead brunch recipe. I was looking for a fresh, spring recipe when I came across this quiche from Stephanie of Desserts for Breakfast. As Stephanie says, this recipe features a "myriad of textures and flavors" — fresh peas, sweet butternut squash, a little bite and tang from the feta cheese, all topped with garlic. Sounds like the perfect midday crowd-pleaser. 

At the start of spring, the whole world seems to be bursting with tiny, irresistible signs of new life: green leaves sprouting from branches, fuzzy kittens popping up in my Facebook feed, and tender, sweet new potatoes making their brief annual appearance at the market. They may not last long, but when preparing ingredients this fresh and fleeting, the upside is that you don't have to do much to make them stand out. Simply boiled and tossed with fresh herbs and anchovy-flecked butter, new potatoes are a savory, soul-satisfying way to celebrate spring.

For me -- and for many Southerners, I presume -- Easter is the first real mark of spring. We dress our houses and tables (and even ourselves) to impress, pulling out all the stops from the freshest flowers to the fanciest flatware. We join together to celebrate a time of joy, renewal, and life. And then we eat! Here's a look back at my own Easter weekend celebration, with a recipe for a classic Southern ham, warm and glossy with a mustard glaze.

I'm a sucker for an unfussy cake, the kind of cake that you can whip up in an hour or less without any extra trips to the grocery store, one that is special enough to serve to guests, but homey enough to not need a special occasion at all. This fragrant lemon cake — scattered with juicy blueberries and dolloped with soft lemon cream — is the perfect unfussy cake, just the thing to bring to a last-minute spring dinner party or to snack on with afternoon tea.

Spring is definitely in the air, and it's right about now that the idea of entertaining starts to have appeal again. After all, we need to remind each other what we look like without scarves covering our faces. The first get-together of spring needs a special dessert to mark the occasion, don't you think? A fluffy cake or a parfait with billowy whipped cream, something with crunchy nuts and topped with a drizzle of honey. Here are 15 recipes that we think will do the job admirably.

Q: I've started planning Easter dinner for my family. We have 6 adults, two of them vegan. My plan is to do lamb chops for the carnivores and go vegan for the side dishes. My other challenge is that I'm on-call Sunday morning so I need things that can be prepared a head of time. 

Here in Southern California, winter is on its way out and I have never felt more ready to give kale salads a rest. Right now I am craving all that is crunchy, fresh and pale green -- like this salad, which mixes a dill-flecked dressing with sweet sugar snap peas, crisp celery, chopped romaine and pretty, pink-edged radish slices that remind me of spring's first blossoms winking to life.

Goulash. Just saying it sounds funny, right? But what exactly is it, anyways? Well, it really depends on who, or where, you ask. As for my version, I may not be able to claim its history or origin, but I can definitely claim it as delicious. That's good enough for me! More