Lamb is a special guest star on most American tables, often making an appearance at Easter and then … not again until the following Easter. This relative rarity makes it hard for the home cook to get into a lamb groove.

Tradition writes the menu at many Passover Seders, the service and meal that mark the start of the Jewish holiday.

Years ago, I saved recipes from The Bee for tamales and enchilada gravy. They were fantastic. I lost these recipes in a move. It would be great if someone had the recipes and would be willing to share. Thanks.

Making granola bars is easier than making cookies. There's no butter and sugar to cream, so there's no need for a mixer or bringing butter and eggs to room temperature.

When the salmon- throwing fishmongers of Seattle's Pike Place Market call themselves "world famous," believe it. They've been showcased on CNN and MTV, ABC's "Good Morning America" and Bravo's just-finished "Top Chef" — and their faces and fish are featured in travel scrapbooks around the globe. Now they have a new cookbook, "In the Kitchen With the Pike Place Fish Guys" (Viking Studio, $30), and their book tour is bringing them to San Francisco this week. Catch them at Books Inc. in Opera Plaza at 12:30 p.m. Friday and at Book Passage in the Ferry Building at 1 p.m. Saturday.

You don't even have to be a wee bit Irish to tap your inner leprechaun. Come March, we're all yearning to celebrate loud and proud. A day set aside in Ireland for spiritual renewal and prayer is an excuse for blarin' o' the green, eating corned beef and cabbage and raising a pint or two.

Send an Easter box

It's easy to speed dried-bean prep with the quick-soak method: Cover them with water, bring them to a boil, cover and remove from heat.

Edamame (eh-dah-MAH-meh) are soybeans harvested while still tender.

Winter veggies, from roots and greens to members of the Brassica family, make great salads. During cold, dreary days, these easy, go-to winter salads are sure to hit the spot.

Paula Deen is probably used to being pummeled by the food police about her cooking, but you've got to wonder what she really feels about son Bobby Deen's new book, "From Mama's Table to Mine" (Ballantine, $22), written with Melissa Clark.

Pizza is a favorite on many Friday dinner menus. Here are ways to make this old favorite healthier.

As we go through winter, we come to crave those comforting foods that we associate with happy times and loving relatives. Whether it's pecan cake, salmon croquettes, tuna noodle casserole, coconut pie or fried chicken, we all have favorite foods that comfort us when we need it the most.

The Girl Scouts of the USA are trying to defend themselves against criticism that the Mango Creme cookie is nothing but a sugary sham.

Nothing can top a beautiful cookbook, and there are plenty of new ones to check out. And most likely there will be a recipe in one that's so good, it'll be worth the price of the book.