Gluten-Free Birthday Recipes

This gorgeous sparkling grapefruit cocktail recipe combines gin, Campari, fresh grapefruit juice and seltzer. The touch of Campari enhances its beautiful red color, but if you prefer a less bitter drink, omit it.

This Scandinavian-style appetizer is a good way to try pickled herring if you've never had it. The potent flavor of the herring is balanced by a dollop of sour cream and the potato slice it's served on.

This mouthwatering pork tenderloin is stuffed with chorizo, cheese and spinach. Once you master stuffing a pork tenderloin--you just cut the tenderloin almost in half lengthwise, pound it, fill it and tie it closed with kitchen string--you won't want it any other way. Serve with sautéed red peppers tossed with capers, parsley and sherry vinegar and roasted potatoes. To double this recipe, use 2 skillets or brown the tenderloins one at a time.

Beans and roasted butternut squash make an outstanding vegetarian taco filling. For the best flavor, use fresh, good-quality chili powder and Mexican oregano. Look for both at Latin markets or in the bulk spice section at well-stocked natural-foods stores.

Intense, earthy and absolutely addictive, New Mexico's cheese enchiladas showcase red chile sauce at its most elemental, thickly blanketing tortillas and melted Cheddar. We've added some extra creaminess and body with locally popular pinto beans, to cut down on the classic's load of saturated fat. Top with shredded lettuce and minced onion.

These crispy cookies are made with Piedmontese staples--hazelnuts and eggs--and called Brutti Ma Buoni: literally, “Ugly But Good.” But they are really more plain-looking than “ugly,” and pack a powerful, sweet, nutty burst of flavor, making them welcome at any table.

This healthy dessert recipe is a quick and healthy way to satisfy your chocolate craving.

Rhubarb roasted for just a few minutes is a tart topping for a mixed green salad with raisins, walnuts and goat cheese.

“Tortilla soup has a place, I feel, in practically every collection of Mexican recipes,” says Rick Bayless. This is a vegetarian version of the classic soup, usually made with chicken. Earthy dark pasilla chile flavors the soul-satisfying broth. (Recipe adapted from Rick Bayless.)

Learn how to make a nonalcoholic piña colada with this easy recipe. Ripe bananas get blended with fresh pineapple and coconut milk for a refreshing beverage. Serve in a festive glass.

You'll feel like you're on a tropical getaway with this refreshing strawberry-coconut cocktail. To keep it cool in warmer weather, freeze fresh berries for 30 minutes before blending. Variation: For a nonalcoholic version, omit the rum and add 1/2 cup additional strawberries.

A refreshing and low calorie alternative to sugar-laden sodas.

This healthy and easy cream cheese frosting recipe is ready in just five minutes and makes enough to frost the top and sides of one 9-by-13-inch sheet cake. We made this frosting healthy, with less saturated fat and calories than traditional versions, by using reduced-fat cream cheese instead of full-fat cream cheese, using Greek yogurt in place of butter and keeping sugar to a minimum.

We combine cran-raspberry juice with sparkling white grape juice to make a dazzling raspberry jello recipe. We like to add fresh raspberries to enhance the flavor but any small berry would work well too.

This refreshing chilled Key lime mousse is a perfect union of cream and foam, tangy lime and soft sweet custard. The method is simple but a little unusual--you make a custard with fresh Key lime juice rather than milk or cream. Key limes, which are about the size of a Ping-Pong ball, are wonderfully fragrant and more acidic than regular limes. They are available all year at well-stocked supermarkets. If you can't find them, by all means use regular limes.

This super-refreshing fruit slushie is so easy to make and uses just three ingredients. Try it with strawberries and raspberries, too--these are great for a kids' party, but the adults will love them just as much (especially spiked with a little vodka or gin).

This show-stopping dessert is a New Zealand (and Australian) classic reportedly created in honor of the famous ballerina Anna Pavlova when she visited the Southern Hemisphere. Our version delivers a wonderful combination of sweet meringue crunch and velvety tart lemon curd. The meringue is somewhat fragile--expect it to crack and crumble a bit as you slice it into individual servings. For the best results, avoid making the meringue on a humid or rainy day. The extra moisture in the air may prevent it from drying and crisping properly.

To keep calories in check, we like to use seltzer along with juice in drinks like vodka and cranberry. This version gets a raspberry twist with cranberry-raspberry juice and raspberries for garnish. For the prettiest garnish, start with big, plump fresh raspberries and freeze them yourself.

Whole-grain teff flour (made from a tiny ancient grain) has a nuance of cocoa flavor to start with, making it a natural choice for brownies. These gluten-free brownies are moist and satisfying, intensely chocolaty and have a tender texture.

There was a time when every household had its own recipe for spiced hot-wine punch. Folks would roam from house to house testing each one. With the blend of flavors in this punch, revelers might never move on to other houses on the block.

If you're intimidated by shucking oysters--this recipe for barbecued oysters is for you. When you grill them, steam builds up inside the shells until they pop open. Then you slather a little garlicky red barbecue sauce on each oyster, put them back on the grill to get hot and bubbly, and you're done. At a party, bring your oysters to the grill and show your guests how it's done so they can barbecue their own.

Fat-free frozen yogurt and fresh strawberries are blended together to make a healthier cupcake with a bonus cookie crunch in this easy 4-ingredient dessert recipe.

Invented at Antoine's in New Orleans in 1889, oysters Rockefeller was named for John D. Rockefeller, one of the richest Americans at the time, for its rich sauce. Antoine's has kept the original recipe secret, but basically it includes a cream sauce with spinach and other greens, flavored with Pernod or anisette. This version omits the cream sauce but is still full of flavor.

A batch of this good-for-you refresher turns a lazy summer afternoon into a party, with appeal for thirsty kids of all ages.