Reliving the delicious memories of childhood doesn't have to mean slaving in the kitchen like grandma did. Sometimes, just combining a few ingredients from your family favorites is enough to invoke ecstasy.

My late Hungarian grandmother, a very talented baker and cook, used to stand next to the silver nut grinder from the Old Country clamped to the kitchen counter and crank it again and again to finely chop walnuts for my favorite pastry called kindly. It was a nut roll with the flakiest, creamiest yeast crust I could imagine - due, I later learned, to the inclusion of cream cheese - and mainly a wonderful filling of the nuts mixed with golden raisins and sugar. A special treat were the few raisins that would pop through the pastry and get brown, crispy and very chewy while baking.

In my late teens, I learned firsthand kindly was somewhat labor-intensive, but worth it. I often baked the long rolls, wrapped them in foil, tied them in ribbons and gave them to relatives on the other side of the family for the holidays - while, of course, always also keeping a batch for me and my immediate family.

Recently, I realized how easy it is to conjure up those memories. I had a long break from walnuts, although I love many other nuts. However, due to walnuts' standout health properties (one of the only nuts that are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, among other nutritious benefits), I bought a big package of prechopped nuts. Without thinking about it, I mixed some with golden raisins. Immediately, it was like I was sitting at my grandmother's knee and eating the kindly as she called me the "doll-baby" she always did.

Sprinkling the chopped walnuts with a little sugar substitute and wrapping them in thawed frozen puff pastry was another shortcut to the childhood bliss. Using the raisins and walnuts in a granola recipe - one in which the raisins got browned and crispy just like when they popped through Grandma's pastry - was also heartily delightful.

Here are some common childhood favorites that can be converted with great results on a busy person's schedule:

- That special meatloaf with its chopped and sauteed ingredients that get kneaded and shaped and baked. Think back to what the standout ingredients were, whether they were spices or vegetables, buy prechopped versions and dump them into a bowl with ground beef or turkey. Form quick-cook patties and there's little doubt the finished results will remind you of the kid stuff.

- Emulate in more convenient recipes the same family cooking secrets that made all the difference. Actor Tony Danza, who just wrote the family memoir cookbook, "Don't Fill Up on the Antipasto: Tony Danza's Father-Son Cookbook" (Scribner, $22), with his adult son Marc, says his grandmother would have never dreamed of making lasagna with ground beef. That would have been "hamburger lasagna," he says. Instead, she would crumble meatballs, which had always been rolled in flour before frying. Just a touch like that to a quick, modern lasagna recipe - even using store-bought meatballs - would be reminiscent of those special homemade meals.

- Change the format but keep the memories. If your family was big on fruit tarts in graham cracker crusts, top ice cream with that same chopped fruit and crumbled graham crackers. If it was a cinnamon-oat crust, toss slices of the fruit atop instant oatmeal, dusted with cinnamon, and so forth.

Here's a simple recipe that brought back my childhood. It's followed by Tony Danza's grandmother's easy yet dynamite recipe for meatballs, in case you want to fry them and then crumble them into your next quick-cook lasagna.

CHUNKY-CHEWY GRANOLA

3 cups rolled (old-fashioned) oats

1/2 cup whole, raw almonds

1/2 cup raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans

1/4 cup flaxseed (optional)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup light molasses (not blackstrap)

2 tablespoons grapeseed or vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 cup chopped pitted dates

1/2 cup golden or brown raisins or dried cherries

Yields about 8 cups.

Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease heavy, large-rimmed baking sheet.

Mix oats, almonds, pepitas, walnuts, flaxseed and cinnamon in large bowl.

Combine brown sugar, honey, molasses, oil, salt, and 1/4 cup water in heavy, medium-size saucepan over medium heat and cook until sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. Bring mixture to a boil, then carefully pour over oat mixture and mix well.

Spread oat mixture evenly on prepared baking sheet. Bake until granola turns golden brown, stirring occasionally with spatula, about 40 minutes.

Sprinkle dates and raisins over granola and stir to combine. Continue baking until brown, stirring once, about 10 minutes longer. Stir granola and carefully set baking sheet aside to allow granola to cool completely. (Can be prepared up to 1 week ahead. Store in airtight containers.)

- "Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes: Recipes from a Modern Kitchen Garden" by Jeanne Kelley (Running Press, $35).

TONY DANZA'S FAMILY MEATBALLS

1 pound ground sirloin or lean ground beef, pork, turkey, veal, chicken, or any combination

2 eggs, beaten

6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup milk

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 garlic cloves, chopped

Yields 4 to 6 servings.

Put ground meat in mixing bowl. Add eggs, 6 cloves chopped garlic, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, cheese and milk. Using hands, mix together thoroughly.

Wet your hands with water and continue to wet them as you pinch meat from bowl and roll into 2-inch balls. Roll balls in flour.

Heat oil in large skillet. Carefully add 3 cloves of chopped garlic and saute until golden brown. Remove garlic with slotted spoon and set aside. Carefully add meatballs and saute over medium-high heat, turning them, until they are brown all over. As soon as you can carefully pick them up with a fork, they are ready. You don't want them to be well done. (If the meatball slides off the fork when you pick it up, it needs to cook a little longer.) Make sure, though, they are fully cooked through and then use them crumbled to bake in lasagna or to simmer in sauce for a few hours. If you are not using them in another recipe, they can be well done, if you prefer.

- "Don't Fill Up on the Antipasto: Tony Danza's Father-Son Cookbook" by Tony and Marc Danza (Scribner, $22).

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Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook." She also writes the Copley News Service "Cooks' Books" column.

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