Get ready — they’re coming: the celebrations of spring and summer. Family reunions, graduation parties, weddings, proms and all kinds of brunches, luncheons and dinners. Guess who’s elected to cook. You’ll need some serious help.

Get a good head start on the planning and prep work with “Come One, Come All: Easy Entertaining with Seasonal Menus,” a new cookbook from the Minnesota Historical Society Press that’ll help you create a game plan that’s actually sane (and budget-friendly).

This collection of recipes and wisdom emphasizes pre-planning, preparing ahead as much as possible and ideas for shortcuts (using pre-washed lettuce or a store-bought pie crust, for example). You learn all the cheats, in other words, that are more valuable than gold when there’s a horde of hungry heathens salivating at the table. Or maybe that’s just my house.

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The recipes usually come in a “regular” size and are meant to be doubled or tripled depending on the number of guests. For instance, if you are serving luscious Carrot Cake with (luscious-er) Cream Cheese Sauce to 25 people, you’ll want to triple the recipe and make three loaves. Better make four loaves while you’re at it; it freezes nicely and you’ll need an easy pick-me-up after all this cooking.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Sauce

Makes 1 loaf cake with about 18 (half-inch) slices. For 25 people, double or triple the recipe.

• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons nutmeg
• 1 1/4 cups grated raw carrots
• Cream Cheese Sauce (see recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Melt butter and set aside to cool to room temperature. Grease and flour a 9x5-inch loaf pan.

Break the eggs into a large bowl and gently beat by hand. Stir a little of the egg into the cooled, melted butter, stirring continuously. (If butter is not cooled enough, the eggs will cook.) Pour butter mixture into the remaining eggs and stir thoroughly.

Add milk to butter mixture and beat with a fork until well mixed. Add the sugar and beat well. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and beat by hand until just blended. Stir in the carrots.

Spread batter evenly in the prepared pan. Bake 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan, and turn cake out onto a rack to cool completely. Immediately before serving, drizzle slices of cake with Cream Cheese Sauce.

Note: This cake freezes nicely, or it can be made a day or two in advance and stored in the refrigerator, covered tightly in plastic wrap. Because it’s so moist, it lasts a long time. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Cream Cheese Sauce

Makes about 2 1/2 cups. For 25 people, make one recipe.

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup sour cream
• About 1/2 cup half-and-half, cream or milk

With an electric mixer, blend cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Add vanilla, sour cream and enough half-and-half to make sauce the consistency you want. Serve on top of cake or French toast or waffles, or use as a dip for fresh fruit.

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Bean salad never had it so good until now. Vibrant with colorful veggies, fresh basil and feta cheese, White Bean Salad will stand out of the crowd on the buffet table. It keeps well in the refrigerator, but add the tomato and feta at the last minute.

White Bean Salad with Feta and Basil

Makes about 10 servings. For 25 people, double or triple this recipe.

• 3 (15 1/2-ounce) cans Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 yellow or red bell pepper, sliced in thin strips
• 1 medium red onion, chopped
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, plus more for garnish
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese, divided
• Salt and white pepper
• 1 tomato, chopped

Mix beans, bell pepper, onion and basil in a large bowl. In a blender, puree olive oil, red wine vinegar and 2 tablespoons feta; season to taste with salt and white pepper. Drizzle vinaigrette over bean mixture and toss. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Just before serving, add chopped tomato and additional basil and toss; sprinkle with the remaining feta.

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The recipe for Spicy Almonds is super easy, but you don’t have to tell anybody. Toss the almonds with a little sugar and cayenne pepper and toast them in a frying pan for a few minutes while the most excellent smells waft out of your kitchen. Call yourself a chef and pour a glass of wine or a nice iced tea. (Four out of four “yums” from the Johnsons.)

Spicy Almonds

Makes 3 cups

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 3 cups (about 1 pound) whole almonds, with or without skins

Combine sugar, cayenne and almonds in a frying pan and cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves and the almonds are fragrant, about 10 to 15 minutes. Pour out onto wax paper and cool. Separate almonds, and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

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Doing “walking tacos”? This recipe tells you how to make a big batch (and, of course, a bigger batch) of taco meat — even going so far as to suggest how to juggle your pans on the stovetop. Most of us don’t cook in professionally equipped kitchens with unlimited food budgets. Why should our cookbooks assume we do?

Make-Your-Own Tacos

Makes 30

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 medium onions, minced (about 2 1/4 cups)
• 3 pounds ground beef
• 6 garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to the taste
• 1 (28-ounce) can tomato sauce (about 3 1/2 cups)
• 30 corn taco hard shells

Toppings (optional)

• Sour cream
• Guacamole
• Chopped onions or sliced green onions
• Diced and seeded tomatoes
• Shredded lettuce
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Pico de gallo

To make filling, heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and sauté onions until translucent. Heat a second large frying pan over medium heat and add half the cooked onions from the other pan. Add half the ground beef to each pan, breaking up the meat with a spoon, cooking until no longer pink.

To each pan add half the garlic, chili powder, cumin and salt. Stir and cook for a minute. Drain off any extra fat and combine in one pan. Lower heat and add tomato sauce; mix thoroughly. Cook for another 10 minutes.

If making in advance, store in refrigerator; then reheat 30 minutes before guests arrive. During the party, keep warm in a slow cooker or chafing dish.

To serve, place the filling, taco shells and toppings in serving dishes for guests to make their own tacos.

“Come One, Come All” is available from the Minnesota Historical Society Press at www.mhspress.org or by calling (800) 621-2736.