As wisdom and age set in, we lose that innocence and, as a result, its toothsome profits: No more Easter basket for most of us.

There's a grown-up way to cash in: Incorporate the elements of a classic Easter basket into a holiday meal while preserving the food traditions that set this Sunday meal apart from others.

This concept does not translate into eating jelly beans with a morning bagel, chomping on a sandwich filled with peanut-butter-filled chocolate eggs at lunch, or incorporating marshmallow Peeps into glaze for the evening's ham.

It does mean examining the components of, and the reasoning behind, the traditional Easter meal.

Easter, even for those who observe it as a religious holiday, is linked to renewal, dawn, fertility, rain, robins and rabbits.

It marks the end of snow and wipers frozen to the car's windshield. It's being delighted on one side of our brains by purple crocuses dotting the backyard while, on the other side, struggling to recall how many bags of mulch are needed for the front.

So it is that the main meal at Easter revolves around fare signaling spring - ham, lamb, asparagus, eggs, fresh peas and rhubarb, for example.

Food historians believe that the tradition of ham has evolved from the fact that the pig stands for prosperity in many cultures. Eggs symbolize new life and fertility, and asparagus, peas, carrots and rhubarb represent produce that becomes available early in temperate growing seasons.

It is not yet grilling season in most parts of the nation, so turning on the oven and braising are still appropriate at Easter. Still, this holiday dinner demands bright and crisp accents.

Can these elements be successfully combined with contents of the emblematic Easter basket to create a menu that is rooted in tradition but is not weird, cartoony or atrocious? Additionally, is it manageable for the typical home cook?

Absolutely - on all counts.

The dinner described here is an example of how to deconstruct an Easter basket into a meal.

It is made up of unconventional deviled eggs; lamb shanks dressed with a sauce enlivened by cocoa; crispy potatoes that are somewhere between mashed and roasted; and a grassy salad that includes dill and carrots. Dessert is a soothing pudding that tastes like malted milk balls and is sprinkled with coconut, tiny marshmallows, and, if you like, a few jelly beans for whimsy.

Most of its elements, particularly the lamb entrée, are best done ahead.

This leaves time on Sunday for resting up for the inevitable springtime tasks that follow delivery of the aforementioned mulch.

This Easter dinner does require some labor, but most of it is done ahead, leaving little work for Sunday.

Here is a sketch of the game plan:

Friday morning or early afternoon: Make the marinade for the lamb shanks. It is boiled to remove the alcohol. According to famed California chef Thomas Keller, fruity wine will flavor meat only after its alcohol is removed. Alcohol, he advises, essentially "cooks" the outside surface, preventing absorption of the flavorful marinade. While allowing the marinade to cool to room temperature, hard-boil the eggs, unless you have some colored ones already in the refrigerator.