Here is a use for some of the season’s abundant zucchini that is far different from my last post. This one is a dessert reminiscent of an old-timey picnic, but it starts out with a cake mix so it’s an option for even your busiest day.  Making cupcakes instead of cake also shortens the time…

We are moving into that season again, the time when the number of zucchinis in your garden may begin to exceed your kitchen creativity. Even if you don’t have these in your own yard, friends may be ready to share, and the farmers markets are full of these shiny green summer squashes, from tiny fingerlings…

One of the things that led me to making sherbets (or sorbets) when my kids were young (besides the fact that we were living in torrid Arizona) was thrift. My budget didn’t always allow for all the special fruits that we all loved, but I could make sherbet enough to feed the family and some…

One of the dishes my mother made that was always popular with my family when we would go back home to visit was her “fried” chicken. This was not the Colonel’s heavily breaded, crunchy and oily stuff, as good as that may be. No, Mom’s was much more like a braised meat, moist, flavorful, falling…

The above average heat and drought conditions have resulted in my first crop of raspberries being less than perfect in appearance this year. Even though I have been watering them regularly, they are on generally smaller than usual, more prone to crumbling, and even “sun-scalded” (my Mom’s term) with white patches where the light has…

I don’t have a grill. I have no plans to get one. In some circles, that might seem just, well, weird. I mean, how DO you cook in the heat of summer? Well, I manage, quite well in fact. That is not to say that I don’t enjoy grilled foods when I am a guest…

Have you looked at a calorie chart for the typical coffee shop muffin or bagel and toppings? It doesn’t take long for just one of these to top 500, even 600 calories.  Add the calories in that mocha or whatever other special drink you ordered with it, and your “light” breakfast has eaten up a…

The heat wave continues, but you really want to make a great dessert for tonight’s barbecue. Someone else has offered to bring a watermelon carved and full of mixed fruit, so you need something a little more. well, baked and dessert-ish. Then again, the electric bill that arrived yesterday was a good reminder to keep…

Sometimes you just want a homemade dessert, even when the thermometer is climbing close to (or beyond) the century mark. Turning on the oven, however, is one of the last things we want to do, both for cost and overall comfort. Spending a lot of time in the kitchen is probably also not high on…