I love to go on vacation but what I love even more, is coming home.  Isn’t everyone like that?  Dave and I had another lovely week up in the North Woods of  Wisconsin with our BFF’s Jeff and Jen and their 3 boys; Travis, Blake, and Jack. They (as in the 6 of them, not me) love swimming in the lake, boating, fishing, water skiing, tanning, hiking in the woods, and being outdoors.  I love staying inside their gorgeous log-cabin home, and relaxing. They can have all that sun, water, nature and mosquitoes!  Even though I do everything in my power to avoid those blood-sucking devils, they find me.  Oh well, it’s worth it to live in the beauty of the pines and be with the people I love.  Another thing I love is making meals with Jen. She’s a great cook and she and I are totally in tune with each other in the kitchen.  Can’t wait until next year…

While we were out of town, we missed a big happening in “the Valley of the Sun” – and I’m not talking about the All-Star game (although we did unfortunately miss that too).  We missed the “now famous haboob” that occurred here on July 5th!  I have two links for you to watch it – as I did – from the comfort of my laptop.  Here is the first video and here is another view.  Amazing!  And here is a picture of a damp paper towel that I used to wipe off the center island kitchen counter … mind you, my house was completely and professionally cleaned by Gabby, my “twice-a-month house cleaner” earlier that very same day – July 5th!  And no other living creature has been in the house since.  This is a small sampling of the dirt that came in through our closed and locked windows and doors when the massive wall of dirt rolled over our defenseless little house!

Disgusting!   On to better and more appetizing things…

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Thanks to the numerous “cake” themed cooking shows on TV, one of the hottest desserts around are cake balls or cake pops. They are incredibly easy to make, especially if you begin with cake mix and canned frosting.  Additionally, they are a fun cooking project to get your kids involved in.  Of course, if you want to go the gourmet route, begin with your favorite cake baked from scratch and use homemade buttercream frosting.  Either way, they are pretty darn cute!

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I had planned on posting one of the several peach dishes I made over the weekend, but instead I must share this totally fab  and oh so refreshing grape cooler. Remember these lovely grapes my dad brought me from a the garden of a friend of his? Well I put them to their highest and best possible use… a cocktail, of course!

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These grilled peaches are the epitome of easy breezy and oh so delish!  Between this dessert I served on Father’s Day and classes last week, I’ve finally used all the peaches from my tree. But that doens’t mean we’re done with peach recipes, far from it. One of the desserts for the teen graduation lunch on Friday was peach shortcakes, and there are SO many juicy cubed peaches leftover from that… I’ll be making “peach-fill in the blank” all weekend… recipes to follow, of course.  No quantities for this recipe, just make as many or as few as you need.

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Today marks the last day of the forth week of kids’ summer cooking classes. It’s been a great month and there is only one week left. This year I had the great opportunity to partner with Shamrock Farms. The provided me all the dairy I needed and in turn, I created several recipes featuring their products and was also able to give coupons out to my students. Certainly a winning situation for me, especially with the ever increasing food costs!  One dessert we made used up quite a bit of the buttermilk Shamrock provided me.  It always feels good to use up buttermilk, since its expiration date is usually shorter than other dairy products.  This pie was a huge, a really huge, hit with the kids.  Plus, it is super duper easy breezy!

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Hello everyone. Linda’s daughter, Marissa, here – reporting with your recipe for today.  As part of my Mother’s Day gift to my mom, I told her I would photograph and write blog posts for the two recipes my dad and I (but mostly me) made her last night for dinner.  My dad was in charge of keeping the cucumber martinis coming, which was also a very important job.  The first recipe is a delicious, fruity summer salad that my mom saw on the menu at Cave Creek Coffee Company, where she and my dad went the morning after their anniversary last week.

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For our Easter dinner yesterday, I served my favorite spring/summertime beverage.  So light and refreshing.

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I’m gearing up for a demonstration cooking class in the garden next weekend.  In that garden spirit, I made myself a delicious breakfast gazpacho drink this morning, what a way to get the day started!

I hope you’ll come out to see me at Berridge Nurseries (4647 E. Camelback in Phoenix) next Saturday, April 16th, at noon.

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My friend and neighbor, Jeanie, recently asked for a good recipe for Panang Curry, which I happily provided her. Only problem was that then I was craving Thai food. I didn’t have all the ingredients needed for the Panang on hand, but I did have what was needed for these easy chicken satay – problem solved! [Read more →]

I helped arrange the food buffet at a dear friend’s funeral on Saturday.  On such a sad and heartbreaking day, it is so joyous to see the best in people shinning through. Everyone wanted to help, be involved, and just be there for the family. One of the lovely neighbors brought a large spiral ham for the buffet. There was quite a bit of ham left, so I cut it off the bone, packaged it up for the family, and quietly snuck the ham bone into my stack of platters and chaffing dishes to bring home. On Sunday I made ham bone soup that I’ve packaged up, froze, and will bring back to my friends to enjoy once all the leftovers run out… which won’t be for quite a while!

One family member is gluten-free, so I separated and packaged a special batch for her before I added the macaroni.  This recipe is a bit of a departure from the standard ham and bean soup. It’s also substantially quicker with the assistance of canned beans.

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