It’s zucchini season!  Have you ever seen your neighbor coming by with an armful of green torpedo – shaped produce?  Don’t run and hide!  Here are two versatile zucchini recipes, one easy and one worth the details:  Cheesy Zucchini Towers and Zucchini Lasagna.

After a short trip, we came home to a monster zucchini (to be used in waffles) and several small ones in the garden.  We used them in “Pasta with Zucchini from Navaro” (a small town on the Italian Amalfi coast).  It’s yummy and a favorite of actor Stanley Tucci, who admits his life revolves around food!

"All the Veggies" Bolognese Sauce" fills the kitchen with tantalizing smells AND helps clear the fridge of random produce.  Leftover food of all kids often can be on the verge of going in the trash.  We can all do a little to get to Zero food waste! This post includes resources and recipes to reduce household food waste AND climate change!  

Who wants to heat up the stove on a hot summer day?  This vegetable-dense Asian Chicken Salad has a tangy Cambodian sauce, shredded chicken and colorful veggies to please in the heat of summer.  What are your go-to minimal cooking summer meals?

This recipe for "Brunch Berry Pizza" is a cool and beautiful red, white, and blue dessert for guests that suits any special holiday or gathering.  Berries are a nutrient dense summer treat and affordable, especially if you know someone with some bushes!

These Rhubarb Crisp and Sauce Recipes are worth repeating this season when both rhubarb and strawberries are plentiful.  Strawberries tell a story of sharing, according to Native American Botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer.  See the post for links to the wisdom of strawberries.

This recipe for “’Massaged’ Kale Salad with Lemon Dressing” is full of nutrients, packed with flavor and may make you into a kale lover. Even kids liked it!  It can be made ahead as the hardy leaves keep well, even with dressing.  Rubbing washed kale with a bit of salt and oil or fresh lemon juice tenderizes the greens.

On a hot summer day, who doesn’t enjoy a cool drink?  This festive recipe for Italian Sangria is fruity, refreshing and can be made with or without alcohol.  Sangria comes from the Spanish word sangre meaning blood, an element of life itself.  

In our after school cooking class in spring 2022, Tamra Dickinson and I shared these recipes with students at Hillside Elementary in La Crosse.  It was fun to watch them wash greens and spin them dry in make-shift kitchen towel salad spinners.  Mason jars of dressing ingredients were shaken with every muscle they had and we all enjoyed a spring kale salad!

A classmate used to create delicious-looking lunch salads from what was found in our college cafeteria!  To her meal of greens, veggies, nuts or seeds and she often added beans, cheese, brown rice or whole grains.  This kind of plate - mostly plant foods – is featured in a recipe for “Warm Farro Salad with Spring Veggies”.

May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. A very broad term, this recognition encompasses all of the Asian continent and 1000s of Pacific islands.  This week's recipe is for a refreshing Pacific Rim Salad.  Let's learn more about the food and culture of our AANHPI neighbors!

Asparagus is a sure sign of spring in the upper Midwest and home gardeners can’t give it away fast enough!   If you or your neighbors aren't swimming in it, look for fresh asparagus at your local farmer's market.  This post is not a recipe so much as a guide to preparing asparagus.