It's time to dig out every zucchini recipe tucked away… and beg friends and family to share their favorites… in preparation for the annual mid-summer "What am I going to do with all this ding-dang zucchini?" challenge.  My sister, Rita, shared this chocolate zucchini cake recipe with me several years ago and I have made it many times since then.…

My friend, Connie, shared this pancake recipe with me a couple days ago. I have already made it twice since then. One time using the original recipe and the second time with Connie's adaptations. Both ways produced equally light and tasty pancakes. Blueberries add a wonderful natural sweetness.   Oat Cornmeal Pancakes Cut quantities in…

Tonight I packed a picnic lunch for Dick and I to take along to Avon (Minnesota) for Garrison Keillor's 35th anniversary performance at Lake Wobegon Park tomorrow. We're going to set our lawn chairs in place to mark our spot then hit the bike trail until the 4:45 live radio broadcast draws near. I made these bars to pack…

Most mornings Dick and I have a bowl of oatmeal topped with a variety of fresh fruit, ground flax and nuts and seeds like walnuts and raw sunnies. My oatmeal supply was nearly depleted, so I decided to try a buckwheat oatbran pancake recipe. It is a vegan recipe because it has no eggs and uses…

I love challenges, no matter how simple. Today I started my most recent one… to try different recipes for hamburger macaroni hotdish. It's such a basic comfort food but with so many variations. I googled it and chose a recipe link from the first few in the list that popped up. This one is from simplyrecipes.com. In 30 minutes, you'll be…

For my year long cake-of-the-month challenge I set for myself, I sketched out a loose plan at the beginning of 2009 deciding what kind of cakes, cupcakes, and coffeecakes would be appropriate for each month taking into consideration in-season fruits and holiday or seasonal themes. For May I just knew it must be rhubarb, therefore May's cake-of-of-the-month is Rhubarb…

I don't often use mixes because I find it's difficult to match from-scratch cooking in taste and nutritional quality, but I spied a gluten-free cranberry orange muffin mix that I decided to give a whirl. Some gluten-free baked goods tend to be tough, chewy, and flavorless… not this product. The muffins are especially good warm from the oven but still very tasty…

Maybe it was the flashbacks of the Plymouth Playhouse "Church Basement Ladies A Second Helping Musical" we attended last Wednesday…    Maybe it was because it is so small town… so Minnesotan that, when I saw an ad announcing a hotdish competition at Prairie Bay Restaurant in Brainerd, I knew I wanted to participate. Win or not, it was such…

My first asparagus of the season… not from my garden, but freshly cut from a local garden and sold at Brainerd's food co-op. It's pretty just to look at, but it's destined for the soup pot.

Each evening, our B&B guests enjoy a snack or dessert set out on our inn's porch. Today I decided to bake a cake using a Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcake Recipe with Light Cream Cheese Icing Recipe from Martha Stewart which yields 24 light, moist cupcakes. By doubling the recipe, I had enough batter to make a two-layer 6" round…