Homemade Ready

It's almost hard to believe it when Labor Day rolls around every year - the summer always seems to be over just a little too soon. I’ve been thinking all week about recipes to celebrate the end of this summer season. Grilling outdoors is always a good option for celebrating Labor Day - we may be having nice weather now, but we never know just how many chances we’ll have for grilling before the weather turns cold and wintry. For those hardy souls living in the cold climates, this could be the last hurrah for the year, and it could be quite a few months before heading outdoors for a cookout again. In our house, we’ve had our fill of burgers and potato salad for now, so I decided on grilling some chicken. With the impending chilly months fast approaching, my mind (and my belly) immediately went to something with a warm and spicy Caribbean flavor: jerk chicken, a dish that I quickly grew to love during my years living in South Florida. Jerk is hot and spicy, and just a little e...

Peaches are so ripe and juicy this time of the summer, I just can’t resist them. They are one of those fruits that I enthusiastically eat my fill of when they are in-season, and when the season is over, I leave the fresh ones alone until next year. None of those rock-hard peaches found in supermarkets in the dead of winter for me!  I also like to freeze and can a bunch of peaches in the summer, so that I can use them in cobblers and other recipes, as a reminder of warm, sunny days during those cold months of winter.  I don’t limit peaches to desserts only - they work well in savory dishes, too. One of my favorite ways to use them is on a homemade pizza. It may sound strange, but the combination of the sweet peach with the salty cheese and spicy sausage is just so good! It’s budget-friendly, too, using just a handful of simple ingredients and a homemade crust (of course you can just buy a crust, if that suits your needs better). The crust I use for this pizza is adapte...

In my mind, succotash is kind of an old fashioned dish. It was popular in our grandparents' generation (especially if your grandparents lived in the Northeast U.S. or parts of the South), but doesn’t seem to make much of an appearance on menus today. It was also a popular dish during the Great Depression because it was cheap and made from common ingredients (just the kind of thing we like around here). Its simple goodness of is exactly what makes it a perfect side for a family meal. I like to make it as an easy side dish full of fresh, summer vegetables, and topped with a little bit of bacon, just to make it extra good. (It's also great for holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas). There are actually many versions of succotash, but because of its Native American origins, it almost always includes two vegetables native to the Americas – corn and lima beans. Now, I know that the first inclination may be to dismiss this recipe because of those (oft-dreaded) lima beans, but ...

Back when I first started cooking from scratch, it came as a revelation to me that I could make my own homemade ranch dressing from scratch (without even opening a packet of that well-known seasoning mix!) Before this realization, it had never actually occurred to me that this tasty concoction could be made using various combinations of simple ingredients like mayonnaise, buttermilk, milk, sour cream and/or yogurt. Add in some herbs and seasonings, and a little lemon juice or vinegar, and there you have it - ranch dressing! Over the years, I have played with the recipe, based on what I like, and also based on ingredients I typically have on hand. With my herb garden growing full-blast right now, I thought it would be a good time to whip up a batch. For this recipe, I used my batch of ranch dressing to dress a simple salad of lettuce, tomato, and turkey bacon, tossed with a few homemade croutons and a tiny bit of thinly sliced red onions. This salad is great for a light meal...