4 medium peaches
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2-4 teaspoons sugar or honey

Halve and pit peaches, peel and slice.  Whirl in a blender or food processor until smooth.  Blend in lemon juice and sugar or honey, depending on the sweetness of fruit.

8 ounces peaches, diced small
8 ounces fresh mango, diced small
1 jalapeno, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 lime, juiced

In a medium bowl, toss to combine all ingredients.

2- 1/2 cups of sliced plums, pits removed
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp of sugar
1 tsp of lemon juice
Pinch of salt

Place the sliced plums, sugar, lemon juice, and salt in a blender and purée until very smooth. Push the plum puree through a fine mesh sieve to catch and large pieces of skin and discard them. Place the purée in an ice cream machine and churn according to instructions, for approximately 25 minutes. Serve immediately or place in an air tight container and put in the freezer for two hours to firm up. Makes a little less than one quart or sorbet.

2 russet potatoes
1 zucchini
2 eggs
3 green onions, chopped
1 teaspoon dry dill or 1 tablespoon fresh dill

Heat oil in pan over medium heat. Using a standard grater, grate zucchini and russet potatoes. Mix with eggs, green onion, dill, salt and pepper. Mound in pan to form pancakes, cook until set on one side, flip and cook until done. Be careful, when the mixture hits the oil, it can splatter. Serve with applesauce.

Whisk wet ingredients slightly in the 'well' and then mix into the dry ingredients until blended. Spray muffin papers (in tins) with non-stick spray. Using an ice cream scoop with a 'sweep' wire, fill muffin papers. bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees or until tops spring back. Makes 24 large muffins or 30 medium muffins.

* I use fresh pumpkin that has been cooked and then frozen. It has a fresher taste and is more liquid than canned pumpkin. If you use canned pumpkin, you may want to add 1/4 cup of additional liquid (water or milk) if the batter is too dry.

To top

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, sliced or chopped
2 medium green zucchini, sliced in 1/2” rounds
1 medium yellow (crookneck) squash, sliced in 1/2” rounds
1 medium tomato chopped
Italian seasoning or oregano or thyme (your preference)
Salt and pepper to taste

Add oil to pan, cook onion and garlic for 2 minutes. Add zucchini and herbs, stir to coat evenly.  Cook 8-10 minutes until squash is soft.  Stir in tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, cook 2 minutes.  Serve hot.

TIP! When I have a large batch of zucchini, I prebag the cut squash, onion and garlic into dinner-sized portions and freeze in Ziploc bags. Later, defrost and add the remaining ingredients for a quick side dish, soup vegetable packet or pasta topper.

1 cup sugar or 3/4 cup of agave
1 cup water (if using agave nectar, just use 1/2 a cup of water)
1 Tbsp ground black pepper (fresh, if possible)
6-8 cups of fresh strawberries, rinsed and roughly chopped (2-3 pounds)
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Place an 8 or 9 inch square metal pan and a metal spoon in the freezer and freeze until well chilled, about 30 minutes. If using sugar: Heat sugar and water in a small sauce pan until sugar dissolves. Stir in pepper. Place strawberries, sugar syrup and lemon juice into a food processor and process until smooth, about 2 minutes. Do this in several batches, if necessary. If using agave: Puree the strawberries in a blender till smooth. Pour in the agave nectar and lemon juice, and mix just till incorporated. Transfer to the metal pan, spread evenly and return to freezer. Leave the spoon in the pan. Freeze until the edges of the puree are firming and icy, about one hour. Use the spoon to break up the icy areas and stir them into the center of the puree. Repeat the freezing and stirring procedure every thirty minutes until the mixture is frozen, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Pour into prepared ice cream maker and freeze according to the directions.

Remember eating creamed corn out of the can?  This is how it was made.

Fresh corn on the cob
Water
Sugar and salt to taste

Grate the ears of corn on a box grater. With a firm hand, run the blade of the knife over the ears to get out the milk and the germ. An alternative method is to slice the kernels thinly with a knife. The corn is then simmered in water and a pinch of salt or sugar over low heat.

1 watermelon
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/3 cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Remove the rind and white meat from a watermelon. Put all of the red flesh through a food processor or blender, accumulating 4 cups of pulp and juice. In a saucepan over low heat, cook the other ingredients. When well blended, stir in the watermelon and restore to cooking temperature. Beat through until thoroughly blended and freeze.

12 limes (reserve 2 tablespoons juice)
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
4 cups watermelon cubes
1/2 cup currants or raisins Crushed ice (optional)

To make lime cups: Cut limes in half lengthwise; cut around pulp of each half with sharp knife, leaving peel intact. Scoop out pulp, using spoon to loosen pulp from peel, and reserve 2 tablespoons lime juice for granita. Set lime cups aside. Stir together sugar and water in s mall saucepan; heat to boiling. Cool slightly. Place watermelon in
container of food processor; pulse to puree watermelon. Place colander over bowl; pour pureed watermelon into colander to strain out seeds, forcing watermelon through with back of spoon, if needed. Stir reserved lime juice and cooled sugar mixture into pureed watermelon. Pour into 13x9x2-inch pan; freeze until firm, about 4 hours. To serve, scrape frozen watermelon mixture with spoon to make granita. Stir in currants for seeds. Mound granita in lime cups; serve on bed of crushed ice.