vegetables as far as the eye can see!

It's that time of the year when parts of the kitchen garden are yielding produce by the piles and you could eat salads for three meals a day and it still wouldn't make a dent. But that's what you waited for all winter, right? So let's do some interesting things with all that beautiful summer bounty!

One of my favorite summertime vegetable preparations is from the terrific cookbook "Herbs Love Tomatoes, Peppers, Onions & Zucchini" by Ruth Bass, published by Storey Books. On every page there is a mouth-watering recipe using simple ingredients to make wonderful everyday meals. When you're up to your eyes with garden vegetables, the recipe "Marinated Vegetables with Tarragon" is one that you will turn to again and again.

Simply prepare 4 cups of vegetables, your choice: tomatoes, snow peas, zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots... whatever you like and have on hand that day.

Mix up the marinade:

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup tarragon vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice

4 tablespoons chopped green onions, white and part of green

1 teaspoon dried tarragon (double the amount if you have fresh tarragon available)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons sugar

Arrange veggies in a shallow dish, pour the marinade over them, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to one day, stirring once.

Serves 4 to 6 veggie lovers.

nothing says summer like...

Mixed Sugared Berries with

Sweet Vanilla Shortcakes

and Homemade Whipped Cream

Luscious fresh fruit shortcakes - the perfect summer dessert. In this version, the sweet vanilla shortcakes taste like a big delicious soft vanilla sugar cookie! Pair that with summer's freshest, ripest fruits and a dollop of real, homemade sweetened whipped cream, and you have one of the best summer desserts around!

Start by preparing the fruit earlier in the day; sprinkle 2 to 3 pints of fresh berries of your choice with a couple of tablespoons of white sugar and refrigerate until a luscious syrup is created.

The shortcakes may be prepared in advance as well, I like to prepare them in the morning while the temperatures are still cool for baking even though they only require about 15 minutes in the oven.

Buttermilk makes these shortcakes tender and the lightly sweetened vanilla flavoring makes them absolutely delectable and a little different. Try adding 1/8 teaspoon of almond extract and reduce the amount of vanilla slightly; this is especially good with fresh peaches and/or cherries!

You can sprinkle a bit of sugar on the shortcakes before baking, but I like them just the way they are, plain and very lightly sweet.

Ingredients:

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons COLD butter, cut into small pieces
• 3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk (up to 1 cup, as needed)
• 1 tablespoon light vegetable oil (I often use safflower)
• 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Combine dry ingredients until thoroughly combined. Quickly cut in the cold butter pieces until the flour mixture looks crumbly. Combine buttermilk, oil, and vanilla extract. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour buttermilk mixture into it; stir wet and dry ingredients together only until just combined. Do not overmix, this makes the shortcakes tough. Add a little more buttermilk if mixture seems dry; the dough should be slightly sticky.

Place dough on a floured surface and sprinkle the top of it with a bit more flour. Pat out to a 1 inch thickness with your fingertips (this can be pretty sticky; be sure your work surface is floured well). Cut out shortcakes with a biscuit cutter (I don't have one so I used a glass instead; worked just fine!). With this recipe I made 4 shortcakes; there will be leftover dough. Instead of gathering up the leftover dough and working it too much, I just made some small drop-style biscuits and baked them right alongside the cut shortcakes. They're delicious served hot with butter and preserves or honey.
Place cut biscuits on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake 15 minutes in a preheated 400 degree oven.

When done, the shortcakes will have nice lightly browned tops and will be a beautiful golden color. Allow to cool, then serve with the sugared berries and top with homemade whipped cream. Delicious!

summertime, and the living is easy...

Couscous makes hot weather cooking a breeze...

It certainly would be nice to be able to pick up take-out every night during a hot spell, but who can afford that for long? Sure, you can roll out the grill again. And again. And again. But sometimes you just want something fast, simple and fresh. This is when I turn to couscous.

Couscous is basically a North African semolina pasta rolled into small grains. There are many quick-cooking varieties to be found, most taking only five minutes to prepare. You can purchase couscous mixes already seasoned or flavored, but these tend to be a bit pricey. It's just as easy, less expensive, and healthier to create a delicious hot or cold couscous dish with simple ingredients found in your own pantry.

For this Mediterranean-inspired couscous salad that I created, I started out with beautiful RiceSelect tri-color couscous made with sun-dried tomatoes and spinach. Bonus: RiceSelect products are packaged in BPA-free jars.

Following package directions, prepare couscous to equal two cups when finished. RiceSelect directions are: bring one cup of water to boil (you can also use broth) and add one cup of dry couscous. Remove from heat, cover with lid and wait for five minutes. Fluff with a fork.

For my Mediterranean-Inspired Couscous, add the following ingredients to your two cups of prepared couscous:

• One 15 ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• One 14 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained (or fresh if your garden is overflowing with tomato goodness!)
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh oregano (we grew Greek oregano this year and it's what I used for this recipe)
• Juice of one large lemon
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil (olive or safflower are good)
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

And that's all folks! Combine all ingredients thoroughly and allow time to chill in the refrigerator. This makes a terrific vegetarian/vegan dish, but if you like, a bit of chicken, grilled tuna or feta cheese could be added; add lemon zest if you like even more lemony flavor; or try with green onions instead of the sweeter red onions.