Fresh homemade pizza is always a treat, especially with a soft chewy homemade pizza crust! Smothered in a robust homemade black olive tapenade, plenty of delicious good quality soft cheeses, some sautéed portobello mushrooms, and some jalapeños and fresh basil from my garden, this is a colorful and extravagant pizza loaded with wonderful flavors and textures. I served it to my husband and good friend Basil outside on the deck on a beautiful summer evening — good food, good people and good weather are all the ingredients you need for a perfect dinner.

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Crispy potato pancakes are always a classic comfort food, but with part of a fresh local cauliflower in hand I decided to go off in another direction and make some simple soft and fluffy potato and cauliflower pancakes instead. Cooking the potatoes and cauliflower before incorporating into the batter is what gives these pancakes their pillowy texture and enhances their eggy flavor. Seasoned with a gentle hint of curry and a few fresh green chilies, they're absolutely delicious served with a homemade coriander chutney, but they're wonderful topped with sour cream or even just ketchup too.

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Summer is the season for making simple and undemanding but fresh and refreshing bean salads that provide necessary protein and nutrients without taxing either your digestive system or your time and patience in the kitchen. Fresh vegetables and herbs from your garden or local market create beautiful contrasts in color, taste and texture that please the eye and the palate. Crunchy celery and peppers and creamy avocado combine with tender black beans and a zesty cilantro, lime and chili vinaigrette to create this vibrant, healthy and refreshing salad that is certain to be a hit on your patio table this year.

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Call me crazy, but I baked this pineapple upside-down cake on one of the hottest days of the year in honor of my Mom. She used to whip this up all the time for my family when I was young, but I could never understand why she would always used prepared mixes for her cakes when she was an almost unparalleled master of homemade pastry and almost any other baked delight. Call me a puritan, but I adapted this wonderful sweet treat to use my own cake recipe from scratch, and modernized it with a mix of fresh pineapple and cherries and spelt and quinoa flours. This "grown-up" pineapple upside-down cake also cuts down on some of the usual sweetness, and is still moist, flavorful, a little decadent, and just about as easy.

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