Summer

Serve with: Rice pilaf and a salad of red-leaf lettuce with rice wine vinaigrette. Dessert: Grilled pineapple and vanilla ice cream.

Stone-ground cornmeal has more texture and corn flavor than steel-ground.

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 3 1/2 hr (includes freezing)

You can grill any cooked sausage you like for this sandwich, but we recommend kielbasa or kosher salami (not dried beef). Active time: 25 min Start to finish: 30 min

Use fresh button mushrooms if wild mushrooms are hard to get; you will still have delicious results. Yukon Gold potatoes have a pale yellow color and a buttery taste that adds to the richness of this dish.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This low-fat recipe won a contest that included mostly high-fat desserts.

If canned unsweetened coconut milk is not readily available in your area, you may substitute 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1 tablespoon sweetened flaked coconut. Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

This recipe works well with other fresh fruits such as nectarines, plums, figs, and bananas.

In this recipe, a "dry rub" of brown sugar, pepper, paprika and salt flavors the meat before it is cooked, and a vinegary "mop" is brushed onto the pork to add more taste as it is smoked. Once cooked, the meat is "pulled," that is, shredded into slivers that are just the right size for piling onto a bun. The sandwich —drizzled with a bit of the vinegary sauce, which cuts the richness of the meat — is the ultimate in Carolina barbecue. Cook this in a smoker or a barbecue that has been converted to a smoker.

Offer the salad with grilled steaks and some bread for mopping up the juices.

The robust sauce doubles as a marinade for this easy and elegant entrée. Begin preparing well before serving so that the pork has time to marinate. Accompany with boiled green beans and a full-bodied Zinfandel.

There's a lot of liquid here, so be sure to use a very large pot to prepare the stew.