grilled ginger soy glazed chicken

i've made this recipe a couple times in the last few months. the first, it was too cold to even think about grilling - i think there was snow on the ground - so i made the sauce on the stovetop, sauteed chicken thighs in a pan on the stove, and doused them with the sauce for serving. second, we grilled chicken thighs and the third, we grilled chicken breasts. (i say "we" since i never man the grill, that's jason's domain.) while the grilled chicken thighs were definitely the tastiest - since four of us managed to down 3+ pounds of them for dinner - breasts were a close second. my advice: use whatever chicken you have on hand and get grilling! there are only a couple weeks left of good weather. at least where i'm from.

caramelized peach ice cream

i absolutely adore peaches. they're up at the top, hanging out with fresh picked strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries, as my favorite fruit. heck, i love them so much i dedicated a week to them last year and two years ago i picked and canned twenty-something quarts of them and enjoyed peaches with yogurt for breakfast all through the dead of winter. i've shared other peach specific memories with you, but where there's one, there's always more.

white chocolate peanut butter [12in2012]

and let me tell you what, making peanut butter is simple. for any of you that love the all natural stuff, usually with a layer of oil on top that has to be mixed in, will be blown away by the homemade stuff. it just tastes so much better. obviously, since it takes all of 10 minutes (including clean up) to make.

initially, i set out to make two kinds: honey and white chocolate. but jason and i loved the white chocolate version so much better than the honey (instead of adding white chocolate, add a couple tablespoons of honey to your liking) that the honey peanut butter became honey white chocolate peanut butter. it's good right out of the jar, atop a homemade english muffin, or spread over apple slices.

penne with pesto, tomatoes, and crispy prosciutto

after reading through my dad's pesto tale last week, i had pesto on the brain. lucky for me, i also had a pint of fresh cherry tomatoes from my mom's backyard - lucky, since the chipmunks and deer managed to eat all of my tomatoes, plant and all, this year - and my basil was overflowing. i tossed the two together, topped it with some prosciutto i crisped up in a pan and had a simple, flavorful, thirty minute summer-on-a-plate dinner.

pork tenderloin with mushroom mustard sauce

"this is one of the best meals you've made in a long time." that pretty much sums up this dinner. it's incredibly simple, foolproof, and delicious. although it takes 45 minutes to make, 20 of it is roasting the pork. so for a mere 25 minutes of active time, it's a good weeknight meal.

linguini with potatoes, green beans and pesto

ever since my mom got an ipad last year, a couple times a month, she emails a picture of some baked good or dinner that's so good, she has to share. after more than a few this summer, i casually mentioned she should be a guest blogger. instead, my dad took on the challenge.

i've said time and time before that food and places are intricately tied together (see food always tastes better outside, blackberry peach cake,  mini baked chocolate cake donuts and  strawberry jam). while i was at the dinner my father describes so well here, i don't remember it much, if at all. my italian memories center around gelato and prosciutto with melon. i've always found it funny how two people, on exactly the same trip, remember very different things.

By Guest Blogger "Pops"

Kate didn't become a foodie totally by chance. Her Mom and I sewed those seeds long ago as we are both quite the foodies in our own right. One of Kate's Mama's favorites has always been pesto. I could take it or leave it but if given my druthers I would leave it, that is until the magical evening of August 6, 2004.

black bottom peanut butter pie

this year i kept the peanut butter and chocolate theme going for jason's birthday with this peanut butter pie. way back in january, when i whipped up baked's sweet and salty cake to celebrate my own birthday, i was torn between that cake and a version of this pie. knowing chocolate and peanut butter is jason's all time favorite combination and that he's not really a fan of cakes and especially sweet buttercream, i shelved the pie until july. which is probably for the best anyway, since the day i made this, it was over ninety degrees out and definitely not a day i wanted to fire up the oven to bake a multi layer cake.

slow cooker chicken cacciatore

i don't know about you, but we are supposed to get a lot of rain over the next few days, today included. and finally, the rain is bringing lower temperatures with it. i know it seems like everyone is talking about how hot the summer is, so i'll spare you those details. besides, this meal isn't meant for hot summer nights. instead, it's for those cool, lower seventies days that accompany day long rain and thunder storms. those days make me long for warm, comforting dinners. and now that produce is so plentiful, delicious, and cheap this time of year, it's the perfect time for slow cooker dinners with farm fresh vegetables.

cook's illustrated's blueberry muffins

as soon as my mom mentioned going blueberry picking last week, i knew one of the first things i'd make is blueberry muffins, as they're jason's absolute favorite. sure enough, first thing the very next morning i was googling the best blueberry muffin recipe. i have been pleased with cook's illustrated's baked goods in the past, so i knew they were a good place to start. and after how relatively quickly and simply these came together and how delicious they were, they're my - and jason's - new favorite muffin.

secret recipe club: blueberry peach crisp

after picking pounds and pounds of blueberries last week, it's been my mission to find great ways to eat them up. this peach blackberry crisp from sara at cupcake muffin caught my eye, but i combined  peaches, one of my all time favorites, with my freshly picked blueberries into one of the easiest and tastiest summer time desserts. while most people eat their crisp with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a big dollop of vanilla greek yogurt is great for breakfast or a mid-afternoon snack.

blueberry greek frozen yogurt

while i was pregnant - as most women do - i followed along with the growth charts that tell you what size fruit your growing baby is each week. each week my mom and i got a kick out of the fruits, waiting for the baby to grow from something small like a grape to something more tangible, like a melon. 

one particular week - i don't remember which, exactly - he was the size of a blueberry. since then, my mother in law affectionately referred to my growing bump as "blueberry." for whatever reason, that was the fruit that stuck in her mind.

classic peanut butter cookies

i have made a double batch of these cookies no less than three times in the last three months. they're the perfect peanut butter cookie - peanut buttery, chewy in the middle, and crunchy on the outside.

you may remember last year, when i made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for jason's birthday. they're equally delicious, but i hadn't noticed until today how incredibly similar the recipes are. both have the same proportion of butter, sugar, peanut butter, flour, and baking soda. no wonder i like them both so much. but the real question - who came first, betty or martha?!