Holy buttermilk and bananas Batman!  My little ones go absolutely CRAZY for Buttermilk Banana Bread!  Simple, sweet and oh so good!

​It's hard to improve on our fast and easy family-favorite Banana Bread recipe, but this Buttermilk Banana Bread always disappears as fast as I can slice it! Buttermilk and ripe bananas team up for the moistest sweet bread - almost like a banana pound cake, but with a rich buttery crumb.  This recipe makes wonderful Buttermilk Banana Muffins too!

How is your garden growing this year?  Our tomatoes had a late start with the crazy spring weather, but now we seem to have a bumper crop of just about everything.  Crazy sweet tiny tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, sugar snap peas and peppers can't be picked and eaten fast enough!  And if you don't have your own garden, the fresh vegies at the market look wonderful too!

​My family loves fresh vegies - and they especially LOVE dipping baby carrots, sliced cucumbers and sugar snap peas into this homemade Fresh Spinach Dip!  And until you have tried this easy-to-make recipe with absolutely NO PRE-PACKAGED DRY SOUP MIX or squeezing frozen spinach, you don't know how good and flavorful Fresh Spinach Dip can be!

I have to be honest with you...I haven't always been a lemon fan.  When I was younger, I much preferred chocolate and peanut butter.  I've heard that your tastebuds do change as you get older, so I'm not sure if that is it or not, but now I crave anything lemon, lime or raspberry.  I also remember my great-grandmother offering me lemon drops out of the prettiest little blue dish when we would visit - so tart and so sweet!  Did your grandparents have a candy jar waiting for your visits too?

​But for some serious goodness, if you love lemon as much as I do, you are going to LOVE this old-fashioned Iced Lemon Pound Cake.  The perfect pound cake for summer - loaded with sweet and zingy lemon flavor, and the freshest lemon glaze ever!  You won't believe my secret ingredient - lemon yogurt with the tart sweetness of lemon curd - this is a triple lemon delight!  Just like an old-fashioned lemon drop!

I'm gonna let you in on a little secret today!  If you are looking for a fast, easy and simple appetizer or after-school snack, these sweet little Peach Barbecue Little Smokies are going to knock your socks off!  Always a favorite at our house for football or Super Bowl parties, they make a perfect little snack any time of year!

​Long time a family favorite, I like to switch these up every now and then and make them Apricot Barbecue Little Smokies.  And you can make them as sweet and tender or smoky hot as you want to.  Perfect for your littles, but you can also fire 'em up for the big ones too!

During the hot days of summer, I try to keep my cooking as fast and easy as I can.  Summer days pass far too quickly to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and it's always great to pull out a long-time favorite family recipe and remember just how easy it is to cook up something wonderful!  

​This recipe is so easy that even the little ones can help make it.  Five minutes and you'll have the best roasted potatoes ever ready for the oven or grill!

Summertime or in the winter, one of our favorite places to spend time is Gunflint Lodge in the middle the Superior National Forest.  They always have trays of fresh-baked cookies waiting for guests when they come in after a long day outdoors.  I'm not sure if it's just because we're all so dang hungry after a full day of activities hiking, canoeing, snowshoeing or cross-country skiing, but these GIANT cookies always taste like the best thing you've ever had!  

​This is my take on a cookie that really defies description.  The cookie dough is not your typical cookie dough - it is so loaded with "extras" that it almost seems like an inside-out cookie.  Rather than a soft and chewy cookie that has a few chocolate chips, this cookie dough is really just a means to an end - to hold a hearty and delicious mix of granola, chocolate chips, raisins and roasted peanuts together.  

​If you have a family of outdoor lovers, they are going to think they have died and gone to heaven after munching on one of these chewy and delicious cookies!