A delightful high-powered tomato vegetable soup that my whole family loves to eat. Adapted only slightly from a recipe by Budget Bytes, my favorite cooking blog.

When someone in the house is sick, I make chicken soup. Call it old-fashioned, but science is beginning to prove this old wives' tale.

This is one of our family's absolute favorite ways of dealing with our current overabundance of eggs. Having five well-laying chickens turns out to be more eggs than we perhaps bargained for.

These are the best peanut blossoms I have ever eaten!

Now, it may have to do with using all-natural peanut butter, or it may be that this highly-touted recipe is, in fact, all that. Dunno. But do this and do it with all-natural peanut butter for cookies that you have to give away NOW (otherwise you'll eat them all).

Rather pleased with this simple recipe. Proportions are very, very nice.

Ingredients

1 1/2 c candy melts
1 tbsp vegetable shortening
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
24 plastic spoons

Ruth told me her frosting recipe was just a basic recipe, and it turns out that it is - with just a slight twist. She thins with milk instead of water. It gives the frosting a creamier taste.

Finally figured out Ruth's sugar cookie recipe. This is not an easy one to work with, but the result is a crisp outside, chewy inside and a sweet taste with just a bit of tang.

This makes an awesome crock pot recipe; brown the bacon, onions, and beef, and leave to simmer all day long.

This is my go-to recipe for marinara, adapted only slightly from Budget Bytes. Mixes up a great single batch, but if you mix up a quadruple, you get at least six quart Mason jars to put up.

About six hours to put up eight batches is enough to keep us in marinara for a year - super tasty and super inexpensive, too!

Something to do with the endless supply of zucchini this time of year ... and my kids love them!