Hi! I am gearing up for the start to the school year and will be of the blog until next week. There is so much to do with getting ready for school and getting the house back together after a wonderfully busy summer. I’m so grateful for all the fun I’ve had. To get you in the mood to get back to school and excited for freshly sharpened pencils and all that comes with it here are a few of my favorites for this time of year:

A great reminder for those of you looking for back-to-school meal ideas.

We had another great summer in Cooperstown. I hope you all will come visit next year!

This website is such an awesome resource!

I can’t help but get excited for apple and pumpkin season which is just around the corner…

I am dreaming and scheming about my upcoming birthday cake.

Forever and always, Tamra and Mike D make breakfast and lunch for their boys.

It’s the season of many, many fresh berries. While we endeavor to eat them all up before the get too soft, that doesn’t always happen. My solution? Bake. These one-bowl any berry muffins are the perfect treats to make with kids when you have that last handful of berries that you don’t want to freeze, but need to be eaten. You know they are so fresh that it would be a shame for them to go to waste!

Earlier this summer we took a lovely vacation to Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Though I went to college in Maine I never spent much time exploring the coast and I was so glad to finally have the chance. Boothbay is about one hour north of Portland and is in a world all its own. The town is quaint and laid back, and the lobster shacks are bountiful. Here are a few things we loved about our visit:

My mother made this amazing cucumber soup last week. It was perfect timing since we were in the midst of a terrible heatwave and only wanted light, cooling foods. She merged a few recipes to make her own and it was nothing short of delicious. I ate it as is for lunch, pouring it into a cup straight from the fridge. For dinner I paired it with some cheese and crackers to make it a little more substantial, but still very easy. Wherever you are I hope you aren’t too hot. And if you are, make this soup!

We are back from vacation and I have to share one of my favorite new summer pasta dishes right away. It is a riff on this one from The New York Times and tastes like a lemony summer dream. It is also perfect for right now when backyard zucchini production is peaking. There is suddenly no limit to the amount of fresh zucchini available and I try to incorporate into everything from savory to sweet. This dish comes together in a jiffy and will please the whole family.