Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

I know many people like their smoothies for breakfast but, in the mornings, I'm a quick bowl of high fiber cereal kind of person. The afternoons, though, are my ideal time for this treat because it gives me natural energy and keeps me full till dinner. Oh, and it's completely delicious...and skinny as well!

Sweet Potato Salad

We usually think of potato salads as summer grilling and picnic food and once the cooler weather sets in, we want them baked or mashed. But the white spud's second cousin once removed (botanically, they're not even related), the sweet potato, makes for fine cool weather fare.

Pumpkin Crumb Cake

We enjoyed the first official weekend of fall and took advantage of a lovely, lazy Sunday. It had been a bit of a tough week for both of us with some family stresses so it was great to have a day of leisure just to ourselves. We slept in, lazed around all morning and then headed out with the pup to enjoy the nice cool weather. We shopped for some pumpkins, picked up a bottle of pumpkin spice liqueur and headed home for an afternoon cocktail. Dinner was a great butternut squash pasta bake but we definitely left room for the dessert.

Pear Cosmo

These days we're kind of in that middle place between mourning the passing of summer and our great vacation and the anticipation of autumn and pumpkins and a slight nip in the air. So what kind of cocktail goes with that? We've pretty much put away the blender and our beloved frozen cocktails until next year. But it's still a bit warm for some of our great winter drinks. We need something in between.

A Review of Earth at Hidden Pond

354 Goose Rocks Road, Kennebunkport, ME, 207-967-6550 earthhiddenpond.com

When we were inquiring about good restaurants in the Kennebunkport area during our recent vacation, we were directed to Earth at Hidden Pond. Ken Oringer, famed Boston chef and James Beard award winner, created this "farm to fork" restaurant with a vision of forging a close knit community and relationship with local growers and purveyors of meats, produce and seafood.

Summer Vacation Heaven on the Coast of Maine

It's been a few weeks since we got back, at least physically.  Emotionally we are still lounging in our cottage by the water, strolling through adorable towns with interesting shops, running with our pup along the rocky coastline of southern Maine, driving through green, lush and pristine countrysides and admiring stately waterfront homes.  It wasn't our first time in Maine and, hopefully, it won't be our last.  Relief at getting back home to sleep in our own bed?  Nope, just misery that our heavenly vacation was over.

Cinnamon Apple Crumb Cake

For those of you who will be celebrating Rosh Hashanah, the holiday begins at sundown on Sunday evening and includes eating sweet apples as part of the festivities. For those of you not celebrating Rosh Hashanah, apple season begins in autumn and includes eating many delicious apple desserts. In our house, we celebrate both!

The First Pumpkins!

OK, I'll be the first to admit that I didn't want to let go of summer. Even while my fellow bloggers claimed to detect a late August nip in the air and began musing about fall recipes and sweaters and boots, I clung to summer. New York was still hot, we still had lots of summer vacation plans and I'd waited far too long for my beloved summer to let go so easily.

Baked Rice and Zucchini Cakes

Don't you just love happy food accidents, successfully thrown together bits of this and that and necessity producing tasty inventions? On the Friday before Labor Day I was still unpacking from our Maine vacation, getting laundry done so we could go away for the long weekend and baking Brian's birthday cake. He was going to be working late and we needed to hit the road so I told him I'd make him dinner and bring it with us. I knew I had some leftover ground beef and several ideas for quick tasty dinners.

The Cottages at Cabot Cove

7 South Main Street, Kennebunkport, ME 04046, 207-967-5424 cabotcovecottages.com

"Harbor" cottage

Two summers ago we vacationed, for the first time, in coastal Maine. I'd done extensive research on all the quaint inns and B&B's in the area and we settled on Captain Jefferd's Inn. A close contender though was the Cottages at Cabot Cove. We loved the look of them and the reviews on Trip Advisor were good. But we were slightly concerned that each cottage was independently owned and we might not have anyone to talk to about problems. So we chose the inn and were reasonably pleased.

Blueberry Cheese Crumb Cake

Over the Labor Day weekend, we also celebrated Brian's birthday. He doesn't like much of a fuss but he does like my cooking and baking so I usually try to make him something special. I happen to know that his two favorite desserts are my cheesecake and blueberry crumb cake so I decided to combine them in one, evil genius, birthday dessert.

Easy BBQ Pulled Chicken

In general, I'm a make-it- from- scratch kind of cook. No, I'm not churning my own butter and I've been known to reach for a package of frozen spinach, but I usually prefer homemade to store bought and am willing to put in some extra effort. There have been plenty of Sundays when I've roasted a chicken, complete with stuffing and veggies. The leftovers make great sandwiches and chicken salads. But, then again, sometimes that much effort just seems like a deal breaker.

The Month in Review: August 2012

August is always one of our favorite months. It's still very much summer but not as hot and humid as July so we usually schedule our summer vacation for mid-month. This year we headed back to the southern coast of Maine and we'll post some stunning photos and reviews in the next couple of weeks. But between long weekends out on Long Island, the trip and several late summer birthdays, we found ourselves quite busy.We ended the month, as we always do, with a final long weekend of grilling, frozen cocktails and long lazy days in the garden. And sadly, we also folded up the market umbrella and stored away the garden furniture.

But before we said goodbye to summer, we enjoyed some wicked cocktails (did we mention that National Rum Day falls in August?!), delightful dinners and a couple of decadent desserts. Because August is National Peach Month, we kept plenty of the sweet fruit around and used them in all kinds of delicious ways. All that plus a sinfully rich guest post recipe and a guest stint in the kitchen by our furry sous chef. Wow, it really was a busy month. Enjoy!