A quick and easy dessert from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast using amaretti cookies, which are sweet, crispy Italian macaroons made with almond paste.

1 container (15 oz) part-skim ricotta
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp instant espresso
4 amaretti cookies

Combine ricotta, sugar, and espresso in a food processor and puree until very smooth, at least 1-2 minutes. Pour into 4 dessert cups or glasses and chill, at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day (recommendation: 1 hour).

For serving, crumble an amaretti cookie over each dessert. 

This one was tough to puree in a blender, so the texture wasn’t as smooth as I would have liked. Also, make sure the dessert is well chilled.

Here is yet another great recipe from Everyday Food magazine (did I mention I love, love, love this magazine?). This one uses fresh peaches and raspberries, perfectly in season this time of year, combined with subtle vanilla flavor.

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice (from 1 large lemon)
2 tbsp sugar
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise and scraped, OR 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 firm, ripe peaches (1 to 1 1/2 pounds total), halved and pitted
1 package, 5 to 6 oz, raspberries
1 pint vanilla iced cream

Preheat oven to 400F

In a large, shallow baking dish, combine butter, lemon juice, sugar, and vanilla. Add peaches, turning to coat all sides with butter mixture, and arrange cut-side down in a single layer.

Roast until peaches are tender and cooking liquid is syrupy, 15 to 25 minutes, brushing with cooking liquid half-way through. Whisk in 1 to 2 tbsp warm water if cooking liquid is too thick to drizzle. Serve peaches (warm or room temperature) with raspberries and vanilla iced cream, drizzled with cooking liquid.

I brought this dish to a reunion, but doubled the recipe. To double:

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup lemon juice (1 1/2 to 2 large lemons)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
8 peaches, quartered and pitted
1 pint raspberries
1 gallon vanilla iced cream
Follow same directions for baking as above, but turn peaches once during cooking. Cooking times might vary.

From BellyBytes.com, this iced tea recipe uses orange pekoe tea, fresh basil, and peach nectar.  The original recipes calls for 3 teabags, but I like my tea strong, so I used 4.

4 bags orange pekoe tea
1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
4 cups water
3 1/3 cups chilled peach nectar (five, 5 1/2 oz cans)
1/4 cup chilled simple syrup, or to taste (see below)
fresh peach slices and basil sprigs, for garnish

Put tea bags and basil in a heat resistant pitcher. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil and pour over tea bags. Steep tea for 5-10 minutes and remove tea bags. Cool tea and chill, covered, for about 1 hour or until cold.

Stir in chilled nectar and simple syrup. Place peach slices and ice in each glass. Pour in tea and top with a basil sprig.   

Simple Syrup:
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups water

To make Simple Syrup:
In a small saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil, stirring. Boil until sugar dissolves. Let syrup cool and chill, covered. Simple Syrup will keep for 2 weeks. Chill, covered, until ready to use.

To prepare corn:

Peel back husks of 4 ears of corn, leaving them attached to the base of the ear. Remove and discard silk, pulls husks back over corn. Place several paper towels on the microwave and arrange ears side-by-side on top of towels. Microwave on high for 8-9 minutes or until crisp-tender.

Remove husks and serve with Basil Butter (see below).

From Everyday Food magazine, this bright and flavorful butter makes any vegetable tasty. The original recipe was for corn-on-the-cob, but this would be great on green beans, carrots, and baked potatoes.

4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalter butter
2 tbsp coarsely chopped fresh basil
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/8 tsp salt
fresh ground black pepper

In a small bowl, stir together all ingredients until well blended. Serve at room temperature. Can be refrigerated for about 2-3 days.

I used my mini-chopper to better blend the butter and chop the basil.