The fresh basil in my North Carolina garden is going wild. I wanted to harvest it at its peak and my mind turned to pesto. This pesto freezes well or can be stored in the refrigerator for days. I love a good garlicky pesto but rarely have pine nuts in the pantry, the typical nut used in pesto. We always have a big jar of walnuts, however, so I thought I’d try this substitute.

I found these purple beauties in my market and remembered how much I loved eating steamed artichokes as a kid. We would dip the leaves in drawn butter before running them through our teeth. Half the pleasure in eating them was the fun.

This is crazy good soda bread and we often eat it right out of the oven with a smear of salted butter or a drizzle of local honey. Mike is the bread maker in the family and he usually makes this on a weekend, never lasting the day, especially if our kids are home.

This is my all-time favorite winter soup. I love the combination of sweet from the apples and umami flavors from the curry and squash.