Fruit icings, like the recipe below, are great in the summer, and hopefully, it will be easy to find some local ingredients to make this sweet treat.

Sweet and Tart Frosting

4 tablespoons lemon curd

2 cups powdered sugar, plus 2 tablespoons or a little more to taste

1 stick butter, warmed to room temperature

Put 4 tablespoons of lemon curd in a large bowl. It’s OK if it is cold. Add 2 cups plus the 2 tablespoons powdered sugar. Cut up softened butter into pieces and add them on top.

Stir with a fork or a wooden spoon. Beat all ingredients together, and make sure the icing is fluffy.

Sweet and Tart Lemon

Zuke Saffron Pound Cake

1 or 2 large fresh threads of saffron

1 cup zucchini, grated very fine

1 large organic lemon or 2 small

2 sticks fresh local butter at room temperature

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 fresh eggs

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Whip butter with sugar. Add 1 egg at a time. Add saffron and stir. Add zucchini and stir.

Squeeze lemon. You may grate some zest and add it if you desire, 1 teaspoon or more. Taste to make sure zest is not too bitter. If it is too bitter, add double the amount of zest in sugar (1 teaspoon zest, 2 teaspoons sugar.)

Add lemon juice and stir.

Combine dry ingredients and stir into batter until just combined. Pour batter into a buttered and sugared square 9-inch cake pan or two loaf pans.

Bake at 350 until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan and a skewer thrust through the middle comes out with moist crumbs only. This cake usually takes from 35 to 45 minutes to bake. But temperatures, and pans, may vary, so keep an eye.

As soon as it is cool, frost lavishly with the Sweet and Tart Lemon Frosting.

Garden Chowder

Make soup with your garden vegetables. And don’t forget that you can use the farm stand or the frozen section in your supermarket. This is great, soothing and warm for last-minute dinners and potlucks.

For this recipe you’ll need any and all vegetables from your garden, cut into small, mouth-sized pieces, but choose at least two: peas, corn, potatoes (pre-cooked), tomatoes, beans, zucchini, carrots or beets.

You may wish to pre-cook more of the vegetables if you want them softer ”“ in butter, in a saucepan. Add all juices to the larger pan when you add the vegetables to the base.

Optional, for more spicy flavor, try adding one or more:

1 large chopped onion, sautéed in butter

2 cloves garlic, smushed, peeled and chopped

Chopped fresh oregano, 1 stalk of leaves

For meat or protein, try one:

2 slices of deli turkey, torn up

1 cup tofu, preferably pre-marinated in sauce or teriyaki

1 cup lobster

For the base:

1 large can evaporated milk

2 tablespoons butter

In a large sauce pan, add the milk and then add the two or more vegetables, the seasoning, if you are using that, add the meat or protein, and then put the 2 tablespoons of butter on top. Heat the soup until the butter has melted. Serve hot.

Don’t forget to eat fresh, local produce! Make corn with butter and sprinkled with red pepper for extra spice; try blueberries added in salads, pancake batter, cake batter, on top of ice cream; try tomatoes chopped and added to spaghetti sauce.

And, of course, grill all local fruits and vegetables in foil while you grill your meat and have chicken with peaches, hamburgers with grilled tomatoes and onions, s’mores with added fruit, blueberries sprinkled over the toasted marshmallows ”¦ use your imagination!

— Contact Mel Baker at noisyoven@gmail.com.