Kale Pesto paired with cheese tortellini and grilled shrimp is one of dozens of ways to bring summer gusto to your meals year-round. Karen Schneider / For The Forecaster

I’m always so inspired after my trips to the farm stands and farmers markets. Who wouldn’t be? Everything is so bountiful and beautiful and the farmers are so friendly. I want to buy everything but have to pace myself. I can only eat so much in a week.

During my last expedition it was the curly kale that spoke to me, along with the many-hued plums. I couldn’t wait to get home to the kitchen!

Karen Schneider cooks and writes in the village of Cundy’s Harbor. You can reach her at iwrite33@comcast.net.

This kale pesto is bright and peppery and can be made throughout the year, especially at those times when fresh basil is hard to come by or when you have such an abundance of kale that you don’t know what to do with it all. Of course, you can use any combination of basil and kale if you would rather.

For this recipe, use the kale leaves only and save those stems to flavor a soup. Pine nuts are traditional in pesto, but who wants to be predictable? Try pumpkin seeds, walnuts, or even almonds. Sunflower seeds work, too.

After it’s made, you can freeze the pesto in plastic ice cube trays then pop the small solid squares into a Ziploc bag for safekeeping in your freezer. These zesty flavor nuggets can dress up pasta, chicken and salmon, and also be added to soups and sauces or slathered on crusty bread, used as a pizza or vegetable topping, and even swirled into mac and cheese. You get to choose. Whirl it together in five minutes and be ready to enjoy the versatility.

Plum Cobbler is so divine and reminds me of my first summers here in Maine. We lived in a Bowdoinham farmhouse and right up the road was a magnificent plum orchard where a sweet couple sold several varieties of plums from their roadside stand.

This recipe is for any very ripe stone fruit so mix and match as you prefer and adjust the sugar accordingly. You want the dessert to be on the tart side to contrast with the ice cream on top.

My wish for you is that you find some delicious juicy plums that are worthy of this decadent summer treat. Enjoy!

Kale Pesto

1/2 cup raw pepitas, almonds, pine nuts, or walnuts

1-2 garlic cloves

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese or 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 packed cups curly kale leaves, chopped

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 teaspoon honey or maple syrup, optional

In a food processor, pulse the pepitas/nuts and garlic until pulverized. Add cheese or nutritional yeast, salt and several grinds of pepper and pulse again.

Add kale and lemon juice. With the food processor running, drizzle in olive oil and process until combined. Season to taste. This keeps in the fridge for five days and can be frozen for two months. Yield: 1 cup

Plum Cobbler

Filling

2½ pounds ripe plums

Juice of half a lemon

1/2-2/3 cup sugar

4 tablespoons cornstarch

Topping

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup butter, cubed

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup heavy cream, divided

1 tablespoon turbinado sugar

Vanilla ice cream

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Halve and pit plums, then cut into 1/2-inch slices. Place in a buttered 9-by-13-inch baking dish and stir in lemon juice, sugar and cornstarch.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add butter and use your fingers or a pastry blender to work the butter into smaller pieces, until the largest is the size of small peas. Add vanilla and all but 1 tablespoon of the heavy cream. Stir into the butter-flour mixture then knead once or twice with your hands to form a soft dough.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Flour the dough and pat it out to 1/2-inch thickness. Use a knife to cut dough into 1½-inch squares. Arrange squares over fruit in pan, spacing them slightly. Brush tops of squares with remaining 1 tablespoon heavy cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Bake cobbler for 40 to 45 minutes, until topping is puffy and browned and fruit is bubbling. Allow to cool for 15 minutes. Serve with ice cream. Yield: 8 servings