Like many cooks once freeze warnings arrive I turn the oven on for some serious baking. Invariably things never turn out right the first time I make them but then I get back in touch with my inner baker. That is, if she still exists. Lately I’m all about muffins. And specifically, cornmeal muffins.

I’m really luck to live close to a bona fide mill. Weisenberger Mills in Midway, KY is more like a living museum as the Weisenberger family has retained and maintained the mill’s original equipment from circa 1913. I love going there to visit and to pick up freshly milled flour and cornmeal, which is sometimes milled that very day. There’s no comparison to what you get in a store in terms of quality and freshness.

Here’s what Susie Quick has to say about this recipe for butternut squash pie: "My Aunt Martha only made one kind of pie (squash) and one kind of cake (hickory nut). Why, you may ask? As a self-reliant farmer whose life spanned over a century plus 10, that’s what she grew on her land.

"This simple, wholesome pie is ideal for a holiday, and the squash tastes much fresher than pumpkin from a can. You can peel and boil the squash, but roasting and scooping out the flesh is much easier.

Photo by Miki Duisterhof

Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

This is today’s featured article on www.sprig.com (the Washington Post site where I’m a contributor) featuring my recipe for rhubarb cake. You should be able to find rhubarb at the farmers markets these days as well as the supermarket. I plan on making some strawberry-rhubarb jam this week. I really love the tang the rhubarb adds. This is a very easy cake to make and people absolutely love it — even those who think they don’t like rhubarb!

And it is a great cake to serve for Father’s Day. Just ask my dad.

I first met chef Ouita Michael of The Holly Hill Inn in Midway about five years ago when I was assigned to do an article for Organic Style magazine on her annual “Hamburger Hootenaney.” The party takes place every year on Memorial Day on the lawn of the historic Inn.

The idea for a hamburger cookout came about as a solution for local farmers who sell their nicer cuts of beef to Ouita all year long. She doesn’t have a hamburger on her regular menu so this was a way for them to deal with the surplus in one fell swoop. The party will take place on May 28th and I can’t wait for the shin-dig.

My maternal grandmother, Opal Akers Hicks, preferred plain and simple cakes. I always loved what she called her "applesauce" cake best, for its subtle spices, dense moistness, and rich apple flavor. My mother loaned me Opal’s recipe when I was writing The Cake Club: Desserts and Stories from a Southern Childhood (St. Martin’s Press). But when I made the cake it seemed overly sweet and it left an oil slick in my palm.

Since Opal’s heyday, we’ve learned to appreciate how less sugar and less fat in desserts can actually be more delicious — heightening the flavors of the many ingredients in a spice cake such as this.

This soup is very simple to make and makes a nice meal. If you use vegetable broth it qualifies as vegan.

Red Lentil and Rice Soup

Serves 4 - 6

Red lentils are smaller than brown lentils and cook more quickly. This mildly spiced curry-flavored soup is brightened with fresh ginger. To add more heat, drizzle a little Asian chili oil in place of the olive oil.

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 tablespoon finely minced gingerroot
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 cups dried red lentils
2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 cup drained and chopped canned tomatoes or chopped fresh cherry tomatoes
1 1/2 cups cooked brown or white rice
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Here in Kentucky the air is as cool and crisp as the cotton sheets that wave and snap on the line. Young horses frolic in pastures where the bluegrass contrasts brilliantly with the orange and gold leaves of oak trees. As you drive along a country road dried tobacco leaves, which fall from wagons on their way to the auction, scatter in the wind like remnants of some ancient scroll. These are some of the signs that fall has officially arrived.

These days I’m spending less time in the garden and more time in the kitchen making jams, relishes, and, my favorite, pickles. This would have been the farthest thing from my mind back in the day when I used to watch my mother make jelly, can tomatoes, and brine cucumbers. I mean, why do that when you can buy them at the Big Star supermarket?

Since the fresh spinach recall I’ve developed a deep hankering for the green stuff. It’s like being on a diet, once something is forbidden you develop an irrational craving for it.

But there are many healthy greens you can use instead in a fresh salad or as a cooked green. I am not that crazy about fresh spinach salads, unless they have a hot bacon dressing on them (!). The leaves feel a bit chalky and squeaky on my teeth and it doesn’t have the peppery bite I prefer in a salad green. Instead of spinach, and high on the antioxidant meter, you can use arugula or — the most potent tonic of all — fresh watercress.