Quick breads are my answer to having fresh bakery midweek or having a hostess gift to grab in a hurry.

"What's so quick about them?" my noncooking friend asked. "You still have to mix them up and bake them." 

Yes, my dear, that is quite true. But for those of us who like to make bread, the difference is quite substantial. Quick breads use baking powder or baking soda (or a combination), not yeast, which takes awhile to rise and then rise again. 

So, quick breads are quick - if you are a baker. If you are not a baker, all you need to know is that they are simply good, homemade breads that smell heavenly and taste even better.

A baking novice can make them and be as pleased as a professional with the results.  In other words, quick breads are hard to mess up and come with big rewards.

The basic batter of a quick bread consists of eggs, sugar, flour, shortening, liquid, flavorings, leavening and your choice of fruits, nuts and seeds - if you choose to add such ingredients. Once you have found a basic recipe that you like, you can try changing it. Add applesauce instead of some of the pumpkin. Use craisins and pumpkin seeds instead of the raisins and walnuts. 

What I like about making quick breads this time of year is that I bake them up and freeze them now for redemption later during the busy holiday season. A trio of quick breads tied up with a pretty bow, tucked in a basket, makes a great hostess gift. Take a loaf out of the freezer and take it to work for a great office snack, or leave it on the counter for an after-school snack. 

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I don't have to tell all the gardeners out there that this has been a strange year - they already know it. The rain has been erratic, and the temperature has sagged just when we needed the heat to kick in. 

As long as the garden keeps growing and producing, anything summer throws at you seems to be bearable - until it affects the tomato crop. Then, it becomes personal. Or at least emotional.

That's because nothing equals the taste of a fully ripened on-the-vine, fresh-picked tomato. And this year, they have been slow in coming and unpredictable in abundance.

So, if you've got them, better enjoy them completely right now.

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If you grow zucchini, you probably have a garden full of zucchini jokes by now. My favorite is how you have to lock your car doors this time of year. This is to prevent someone you know, or don't know for that matter, from depositing a big box of this green vegetable in your backseat. And then there's the fact that gardeners are usually waste-not, want-not types of folks, so they tend to get a bit schizophrenic when they have to choose between picking more of the stuff or just yanking it out of the ground.

Yes, zucchini is easy to grow, and once we get the kind of rain we had lately, it seems like it literally explodes. This is a phenomenon that was once confirmed by a neighbor and fellow gardener. He tells me his dog was out in the garden with him, picking a few late strawberries here and there, when he - I'm speaking of the dog now - let out a yelp and took off at a run for the house.

When the gardener caught up with his canine buddy he discovered a furry face full of slimy green zucchini drippings.

"It looked like he had put his face too close to a blender," he explained.

Even the dog's ears were full of the stuff. The best he can figure is that an overgrown zucchini exploded right in his dog's face. The heat will do that to zucchini.

An otherwise excellent watchdog is now afraid of zucchini. Hopefully, would-be burglars will never catch on to this dog's new-found phobia - otherwise they will simply arm themselves with a big vegetable and make off with all the garden goods while the dog crouches in fear under the front porch.

Of course, the secret to avoiding this disaster is to always pick your zucchini when it is young - like right now. This cuts down on the amount you need to give away and this vegetable tastes best when it is of a smaller size.

The other trick is to pick it before it even sets fruit. Zucchini blossoms are delicious in salads and stir frys or stuffed and fried.

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 Not everyone wants to spend all summer canning, but if you are starting to see the bounty of your garden, you may want to try your hand at making a few jars of pickles.

Bread and butter pickles -  those thin, coin-shaped slices of  of cucumbers - are always a good addition to a summer barbecue. They are easy enough to can for those who have some pickling experience. If you haven't done it in a while, brush up your skills at the Home Canning Web site at www.homecanning.com.

If you're not comfortable canning your own foods, there are some good recipes for making refrigerator versions of pickles and preserves. These recipes call for a certain amount of time for the product to age in the refrigerator, and then you'll have to eat them up before too long, but that shouldn't be a problem.

Traditional preserves, if sealed properly, easily can be kept a year or so in a cool storage spot.

Canning is no more difficult than anything else you do in the kitchen, however the risks are greater, so you need to be very diligent about handling the food and equipment.

Illness from consuming home-canned products is rare - not because the foods never spoil, but because the spoiled food most often looks spoiled: Moldy, leaky, smelly or bubbly foods should be tossed. Lids that are pushed up and rounded out on top means the product is spoiled.

Botulism is rare, but the botulinum grow without the benefit of oxygen, so it does just fine inside a sealed jar. To combat this, canning uses heat, salt, sugar or acid to preserve food. Pickles are made with vinegar - that's an acid. Jam is made with sugar, and pickled meats are made with salt. Do not reduce the amounts of any ingredients called for in the recipe.

Use a current recipe. Canning has been around since Napoleon Bonaparte looked for a way to preserve food for his troops. Older recipes tend to assume that the person reading the recipe has a good hands-on feel for doing it the right way, but nowadays, there aren't so many youngsters learning the process in the home from their mother or grandmother.

For those starting out, "Putting Food By" is a good preserving book with lots of basic recipes. The university extension offices also offer free bulletins and inexpensive classes.

A few other caveats:

Do not substitute table salt for the pickling and canning salt, which is additive free. Table salt generally contains an anti-caking agent, such as calcium silicate, and potassium iodide and dextrose.

Do not reuse the lids if you are canning because the seal may be broken. You can use them for the refrigerater pickle recipes because you are not sealing those jars. You can reuse the screw tops.

Keep reading for recipes.  

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 Summer is finally here. I know, because after coming home and mowing one section of lawn, I'm too hot and tired to make dinner - and I love to cook. Good thing I have a backup plan.

In the summer, when I have time, I?like to make up salads: pasta salads, vegetable salads, meat or seafood salads. These are good on their own, of course, but served atop a bed of shredded lettuce, with a piece of garlic bread on the side, they make a perfectly good summer dinner. It's neither too hot, nor too heavy.

The thing about salad recipes is that you need to be flexible. Check the garden first to see what you have and freely exchange ingredients. For example, if you have a good chicken-salad recipe, you can substitute turkey. If you have a good three-bean salad, you can easily substitute black beans for the kidney beans. Start with the basics, and experiment from there.

I like to use leftovers to make salad, so sometimes you have more or less of a called-for ingredient. You can adjust the amount of the other ingredients most of the time, or you can try adding a similar ingredient. If you are out of salad dressing, for example, use a bottled ranch dressing, or part sour cream and part yogurt.

Be sure to make a note of the substitutions and how the recipe turned out - for good or ill - so you'll have a reference the next time.

Recipes follow.

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If you like strawberries, this must be your favorite time of year.

It's picking time.

Fresh-picked strawberries differ from those cultivated by large, commercial growers, who often produce hybrid varieties suited for shipping. Fresh-picked, therefore, win the taste test hands down.

Here are some tips for picking and then handling your berries afterward:

• Pick your berries in the morning when it is cool and the bugs are not so active.

• Cool berries as quickly as possible after picking. Do not let the berries sit in the sun or in a hot car.

• Do not wash or hull the berries until you are ready to eat or prepare them.

• Store berries in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

• Try to use all berries within a few days of picking. If you are going to freeze or can them, do it as soon as possible to retain the freshness of the berries.

• Buy small quantities of berries more frequently.

• You can create your own packages of IQF (individually quick-frozen) strawberries. Here's how to do it: Wash berries and remove hulls. Place berries in a single layer on a cookie sheet, and place in freezer until frozen. Remove from freezer and pack the berries in a Ziploc bag, label and date and store in freezer.

Keep reading for recipes and pick-your-own locations in southeastern Wisconsin.

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