A kitchen knife resting on a wooden cutting board with chopped green herbs and purple flowers nearby.

Cook With Us

Good food starts with good ingredients — and the courage to step into the kitchen with an open heart. Cook With Us is where we share seasonal recipes, kitchen stories, and the techniques that help us create meaningful meals at home.

Whether you’re cooking for a crowd or making something simple on a weeknight, we hope these posts and videos inspire you to slow down, cook with intention, and fall in love with the seasons.

Resources for Learning Seasonal Cooking Techniques

These posts and videos help home cooks understand ingredients, build skills, and learn how to cook seasonally.

Seasonal Recipes & Kitchen Stories

Baking, Fruit, Cake Lisa Balcom Baking, Fruit, Cake Lisa Balcom

Cherry Upside-Down Cake with Rye & Black Cardamom

There is something particularly satisfying about an upside-down cake. You arrange everything in the bottom of the pan, cover it with batter, and trust that when you turn it out, all that butter, brown sugar, and fruit will have transformed into a glossy, caramelized topping.

For this version, we're leaning into the deep flavor of summer cherries with rye flour and black cardamom. Rye brings a subtle earthy, almost malty quality to the cake, while black cardamom is smoky, warm, and much more savory than the green cardamom you may be accustomed to baking with. You don't need much—a little goes a long way.

Orange zest and vanilla round everything out, and plenty of buttermilk keeps the rye cake beautifully tender. The result feels familiar enough to be comforting but just unexpected enough to make you go back for another slice.

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Baking, Fruit, Dessert Lisa Balcom Baking, Fruit, Dessert Lisa Balcom

Peach and Blackberry Cobbler with Fluffy Ricotta Biscuits

This is the sort of dessert I find myself making on repeat once peaches are ripe and berry bushes are overflowing. The beauty of a cobbler is that it doesn't ask for perfection—just good fruit and a buttery topping to soak up all of those bubbling juices.

Here, sweet peaches and juicy blackberries are paired with lemon zest and just a splash of rose water. It's a subtle ingredient, but it gently enhances the natural floral notes of both the peaches and berries without tasting perfumey. If you don't have rose water on hand, simply leave it out. The cobbler will still be delicious.

One of my favorite things about this recipe is how adaptable it is. Swap the peaches for nectarines, use raspberries or blueberries instead of blackberries, or make it with whatever summer fruit happens to be overflowing at the farmers market. As with all of our fruit desserts, we'll whisk together the sugar and tapioca starch before adding the fruit to ensure an evenly thickened filling.

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Fruit, Dessert, Baking Lisa Balcom Fruit, Dessert, Baking Lisa Balcom

Peach & Blackberry Galette with Buttermilk Spelt Crust

Galettes are one of my favorite ways to celebrate summer fruit. They have all the buttery, flaky goodness of pie but none of the stress. There's no pie plate, no crimping, and no worrying about perfection—the rustic folds are part of the charm.

Sweet peaches and juicy blackberries are tossed with ginger, nutmeg, lemon zest, and just a touch of rose water (if you have it) before being tucked into a buttery spelt crust. A thin layer of cream cheese underneath the fruit adds richness while helping keep the crust crisp.

As with all of our fruit pies and galettes, whisk the sugar, tapioca starch, salt, and spices together before adding the fruit. This evenly coats every piece and creates a beautifully thickened filling.

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Baking, Fruit, Pie Lisa Balcom Baking, Fruit, Pie Lisa Balcom

Black Raspberry Buttermilk Pie

If you've never baked with black raspberries before, you're in for a treat. Their deep berry flavor has a little more complexity than traditional red raspberries, making them especially wonderful in custard pies like this one.

This recipe is based on a classic buttermilk pie, with a handful of fresh berries scattered across the top before baking. As the pie bakes, some berries sink into the custard while others remain near the surface, creating beautiful pockets of fruit throughout each slice.

While black raspberries are my favorite here, don't let that stop you from making this pie. Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, or a mixture of berries all work beautifully.

You'll need one extra blind-baked pie crust to begin. You can find our pie crust recipe linked elsewhere on the blog.

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Baking, Fruit, Blueberries Lisa Balcom Baking, Fruit, Blueberries Lisa Balcom

Blueberry Custard Tart

There are few desserts as timeless as a fruit tart. Crisp buttery pastry, silky vanilla pastry cream, and fresh fruit come together to create something that feels elegant without being fussy.

For this tart, we're using sweet blueberries tossed with a little jam or coulis. The glaze is optional, but it gives the berries a beautiful shine and adds another layer of flavor. This tart is especially lovely in late spring and summer when blueberries are at their peak.

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Cook With Us — Live & In the Kitchen

We host relaxed, seasonal cook-alongs on YouTube so you can cook right beside us — asking questions, learning techniques, and having some fun in the kitchen along the way.

We’ve taken a little break on creating new videos but feel free to explore past episodes below anytime the cooking mood strikes. We link our shopping lists in the show notes so you can shop for the video in advance.