Three of our beautiful egg-laying chickens were stolen from our coop by some nefarious wildlife type critter within 24 hours. So while my husband and I went to work shoring up the defenses of our chicken coop, our five sons launched a large-scale paramilitary operation on our backwoods 20 acres. Upon discovering that the third hen had been stolen, the boys descended into a huddle. With occasional furtive glances toward the coop, they spent a solid five minutes whispering, planning and gesticulating wildly.

Madelyn Frick, of Traverse City, says this recipe freezes well in serving-size containers, making it good for quick meals.

We all know how well cherries work for desserts, and we're all beginning to figure out how well they work for all the other courses of a meal as well. If you have a main dish recipe that uses cherries -- tarts or sweets -- we'd love to feature it in an upcoming story.

Mario Batali will once again offer dinner for 12 as part of a fundraiser for the Leelanau Conservancy

This is a daily diary of a recent Saturday here at the Eicher home

Rave about how much better it tastes all you like, I'm still not likely to grind my own beef just to make a burger. That sort of fussiness has no place in my kitchen. Nor does carefully forming the beef patty around other ingredients (as in, stuffing the burger with blue cheese). Which doesn't mean I don't desire a better burger. But I do think it can be had for a little less effort and mess.

If you think just because you use ground turkey to make a burger it's automatically healthier, you could be in for a big surprise. Ground turkey has a reputation for being lean, but there are many varieties available, some with as much as 17 grams of fat in a 4-ounce portion. At that point, you might as well use ground chuck, which is more flavorful and has only 14 grams of fat.

Here's a grilled dessert that is as much fun to make as it is to eat. Chocolate chips, marshmallows and graham crackers are jammed into a banana, then the whole thing gets grilled. The result is a warm, gooey dessert. If you like, you can fill the banana with chopped candy bars for an equally festive treat.

Don't let the fast food chains hold a monopoly on America's hamburger culture. A great burger is worth slowing down for. That means making wise choices on the type of ground beef, patty making technique, cooking method, and bread and topping selections.

Sandy Aprill's approach to cooking and meals is simple. She believes a family should try and sit down together for the evening meal most nights, if at all possible. For that reason, she tries to plan ahead, though she also knows that even the best-laid plans sometimes have to be scrapped. Sandy also likes things simple -- good food, made from scratch, but not with a list of ingredients and steps so long that it makes her eyes glaze over.

Linda Wagner, of Traverse City, likes this recipe that she says is a favorite from Katie Couric.

A new festival planned for August will celebrate the region's wine, food and art.

Jim Voltz reveals the secret to low-stress entertaining in his new cookbook, "Dinner on the Porch." Voltz trained at Le Cordon Bleu and has, for years, has hosted dinner parties on the porch of his Crystal Lake cottage. (Plus more food news from around the region.)

Today, daughter Elizabeth celebrated her 15th birthday. It doesn't seem possible that Elizabeth, our eldest child, is 15 already. As parents, Joe and I have a hard time seeing our children grow older. All we can do is hope and pray that life will be kind to them and that, most of all, they will always believe in their heavenly father.