This is a difficult time of year for me when I bake. I want fresh rhubarb, strawberries and blueberries (although the latter I usually buy frozen because I prefer Wyman’s frozen wild blueberries).

With no fresh fruit, I made two lemon loaf cakes from Ina Garten’s recipe. I took the cakes to meetings and they were eaten in no time. Loaf pans are easy to make and, unlike most cakes, require no frostings. In addition, once you follow the recipe (flour, sugar, butter, egg and liquid) you can add dried fruit, nuts, coconut or chocolate or cinnamon chips.

I also noticed that I have too many cartons of buttermilk and too many plastic bags of walnuts. So I made the date nut bread along with this delicious buttermilk sorbet. Imagine it as dessert with the date nut cake or the nut bread sliced with cream cheese and pineapple as a tasty lunch. The sorbet does, however, require an ice cream maker. Buy an inexpensive one, or borrow one from a friend.

Date Walnut Bread

2 cups flour

1 tablespoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (you may use ground if you don’t have fresh)

5 tablespoons light brown sugar

5 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 cup finely chopped walnuts (I use a small wooden bowl and a mezzaluna)

1 cup chopped pitted dates (I chop them with a little flour so they are not sticky)

1 egg

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9-inch loaf pan (I use Pam in the blue can).

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Add brown sugar and mix. Add nuts and dates and stir together. Beat together egg and milk and add to dry ingredients, along with butter. Blend just enough to moisten the mixture. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until top is cracked and a wooden skewer comes out dry. (I use these wooden skewers instead of toothpicks since the latter are too short to get to the bottom any bread or cake.) Cool slightly and invert onto a wire rack.

Buttermilk Sorbet

From Martha Stewart Living, February 2000, page 193

Makes 1 1/2 quarts

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 cups water

2 cups buttermilk

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Combine sugar in a medium saucepan with 2 cups water. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves completely, about 10 minutes. Increase heat, and bring just to a boil. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, combine sugar syrup with buttermilk and vanilla. Transfer mixture to an ice cream maker and

follow manufacturer’s instructions to freeze. When freezing is complete, transfer sorbet to an airtight container and place in freezer for at least 1 hour. Sorbet will keep, frozen for up to 2 weeks.

On the Side: Stone Acres Farm CSA

I stopped paying for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share years ago because I was tired of getting three weeks of bok choy in spring, too much summer squash in July and not enough corn or tomatoes in August.

But the CSA at Stone Acres has changed all that. You pay for 12 weeks ahead for produce available in June, July and August — from $10 to $100 per week — but you can choose whatever  produce you want at Stone Acres farmstead. I will buy a share at $40 a week — $480 for the whole summer — and my June, July and August will be peas, lettuces, tomatoes, sweet corn, cucumbers, peppers, beans and winter squash, all of which I love. And fresh farm eggs, too.

Stone Acres Farm, 393 North Main St., Stonington

stoneacres.com

Lee White lives in Groton. She can be reached at leeawhite@aol.com.