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If you’ve ever tried to make ice cream at home, you know it’s pretty easy – just combine the ingredients in an electric ice cream maker, churn and freeze. The same simple directions also apply to making frozen yogurt, says Kody Harris, chef/owner of Fresko Mediterranean Kitchen.

Keeping with Fresko’s Mediterranean theme, Harris whips up a batch of tahini frozen yogurt that her guests are wild about. “Even though tahini is a savory ingredient, once it’s added to the yogurt with a little bit of sugar, it’s got kind of a peanut butter flavor,” she says.

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If you missed National Fried Chicken Day (July 6) and didn’t get a chance to feast on fabulous fowl, don’t fret: Lo-Lo’s Chicken & Waffles is celebrating all month by offering a free side dish for the table with the purchase of any “Hood Classics” meal.

But if you’d rather try making your own, Larry White, the Valley's king of fried chicken and founder of Lo-Lo’s Chicken & Waffles, has rustled up a variation of his secret fried chicken recipe.

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If you’re looking for a quick summer dish to serve at your next barbecue, chef Michael Goldsmith of Joe’s Midnight Run shares a flavorful chicken recipe that he also makes at the funky restaurant housed in an old liquor drive-thru on 7th Street. The secret to the dish is the Ras el Hanout, a Moroccan spice mixture of cinnamon, clove, coriander and a few other ingredients, which Goldsmith says you can pick up at Mediterranean markets across the Valley. (Or, here's a recipe on Epicurious.) “I like to try to get out of the box a little bit and incorporate flavors from around the world and keep them as traditional as possible,” Goldsmith says. The recipe also includes a couscous salad and a tangy yogurt dip and can be served as an appetizer or entrée.

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When the mercury rises, many Valley restaurants bust out lighter menus to entice customers to brave the heat and dine out. At Grimaldi’s Pizzeria, they’ve introduced a strawberry spinach salad that goes well with pizza, says Grimaldi’s Corporate Chef Cory Lattuca. The vinaigrette is made with real strawberries rather than an extract or syrup, which “gives the dressing a nice color and some structure,” he says. “It’s a great summer salad.”

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When Executive Chef Chuck Wiley designed the breakfast menu for Hearth ’61 at the sparkly-new Mountain Shadows Resort in Paradise Valley, he looked for some healthy options. "Breakfast is usually so unhealthy and I wanted to put a different spin on it," he says. An unabashed grain lover, Wiley decided on a multigrain pancake. “I like food with texture.”

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Making pizza from scratch requires some serious kitchen skills, but there are plenty of shortcuts you can take to make it easier, including buying prepared dough and bottled sauce. Fred Morgan, owner of one Valley-based Fired Pie locations, offers up a recipe for pesto chicken pizza that you can modify with ingredients purchased from your local grocery store.