Lovins' secret is zest for life

Linda Lovins shows us a way to use our summer vegetable bounty from the garden to create light, delectible dishes seasoned with fresh herbs. Her versatile oven-roasted vegetable dish (lower right) combines all the vegetables that the individual cook likes. The hor d'ovres make use of fresh basil leaves and sun dried tomatoes. [Click to enlarge]

Linda Lovins reports that she doesn't "bound out of bed" anymore, but it's hard to imagine someone with more energy and love of life than this dazzling lady .

"Life is too precious to sit in your own squalor!" insists this widow of one year. Linda should know. She has lost two husbands to cancer. At 61, she has already lived the equivalent of several lives, and she shows no signs of giving up now. This grandmother of five is the perfect example of the philosophy, "You can pick up and go again."

Lovins uses her considerable cooking skills to fill her life with good friends and family. Thirteen years ago, she had the idea that she wanted to convert her house into a Bed and Breakfast, so that's just what she did. The rambling, multi-layered home has several living areas, with bedrooms and living rooms around each corner.

Husband Darrell Lovins helped Linda in her enterprise and enjoyed it as much as she did. She recounts one particular moment when they were hosting an intimate dinner party for a young couple. They looked down the hall to see the young man on one knee, proposing to his speechless girlfriend. Joyous moments such as these have stuck with Linda Lovins over the years and helped make the Bed and Breakfast experience a special one for her. The people she meets become family.

As if the hostelry business and her job with Dr. Minton's dentist's office weren't enough to keep her busy, Lovins is continuing with a dream that she and Darrell began several years ago. They wanted to build a cabin in the wilderness, a retreat, where they could invite friends and family to share in the joys of the outdoors. They found this rural haven in a little-developed region of Wayne County, where they built the cabin. Darrell spent hours with grandson Joseph, building an observation tower and planting food plots for the deer, but he didn't live to see the cabin finished.

Most widows would undoubtedly sell such an unfinished project, but Linda is pushing on, hoping for a special place to leave her children and grandchildren.

The French have a word for it - joie de vivre - "joy of life." Whether it's the cooking of good food, a 5:30 a.m. walk with friend Becky, an informal dinner party for her close group of widows and singles, or a quiet evening at her cabin, Linda Lovins' joie de vivre is what keeps her going. Like the blue birds which have congregated at her house throughout the last year, Linda Lovins is herself is a symbol of the happiness that can be gained through a positive outlook on life.

She shares with our readers several simple recipes for using the bounty of our summer gardens. The vegetables take on a mildly spicy flavor as they roast in the oven, giving the garden produce a Mediterranean appeal. Two recipes are marvelous to serve as hors d'oeuvres.

hors d'oeuvres:

Toasted French bread brushed with olive oil

Basil leaf

roasted red pepper

sun-dried tomato

parmesan cheese

Oven roasted vegetables:

Ingredients:

cabbage

yellow squash

zucchini

celery

onion - green and/or Videlia

green pepper and red pepper

turnip

green beans

carrots fresh corn

portabella mushroom

asparagus

broccoli

frozen green peas

Seasoning:

garlic powder

oregano

crushed red pepper flakes - just a few

basil

Morton Natures Seasons accent

sugar - about 3/4 tsp

salt and fresh ground pepper

This is a very forgiving dish. You may add or delete any vegetable you don't care for. The same is true of the seasonings. Line a cookie sheet with foil for easy clean up. Coat the prepared vegetables lightly with olive oil - then sprinkle with herbs and seasonings. Toss well. Put all on cookie sheet and bake in 375 degree oven for approximately 30 minutes, until the more dense vegetables are fork tender. Stir and toss the vegetables about every 7-8 minutes while roasting. Add the more tender vegetables last, during the last 8 minutes of cooking time.

Fried yellow squash hors d'oeuvres::

Slice, roll in 1/2 flour and 1/2 corn meal mixture, with salt and pepper. Fry in oil with about 1 tablespoon bacon drippings. Add shredded pepper jack cheese to sour cream and a sprinkle of Beau Monde seasoning. Dollop the sour cream mixture on the fried squash slices.