Summer only comes once a year. Make it count.

Summer days and weekends are best spent outside. That''s when cooks look for recipes that can be easily prepared and served at the cottage or at home, in the country or in the city.

Those recipes and more are all right here, in Best Summer Weekends Cookbook. This edition combines the best of the popular Summer Weekend Cookbook and More Summer Weekends Cookbook and adds seventy-five new recipes. Whether entertaining neighbors or guests staying for the weekend, cooking for the family, or hosting a once-a-summer everybody come gathering, this compendium will become an indispensable kitchen companion, and at 352 pages, it is a superb resource.

Recipe sections include:

• Appetizers, starters and sundown snacks
• Fresh barbecuing ideas
• Salads and side dishes
• Make-ahead main courses
• Light bites
• Breakfast and brunch
• Sweet stuff and desserts.

Each recipe also has ideas for variations and substitutions for those times you don''t have a particular ingredient on hand. Make-ahead tips reduce kitchen work so you can enjoy your guests'' company. The appetizing color photographs will make it hard to resist trying every dish. A new collection of Quick Tricks will help you produce fabulous dishes fast.