If Joyce Parker were to list her favorite pastimes and hobbies, cooking wouldn’t be among them.

“Cooking has never been something I particularly enjoy,” Joyce says. “It’s just something that you do.”

It’s not surprising, then, that when she does head for the kitchen in her Marshall County home, Joyce’s goal is to get in and out of there in as little time as possible.

“I want recipes that are quick and easy,” she says. “But they’ve got to taste good, too.”

The recipes Joyce has put together for this month’s “Country Kitchen” fit all of those criteria. From main dishes to salads to desserts, these recipes will have you serving up wonderful entrees, salads and desserts in no time flat.

Joyce and her husband, Ted, have been married 40 years–or, as Joyce says, “all my life.” They reared three sons and a daughter on their farm in Grant.

“When the kids were all at home, I cooked three meals a day,” Joyce says.

But now that they’re grown and gone, that has changed.

“Now, it seems like I’m too busy to cook,” Joyce says.

With Joyce extremely involved in several projects in the community and Ted wrapped up with his cattle operation and construction business, “we’re just in and out now more than when the children were here,” Joyce says.

Fortunately, she made time to write down and pass along these favorite recipes.