Good morning readers. Today we're passing on some requests from a recent conversation:

* Vegetarian salads for summertime

* Main-dish couscous salad

* Stewed fresh tomatoes made without sugar

* Unusual recipes for baked squash using yellow and zucchini squash

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I want to reiterate a reader's plea for exact amounts and sizes of ingredients. If you are prescribing a can or package, please give us ounces and specific sizes instead of something more general. Many of us just won't try a recipe that doesn't give us very specific instructions. Thank you for your help in this matter.

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Two sugar-free tea recipes arrived in my inbox, and both were highly recommended. Jay Branum wrote that "all of our boy's friends from college just rave about this tea. It is very simple to fix, made by the gallon and will disappear in no time."

Sugarless Sweet Tea

2 to 3 regular size tea bags

12 individual packets Sweet'N Low

1 small package Crystal Light lemonade flavor (one tube that makes 2 quarts)

Brew tea bags in a saucepan and let cool. Add Sweet'N Low to a gallon jar with tea. Add Crystal Light, then cool tea. Fill jar with water to make a gallon; stir and serve.

Dean Jackson got this recipe from her mother-in-law, Elois Jackson, who is 104 and still bakes her almond cake. Ms. Jackson wrote that she recommends "Watkins flavorings available at Access Drugstore in Hixson. Cultured buttermilk blended in powdered form for cooking and baking works well."

Elois Jackson's Almond Pound Cake

4 eggs, separated

2 cups sugar

1 cup Crisco

3 cups cake flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon soda

1 tablespoon vanilla flavoring

1 teaspoon lemon flavoring

1 teaspoon almond flavoring

Beat eggs with sugar and Crisco until creamy. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

Mix buttermilk with soda. Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk to creamed mixture until well mixed. Add flavorings. Beat egg whites and fold in last. Bake in a tube pan about 1 hour in a preheated 350 F oven. (Use toothpick to test for doneness.)

Ringgold's Pat Elrod sent this version of a sweet pie made with green tomatoes.

Green Tomato Pie

11/2 cups sugar

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch salt

4 or 5 thinly sliced green tomatoes

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Pastry for double-crust pie

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Add tomatoes and vinegar and mix well. Pour into a pie pan lined with 1 pie crust. Dot with butter. Top with a lattice crust made from the other pie crust. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour or until tomatoes are tender.

As promised, here are some fruit breads from Art Massingill's collection.

Lemon Bread

1 cup sugar

6 tablespoons butter, melted

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

11/2 cups flour, sifted

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup nuts, chopped

1 lemon peel, grated

Juice of 1 lemon

11/3 cups sugar

Cream together sugar and butter. Add eggs and milk. Alternate with dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt. Add nuts and lemon peel.

Bake at 350 F in a loaf pan. After baking an hour, pour the juice of the lemon mixed with the 11/3 cups sugar on top of loaf while still in the pan.

Tea Room Carrot Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour

11/2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

11/2 teaspoons salt

2 cups carrots, finely grated

11/4 cups nuts, chopped

1/2 cup flaked coconut

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

1 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 eggs, slightly beaten

Sift the flour, sugar, soda, cinnamon and salt together in a large bowl. Stir in the carrots. Add the nuts, coconuts and raisins and stir in the oil, vanilla and eggs.

Pour into a greased 9- by 3-inch loaf pan. Bake in a 350 F oven for 1 hour. Serves 12 to 14.

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A final request: Send us your favorite summer recipes. What are you making from what's available fresh in local produce stands?