Valerie Bertinelli hosts "Valerie's Home Cooking"

If you want to see what success looks like, look no further than Valerie Bertinelli. She's best known for her career as a TV actress, having starred in "One Day at a Time," "Touched by an Angel" and "Hot in Cleveland," but those varied shows are just a fraction of her claim to fame.

She's earned two Golden Globes for her acting, is a New York Times bestselling author and is a well-known advocate for healthy weight loss and lifestyles.

She's also an accomplished cook, and she loves to share her recipes, techniques and expertise in "Valerie's Home Cooking" -- a new season of her culinary series premiered just last weekend. Now airing Saturdays on Food Network, in the series she invites viewers at home to join her as she interacts with her friends, family and neighbors and shares the tried-and-true recipes that she loves most, along with some exciting new ones that she comes up with along the way.

In this week's episode, airing Saturday, Sept. 23, Valerie shares some of her sources of culinary inspiration. Like any cooking enthusiast, she finds inspiration almost everywhere she looks, including her local farm stand. She heads on down there this week to see what fresh local produce is available, and she doesn't leave disappointed.

Once she's home, she gets to work coming up with recipes using the ingredients she found at the stand. On the menu are a plum slab pie, a gratin made with the freshest summer vegetables, and a spicy cucumber salad with spiced yogurt sauce.

The summer heat calls for a cold drink, of course, and Valerie has something to fill that need, too: a boozy frozen espresso that's sure to get any coffee lover's mouth watering.

And that's really what "Valerie's Home Cooking" is all about: just a food-loving home cook who happens to be famous, preparing recipes that can find a home on any family's menu. Last week, she helped her Cub Scout nephew earn his cooking badge by working with him to prepare some kid-friendly recipes, and the rest of the season finds the actress doing what she loves best: cooking for her loved ones.

"Valerie's Home Cooking" airs Saturday mornings on Food Network.