The Cleveland Clinic says a balanced diet is eating a variety of nutritious, whole foods. They go on to further say “a good mix of foods, colors and macronutrients” will allow people to get the vitamins and nutrients their body needs. Okay, but can we throw in a delicious  cookie made with no processed ingredients?

I bake every week because a) store bought cookies lack flavor and b) life’s too short not to enjoy a sweet treat. Recently for my weekly cookie bake, I tried a recipe from King Arthur Flour for Marbled Chocolate Chip Cookies. For the recipe you’ll need light brown sugar, granulated sugar, vegetable shortening, table salt, baking soda, vanilla extract, almond extract, either cider or white vinegar, an egg, all-purpose flour, Dutch-processed cocoa, milk, white chocolate chips (mini or regular), and semi-sweet chips. As I prefer dark chocolate over white or milk chocolate, I used all dark chocolate chips.

For Mother’s Day 2016 my daughter gifted me my website, “Donna’s Daily Dish.” It was a way for me to move from posting recipes on Facebook to a more structured and professional setting. In the ten years that I have been cooking and posting my reviews, rarely do I prepare a dish a second time; sometimes it could be years before I make it again. The other thing that happens is when my husband tries to recall a recipe he particularly liked and then can’t remember the name of the dish.  We both struggle to recall its ingredients and when I made a dish so to narrow down my search.

This latest review of recipes covers shrimp, pasta, pork chops and cookies. The first recipe review is a recipe from Sue Li and her recipe for Sautéed Shrimp and Lemon Caper Dressing found on The New York Times webpage, NYT Cooking. For the recipe you’ll need olive oil, lemon juice, two thinly pieces of lemon, dill, fresh garlic, a pound of shrimp and crushed red pepper. This dish involves 15 minutes of prep and 15 minutes of cooking; perfect for quick summer night suppers.

Finally, a beautiful weekend at the shore. The last few weeks have been cloudy and cool. On those days, I look forward to meals that warm you up, especially with our heat turned off for the season. I had a beautiful New York Strip steak from Perotti’s Quality Meats in Cranford, NJ. While I normally just season my steak with salt and grill, this time I tried something different. I had a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen for Chili Rubbed Flank Steak. I swapped the flank steak for the New York strip. For the rub you’ll need chili powder, ground cumin, ground coriander, kosher salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes and cinnamon.

Once I had the spice blend made, it was time to rub on both sides of the steak. I coated them about an hourahead of time and let them come to room temperature before cooking. I grilled the steak outside for about six to seven minutes per side or until the internal temperature reached between 130° and 135°. 

A few months ago, my son-in-law sent me an Instagram reel of almond croissant cookies. I just love almond croissants by themself, but this version in a smaller portion sounded appealing. After doing a Google search and comparing recipes and backgrounds of those posting, I decided to try Ryan Nordheimer’s recipe from his namesake website.

Some of the recipes I viewed had almond filling encased in cookie dough with almond slices pressed on to the top of the cookie. Others made the cookies with almond filling piped into a well in the center of the cookie and topped with sliced almonds. Mr. Nordheimer’s recipe had the almond filling encased in dough.

For the recipe you’ll need almond flour, granulated sugar, eggs, unsalted butter, rum (or vanilla extract), almond extract, powderedsugar, baking soda, kosher salt, all-purpose flour and sliced almonds.

The calendar says spring and  it poked its head out occasionally earlier this month, even a touch of summer. However, meals that warm us are still comforting.

I had two pork chops out for dinner one day and was searching for an easy, but

delicious recipe. I found on The New York Times/NYT Cooking app a recipe

by Kay Chun for Herb-Marinated Pork Chops. This recipe had a 15-minute prep and

a cook time of just 25 minutes, wonderful. The twist on this recipe is that the

pork chops are marinated after they are cooked. For the recipe you’ll

need extra-virgin olive oil, pitted green olives, minced shallot, lemon juice,

chopped fresh parsley, minced garlic, dried oregano, fresh thyme, salt, pepper

and pork chops no thicker than 1/4-inch thick. 

I love a challenge, especially when it comes to cooking. My proudest moments are

when I made porchetta style turkey breast or Tortellini

Mantovani with Pumpkin. My son-in-law asked me to replicate

a cookie that his late grandmother would make at Easter. After describing the

cookie, and conferring with his father for additional input, it gave me enough

information to begin my search. Luckily, I didn’t have to dig too deep as I was

familiar with the cookie he was after.

I opened a recipe box that I had from my late aunt. As a single woman, she baked

and  cooked infrequently, but her box

contains recipes for cookies, sauces and Italian specialty recipes. Among those

were Ricotta Cheese Cookies, which was the cookie my son-in-law was recalling

from his childhood..

There are some nights when I don’t feel like preparing a multi-step recipe. Nights like those, I appreciate a recipe by Dan Pelosi from The New York Times/NYT Cooking and his 40-minute meal for Creamy Tuscan Chicken. This is his riff on a combination of Chicken Florentine and Marry Me Chicken. For the recipe you’ll need boneless and skinless chicken breasts, salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil, butter, cherry or other small tomatoes, an onion or shallot, garlic, chicken stock, dried or fresh oregano, fresh or dried basil, heavy cream, Parmesan cheese and baby spinach.

The recipe begins by seasoning the chicken with salt and pepper followed by a quick sauté just to get the meat golden brown on both sides, but not cooked through. The chicken is removed from the pan and set aside.

I was telling my husband last night, that I was behind in my blogging. I had to ask him about recent meals and what we thought about them. Luckily, there weren’t any duds where we say “Let’s not make that one again.” Overall, the recipes I’m going to review below, we enjoyed. His only suggestion on two of the dishes were that they needed more sauce. My husband is a sauce guy, much like my late father. They like their pasta dressed with a few spoonsful of extra tomato sauce.

First up is Crispy Baked Tomato-Oregano Chicken by Yasmin Fahr on the NYT Cooking website. This 40-minute recipe made for juicy chicken albeit not enough sauce for my husband. For her recipe you’ll need full-fat yogurt, tomato paste, soy sauce, dried oregano, boneless and skinless chicken thighs (you can use chicken cutlets), salt, cherry or grape tomatoes, olive oil, Parmesan cheese and panko bread crumbs. You can also add some red pepper flakes, which is what I did. The chicken, which is cut into 2-inch pieces, is coated with a marinade of yogurt, tomato paste, soy sauce and oregano. The tomatoes are cut in half and placed in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish then dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper and spread to an even layer. Atop the tomatoes are the chicken pieces. The dish is sprinkled with Parmesan cheese, additional oregano and a layer of panko. It’s baked in a hot 425° oven for 20-25 minutes for the cutlets or 22 to 25 for thighs. 

Recently I had some beautiful pork chops that I picked up at Perrotti’s Quality Meats in Cranford, NJ. I came across a recipe from Ali Slagle in the NYT Cooking app for Skillet Pork Chops and Apples with Miso Caramel. Doesn’t that sound delicious? I had a difficult time finding white miso, but was able to locate a small five-ounce patch at my local Trader Joe’s. Beside the pork chops, you’ll need light brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, white miso, salt, black pepper, a neutral oil and a Granny Smith or other tart apple. As a bonus, this is a 30-minute recipe, perfect for a weeknight family meal.

The recipe starts by seasoning the pork with salt and a generous amount of pepper (this aides in balancing the sweetness of the caramel). For the caramel sauce you’ll need, water, brown sugar, vinegar and miso; set this aside. 

My sheet pan got a work out recently with two new recipes that I found and tried from The New York Times/NYT Cooking app. I love this app as it gives you access to recipes from a variety of chef/recipe developers. Sheet-Pan Shrimp Oreganata is from Anna Francese Gass. The Sheet-Pan Chicken with Black Beans and Squash is from Ali Slagle.

If you live at the Jersey shore on South Concourse in Neptune City, NJ, a family owned business called Jersey Shore Lobster Brothers, sells fresh catch lobsters, day boat scallops, shrimp and lobster tails from a boat docked at the marina (look for flag “Lobsters”). I was dying to try the shrimp oreganata recipe for dinner. For the recipe you’ll need unsalted butter, 1-1/2 pounds large tail-on shrimp (peeled and deveined), extra-virgin olive oil, kosher salt such as Diamond Crystal, freshly ground black pepper, a lemon, dried breadcrumbs, flat leaf parsley, fresh garlic cloves, dried oregano and white wine.