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Life has gotten in the way of my blogging and I have neglected to share some of the recipes of images I posted on Instagram stories.
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We vacationed in Nags Head, NC during Easter week. We arrived on Easter Sunday, my sister-in-law graciously hosted 13 of us for dinner. For the children she had homemade chicken nuggets, but for the adults she made End of Summer Supper, or better known as a shrimp boil. The dish is easy to prepare and can be made outside on the grill or in the oven. The recipe feeds 12 people using the following: 12 ears of corn, 3 packages of smoked sausage, 3 pounds baby new potatoes (bite size ones), 3-1/2 or more shrimp (peeled or not). The shrimp boil can be prepared a day ahead and kept refrigerated until ready. They potatoes need to be boiled until just tender, but not over cooked. You add clams if you wish. For seasoning my sister-in-law used both Old Bay and Chesapeake Bay Seasoning. I found Chesapeake Bay seasoning at “The Spice & Tea Exchange,” with locations located throughout the country or available by mail order. They carry spices, spice blends, teas, sweeteners, salts and accessories. 
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​It’s warm enough at the Jersey shore to begin planting herbs in the garden that can be used all season long with my weekly CSA ingredients. This year again, my daughter and I are splitting a medium size box from Dreyer Farms in Cranford, NJ. The produce in the first week box included a four pack of lettuce, asparagus, spinach, leeks, beets, Swiss chard, lettuce, kale and mushrooms.
 
My husband, though not Italian, adores having pasta once a week; preferably with red sauce. It was with a bit of hesitation that I decided to use two ingredients from my CSA share to make Alexa Weibel’s recipe for Creamy Swiss Chard Pasta with Leeks, Tarragon and Lemon Zest.  Besides the Swiss chard and leeks, you’ll also need unsalted butter, panko bread crumbs, kosher salt, black pepper, nutritional yeast, fresh garlic, fresh thyme, chicken or vegetable stock, heavy cream, fettuccine or linguine, Parmesan cheese, fresh tarragon and a lemon. 
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Recently Atlantic Offshore Fishery, in Point Pleasant, NJ, had a special on artic char fish. It’s a cold-water fish that goes between freshwater and salt water. Although both artic char and salmon share similar habitats, artic char lives much further north than salmon. Artic char is a mild fish with a skin that crisps up well when cooked.

I found on “The Spruce Eats” website, a recipe for Grilled Arctic Char with Honey-Dijon Marinade. Besides the fish, you’ll need Dijon mustard, honey, olive oil, garlic, fresh thyme, sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and fresh lemons.

The mustard, honey, oil, garlic, thyme, lemon juice, salt and pepper are combined into a marinade for the fish. Your grill is preheated and the grates oiled. You can do this with grill tongs using several sheets of paper towels folded and dipped into either grape seed, or other high smoke point oil, and coat the grates. The fish begins cooking skin side down for 3 to 5 minutes, turned, and cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 145°.

This was a lovely meal. The fish was light and delicate tasting. The marinade gave the fish a wonderful flavor which wasn’t overpowering. Overall, a delicious meal.
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Back in 2016, I was posting recipes that I prepared on my Facebook page.  My daughter thought that instead of posting on Facebook,  I should have a website, hence for Mother’s Day 2016 “Donna’s Daily Dish” was created. I can’t believe that eight years has passed. Donna’s Daily Dish also has an Instagram and Bio Link page promoting family friendly meals. My mission with this website was to inspire people to prepare easy, everyday meals at home. Some may be a little more involved, but those are recipes you’ll prepare on a weekend or special occasion.
 
Recently, I decided to make fresh pasta. I have a manual pasta machine that my late aunt purchased for my mother to make ribbon cookies. I looked through my cook books by Marcella Hazan and Arthur Schwartz for recipes, but settled on a recipe by Lidia Bastianich. For her recipe you’ll need all-purpose flour, eggs, extra-virgin olive oil and ice water. ​
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Recently in The New York Times Cooking app and several times in my Facebook feed, a recipe appeared  by Yossy Arefi for Chocolate Doughnut Muffins. I finally gave in and purchased the ingredients to make them. I figured my husband and I would try them, then give the rest to our grandchildren. The best thing about these doughnuts is they don’t require a doughnut pan or deep frying, just a 12-cup muffin pan. As I was mainly making these for my granddaughters as a school snack, I used mini muffin pans for the perfect two bite snack.
 
For the recipe you’ll need unsalted butter, eggs, granulated sugar, sour cream, vegetable or canola oil, freshly grated nutmeg, kosher salt, Dutch-process cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, all-purpose flour and ground cinnamon.
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Yes, twice this week my poor husband had to suffer through eating a new pasta dish and pizza that didn’t include red sauce. Fear not, he eats well, in fact, he really enjoyed the Creamy One-Pot Mushroom and Leek Pasta and Flatbread Pizza with Ricotta, Marinated Artichokes and Herbs.
 
The pasta recipe is from Hetty Lui McKinnon of The New York Times and the ingredients aside from the ones mentioned in the title are olive oil, fresh garlic, mixed mushrooms (cremini, shiitake or oyster), a lemon, short pasta (orecchiette , cavatappi, gemelli or penne), vegetable stock, unsalted butter, fresh parsley, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, whole-milk ricotta and red pepper flakes. I purchased pre-packaged assorted mushrooms that included white, shiitake and baby Bella mushrooms and for the pasta, cavatappi.
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​Our family recently returned from a week on the Outer Banks. The weather was delightful, so much in fact, my grandchildren made it to the beach a few times. However, towards the end of our stay, the sun was out, but the wind was blowing strong. Even on Saturday as I sat in my kitchen, I can hear the wind blowing lending a chill to the air.
 
However, I’m trying to bring some springtime into my cooking and did that this week with two one pan meals. The recipes are from “Southern Living Magazine,” One-Pan Chicken with Lemon, Olives and Artichokes and the other Skillet Pork Tenderloin with Apples. 
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​This year my husband wanted to have a family reunion with his two sisters and their families on the Outer Banks, North Carolina. We haven’t seen some of our relatives for several years since a last wedding or funeral and selected Easter week for our reunion.
 
On Easter Sunday, my husband’s sister, Karen, and husband hosted a gathering of 17. Karen prepared a seafood bake using shrimp, smoked sausage, corn, potatoes and onions seasoned with both Old Bay and Chesapeake Bay seasoning. I didn’t get a picture of this, but take my word, it was absolutely delicious. She made it in the oven, but if her grill was large enough for the pan she used, it would have been done outside. She prepped the potatoes and onions ahead of time, then on Easter Sunday added the shrimp (clams can be added too), sausage, corn and baked covered in the oven. (Recipe is coming soon.)
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​I’ve been trying to write this latest blog post for over a week. I was unexpectedly called upon to babysit my grandson, who was home from daycare for a few days, and preparing for an upcoming family reunion that my entire family will attend.
 
I love bread in all forms, chewy and crusty or warm biscuits from the oven. Recently in The New York Times, contributing food writer, Eric Kim, came across the irresistible Buttermilk Sugar Biscuits from Briana Holt of Tandem Coffee + Bakery in Portland, Maine. The recipe is on The New York Times website NYTCooking, where Eric has both the recipe and video on the process. Some of the tips he offered to replicate the same outcome as the bakery was to shave cold butter with a microplane; then chill it in the freezer for ten minutes. He also demonstrated how the dough is folded over to create the flakey layers.
 
For the recipe you’ll need unsalted butter, all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, kosher salt and cold buttermilk. Using a wooden spoon, I tossed the butter with the flour making sure it was evenly coated and not clumped together. The buttermilk is mixed in two steps to evenly hydrate the flour. To make the dough come together, there are specific, yet easy to follow steps. The process involves placing the loose dough on a floured surface, pressing the crumbs together and using a bench scraper to fold the dough over 5 times and rolling after each fold. You can view Briana Holt’s video or Eric Kim’s on YouTube for free.
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It’s been seven months since I decided to retire. I’d bounced around part time jobs since 2015 working in retail sales, a tea barista, counter/kitchen person and lastly as an in-store shopper for a major food retailer.
 
I don’t do sitting still too well, I have a daily to do list of things I want to accomplish. As I love to cook, each meal becomes a challenge to find new and delicious recipes for my husband and I to try. Not every dish is a winner, but those are far and few between. This past week we had Maple-Chile Pork Roast, a recipe found in The Wall Street Journal’s weekend edition and two recipes from “Southern Living Magazine” for Pepper-Jelly Glazed Chicken Wings and Chicken Schnitzel with Cabbage-Carrot Slaw. ​


​meet donna

A former teacher, shop-a-holic, empty-nester redefining quick, family approved dinners.

​If you have questions or comments, click on the envelope icon above to contact me directly. 

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