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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. ​
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I recently found a wonderful recipe in “Southern Living Magazine” for Three-Bean Beef Chili. The recipe leans toward more beans and less beef. For the recipe, you’ll need olive oil, yellow onions, poblano chiles, ground sirloin, ancho chili powder, ground cumin, smoked paprika, kosher salt, ground coriander, dried oregano, no-salt tomato paste, fresh garlic, no salt added beans (black, pinto and dark red), fire-roasted tomatoes and water. For toppings, they suggest whole-milk yogurt, shredded cheese, cilantro leaves, sliced radishes and lime wedges. For the beef, I opted for grass-fed instead of 90/10 ground beef, which is a bit more expensive and a splurge for us.
 
The chili, from start to finish, takes approximately 45 minutes to prepare. I made sure I measured out all my dry ingredients, opened all cans and chopped all the vegetables before starting. It made the process easier and I didn’t forget any ingredients. ​
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​Sunday’s, I spend planning my meals for the week based on what I have on hand and what needs to be purchased.  Lately, I have been purchasing family packs of pork tenderloin, boneless, skinless chicken breast and bone-in split chicken breasts then breaking them down into smaller packages.
 
I have approximately a dozen cook books, and lots of recipes either clipped from magazines, newspapers or found on the internet from other food bloggers or cooking shows. Last week’s recipes came from three different cookbooks. The first recipe, Sautéed Spice Beef Cutlets,  was from “Lidia’s Italy,” by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali. For the recipe you’ll need a 2-1/2-pound slab of top round or other lean boneless beef, coarse sea salt or kosher salt, softened butter, fresh Italian parsley, all-purpose flour, eggs, fresh garlic, freshly ground black pepper, cinnamon, ground cloves and extra-virgin olive oil.
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It’s been a busy week baking healthy muffins with my three-year-old granddaughter, delicious one pot meals, and another recipe for baked oatmeal.
 
My granddaughter was glued to an iPad when I arrived the other morning. In order to direct her attention to something else, she was agreeable to help me bake some Healthy Chocolate Chip Muffins, a recipe my daughter found on the website Yummy Toddler Food. Both she and her sister love the packaged mini muffins, but these are a healthier version. Instead of white flour we used whole wheat, swapped butter for applesauce (recipe calls for butter) and added Greek yogurt. Also, for the recipe you’ll need baking powder, baking soda, salt, maple syrup, eggs, vanilla extract and chocolate chips

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Back in 2008, if you wanted to elicit a wedding proposal from someone, you’d make them a Roast Chicken. Apparently late last year, there was a buzz on TikTok for a recipe called “Marry Me Chicken.” In 2016, an editor at the website “Delish” was videotaped creating a recipe for Tuscan-style chicken. At the end of the video her producer says, “I’d marry you for that chicken;” hence the Tuscan dish had a new name. The Italian food importer Delallo thinks the name comes from how well the ingredients “marry together” when incorporated into this dish. There are quite a few versions of this recipe on line, but I decided to follow a recipe by Naz Deravian from The New York Times.  
 
For Marry Me Chicken you’ll need boneless skinless, chicken breasts, kosher salt, black pepper, all-purpose flour, extra-virgin olive oil, unsalted butter, fresh garlic, tomato paste, dried oregano, red-pepper flakes, chicken stock, heavy cream, grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese,  sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil and fresh basil for serving. ​
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​This week’s cooking adventures offered some delicious one pot/one pan meals. First was a recipe from the website “The Modern Proper” for Spinach and Artichoke Chicken Skillet. My husband thought we had this dish before, however, it’s a similar concept done by Sarah DiGregorio of The New York Times/Here to Help column for her recipe Creamy Spinach-Artichoke Chicken Stew.
 
For the recipe you’ll need boneless, skinless chicken breasts, kosher salt, extra-virgin olive oil, fresh garlic, salted butter, all-purpose flour, chicken stock, whole milk, cream cheese, fresh spinach, fresh or dried  basil, can of artichoke hearts and Parmesan cheese.
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Recently I was at a local food store when I spotted in their meat case a small pork shoulder perfect size for pulled pork for two people. While I have a vinegar based slow cooker recipe that I’ve been making for years, I found a recipe on the New York Times Cooking app for Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork by Margaux Laskey. She says she’s viewed pulled pork recipes online that call for a dark cola such as Dr. Pepper or root beer. This is the first that I’ve heard of this, but apparently it’s added because as it cooks infuses the pork with sweetness through caramelization. So, would you prefer a pulled pork with sweetness or tartness?
 
Here’s what I discovered on the website “Eat This, Not That” in their article “The 6 Types of Southern Barbecue in the US-and What Exactly Makes Them Different.” There’s the Eastern North Carolina style which is basting the meat in a vinegar-based sauce. Western North Carolina likes a barbecue sauce that has tomato or ketchup mixed in. South Carolina is the same as Eastern North Carolina but adds black pepper, salt and cayenne to their vinegar mixture. East Texas prefers barbecue marinated in a sweet tomato-based sauce, with South Texas using molasses in theirs. Alabama, uses a white mayonnaise sauce with a bit of tang. ​
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I’m just getting under the wire for Valentine’s Day recipes. Luckily, the ones I’ve made that I recently made take very little time and a bit of shopping.
 
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and what better way to start off the morning than with an easy to prepare Dutch Baby pancake.  You could make the batter the night before and remix Wednesday morning while you’re preheating the oven.  For this recipe you’ll need eggs, flour, milk, granulated sugar, nutmeg, unsalted butter and to bring it over the top, Woodford Reserve Bourbon cherries. I ordered mine from Walmart, but discovered that Total Wine in Eatontown, NJ as well as Amazon carries it. Contact or visit your favorite liquor store to see if they carry them.
 
The batter goes into a preheated oven proof pan (I used a cast iron fry pan) for 15-20 minutes. Before serving I dusted the pancake with powdered sugar and several cherries with bourbon syrup, delicious!


​meet donna

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

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