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This week it’s all about lighter tasting food, full of flavor but done in a speedy fashion. Occasionally I’ve come across some delicious chef recipes from The Wall Street Journal’s column “Slow Food Fast.” The first two recipes take just 30 minutes to prepare.
 


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The temperature has either been above normal or extremely cold like it is today. Recently my local food store had broccoli crowns on sale. I was tempted to make Alison Roman’s Broccoli Cheddar soup which recently appeared in The New York Times; but I wanted something simpler. I have a very old recipe for Cream of Broccoli Soup that I clipped from “Gourmet Magazine” back in December 1993. The yield was a mere 4 cups, perfect amount for just my husband and I.
 
For the recipe you’ll need an onion, a carrot, mustard seeds, butter, fresh broccoli, chicken broth, water, fresh lemon juice and sour cream. As this recipe is almost 30 years old, I assuming that store bought broth was the norm back then and using some water for this recipe would cut down the salt. I prepared the recipe using some homemade chicken stock, Kitchen Basics stock along with water. The next time I make this, I’ll use all stock for a greater depth of flavor. If I have to purchase a boxed chicken stock, I prefer stock over broth based on the ingredient listing and how they obtain the chicken flavor. 
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When my five-year-old granddaughter was a few years younger, I told her I would take her and her family to Disney World. Last fall my daughter mentioned she was ready to bring her daughters, now five and two, to Disney. My husband and I already had our airline tickets for Florida, albeit they were booked just before COVID for a trip to Jacksonville to visit a friend. Fortunately, my husband booked our flights through American Express Travel and we had a credit that we could apply towards our new flights.
 
Next it was where to stay. A friend of mine used to travel to Disney when her children were younger and now goes with her sons and grandchildren. She suggested that we book our hotel stay through DVC Rental Store. This website matches Disney Vacation Club members that want to rent their DVC points to guests. There are over 15 exclusive DVC resorts from which to select. As we were traveling with young children, it was recommended that we stay at Bay Lake Tower, which is adjacent to the Contemporary Hotel. The plus side to staying here was that it was less than a 10-minute walk to the Magic Kingdom. I selected the two-bedroom villa. One room had two queen beds, a flat panel TV and en-suite bathroom. The second bedroom had a king size bed, a flat panel TV and en-suite bath. The living room had a flat panel TV, queen size sofa sleeper, an easy chair that became a single bed and a full bath in the main hallway. The other reason I selected to stay at here, was that the unit had a fully equipped kitchen so we could have breakfast in our room, a dishwasher, washer and dryer. I also found out that Bay Lake supplies a Mr. Coffee, along with several packs of coffee, creamer and sugar, dish soap, dishwasher detergent and laundry soap (no dryer sheets). Housekeeping came in several times to empty garbage’s and give us fresh towels. 
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Last week my husband and I took our daughter and her family to Disney World. We have two granddaughters, 5 and 2, and we wanted to take them for their first visit to see Mickey and friends. More about our trip in an upcoming post.
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We returned late last week and I’ve been finding lots of interesting recipes to share. One of the two recent recipes I was dying to make was Cacio e Pepe pasta. The recipe is from 177 Milk Street, a PBS food show by Christopher Kimball. On this show they demonstrated how to prepare a lump free sauce. Although the process seemed to go against tradition, I decided to give it a try. 
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With food prices on the rise, preparing home cooked food for your Super Bowl viewing party will save you money and perhaps give you some extra cash to purchase an extra square or two in the football pool.
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I’ve looked over my extensive recipe listing and have some ideas for your Super Bowl party. First on my list are some favorite appetizers such as hot dogs and bourbon, Mixed Antipasto is a great do ahead salad or Tomato Olive Focaccia. You can use the focaccia recipe as a starting point and add any type of toppings you desire. 
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After several gray days, I’m sitting in my sunny kitchen this afternoon recalling the delicious meal my husband and I had last night. I had recently come across The New York Times food contributor Ali Slagle’s recipe for Pork Chops with Kale and Dates. After reading comments from other cooks, this sounded like a good recipe. I still had a few remaining dates in my pantry from date nut bread that I made for a friend, pork chops in the freezer and rosemary sprigs left from the pasta the other evening; all I needed was kale. For the recipe you’ll also need salt, pepper, neutral oil, butter, fresh rosemary springs or sage leaves, either red wine or sherry vinegar and fresh garlic.
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Life would be uninteresting without a weekly serving of pasta. Between the shapes, fillings and sauces, there are limitless possibilities for a bowl of pasta. I have approximately 40 pasta recipes under this category on my website. This doesn’t include the one pot or one pan recipes for gnocchi.
 
Last week in The New York Times, food writer and cook book author, Melissa Clark, had a recipe for Buttery Lemon Pasta with Almonds and Arugula. My husband adores pasta in any shape or sauce for that matter. For this week’s pasta meal, I was intrigued by Melissa’s recipe. The combination of arugula, sliced almonds in a simple sauce made with pasta water infused with lemon juice and zest sounded enticing. ​
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Comfort food for my husband and I can mean a bowl of homemade soup, a dish of pasta or meatloaf. I normally make an all-beef meatloaf, but recently Kay Chun from The New York Times had a recipe that used, what else, a meatloaf blend.

When I was shopping the meat case at my local food stores I noticed one store’s meatloaf blend was a combination of ground beef and ground pork; the other used beef, pork and veal. What are the pros and cons of using just one type of ground meat versus a blend of either two or three. I visited the “Serious Eats” website and read an article by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, “The Food Lab's All-American Meatloaf Recipe,” with the following takeaway:
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I love to both cook and eat! My morning breakfast consists of low-fat Greek yogurt, fresh strawberries or blueberries and granola. Sometimes I munch on the granola when I’m hungry; this isn’t good. I store my Christmas cookies in our front storage attic where its dry and cold, thereby keeping them fresh longer. If you want a cookie, you’ll have to work for it. As of this week, I finished the granola. Breakfast will either be cereal or yogurt with fruit. I have reduced my cookie intake to one, or sometimes two cookies per day. I snacking on Honeycrisp apples when I desire something sweet.
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This past weekend I had a craving for risotto and recently caught an episode of America’s Test Kitchen where Elle Simone Scott demonstrated an easier method for making shrimp risotto; constant stirring wasn’t required.
 
For the recipe you’ll need 1-pound extra-large shrimp, table salt, vegetable oil, water, whole black peppercorns, bay leaves, unsalted butter, an onion, a fennel bulb, baking soda, minced fresh garlic, Arborio rice, dry white wine, Parmesan cheese, minced fresh chives, lemon zest and lemon juice. ​


​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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