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Growing up in north Jersey, there was a local bakery, on Stephens Avenue in Little Falls, whose name I can’t recall, that had the most delicious baked goods. Offerings included marble loaf cake with walnuts, lemon filled coconut buns, honey buns and crumb buns.

Over the years I had come to like a particular type of crumb cake. I don’t like an overly moist or soft cake, but prefer one that’s chewy, yet tender, and a crumb topping that isn’t overly sweet. Also, there has to be a higher ratio of crumb topping to cake.
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Recently, I came across a tasty sounding recipe that was in The New York Times newspaper. The recipe, Grilled Chicken with Tomatoes and Corn, is from Ali Slagle. If you enjoy Jersey tomatoes, this recipe utilizes them along with fresh corn, boneless chicken thighs, extra-virgin olive oil, chili powder, kosher salt, red onion and fresh oregano leaves. The recipe comes together in 30 minutes.
 
This recipe calls for uncooked corn kernels. After reading other readers comments, I decided to blanch my corn for a mere minute. I also used boneless, skinless, chicken breasts in lieu of thighs and seasoned them about an hour ahead of cooking. One suggestion from the comments I decided to follow was to do a quick pickle of the sliced red onions. ​
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​I love zucchini for its adaptiveness to both sweet and savory recipes. Last summer I made Ali Slagle’s recipe for Chicken-Zucchini Meatballs with Feta. You can’t go wrong with Lidia Bastianich’s recipe for Lemony Shrimp Over Zucchini either. For sweet recipes, Gourmet Magazine’s Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake or Jerrelle Guy’s yummy Zucchini Muffins with Cinnamon Crunch Topping are wonderful.
 
Recently my daughter sent me a recipe for Creamy Zucchini Pasta, a recipe she found on the website The Proper Modern.  This delightful recipe takes a handful of ingredients and turns them into a luscious cream sauce that doesn’t rely on an overabundance of butter or cream. The addition of pasta cooking water helps extend the richness of the sauce. Besides the zucchini you’ll need shallots, fresh garlic, Parmesan cheese, fresh basil leaves, heavy cream and pasta cooking water. The recipe calls for a ½ cup of pasta water. I suggest reserving two cups as additional water made be needed to adjust the sauce to the consistency you prefer. Also, I like to use the pasta water when reheating leftovers in the microwave.
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​My son’s birthday was in January and he loves chocolate éclairs.  I found a recipe for Classic Chocolate Éclairs by Samantha Senevirate in The New York Times. In my first attempt, I used a stainless-steel cake decorating tool with poor results. Now, my granddaughter was turning two and I thought this was the perfect time for a second attempt. I was off to Shore Cake Supply in Ocean Township, NJ to select better tools, disposable piping bags and a large star piping tip.
 
For the recipe you’ll need:
 
Custard: eggs, granulated sugar, cornstarch, kosher salt, whole milk, heavy cream, a vanilla bean and unsalted butter.
 
 
 Pâte à Choux: unsalted butter, granulated sugar, salt, all-purpose flour and eggs.
 
Chocolate Glaze: heavy cream, kosher salt, bittersweet chocolate and corn syrup.
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​I enjoy preparing recipes that appear in Southern Living Magazine. The recipes are well tested, a diverse offering and turn out well when I prepared. One such recipe that I tore from their magazine appeared in the May 2021 issue, Seared Steak-and-Field Pea Salad. This is a wonderful one pan meal. I was unsure as to what field peas were, but discovered it could be a bean. Field peas include speckled butter beans, crowders, pink-eyed peas, butter beans and lady cream peas. This clarifies what I was seeing in the image from the magazine.


For this recipe you’ll need brown sugar, white balsamic or white wine vinegar, olive oil, flank steak, field peas, kosher salt, fresh corn, orange and red bell peppers, black pepper, fresh chives and flaky sea salt. Although this recipe calls for flank steak, I thought I would try flat iron steak which was on sale last week at my local ShopRite.
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​I don’t care how hot the weather may be; I still bake a batch of cookies each week. In fact, this week, I baked two batches. On a recent episode of America’s Test Kitchen, Bridget Lancaster did a demonstration of a cookie called Baci di Dama, Lady’s Kisses. These hazelnut sandwich cookies have just a smidge of dark chocolate holding the two halves together.
 
For the recipe you’ll need hazelnuts, all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, cornstarch, salt, unsalted butter, vanilla extract and bittersweet chocolate chips. I did find a recipe on pastry chef David Lebovitz’s website for Baci di Dama. Mr. Lebovitz got his recipe from Terresa Murphy. Her recipe calls for rice flour or white flour. The rice flour he says, makes for a crispier cookie. 



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As I head out the door for qigong this morning, my husband asks, “What’s for supper?” I reply, “I don’t know.” I have a bunch of recipe clippings sitting in my notebook on the kitchen table. Later on, I peruse a few, review the weekly specials at Whole Foods and decide on Spicy Shrimp and Chickpea Salad. Off to Whole Foods and disappointment. It seems they ran out of the Shell-On White Shrimp 10-15 count over the weekend. The fishmonger said he requested more, but his order wasn’t refilled. This is the second time this has happened to me where specially priced items are not available until the end of the sale week. Lesson learned, don’t wait until the final day of the sale. 
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The inevitable summer dilemma is what to cook when the weather turns unbearable. Whether your house is air conditioned or not, cooking during heat kitchen isn’t very motivating. Let me share with you some recipes that may inspire you and keep your kitchen cool.
 
Back in May I shared with you a recipe I found at Southern Living Magazine for Sesame Shrimp Stir-Fry. Two Ali Slagle recipes are great one pot meals such as Shrimp Scampi with Orzo or Summer Shrimp Scampi with Tomatoes and Corn. While shrimp requires a short time to cook, so does pork tenderloin. Lidia Bastianich’s recipe for Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic Onions. Moving from on from shrimp and pork, how about Quick Jambalaya from Vallery Lomas of The New York Times. 
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​Do you ever find yourself standing in front of the meat case at your local market waiting for inspiration to hit? Or do you open your freezer door thinking, “What can I make for supper?” I had that happen to me recently when I couldn’t think of what to cook on a hot, steamy night.
 
We have a subscription to The New York Times and I subscribe to their newsletter NYT Cooking. The variety of contributors to the newsletter is quite diverse and the recipes reflect this. In Sunday’s July 17th newsletter, “What to Cook This Week,” there was a recipe by Ali Slagle for Chicken Parm Burger. Dinner decided! 
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As you may recall, I have a wide variety of herbs in my yard this summer. My husband purchased four lemon scented herbs i.e., lemon grass, lemon thyme, lemon verbena and lemon balm. In the April 2022 issue of Charleston Magazine, they published an article called, “A Tasty Trio, Container Gardens.” Garden editor Joan McDonald had some wonderful ideas on how to use the herbs and some recipes. One recipe that caught my husband’s eye was Spring Citrus Salad Dressing made with a combination of the aforementioned herbs.
 
For the salad dressing you’ll need olive oil, white wine vinegar, fresh herbs (lemon balm, lemon thyme, lemon verbena and lemon grass (with leaves removed from any woody stems), fresh garlic, honey, Dijon mustard, shallots, salt and pepper to taste. What a flavorful dressing. The combination of ingredients made for a lovely creamy dressing, courtesy of the Dijon mustard that created an emulsion. The dressing was bright and had a light citrus taste, refreshing for a summer salad.


​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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