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​Scones are a delightful little snack to enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee or just alone. Depending on the recipe, scones can be cakey and sweet or lightly sweet with a firm crumb. Personally, I prefer a lightly sweet with a bit of chew.

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It’s February 1st and I’ve been feeling inspired since the year began. With today’s storm, it’s a good time for me to catch up on all the delicious things I’ve been making.
 
First of all, with Valentine’s Day coming up, I’ve been searching my files for some tempting chocolate indulgences and  I came across a recipe for Double Chocolate Scones that appeared in Better Homes and Gardens Magazine back in April1997. ​
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​It’s a new year, but I’m finding recipes in my box that I can’t believe I haven’t shared with you!
 
Many, many years ago I received a recipe card from The New York Times/Margrace Corp. for Chicken with Tarragon, a 60-Minute Gourmet recipe. Since it’s labeled 60-Minute Gourmet and from The New York Times, I’ll assume it’s a Pierre Franey recipe.
 
For the recipe you’ll need a split whole chicken (I used bone-in chicken breasts), salt, pepper, butter, shallots, fresh or dried tarragon, dry white wine and water (I used chicken stock to reinforce the chicken flavor). This recipe comes together in about 30 minutes. The chicken came out moist and delicious and the accompanying sauce was light and flavorful from the infusion of the shallots and tarragon. My husband enjoyed the preparation very much.
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 I invited my son and daughter-in-law to dinner last weekend. After scanning the local food ads, I noticed Whole Foods had boneless pork loin on sale. Since I’m a food blogger, I’m always in search for new recipes that I hope my family and my readers will like. I found an interesting recipe at New York Times Cooking by Mark Bittman. Mr. Bittman prepared Apple-Stuffed Pork Loin, with Coriander, Cumin and Cinnamon. Apples and pork are a natural go together, but the combination of spices seemed interesting. Cumin and cinnamon have warm flavors and coriander slightly sweet.
 
I read the comments from other readers and this recipe received great reviews. I also saw a great tip for preparing the pork. Instead of making a hole in the center of the meat with a knife and handle long wooden spoon, it was suggested that butterflying the meat is a better option; I couldn’t agree more. Also letting the meat cook until it reaches 135° is more ideal,  I let mine go a bit too long and instead of apple juice for basting I used Delicious Orchards Apple Cider.
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I have a co-worker who is wary of baking with yeast. Perhaps she’s afraid of using too hot or too cold water or adding the yeast on top of salt thereby destroying the yeast enzymes. The other day, I decided to try to see how difficult it would be to make cinnamon buns with a yeast dough. I saw on Jeff Mauro’s (Food Network/The Kitchen) Facebook page a shoutout for homemade cinnamon buns made from a recipe by @tastesoflizzyt. Since I’ve already mastered making pizza dough in my stand-mixer, how hard can cinnamon buns be?
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I had good intentions of doing a post before Christmas giving you recipe ideas for holiday baking, appetizers and recipes that would make wonderful homemade gifts, but time slipped away from me.

​I did, however, manage to bake about a half dozen varieties of cookies, mostly biscotti. I also found a recipe for ricotta mini cakes in my late aunt’s recipe file. I don’t where she clipped it from, but it was submitted to a magazine from Chris White of Bordentown, NJ and I had just enough ricotta left in my refrigerator to make these cookies.
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​Recently I was watching Milk Street Kitchen  on public television and Christopher Kimball watched as a member of the cooking staff prepared Spanish Almond Cake. The cake sounded delicious, and, by the way, is gluten free.
 
For the recipe you’ll need eggs, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, almond extract, salt, ground almond meal, turbinado sugar and slivered almonds. The cake is baked in a 9-inch springform pan.
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What a year it has been. Were you one of those individuals that spent a lot of time in the kitchen? Do you still have the willingness to cook, perhaps share your love of cooking by preparing a special holiday breakfast? If so, I’ve got some easy to prepare pancake recipes to make Christmas morning a little easier and special. The pancake batter can be made ahead, just keep the wet and dry ingredients separate until you’re ready to eat. My most favorite pancake is a decadent red velvet with cream cheese frosting…yum. If you love warm apples scented with cinnamon, apple, raisin, then cinnamon pancakes are great on Christmas morning. For those that love just a good old, light and fluffy pancake (made with buttermilk), try favorite pancakes. This holiday splurge, and buy real maple syrup. ​
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​As a person that loves to cook and blog, I find it necessary to seek out and try new recipes. My lucky husband rarely gets the same meal twice, except for his pasta, which is required weekly. With this in mind, I delved into my extensive files (I have them sorted by category in plastic file folders) and came across a recipe from Delicious Orchards. The recipe must be over 20 years old and is from the fall/winter season. One side of the sheet has recipes for acorn and butternut squash (I’ve made the baked squash and apple casserole, delish!) and the other, spaghetti squash.
 
The recipe that they gave was for spaghetti squash casserole. Although, not quite technically “pasta” for my husband, he has a new fondness for spaghetti squash.
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​I’ve mentioned many times how I peruse the food store flyers for weekly meal inspiration. Last week, I was inspired by Whole Foods sale on bone-in short ribs ($5.99/lb. for Prime Members). I had found two recipes on the Williams-Sonoma website and  settled on Italian Braised Short Ribs. However, I didn’t have two hours the other night; instead, I used my pressure cooker. It took me 30 minutes at high pressure to achieve what braising in the oven would have taken two hours.
 
For the recipe you’ll need flour, salt, pepper, bone-in short ribs, olive oil, pancetta , onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, carrots, tomato paste, sugar, red wine, beef broth, balsamic vinegar, 


​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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