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​I was going through my recipe box the other day, reviewing recipes that I clipped over the years. I found some old cookie recipes from my late mother-in-law’s Aunt Betty Lee for oatmeal cookies using margarine and minute oatmeal (Just how old is this recipe?) A walnut cake that my mother used to make, a recipe from Good Housekeeping Magazine for Crispy Cookie Coffee Cakes and a Toasted Praline Scone recipe to name a few.
 
I don’t know how long I’ve had the scone recipe, perhaps over thirty years; it was time to try it out. The recipe called for shortening or butter flavored shortening. I used unsalted butter in the recipe. You’ll also need pecans, sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, white vinegar, eggs and milk. The vinegar seemed like an odd ingredient to me, however, when I did a little research I discovered that it is used to react with the baking soda to start the chemical reaction of carbon dioxide which helps the batter rise during baking. 
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Having extra people in house means you can cook a variety of dishes just by seeing what everyone has a craving for.
 
My son-in-law’s father has a large garden in his yard. He grows the usual items such as tomatoes, lettuce, herbs and also asparagus and I was the recent recipient of a nice bunch. My daughter had found a recipe on “The Smitten Kitchen” food blog for Shaved Asparagus Frittata. For the recipe you’ll need asparagus, thinly sliced prosciutto (optional, but well worth the extra addition), eggs, milk, scallions, olive oil and soft goat cheese. The prep is approximately 10 minutes and cook time is 10 minutes.
 
It was a bit of a challenge to shave the asparagus, I would suggest thicker stalks if purchasing. Once I had the asparagus shaved the recipe moved along quite quickly, especially since I had the broiler preheating. A quick 5 minutes on the stovetop and then a few minutes under the broiler and breakfast was done. My daughter, son-in-law and husband all enjoyed this special breakfast. I was slightly aghast as my husband put ketchup on his frittata, to each his own. I had a taste and it was delicious. I am quite partial to goat cheese in any recipe. ​
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Since my daughter and her family arrived to stay with us during their kitchen renovation, she and I have worked out a weekly menu and food shopping list. I do, however, have a tendency to deviate from the menu, especially if I would rather prepare something else. We had planned on having Michael Chiarello’s turkey polpettone. These are seasoned ground turkey patties filled with mozzarella in the center. When my son-in-law mentioned that he hadn’t had Sloppy Joes in a very long time, I changed the next day meal from turkey polpettone to Turkey Sloppy Joes on Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits. ​
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Recently, I’ve been on a cinnamon bun kick. I made a Giant Cinnamon Scone that tasted delicious. I recently came across a recipe for Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing. The picture in the magazine looked very enticing. The biscuits were of a generous size and looked tasty.
 
I took the plunge and decided to make the biscuits. I made sure that I read the recipe carefully before I started and gathered all the ingredients I would need. I measured everything and went over the list to make sure I didn’t miss one. I knew I was in trouble when the dough appeared too wet. There was 4-1/2 cups of flour (half all purpose and half cake flour) to 3 cups of buttermilk. At the time, I didn’t think anything of it, however, when it came time to mix the dough and flip on a board, the dough was entirely too sticky. Fearing I didn’t add the correct amount of flour, I added an additional cup, but that didn’t help. The dough was to be folded over itself in an envelope fashion to create multiple layers. However, using the rolling pin for this portion of the recipe was fruitless, everything was too sticky.
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​For the longest time, my husband and I have pasta on Thursday nights. This may be a carryover from when he was growing up. His father liked to have spaghetti on Thursdays. This past Thursday was no different, however, my daughter requested pasta with vegetables. I had the perfect recipe in my Delicious Orchards recipe file, one that had to be over 25 years old, spaghetti primavera.
 
The veggies for this sauce include zucchini and broccoli. For the sauce you need 3 cups of canned plum tomatoes, garlic, heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, butter, pine nuts and fresh basil. Trying to use what was available in my pantry, we used one box of spaghetti and one rigatoni. I substituted whole ricotta cheese for the cream.  You can also omit the pine nuts. 
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The other day while I was running errands, my daughter mixed a batch of Healthy Dark Chocolate Granola with Clusters. This recipe was found on the website “Rachl Mansfield.” Once I started eating this, I found my hand constantly returning to the container. This vegan and gluten-free granola is also dairy-free! It takes you five minutes to prepare the granola and 30 minutes baking time.
You’ll need gluten-free rolled oats, unsweetened coconut shreds, chop nut of any kind, flaxseed (promotes healthy digest and regularity),  chia seeds (provide fiber), cinnamon, coconut sugar, maple syrup, coconut oil, hot water, vanilla extract and Hu dark chocolate. (Ms. Mansfield recommends this brand of chocolate, but note she has partnered with them.)
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​New Jersey blueberry season is still a good number of weeks away, but I did find a good buy on some imported blueberries last week at my local food store. While I was out the other day, my daughter and granddaughter made a batch of Perfect Blueberry Muffins a recipe from the file of Deb Perelman and her website Smitten Kitchen. In addition to the blueberries we had an abundance of plain Greek yogurt, which you can use in this recipe or sour cream. Other ingredients in the recipe are unsalted butter, sugar, fresh lemon zest, an egg, baking powder, baking soda, salt, flour and turbinado sugar (aka sugar in the raw).
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Now that I have my daughter and her family here temporarily, I have a small window of opportunity to blog about new recipes. Right now, my granddaughter is getting ready for bed and all is quiet, a good time to gather my thoughts.
 
Last week, I prepared from Peppery Flank Steak Tagliata in the Oven a recipe I found on The New York Times Cooking app. The recipe was developed by David Tanis. For the recipe you’ll need flank steak, black peppercorns, fresh rosemary, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, arugula, Pecorino Papago, Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese of shaving and a lemon wedge.
 
Fortunately this time around, I read the recipe earlier in the day and didn’t have to shortchange the marinating time, which is several hours in the refrigerator. If you don’t have the luxury of time, the recipe says you can leave the meat on the counter for hour prior to cooking. The marinade consists of crushed pepper, rosemary leaves and garlic slices. 
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Recently I wrote about the cinnamon bun craving that my pregnant daughter had. Following making those, I saw a recipe in the Food Section of The New York Times for Giant Cinnamon Roll Scones, For the recipe you’ll need flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, unsalted butter, heavy cream and vanilla
 
The dough came together quite well. I debated using my food processor, but opted to use a pastry blender to make the mixture resemble coarse sand. The recipe required some folding of the dough, similar to folding a sheet of paper to fit in an envelope and then reshaping into the 5”x14” rectangle. 
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Mother’s Day is a few weeks away and in this environment, you may be considering making Mom breakfast. I have two suggestions for you and both are quite easy. The first one is basic buttermilk pancakes with a recipe from a vintage cookbook, Betty Crocker Cookbook ©1969. I know it may be difficult to find all purpose flour, but if you can, Mom will love these pancakes. You’ll need flour, an egg, 2 tablespoons of melted butter or vegetable oil, buttermilk, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. These pancakes are light and fluffy and are way better than any box mix. My granddaughter prefers mine over a box mix. There are also variations where you add applesauce or cheese. There’s even one for cornmeal pancakes. I would recommend genuine maple syrup as Mom deserves the best today.
 
To accompany Mom’s pancakes, try sweet-and-spicy bacon. You’ll need brown sugar, a bit of cayenne pepper, black pepper and one pound of bacon. The bacon is cooked on a broiler pan, or I use a cooking rack over a foil lined rimmed baking sheet (easy clean up Dads.), and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes.


​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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