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​Almost two weeks ago, my daughter and her family moved in temporarily while their kitchen is undergoing a gut renovation. My husband and I lived through two kitchen renovations. It was a challenge when our children were young and we did it during warmer weather. My daughter has a 2-1/2 year old daughter who is always in perpetual motion. It’s more of a challenge during the Corona virus when daycare is not available and playgrounds are off limits
 
One of the first things I made when they arrived was banana cake. My daughter arrived with several very ripe bananas that needed to be used immediately. I searched my usual favorite websites, a few cookbooks, but wound up finding a wonderful, easy recipe that my mother-in-law had given my husband when he was on his own after college. You could tell the recipe was a bit dated has it called for margarine, which I substituted with butter. The other ingredients included sugar, an egg, milk, flour, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla and three bananas. I added chopped walnuts for texture. After I had it baking in the oven, my daughter wondered if I added chocolate chips to the batter, which would have been a great addition to the nuts. The cake was tender and moist; a nice change from cookies.
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My daughter is expecting her second child in August. She has a craving for cinnamon rolls. Of course, I came to the rescue and offered to make a batch for her. I checked Martha Stewart, Ina Garten and Ree Drummond’s website for possible recipes. I didn’t want something overly complicated. I also looked at food blogger, Deb Perleman’s website, Smitten Kitchen. I finally wound up looking at an old cook book from Jean Anderson called “The Grass Roots Cookbook.” In the section entitled, “The South,” there was a recipe by Mrs. Jake R. Hatfield for Cinnamon Rolls. Mrs. Hatfield stated her grandchildren demand her cinnamon rolls. Well, with an endorsement like that I chose her recipe.
 
The recipe was quite easy to make and took me about 4 hours. Don’t panic, the dough had two risings and a 10 minute rest before rolling out the dough. 
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​I’ve been blogging about food for four years. I can’t believe in all that time I haven’t shared my mother’s recipe for manicotti. Could it be that I haven’t made them in four years?
 
I had a craving for manicotti and I thought during the virus lock-down, it would be a good time to make them. My mother made her own shells, but they are more like a crepe. The batter consists of flour, eggs, water and a pinch of salt. You make her manicotti shells like you are making pancakes, however, you don’t have to flip them over. My mother used a ¼ cup measuring cup to make each crepe, cook on one side. They’re done when they lose their gloss and turn to a matte finish. I made approximately two dozen crepes.
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​I am always on the search for new chicken recipes as we eat so much of it. Leading up to the Passover holiday, Joan Nathan, a renowned cook and cookbook author of Jewish cuisine, wrote about a recipe she acquired while attending a dinner party where the guests were sharing Passover recipes. This recipe, from the late Esther Soussan Berman who grew up in Morocco, was shared by her daughter-in-law.
 
The flavors are wonderful together and a bit unexpected if, like me, you haven’t tried Middle Eastern cuisine. For the recipe you’ll need, lemons, artichokes, chicken thighs, an onion, garlic, fresh parsley, saffron, cinnamon and chicken broth. I used frozen artichoke hearts that I had in my freezer. I did have a tiny amount of saffron on hand. [Just a note, during the Christmas holidays, my local Costco carried tiny jars of saffron for approximately $15.] Instead of chicken thighs I used chicken breasts.
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A few months ago my husband’s cousin shared an online a recipe for cinnamon scones she found on the “Smitten Kitchen” food blog. I’ve been hesitant to bake more sweet treats besides my weekly batch of cookies. However, in these trying times, I need to keep busy.
 
To make the scones you’ll need flour, sugar, baking powder, fine sea salt, unsalted butter, half and half or combination of heavy cream and milk, an egg and cinnamon. I do not use fine sea salt for baking, but kosher salt. I do purchase unsalted butter for baking, but if you don’t have it,  use your salted butter and eliminate the salt. Also, I used a scale to weigh off the flour and sugar. I neglected to divide the sugar i.e. set aside two dishes with 3 tablespoons of sugar in each. Although, I added all the sugar to the dough, they didn’t taste overly sweet. I did use a mere teaspoon full when I was adding the cinnamon and sugar to the dough before folding and rolling. 
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Several weeks ago in the New York Times column, “Here to Help,” there was a recipe for chocolate mug cake. I have been resisting temptation to try this recipe, however, I couldn’t resist any longer. Yesterday after dinner, I gave in and made this easy and decadent dessert. 
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I don’t know about you, but I can’t sit still for very long. Ever since the lockdown, I’ve been trying to cook new recipes for my blog. At times, it has been challenging to find the ingredients and yet avoid going into a food store. This week I made a list of menus and then purchased all the ingredients I needed. I did have to go out a second time this week, as my local Wegmans had a line at 7:30 AM that I wasn’t expecting. This in turn meant another line at Costco at 8:30 AM to get in on the tail end of the over 60 year old time slot. I decided to return to Costco the following day and to get an early start for lining up for their senior time slot.
 
This week, I prepared recipes nine and 10 from The New York Times Cooking supplement, “One Pot|Pan|Skillet.” The first recipe was Chicken with Shallots and Grapes and last night’s was Shakshuka with Feta.
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Last fall, my husband built a cold frame for wintering over my herbs. They lasted well into January, probably due to the mild winter we had. Unfortunately, the basil lasted only until November, and then it was off to the compost pile. The cold frame held oregano, thyme, lemon thyme, rosemary, sage and chives.  I purchased a bay leaf tree last summer that was brought inside for the winter. It survived in our second floor bath that has a roof window and gets bright sunlight all morning.  It’s done quite nicely and has provided some leaves for my cooking.

Right now everything is coming back to life. The oregano has sprouted new growth, the rosemary has new evergreen needle-like leaves sprouting, the chives are looking hearty and only the regular thyme survived the winter. Although the thyme and rosemary weren’t looking necessarily their best, I did use them for flavor in my cooking. 
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I just recently did an internet search on the moral to the story of Chicken Little. I found a website that offered several theories. One thought is we need to investigate things fully and don’t make assumptions. Don’t believe everything you hear, be cautious of gossip and hysteria.  Lastly, if one could be more rational in thinking, one acorn falling doesn’t mean the sky is falling. During this current crisis, some people may have fallen into thoughts of hysteria possibly fueled by a variety of media sources. While we were instructed to remain home, you were able to have limited movement. 
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The other afternoon I took the rare opportunity to sit down and catch up on some of my magazine reading. My husband subscribes to Garden and Gun.  I went to their website and found out how they came up with the name. The title of the magazine refers to a “metaphor for the South—its land, the people, their lifestyle, and their heritage.”[1]
 
In the February/March 2020 issue, they wrote, “The Ultimate Guide to Grits.” In the article they spoke with chefs on how they chose and what mill they prefer grits from. They also discussed preparation, what type of liquid to use, method of cooking and the chefs all agreed butter was necessary in grits, what additions they like and, lastly, what to do with leftovers. Ever since we started visiting Charleston, I purchase Geechie Boy Grits. We had our first taste of grits at a little storefront market/deli that has since closed. We’ve been to Charleston several times and I always pick up Geechie Boy Grits. Back in 2016 I started making shrimp and grits, a recipe from the Williams-Sonoma website. I love the grits in this recipe because they add both Parmesan and shredded cheddar.

[1] “Garden and Gun Magazine” Rebecca Wesson Darwin, President and CEO, Garden and Gun


​meet donna

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

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