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Thursday is my babysitting day for my granddaughter. After spending the day with her and the commute home in rush hour traffic, I want to prepare a dinner that is quick and easy to prepare.
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It was a hectic week last week. Early in the week I had to pick up my granddaughter from daycare, dentist visit, coffee with a friend, work and my regular day of babysitting on Thursday.  I arrived at my daughter’s house at 7:30 am with pancake batter so my granddaughter could have freshly made pancakes for her breakfast. 
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After breakfast, my granddaughter wanted to go to the park with Nana, so we bundled up it was in the mid 30’s last week. We were the only ones at the park. She swung on the swings, we went down the slide and then on our return trip home, made a stop for a bag of freshly made apple cider donuts.  Apparently the fresh air did her good, as she napped for two hours.
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I was at my local Costco store today pricing out baking products. Here’s what I found:
 
•   Three pound bag of shelled walnuts are $10.99, however, my local Wegmans had three pounds for just $9.99.
•   5 count tube of organic Madagascar vanilla beans for $15.99
•   1 gram of saffron $11.89
•   Almond flour $12.99 (3 lbs.)
•   Craisin were $8.99 (3 lbs.)
•   Although I didn’t price it today, Nestle chocolate chips run under $10 for 4 lbs. 8 oz.
  • ​Pure vanilla extract $29.99 (16 oz.)
 
Through the holidays, it appears Wegmans has a special price on their brand of baking products
 
•   Light brown, dark brown and confectioners’ 10X powdered sugars $0.99 for 32 oz.
•   Sweet or salted butter $2.49 (1 lbs.)
•   White granulated sugar $1.49 (4 lbs.)
•   All purpose flour $0.99 (5 lbs.)
 
I like the quality of the Wegmans brand of products. My baked goods come out perfect.
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When my husband and I go out to dinner, if a Berkshire pork chop is on the menu, he’ll order it. I’ve noticed both at Wegmans Ocean Township and ShopRite of Wall Township, carries Berkshire pork chops, but a price difference that makes one wonder. At Wegmans, they sell for $19.99/lb. and at ShopRite $6.99/lb. I was willing to pay the $19.99/lb. until I saw ShopRite’s price. Earlier last week, I picked up a pair of chops for supper. Unsure what I was going to do with them, I recalled the New York Times Cooking app recently featured a recipe for citrus-glazed pork chops with gingery bok choy. The recipe wasn’t complicated, used common ingredients and takes 40 minutes, sold!
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With the holidays coming upon us rather quickly, I thought it best to get organized as far as menus go. I sent an email to my family to get their input for the Thanksgiving menu. I’m still waiting on one of my children to confirm they are definitely coming for dinner because if they are, here’s my tentative menu:

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Recently while going through files for some different recipes, I came across a “vintage” one I picked up many years ago at Delicious Orchards in Colts Neck, NJ. It was shrimp Tasca with spaghettini. I’ll admit this dish took me about an hour and a half from start to finish last night. However, in my defense, I used fresh tomatoes to make the sauce. You can save time by just using a 35 ounce can of San Marzano tomatoes (Lidia Bastianich’s favorite type of canned tomatoes). I think you’ll agree that the effort will be worth it for this dish.
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My husband hasn’t been feeling well since last week, however, after several days of antibiotics he’s starting to feel a little better. With him under the weather, he wasn’t too hungry except for simple meals and in smaller portions. However, yesterday he was up for something a bit more substantial, so I prepared a Paula Deen recipe for turkey and sweet potato shepherd’s pie. The obvious differences off the bat are the use of ground turkey and a sweet potato topping.  The filling contained carrots, celery, Vidalia onion, parsnip, fresh rosemary and thyme, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, chicken broth and peas. The sweet potatoes are made with an egg and a bit of cream cheese. It takes approximately 30 minutes to prepare this dish and another 35 minutes for baking, but it serves 8. Depending on your family size, you can get either 1-2 dinners or a dinner or nice lunch for your family.
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Recently I made a batch of Cold Hollow Cider Mill packaged apple cider donuts. The donuts were delicious, fried to perfection. However, I did see on the New York Times Cooking app, a recipe for baked apple cider donuts that look equally as good. These donuts can be baked in a donut or muffin pan.  My son-in-law happened to have a mini electric donut machine that I borrowed to try this recipe.

The recipe was made with flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, butter, light brown and granulated sugars, eggs, vanilla and apple cider. As I just made donuts a few days ago, I opted to make half of this recipe. The batter was made i​n a stand mixer and came together quite easily. Compared to the packaged donut mix, this recipe had just a 1/2 cup of apple cider.
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Not only do I have a vast array if chicken recipes, it seems my files also contain a variety of ground turkey ones too! Last week my local grocery store had on special a three pound package of Shady Brook Farms ground turkey. I do not purchase all breast meat, but 93% fat free. I searched through my files and found a recipe that I hadn’t made, or should I say blogged about, spicy turkey burgers. The source of this recipe is a mystery as I do not have any documentation on the recipe sheet as to where I found it.


​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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