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Working in retail during the holidays means working extra days and more hours and I need to be organized and prepared for all the cooking and baking I like to do. I've already reviewed this week's sales flyers for prices for holiday baking.
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Last week I was again helping out my daughter and son-in-law by babysitting overnight for my granddaughter. I knew I would be there for breakfast a couple of mornings, so I looked on line for a recipe for whole wheat pancakes made with buttermilk. I find that pancakes made with buttermilk make for a lighter tasting pancake.
 
My internet search led me to a recipe by Betty Crocker for Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes. For years, I’ve been making different Betty Crocker recipe that my family loves. This new recipe didn’t disappointment either. I cut the recipe in half and found the batter rather thick. An extra tablespoon or two of buttermilk would have helped to thin the batter a bit. They were very light, not heavy and filling. My fourteen month old granddaughter devoured one each morning, no room for fruit.
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The last few days I’ve been babysitting my granddaughter while her parents attended a wedding on the West Coast. I thought I was well organized by preparing a meal in a crock pot but despite best laid plans, I didn’t have the two onions I needed for Hungarian Goulash.
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This is a recipe that I believe I found out in a crock pot cookbook my sister has. I already have Hungarian paprika in my pantry from another recipe and I was looking for another recipe in which to use this spice. This hearty stew type dish needs a six ounce can of tomato paste, Hungarian paprika, red and green pepper, carrots, two onions, beef broth, lemon peel, caraway seeds and 1-1/2 pounds of beef stew meat.
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I recently purchased a half gallon of Delicious Orchards apple cider for chicken and dumplings. I only needed a small amount for the recipe, so what do I do with the rest of the cider? Besides drinking it, I prefer to use it in a recipe. I went through the New York Times Cooking app, which is very good resource for excellent recipes, and found a terrific one by David Tanis. The recipe is Pork Chops with Apples and Cider. Mr. Tanis spent a month in Normandy, France and discovered the region had an abundance of apples. It’s an area of France where there’s artisanal cider making and also the distilling of apples into Calvados, an apple brandy. Mr. Tanis came up with the following recipe based on the Normandy region where cider and cream are combined for a delicious sauce.
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I’ve noticed in recent months revised recipes for chocolate chip cookies that will give you crisp edges and soft chewy centers. My personal favorite is a totally crisp chocolate chip cookie similar to Delicious Orchards (Colts Neck, NJ) or Tate's Bake Shop. I have a note in my recipe file on how to adjust the proportion of white sugar and the use of light brown sugar instead of dark brown. White sugar makes your cookie both brown and crispy.  Brown  sugar on the other hand, makes the cookie retain moisture. The acidity in the molasses, (which is added to white sugar to make brown sugar) makes the protein in the cookie cook faster and, therefore, chewier. 
                                                                                                      
I’ve been making the O​riginal Nestlés Toll House recipe, but bake on a convection oven setting of 350 degrees and batch bake them for 14 minutes, but switch and turn the sheets half way through. Once I remove the cookies from the oven, I leave the cookies on the sheet for several minutes for carryover baking time. The cookies are kept in the refrigerator to stay fresher and retain their crunch. ​
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Oh, how I wish these damp, humid days left with the last day of summer.

I’m ready to start cooking heartier meals, more comfort food to be eaten on cool evenings. As we haven’t quite gotten their yet, I found a delicious recipe in my files for pork tenderloin that came together quite easily and was full of flavor. The recipe, roasted honey soy pork tenderloin, is from the Williams-Sonoma website and has a prep time of 10 minutes; cook time 30 minutes. I keep some Asian cooking items on hand such as sesame oil, soy, rice wine and, fortunately, also had some hoisin sauce in the refrigerator, all which were needed for this recipe.
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​During recovery from hip surgery, my neighbor very kindly prepared several dinners for my husband and I. To show our gratitude, I made dinner for she and her husband Sunday evening. Thank goodness the weather has cooled down as this played into my menu selection. I also wanted to have most of my dinner done before my guests arrived. After a bit of internet research, I found the perfect recipe at Williams-Sonoma, braised short ribs with creamy polenta.

Now that my entree was selected it was time to round out the menu with a few appetizers and salad. For appetizers, I selected two and kept them simple. I made basil pesto cream cheese filled tomatoes. While the recipe called cherry tomatoes, I opted for grape tomatoes. The cream cheese filling was a nice foil to the tartness of the tomato. My other go to easy appetizer is crab spread from Mr. Shrimp in Belmar. I serve the crab spread on Keebler Club crackers. 
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On Tuesday the weather was warm and humid. I’m trying to finish my annual cleaning, however, the weather so far this week isn’t conducive to cleaning.

Over the weekend, when it was cooler, I was going through my recipe files for inspiration for a food blog entry. I took out my Delicious Orchards file and found an apple recipe from the fall of 1985. On one side is an All About Apples report from Eastmont Orchards and, on the other side, four recipes using fresh apples. One recipe that caught my eye was apple bread. Despite the warm conditions, I’ve made the bread.
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Today is the first full day of autumn. What better way to start the season than with cinnamon apple crisp. My daughter and her family went apple picking last weekend at Wightman Farm in Morristown, NJ and I was fortunate enough to be the recipient of some apples. I don’t know what type apples she picked, so I chose ones that looked like they would be firm and a bit tart.


​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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