Published on
Image description
​My husband’s birthday was the end of August and celebrated during Labor Day weekend. With the summer being so hot and sticky and company over the weekend, in lieu of his traditional carrot cake, we celebrated his birthday with ice cream sandwiches from Sundaes the Ice Cream Place in Manasquan.
 
Now that summer and our vacation adventure are done, our air conditioning decided to spring a leak. I felt I owed my husband his birthday carrot cake. However, I had something much easier to prepare and it didn’t involve an oven, carrot cake pancakes. The recipe for these pancakes appeared in the holiday issue of Southern Living Magazine in December 2012. I already tried the red velvet pancakes from the same issue and they were divine! 
Published on
Image description
Once I came through my hip replacement surgery, my husband thought a little vacation would be good for us. With that in mind, he planned a trip to Charleston, SC from September 9th through 12th. As the hurricane season up until this point seemed quiet, he thought this would be a good time.
We had been to Charleston twice before and loved it. There are many lovely boutique hotels and larger hotels where to stay but we returned once again to the Francis Marion Hotel. It sits on the corner of Calhoun and King Street, which is at the top of the King Street shopping district.
 Needless to say, we arrived on the Sunday just as hurricane Florence warnings went into effect. As we were only in town until Wednesday, we felt comfortable knowing we would depart before the Florence would arrive.
Published on
Image description
My granddaughter is turning one. As exciting as that is, my daughter asked me to make cupcakes for her and the young children at the party. Yes, there will be a beautiful layer cake made by Delicious Orchards, but my
granddaughter may have a peanut allergy and my daughter wanted to be sure there was no cross contamination with the cupcakes. I searched a few cookbooks that I had, my NY Times Cooking app and epicurious.com for a basic yellow cake recipe. I came across one on Epicurious from the baker Rose Levy Beranbaum. The recipe is All-Occasion Downy Yellow Cake from Rose's book The Cake Bible, September 1988. Ms. Beranbaum is a known baker and I trust using a recipe from her.
Published on
Image description
​My husband came home with 15 ears of corn last week. It put me into overdrive to find different recipes in which I could use NJ sweet white corn. While going through my Instagram feed a few weeks ago, Talula's, a restaurant in Asbury Park, had a blueberry cobbler with sweet corn ice cream on their dessert menu. I was intrigued, corn flavored ice cream, why not.
 
Published on
Image description
​I can't get enough of this summer's corn! It has been so sweet and delicious and I've been scouring my files for any recipe I can find. Find one I did. In July 2010, but I picked up a flyer at my local Williams-Sonoma store. The flyer was Technique Class: Farm to Table and featured sweet corn. Among the recipes in this brochure was one for cherry tomato frittata with corn, basil and goat cheese, all my favorites.
Published on
Image description
​The meat loaf grill pan has a removable perforated sleeve that fits into loaf pan form with no bottom. When you cook the meat loaf, you place a drip pan beneath the grilling rack. However, since I have a gas grill, I merely placed the loaf pan on a foil pan grill pan.

A recipe for cheesy meat loaf with bacon and herbs came with the pan; it sounded yummy. To enhance the beef and make it moist and juicy, the meat loaf had carrots, celery, onions and garlic, sautéed until lightly caramelized. The meat loaf also had the traditional breadcrumbs plus parsley, mozzarella and thyme. The prep time for the meat loaf is 30 minutes, and it will be that plus a bit more. ​
Published on
Image description
When I was growing up in north Jersey, I remember the milk man delivering milk to our house and there use to be a man in a panel truck filled with delicious baked goods. He would pull into the driveway and my mother would purchase wonderful crumb buns and a marble loaf cake with chopped walnuts. While I could make this cake any time, I didn't need to have it lingering on my kitchen counter testing my willpower not to indulge. However, this
weekend, my daughter and son-in-law invited some friends down which gave me the perfect excuse to bake.
Published on
Image description
There are so many shapes of pasta… be it spaghetti, ziti, rigatoni or, if you’re fancy, orecchiette. Orecchiette translated means little ears. Many years ago, I believe it was in Food and Wine magazine, there was a recipe for orecchiette baked with olives, vegetables and mozzarella. Instead of regular black olives the recipe calls for Kalamata olives, which are from Greece, dark purple in color, are meaty in texture and are preserved in either wine vinegar or oil. They can taste both tangy and salty. However, for this recipe I used Gaeta olives from Italy. Gaeta olives are black fleshed and milder in taste than Kalamata. They can be slight tart and slightly salty.
Published on
Image description
  weather report for the balance of the week is emphasizing high humidity and no one wants to be in the kitchen cooking. You can go out to eat or maybe even pick up a meal to go at any of your local food stores, but what if you can prepare something at home for less money?

I'm always on the hunt for interesting recipes. I came across one for grilled chicken kebabs with arugula pesto in Southern Living Magazine, March 2017. The recipe has an active time of just 30 minutes, which is terrific for a quick meal after the beach. While I would normally prepare the pesto that this recipe calls for, I happened to have homemade basil pesto in my refrigerator. The arugula is peppery and would have made a good foil against
the chicken.
Published on
Image description
​It’s a beautiful morning, John Elliot from CBS2 News says the humidity will be increasing as the week goes on. You’ll need something easy to make and won’t make you or the kitchen hot. Using your outdoor grill is a solution to your supper plans this evening.
 
Yesterday my husband requested shrimp for supper. I’ve made shrimp part my of pasta dishes but hadn’t made it the center of a meal in a while. I recalled a grilled shrimp recipe that I had in my files, spicy grilled shrimp. Many years ago, this recipe appeared in a column Too Busy to Cook in Bon Appétit Magazine. The recipe was the submission of Selma Brown Morrow and Alessandra S. Brophy. 


​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. 

Archives