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The best way to prepare vegetables is to cook them when they are in season.This year I find the New Jersey white corn to be especially good. I recently shared a corn chowder recipe from Delicious Orchards. I dug through my files again and found a recipe for sweet corn pudding. The recipe was published in a magazine that I'm assuming was called Garden Plate. The reason why I'm unsure is that while the corner of the torn magazine sheet reads "August/September 2006 gardenplate.com," I was unable to locate it via a web search. The recipe was originally published in The Summer House Cookbook, Random House 2003.
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​I turned my iPad on Friday morning and I discovered my daughter had texted me the night before. She and my granddaughter were coming down to go to the beach. My sister was also down the shore, which worked out well for my daughter as she had some help for going to the beach.
 
While they were gone, I had to figure out what to make for supper that evening. I asked my daughter for a suggestion and she wanted either fish or shrimp. I went to my usual online sources to look for a quick and seasonal entree. The NY Times Cooking app, had a recipe by Melissa Clark for Roasted Fish with Brown Butter Corn. For the fish you could use striped bass, flounder or red snapper. 
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At our house, we eat New Jersey sweet white corn from July 4th until Labor Day. Sometimes after Labor Day, though, the corn loses some of it summer sweetness. So while the getting is good, I found a recipe for corn chowder in my Delicious Orchards recipe file.
 
Yes, I have a file of recipes from Delicious Orchards. When my children were growing up, I would head up to the ‘Orchard’ once a week to purchase my produce for the upcoming week. Now, I take advantage of their Personal Shopping service. Back in the day, I would grab a sales sheet that had the weekly specials on one side and recipes on the back. Now I don’t know how old this flyer is, at least twenty years, the sheet is dated for May 30th through June 5th. D.O., can you search your archives to find out how old my sheet is?
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​The hot, humid weather makes one very lackadaisical. People desire foods which are light and perhaps cold and no one wants to cook. I’m very lucky in that our house has central air conditioning and I don’t mind cooking, no matter what the weather is. Recently I dug out a recipe that I haven’t make in a while; it’s the perfect summertime recipe. The recipe is grilled teriyaki pork chops with pineapple papaya relish. It’s a recipe from Gourmet Magazine, May 1994.
 
I went down to Pastosa in Manasquan and picked up to two, one-inch thick pork chops for $3.99/lb. For my relish, I turned to Delicious Orchards* for the pineapple ($2.99 for a whole pineapple), papaya ($5.99 each), green pepper ($1.49/lb.), Vidalia onion ($1.29/lb.) and a jalapeño pepper ($1.99/lb.). The balance of the ingredients for both the pork chop marinade were fresh ginger and garlic, which I keep on hand and mint from my garden.
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Sometimes if my daughter has an overabundance of produce in her Dreyer’s Farms CSA box, she’ll pass along some items to me. In one of her boxes, she gave me had a half of head of cabbage and a purple spring onion. At first, I was puzzled as to what do with these two items, but after going through my recipe files, I came across a recipe from the March 1996 issue of Bon Appétit Magazine for Carolina Cole Slaw. What is great about this recipe is the fact that there is no mayonnaise in this slaw.
Fortunately for me the half of head of cabbage yielded the 1-1/4 pounds of thinly sliced cabbage I needed. I also used the purple spring onion instead of regular yellow onions for a little color. A sliced green pepper is also in the slaw. In order to get the cabbage and onion nice and thin, I used my mandoline slicer for both.

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I'm now into my sixth week of recovery from hip surgery. The challenge has been not to overdo things such as bending more than 90 degrees and no heavy lifting to name a few. However, the challenge to find great meals using wonderful summertime ingredients has been the best way for me to pass the time.
 
Years ago, my husband gave me the cookbook, The Tra Vigne Cookbook - Seasons in the California Wine Country, by Michael Chiarello with Penelope Wisner. It's a seasonal cookbook broken down by ingredients. In the summer section, one of the ingredients chef Chiarello focuses on is corn. This weekend I made raw corn, arugula and pecorino salad with grilled chicken breast. What a delightful and light summertime meal this was.
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​Summer vegetables are now coming to market.  I was in a quandary as to what to make for dinner. My husband mentioned that we hadn’t had paninis in a while, so I began to think about sandwich fillings. On recent visit to Delicious Orchards in Colts Neck, I saw New Jersey green and yellow zucchini, Mediterranean zucchini, bi-color and white corn, broccoli and tomatoes. I thought a vegetable panini would be a great change of pace.
 
I already had a green zucchini, white spring onion and two red peppers at home. For additional color I purchased a small yellow zucchini. My husband suggested Portobello mushrooms. I couldn’t resist summer corn, so I purchased several ears. Melted cheese on a panini always sounds appealing. On a second visit for the week to Pastosa in Manasquan, I purchased a large ball of fresh made mozzarella and a round loaf of Italian bread.
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​This week ShopRite has on sale a flat of blueberries. You get six pint containers for $7.99, or if you have a flyer, there’s a coupon for $6.99 with an additional $10 purchase. I missed this offer last summer and was delighted to see that ShopRite had it this year. 
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Pastosa Ravioli of Brooklyn, New York has found a new home at The Orchards at Wall Shopping Plaza, 2410 Highway 35, Manasquan. Their grand opening was Friday morning at 8:30, however, since the rains came through, I waited until about 10 am to make my trip.
The store doesn’t seem as large as the Cranford location, but it does pack a lot into the space. Pastosa has a selection of ready to go entrees and salads such as broccoli rabe ($9.99/lb.) and cheese and beef lasagna ($7.99/lb.) to name a few. The meat case was filled with assorted varieties of pork and chicken sausage, boneless pork chops and steak. I purchased pork sausage with fennel ($6.49/lb.) for sausage and peppers lunch for my daughter and son-in-law. 
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​The other day I took advantage of my Wegmans digital coupon for a $2 savings on fresh, wild caught sea scallops. I was looking for something light and easy to prepare for supper last night. I checked my New York Times Cooking app for a recipe, but nothing caught my eye. A search of the Epicurious app, resulted in a recipe by Carla Lalli Music from the December 2017 issue of Bon Appétit Magazine. A deliciously sounding recipe for seared scallops with brown butter and lemon pan sauce seemed like the perfect option.


​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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