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​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.
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​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. ​
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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.
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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.
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  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.
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​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. 
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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.


​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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