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We had some company this past Sunday evening for dinner. What to make? I decided to go with something I've done before, chicken scarpariello. 

​​My guests brought a delicious assortment of cheese and crackers from Joe Leone's in Point Pleasant, NJ for appetizers. We had wedge of Brie, Jennifer's Homemade rosemary flatbread (very tasty),  ​34° Sesame Crisp Crackers and, under the Joe Leone private label, Parmgiano twists (think puff pastry baked with Parmesan Reggiano cheese) and country vegetable dip (yum!)
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​Are you fortunate enough to be off today for President's Day? If so, are you catching up on a few things? I know that I'll be heading to a food store to purchase this week's special values. Also, this being Lent, you also have to think of what you’ll be preparing for supper Friday night. Sure you can call out for pizza, but how long are you going to wait for delivery or even pick up. Don’t forget, I have Arthur Schwartz’s easy pizza dough recipe on my site. You can make it today and refrigerate until Friday night. You can even make homemade pesto sauce using Marcella Hazan’s recipe. Make it on Monday and save it for Friday night’s supper.
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​My husband and I spent a relaxing weekend at home. Last week I prepared a recipe from the Food Section of the January 31st issue of the New York Times for Italian potato-pasta soup with greens. In the same issue, in Melissa Clark’s column “A Good Appetite” was a recipe for beer-braised beef and onions. 
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Today begins 40 days of Lent, a period of fasting and abstinence. During this time, no meat is eaten on Ash Wednesday and each Friday during Lent. For tonight’s supper, I will be preparing Spaghetti with Fried Eggs and Roasted Peppers. The recipe can be found in the cook book Naples at Table, by Arthur Schwartz.

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​Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and some may say it might be one of the most stressful days to dine out. With that in mind, have you considered having a special dinner at home? I did.
 
While food shopping yesterday at my local Wegmans, I came across pre-made Beef Wellingtons. I noticed when I was perusing through their app earlier, there was even a digital coupon for $5 off. The cost for the entree was $15 per portion. A quick text to my husband and he was agreeable to this special dinner.
 
With my entree chosen, I went over to the produce department and selected a pound of Brussels sprouts for roasted sprouts topped with pomegranate molasses. The molasses are available at Wegmans in the international aisle. As I had some fresh rosemary in my refrigerator, I thought roasted rosemary potatoes would be a great accompaniment.
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This past Sunday was my granddaughter's christening. What better way to celebrate this momentous occasion than to make some special cookies for the event. A cookie I haven't made in over twenty years or so are my mother's wands. 
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In doing a bit of research you can compare wands to the Polish chrusciki bow tie cookies. Other Italian names for this cookie are chiacchiere (to chatter), Cenci (rags) or Wandi.
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​The roast left from supper the other evening was thinly sliced awaiting a reincarnation in another meal. As I was watching my granddaughter for a bit today, I thought I would make paninis with the leftovers. 
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​Recently my husband and I were watching Christopher Kimball's new cooking show on Public Television called “Milk Street”. The particular night we were watching they were demonstrating how to make a prune, peppercorn and fresh herb-rubbed roast beef. It seemed like the oddest thing to have a rub that included prunes. The other unusual ingredient in the rub is anchovies along with soy sauce, black peppercorns and fresh rosemary and thyme. The trick to making this roast moist is you have to pierce the meat all over so that the marinade penetrates through the outer surface
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My granddaughter’s christening is coming up soon. I’m baking cookies for the occasion. As I did for my daughter’s wedding several years ago, I’m baking light colored cookies for the christening. I’ve already made anise seed biscotti, my aunt’s recipe for butter cookies and on Sunday I made both Italian sesame seed cookies and knots. 
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I remembered a recipe that I had that was made with boneless, skinless chicken breasts and wild rice. If I have one chicken recipe, I have dozens. I can’t recall who gave me this recipe or where I found it. When I dug it out of  my recipe box, I forgot that it was called Chicken Marsala. 


​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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