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The month of January has several family birthdays in it. My late mother-in-law was born January 3rd, my birthday is the 23rd and my son's birthday is the 27th. This past Sunday I had my family for dinner. I decided to prepare baked ziti with mushrooms, peppers and parmesan. The recipe appeared in the January 1998 issue of Gourmet Magazine.
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This past Sunday while shopping at Wegmans, I was trying to decide what to make for supper. Wegmans has a terrific seafood department. Their prices are competitive and they carry some local seafood. I love their crab cakes; you can purchase separately for $11 each or in their meals to go for $12 (an entree and two sides). After going back and forth with so many options, I decided on monkfish fillets.
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In the January 9th issue of the New York Times, Margaux Laskey published an article called, "The "Gold Standard" Meat Sauce." Ms. Laskey was referring to the late Marcella Hazan Bolognese style meat sauce. 

After reading her article, I got inspired to make Ms. Hazan's ragú, but instead of beef, I was going to use ground venison. Someone had given me ground vension, but I couldn't decide what to do with it. It sat in my freezer until I got the idea to use it for this ragú.
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Now that the holiday retail season is over, I have more time to try new recipes. In my cookbook collection I have Michael Chiarello's book, The Tre Vigne Cookbook: Seasons in the California Wine Country." Being winter, I gravitated towards that section of the book to find a decidedly different type of pasta dish to make. The recipe, Broccoli and Cauliflower with Shell Pasta sounded intriguing. Ingredients called for broccoli, cauliflower, chicken stock, shell shaped pasta, fresh rosemary, orange zest, raisins, pancetta or bacon. I used Wegmans uncured bacon, applewood smoked.
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I was feeling rather ambitious the other day and with the weather being cold, I decided I to make a pot of chicken stock. I found the recipe many years ago in Gourmet Magazine, March 1991. I made it quite a bit when my children were young, but now only once in a great while.

One of the last times I made the stock, both of our Brittany Spaniels were alive. After I separated the liquid from the solids, I would cut up the celery and carrots and feed them to Rose and Daisy. How they loved to eat those chicken flavored veggies!
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One of the many recipes that are tagged for trying in my cookbook, "Lidia's Italy," by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali, is the recipe frittata with asparagus and scallions. I prepared this dish on Tuesday evening as my other supper suggestions were turned down by my husband. As we just came off the holidays, which included some rich foods, this dish seemed like a good compromise.
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One of the things I enjoy is, walking through Williams-Sonoma stores to check out their new products, and more importantly, their sales. At this time of the year, I will try to stock up on fall favorites to see if my husband and I would enjoy eating some of their terrific products. Some of the products below may not be in my local store, but I’ll check another nearby store.
 
What’s on sale right now are some of my favorite items at reduced prices. I store my items in my basement, which is cool and dark. I do purchase some items to be used next fall, but make sure to check your expiration dates.
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My last post to this blog was November 22nd and then month of December flew by. I spent early December being a nanny to my granddaughter while my daughter navigated her return to the work force. It was delightful to spend one on one time with her.
 
During this time, meal preparation had to be done beforehand or ingredients had to be on hand to prepare a nutritious, healthy meal and prepared in under an hour. This became a challenge, so I relied on recipes that I have made [and posted] in the past and occasionally was able to find a new one that worked out. I found a stuffed pepper recipe by Lidia Bastianich. Lidia’s recipe called for ground pork, however, I used ground beef. The dish was very flavorful worked out well as a do ahead meal. 
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Now that the holidays are around the corner, my husband will be staying later at work. In rummaging through my freezer the other day, I was looking for something lighter to have for supper. My last package of fluke was tucked in there. In my recipe file I had a recipe for fish fillets over lentils and vegetables that I found in Prevention Magazine back in March 1999. The recipe has shredded carrots, sliced onions and baby spinach over lentils. 
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Luckily, I have a reprieve from helping with my granddaughter this week. Today, I've been prepping some side dishes for Thanksgiving. I'm also lucky to have guests that have offered to bring side dishes. The side dishes that I'm making this year is Great Grandma Fried's turkey dressing and a recipe that I picked up many years ago at Delicious Orchards for sweet potato casserole with pecans. I've made this many times over the years and it's one of my favorites. What makes it special is that the sweet potatoes are mashed and they are topped with a delicious and crunchy topping with pecans.


​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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