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 A walk through a grocery store at this time of the year and you'll notice more pumpkin flavored items than ever before. This past Sunday on CBS This morning, Susan Spencer did a report on "Pumpkin spice takes over the world." 

Over the years I have acquired recipes with pureed pumpkin in them. I found recipes for cakes, bread, waffles and now pumpkin biscotti. I had two recipes in my files for pumpkin biscotti. The first recipe I made resulted in a spongy cookie. In looking through my file a second time, I located a recipe that I previously made that was crispy. It contains no butter or shortening, but does have 1-1/2 cups of brown sugar. I love making biscotti because you get a high yield of cookies for not much effort. Monday afternoon I put together the dough for this recipe in my stand mixer then transferred to a stainless bowl. I baked the cookies this afternoon, which took about one hour. I'll place these on the Thanksgiving dessert table for my guests to enjoy. 

Unfortunately, I do not know where I found this recipe, but I've had the document in my computer since 2006.
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I have a group of old co-workers that get together with our spouses a few times a year. We  enjoy each other's company and have a great time together. I had them over for dinner on Saturday night. I wanted an easy dinner so that I could enjoy my friends. I decided to make Bernice's Brisket,  butternut squash-apple soup and apple dumplings.

The brisket can be prepared several days ahead, sliced and then placed back in the oven the day of the dinner. Although Williams-Sonoma sells jars of butternut squash puree, I purchased fresh squash at Delicious Orchards and cooked it in my pressure cooker. Once the squashed was cooked, I mashed it before placing in the soup. When the soup was done, I  pureed it in my blender. 
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I can't believe that Thanksgiving is this week. I've been busy helping my daughter with the baby. I've been at her house at least one or two days a week depending on everyone's schedule. However, the other night, I was home and felt like meatloaf, but with a twist. In the old Gourmet Magazine they used to have a column called "You Asked for it." In the January 1990 issue someone requested a recipe from a Brooklyn restaurant called Simply Scrumptious. It was a recipe for Turkey Meat Loaves Simply Scrumptious.
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Last night I pulled a package of boneless chicken breasts from the freezer to defrost. I had no idea how I was going to prepare them. Earlier this morning, was looking through the New York Times recipe app to inspiration. I looked in my pantry and refrigerator to see what ingredients I had on hand. I had a small amount of goat cheese, some heavy cream and a bottle of strawberry balsamic glaze from Carter and Cavero.
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Sunday was a miserable weather day. I started food shopping before lunch yesterday to beat the heavy rain that was predicted. After checking some recipes and a cookbook, I decided to make a recipe from Lidia's Italy cookbook. Today I was going to prepare Hunter's-Style Chicken with Rosemary. I purchased Bell & Evans bone-in chicken breasts from Delicious Orchards for $5.39/lb. and at Wegmans I picked up their store brand of imported San Marzano tomatoes for $3.99 a can. The rosemary came from my garden.
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Two weeks ago, Delicious Orchards had beets on sale. My husband and I love beets. Usually I'll make Harvard Beets for him. However, sometimes I find roasting vegetables enhances their flavor better than steaming or boiling.

​There is a salad that I like to make that appeared in Bon Appétit's magazine in January 2001 called salad of winter greens, walnuts, roasted beets and goat cheese that has roasted beets in it. It's  a wonderful salad with different flavors hitting all different tastes in your mouth. There's the tartness of the fresh orange juice, the pungency of the goat cheese, the smooth texture of the roasted beets, and the crunchiness from the toasted walnuts all coming together for a mouthful explosion of flavors. 
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Although the temperatures are moderating between late summer warmth and cooler fall air, I was in the mood for some gingersnap cookies. In the past, I've used recipes from Penzeys Spices, or Lora's ginger cookies, however, I decided to try a recipe that I download from the King Arthur Flour website. Their gingersnap recipe uses vegetable shortening instead of butter. The ingredients are similar to Great Grandma Moog's, but with slight increases or decreases in quantity. Instead of rolling the cookies in sugar, the King Arthur recipe uses a combination of cinnamon and sugar. I had some cracked ginger (small dried pieces) which I put  in my spice grinder and used that instead of ground ginger. 
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Many years ago, there was a butcher shop in Spring Lake, NJ called Marcel Darche, The Butcher Block. It was a wonderful, friendly store. The person behind the register was Betty and the butchers were Allen, and appearing curmudgeonly, Russell. Russell, however, was a sweetheart of a guy. I would come in each week right after the sales were posted in the Coast Star and pick up my weekly bargains. At the time, my late mother-in-law was living in New Jersey, so I would get her meat order also. If chop was on sale, purchase five pounds get the sixth free, she would request that her chop meat be in 1 pound packages. Russell took to calling her "your rotten mother-in-law," but in an affectionate way.  

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​It was a dreary day Monday. I was rummaging through my recipe files trying to come up with a meal plan for the night. I selected several possibilities and then took a peek in the freezer to see what I had, ah, ground turkey. Luckily one of the recipes I pulled out was for a turkey meatloaf, however, this one had not only onion and garlic, but minced carrot and mushrooms in the mixture.
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​What is Indian summer? The dictionary defines it as “a period of unusually dry, warm weather occurring in late autumn.” Hopefully after last week’s heat and the rain today, we can put summer behind us and move into cooler, less humid weather.
 
Many years ago, Delicious Orchards featured a soup befitting Indian summer, it's cream of cauliflower soup. The soup is quite easy to prepare. You’ll need 5-6 cups of chicken stock and three cups of milk, light cream or heavy cream. In the past I used to use heavy cream, however, becoming more health conscious, I opted for whole milk as I wanted a creamy taste, but with less fat. For this preparation I used Organic Valley whole milk that I purchased at Whole Foods for $2.99/quart. The cauliflower was from Delicious Orchards and costs approximately $2.99 per head.


​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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