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I am getting addicted to my Wegmans and Whole Foods apps. I especially like my Wegmans app as I can create a shopping list and get a ballpark as to what my food bill is going to be. On my Whole Foods app, I get an overview of their weekly sale and coupons which are good Wednesday through Tuesday.

Right now Whole Foods has on special Bone-In Pork Butt "From pigs fed vegetarian feed and raised with no antibiotics, ever. Excludes cooked." for $2.99/lb. I recently purchased at Williams-Sonoma Apple Cider Pulled Pork Starter for $9.99 (originally $16.95). As I said before, W-S starter sauces are great. I used one at Christmas for beef short ribs and it was scrumptious. Although the recipe calls for 2-1/2 pound boneless pork shoulder, I'll try using the bone-in pork butt. In doing a bit of quick research on Chowhound, it seems it will work just fine.

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I believe that I mentioned in earlier blogs, I received a cookbook, Lidia’s Italy by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianch Manuali, as a birthday gift last year. I selected the beef goulash recipe for dinner the other night. It was another recipe my husband wanted me to prepare.

Instead of purchasing beef for stewing at the meat counter, I chose Wegmans boneless chuck roast at $5.99/lb. and cubed it myself into 1-1/2" cubes for the recipe. Since I didn't realize I needed fresh rosemary, I substituted dry in its place using approximately 1 teaspoon. I always have tomato paste on hand. A little tip, I make 1 tablespoon size portions of the tomato paste, place on parchment paper and freeze on a pan. Once they're frozen, I place the frozen tomato paste mounds  in a container for future use. 

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The other day before work, I took out my Lidia's Italy cook book to see what other recipes my husband had selected for making. One of those was chicken cacciatora with eggplant. It's a recipe that can be prepared in one pot, which I did, and the ingredient list was pantry basic, with a few additions. I already had some uncured, applewood smoked bacon in my freezer, I needed to purchase a can of San Marzano tomatoes, an eggplant and fresh parsley.
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The other day my husband was making meals suggestions to me. After awhile one tends to get in a rut with meal preparation and you need someone to remind you of dish that has been taken off the cooking circuit. Turkey polpettone is one of those dishes. Back in 2002, I believe chef Michael Chiarello had a cooking show on one of the public broadcasting stations. He prepared this dish of turkey polpettone.
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This past Sunday, a new season of America's Test Kitchen started. The show's topic dealt with the use of cast iron. The show suggested preheating both the oven and cast iron pan in a 500° oven. If you use cast iron to cook a steak, the result for rare was a nice exterior crust and meat that's juicy and pink inside. They also spratchcocked a whole chicken (removing the backbone and cracking the sternum to flatten the chicken before cooking), which enabled the chicken to cook in about 30 minutes, faster than roasting a whole chicken.

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I certainly got my money's worth out of our Christmas ham. Besides the Ham and Swiss Cheese frittata that I made for supper the other evening, I took the ham bone and made 15 bean soup. I purchased a package of Hurst 15 bean soup and followed the recipe on the back of the package. Had I realized that I could have done this in my crock pot, I would have used that method.
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I took a break from the gym today to catch up a few things I had to do around the around. Yesterday I prepared the batter for the cocoa snowflake cookies and I baked them off today. I found this recipe in a catalog for Penzeys Spices. As these cookies are too rich to each more than one, I also made a batch of Amy's Oh's Very Best Cookies from the January 1996 issue of Gourmet Magazine. What I love about these cookies is that they don't taste sweet, contain oatmeal, raisins and chocolate chips! You can't beat that. 

When I was putting the cookies in a tin, I noticed that I forgot to add the chocolate chips to the recipe! A good point for having all your ingredients together before you start a recipe.
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What a damp, dreary day it was today. I was off from work, but had to run some errands. After returning from the gym this afternoon, I felt the need for some chocolate. What better way to warm up than with a cup of Williams-Sonoma Classic Hot Chocolate. You use  milk, not water, and the W-S hot chocolate is actually shaved premium chocolate. It's way too rich to drink more than 4 ounces.  You can pick it up either at the store or online selecting the classic or peppermint flavored hot chocolate.
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My posting is a bit off here, as I should have posted this before my Happy New Year blog, however, it's another catch up day for me. New Years Eve I worked until 5 pm and although my husband and I talked about going out for dinner, we opted to stay in.

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The holidays are officially over and I have a Sunday off! I'll still be working five days a week and two nights, but my hours are reduced. Hopefully, this will allow me to get back into more creative cooking. 

This past Friday, my daughter came down for a visit and took me to lunch at Cardinal Provisions in Asbury Park. Oh my goodness, what a hoppin' place it was. Perhaps a lot of people took off for the week or began the New Years weekend early. This was my second time here and my daughter's first. We started off with a cup a soup offered in antique coffee cups, which was a pretty presentation. We both had the green minestrone which was delicious on a cold, windy day. She selected the cuban sandwich  (pressed Berkshire ham & roasted pork with swiss cheese, mustard, house pickles on ciabatta), which was served hot and juicy. I chose the chicken salad, but served on a crossiant (poached organic chicken, olive oil, toasted pignoli nuts, tarragon, celery, currants, market greens). It was all delicious and filling.


​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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