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I know people are reluctant to shop Whole Foods because of their high price reputation, however, I am not one of them. I have their app on my Smartphone and every Wednesday I check their weekly specials. This week they have "air-chilled, whole chickens raised with no antibiotics, excludes organic and cooked chickens" on sale for $1.69/lb. (regularly $3.29).

​This evening's supper was rotisserie cooked chicken with Williams-Sonoma Smokehouse rub. Along with the chicken, Delicious Orchards had 6 ears of white corn for $3.49, which I purchased. Luckily I had some red-skinned potatoes (no peeling) in the basement and I was able to whip up a small batch of potato salad to go along with the chicken. 
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The weekly flyers have arrived from my local food stores. A quick peruse of the Shop Rite flyer has an advertisement for Pat LaFrieda beef hamburgers (24 oz. beef chuck, brisket and short rib blend) on sale next week for $6.99/per package.

There's another brand that both the Wall Towne ShopRite has and Sea Girt Foodtown carry and that is Schweid & Sons. On sale next week at Shop Rite is Schweid is a CAB Custom Blend (certified Angus beef) made with brisket and chuck. The burgers come in a 21 oz. package at $6.99 each.

​I usually purchase chuck beef patties from Delicious Orchards that come from Vrola Meats. However, as I said in a previous post, those Pat LaFrieda burgers were fantastic. I still have a few Vrola burgers in the freezer and I just purchased LaFrieda burgers; now I'm tempted to purchase Schweid and Sons for a taste test. I'll call my son and his girlfriend and see if they're up for a the challenge. Too bad my son-in-law is unavailable for this task.
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Besides eating lots of chicken, I find pork tenderloins make a delicious alternative. They usually come two to a package and require minimal amount of prep. You always want to make sure that you remove the silver skin from the tenderloin and perhaps some small pieces of fat. 

So for this evening meal, I'm using a recipe I found on Williams-Sonoma's website a  for Marinated Pork Tenderloin. The pork is in marinated in a balsamic-rosemary marinade for approximately 2 hours, then grilled for 20 minutes. Easy peasy!  
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Our Brittany Spaniel, Daisy, is an early riser. How early you say, somewhere around 4:30 a.m. she's ready to go outside and then have her breakfast treat. The mornings at that hour are now dark and the sun is setting earlier. You can hear the crickets chirping all day.

I was working today so I have to prepare supper ahead of time so that all I have to do when I come home is sit down and eat. My husband can handle turning on the oven, popping in a casserole and setting the table. As the weather is much improved over the past two weeks, I'm able to prepare something ahead time for oven baking. Fitting the bill today is macaroni and cheese. Shop Rite has 8 ounce packages of Cabot cheddar cheese on sale for $1.88 ea., so it's a perfect meal for tonight.
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I don't know about your basil plants, but ours are about 3 feet tall and we have two of them. I clipped some basil from one plant on Saturday and I barely made a dent to it. As a surprise to my son, who also has a basil plant, I made pesto for his pantry. The recipe I've been using is from The Classic Italian Cookbook by Marcella Hazan. Recipe after the jump.
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I am thrilled to report that Shop Rite at the Wall Towne Center continues to stock beef from Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors. 

Here is what Shop Rite has:
  • 4-6 ounce original blend beef patties (24 oz.) $7.99 ($5.33/lb.) - I purchased these this morning
  • Bone in NY Strip Steak $25.99/lb.
  • Boneless Y Strip Steak $29.99/lb.
  • T-Bone Steak $21.99/lb.
  • Cowboy Steak $21.99/lb.
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About a month ago I saw in a Shop Rite weekly flyer that they had ground beef from Pat LaFrieda. Some of you may have heard of them. They are a meat purveyor that started out in Brooklyn, NY and now occupy a larger facility on Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen. Pat LaFrieda also supplies some of the best restaurants in Manhattan with their beef, veal, pork, lamb and poultry.

I was excited to see that I could purchase their ground beef here in New Jersey. I purchased a one pound Cryovac package on sale for about $6. The 80/20 blend was a mix of chuck, brisket and short rib. Last week I made two eight ounce patties and grilled them about 7-8 minutes per side. Oh my gosh, it was the best burger I've had. The meat was very flavorful, moist and oh so juicy. Even though it was an 80/20 blend, when cleaning the grill, I didn't notice much fat in the drip pan. I'm going to back to the Shop Rite on Route 34 to see if they still have the ground beef. 

I also read on their website Pat LaFrieda does home delivery! Delivery in the tri-state is free. However, this won't be an inexpensive purchase. If you're looking for something unique as a gift and want to replicate that steak or burger from a famous New York restaurant, here's your chance. 


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Every summer when our children were younger, I would a purchase sack of corn from Delicious Orchards (42 ears). With the help of my husband we would husk, blanch and then cut the kernels off the cobs to have and freeze it in our small freeze in the basement to enjoy summertime corn all winter long.
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When Wegmans first opened, they use to send a flyer out. In one of those flyers was a recipe for stir fry pork with snow peas in citrus soy sauce. It's a terrific recipe as it can be prepared in 30 minutes. If you click on the link for the recipe, most of the vegetables can be purchased pre-cut, however, I do my own vegetable prep.

I purchased Wegmans family pack (four tenderloins, two per pack) of pork tenderloins for $2.99/lb., which is a great price. The red pepper was $3.99/lb. as I believe the snow peas were too. I love their citrus soy sauce ($1.99 for 4 oz.), which really makes  this dish. Wegmans has other sauce and finishing butters, but this is the only I've tried.

Make sure you use a non-stick pan. I once again used my LeCrueset, but the meat stuck to the pan despite the fact that I used oil to saute the meat. While you're cooking the main course, cook your style of rice that you wish to serve the stir fry over. I used regular white rice. Dress it with either more soy sauce or Chinese mustard for some heat. The recipe serves four.
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I subscribed to Southern Living Magazine as it like for its articles on southern destinations, home decor, and gardening and, of course, southern food. When I needed a menu for guests that we had over recently, I turned to two recipes from the February 2011 issue. I've made Bourbon-Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin several times now and I did my version of Garlic Chive Mashed Potatoes.

​For my version of garlic-chive mashed potatoes, I took a head of garlic, wrapped it heavy duty foil and drizzled some EVOO over it. I preheated my outdoor grill to 400 degrees, but turned off the middle burner when I baked the garlic. It roasted for about 30 minutes. Instead of using pre-made potatoes, I made my own. Just make sure that you prepare the potatoes just before serving, otherwise the dish may become too heavy from the addition of the cream cheese. To round out the meal, I steamed some string beans and dressed them with a bit of butter and seasoned with salt and pepper.

As an appetizer, my friend brought her clams oreganata and I made tomatoes and mozzarella. Also, I finally got to make Joshua Wesson's White Sangria. My husband thought I could have used half of the amount of fruit in the pitcher. 


​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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