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Last week when we had dinner at my girlfriend's house, she made sangria, but a white sangria, as she knows I prefer white wine. 

When I got home, it got me thinking about a sangria recipe that I had in my files. I haven't made it in a long time. However, with the heatwave that we're having, I'm going to have to locate a fruity white wine. By the way, my girlfriend was able to find a red wine sangria mix at the Wine Outlet in Manasquan. Recipe after the jump.
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I was home today and feeling kind of ambitious. I wanted to make something, but didn't know what. As I have to work tomorrow during the day, I thought I would surprise my co-workers with some muffins. 



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​During the week I have been making myself tomato sandwiches for lunch. While at Wegmans this morning, I decided to pick up some Antonio's Mozzarella ($7.99/lb) and make a tomato salad for lunch.

Using a serrated edge knife, I cut the tomatoes and mozzarella approximately 1/4" thick. I alternate tomato slices with mozzarella. Next I salt the tomatoes, put a chiffonade of fresh basil from the garden and drizzle on some excellent EVOO. Slice up some Italian bread and you have heaven on plate.
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During the hot days of summer, my husband prefers a cold meal, don't we all. However, someone has to be in the warm kitchen to prepare it so that it's cold by the time it's dinner. So today I thought would be a good day to prepare scallops. However, in order to make this as easy as possible, I swung by Whole Foods instead of driving up to Wegmans. Whole Foods had U10's at approximately $30/lb. Discouraged, I left and thought I would go to Wegmans. However, it was too hot by midday so plan B had to be developed.

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This evening we had been invited to a friend's house for dinner and I offered to bring dessert.  Jersey peaches are now in the market, so I decided to make a peach cobbler. Since I was short on time today, I stopped at Matt's Farm Market to pick up the peaches ($1.79/lb).

​The peach cobbler recipe is from the September 1999 issue of Gourmet magazine. It requires just your pantry basics. I did tweak the recipe by adding some freshly ground nutmeg, about a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch of salt to the peaches to highlight their flavor. I also picked up a pint of vanilla ice cream to go on top. 

My friend made clams oreganata as an appetizer. I've never made them before and they were delicious; they even had a bit of a kick to them. Our main course was  linguine and white clam sauce, which  is a nice change from the red sauce. It was nice and light summertime meal.  She also served a toss salad with a citrus vinaigrette. Eccellente la mia amica!

​Peach Cobbler
Gourmet Magazine, September 1999
 
Active Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Serves: 4
 
6 large peaches, cut into thin wedges
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon cornstarch

For biscuit topping
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup boiling water
 
 
Cook Peaches:
  1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
  2. Toss peaches with sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch in a 2-qt. nonreactive baking dish and bake in middle of oven 10 minutes.
 
Make topping while peaches bake:
  1. Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in water until just combined.
  2. Remove peaches from oven and drop spoonfuls of topping over them. Bake in middle of oven until topping is golden, about 25 minutes. (Topping will spread as it bakes.)
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A few years ago, a co-worker of my husband brought this salad to an office party. My husband was so taken with it that he asked for a copy of the recipe. I don't know where she got it, but it is a wonderful and makes for an easy supper.

Some ingredients that you'll need are: LaChoy Rice Noodles, sesame oil, sesame seeds and peanuts. Wegmans has all the aforementioned ingredients. Instead of cooking chicken for this recipe, I purchased a rotisserie chicken and pulled off the meat for the salad.  


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About a week ago my son surprised me with a coffee from Rook Coffee. This wasn't just your ordinary cup a coffee, it was an iced New Orleans style coffee made with milk and sugar. Boy was it delicious! The New Orleans style coffee is described on Rook's website as, "Sumatra with chicory. Smooth and chocolaty. Herbal." Those who know me know that I love my Starbucks, however, this tasted better than a Mocha Frappuccino. I don't know if it's the blend or not, but I certainly have a higher energy level after having a cup of this coffee.   

To go along with the coffee had I had to have another taste of their fig butter. Back in June during wedding day prep, my daughter's friend got a bagel with the fig butter....Mmm, so good. So much for my workout at the gym this morning. 
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Now that summertime vegetables are coming into season, I felt like having pasta with zucchini. Last summer in the New York Times, there was a recipe for Summer Pasta with Zucchini, Ricotta and Basil.  Last week I stocked up on the needed items for the recipe. 

I arrived home from work about 5:30 this evening and shortly thereafter proceeded to begin cooking. First on the list was to gather some basil from the garden and make a rough paste using the blender. I diced some onion for sautéing, I forgot the garlic for the sauce (just remembered it while typing this up), and then added the sliced zucchini and seasoned it with salt and pepper. While doing my slicing and dicing, I got the pasta water going. 

Although David Tanis' recipe says a prep time of 30 minutes, I think it took me about 45 minutes, however, it was worth it. I prepared this last summer for my family and they loved it. When searching for the recipe on the NY Times website I saw a recipe for Creamy Corn Pasta with Basil which sounds so delicious. I'll put Jersey corn on my shopping list this week and whatever other ingredients I need and then give this recipe a try. 
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God bless my late mother-in-law, if a recipe took more than three pots she didn't make the recipe. Tonight I made Turkey Sloppy Joes on Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits from Gourmet Magazine's September 2004 issue. The active time for the sloppy joes is 40 minutes, add the biscuits and both recipes take 1-3/4 hours.

The buttermilk biscuits make 8, however, since it's just my husband and I, I had these biscuits in the freezer and just had to defrost them. The sloppy joe recipe is flavorful. First of all, it's made with ground turkey but also has chopped onion, celery, bell pepper and garlic. To further enhance the mixture, crushed tomatoes, which I prefer over whole tomatoes, there is some ketchup, molasses, cider vinegar and Worcestershire sauce to charge up the flavor profile.
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I was working the closing shift the last evening, so I had to prepare something ahead of time to eat. We haven't had eggplant Parmesan in a while, so I've decided to prepare it for supper.

I do not purchase large eggplants, as its thought they have more seeds than the small ones. I peel my eggplant and using my mandoline, make 1/4" slices. I season flour with salt and pepper and dredge the eggplant in the mix. Next, I egg and bread the eggplant in seasoned breadcrumbs. Instead, of frying the eggplant, I take a dark metal cookie sheet and spray it with olive oil. I then place the sliced eggplant on the pan, and again spray the eggplant slices with olive oil. I have preheated my oven, using the convection setting to 350°. I'll use my homemade tomato sauce to moisten the eggplant, season again with salt and pepper, a little dried oregano and top with sliced mozzarella. Bake time is approximately 25 minutes, or until you see bubbles on the side. 



​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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