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I’m a bit behind on Thanksgiving food ideas, but these suggestions are doable on short notice.
 
As I had a bag of cranberries from our last Dreyer Farms CSA box, I opted for something different. Earlier this month the weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal published a recipe for Cranberry Agrodolce. In Italian, “agro” means sour and “dolce” means sweet.  My husband’s initial response was tepid, but I pressed on. While not our holiday condiment, I thought it would be tasty on a leftover turkey sandwich. For the recipe you’ll need olive oil, a red onion, 16 ounces of fresh (or frozen) cranberries, light brown sugar, red wine or balsamic vinegar, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
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Recently I had dinner with several friends and inevitably we talk about the cost of dining out. I began to mention various local restaurants that offer special dining options at affordable prices. My one friend said I should blog about it, so here it is. The places I’m mentioning is where my husband and I have eaten. I’ll also mention other local restaurants with special menus, however, we have not eaten there recently or not at all.
 
If you’re looking for a simple meal out with great food you should try Black Swan Public House in Asbury Park, NJ. On Wednesday evenings they offer 2 for 1 burger. You get a burger topped with muenster cheese, onion, lettuce, pickles, Marie Rose sauce on a sesame seed bun along with steak fries ($25). If you’re like my husband and I, get there before 6 PM and enjoy 50% off all alcohol (except bottles of wine). Dinner for two including alcohol beverages (I love an old-fashioned with Buffalo Trace bourbon) costs us about $60 before tax and tip.  On Thursday night they offer several pasta dishes for $25 with a wine special. We haven’t try this yet. ​
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Next week marks the end of the 2024 CSA season from Dreyer Farms. It has been a truly wonderful experience trying the variety of produce that our box holds each week. I’ve tried not to repeat recipes, but to find new ways to prepare the old standards sprinkled with exciting flavors.
 
Such was the case with the apples that came in our last few boxes. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell what variety they gave us and after eating one or two, I realized they would be better baked. My husband enjoys breakfast baked oatmeal casseroles that I’ve been preparing. I came across one recently on “The Southern Living Magazine” website for Baked Oatmeal with Apples, Cranberries and Pecans. For the recipe you’ll need eggs, whole milk, vanilla extract, apple pie spice, kosher salt, light brown sugar, melted butter, an apple, uncooked old-fashion rolled oats, pecans (I substituted walnuts as that’s what I had) and dried cranberries.
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​I started this post by making sure I had remembered all the items I prepared last week,  but I got sidetracked by looking through my Instagram feed. Sometimes, I need to bury my phone so I can focus on the task at hand.
 
Many years ago, when I was an aide for a first-grade teacher, a young girl gifted me some delicious sugar cookies. They were so good, I asked for the recipe. Now you would think I would have made them immediately, but 27 years later, I finally made them. I’ve made Neapolitan Cookies from “The Vanilla Bean” blog, however, my cookies were coming out too flat. After several tries, I pulled out my former student’s recipe to adapt to a Neapolitan cookie.
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Our 2024 CSA box from Dreyer Farms is coming to an end soon, but there is still some produce coming from the farms such as apples, carrots and the last of the tomatoes.
 
Although I felt like making an apple galette with the apples I accrued from the CSA box, I opted for something healthier. On the website, “Smitten Kitchen,” Deb Perelman created Breakfast Apple Crisp Granola . Ms. Perelman likes to eat this cold with yogurt. I had a bunch of apples that needed to be used and I thought this vaguely sounded similar to the baked oatmeal I make for my husband. Upon my explanation of ingredients, he said he was game to try it.
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​The other day I shared a recipe for an Almond Croissant Focaccia. You may have sat there and sighed over the time it would take to make. Fear not, Claire Saffitz shared on The New York Times/NYT Cooking website an easy recipe that takes store bought all-butter plain croissants and turns them into almond ones and they’re wonderful. It takes approximately one hour and even my four-year-old granddaughter, Lucy, can put them together.
 
For the recipe you’ll need 8 stall croissants, cut in half horizontally. For the frangipane, an almond cream,  you’ll need almond flour, unsalted butter, light brown sugar, eggs, almond extract, all-purpose flour and kosher salt. For the syrup, granulated sugar, dark rum and water. Sliced almonds are needed to top the croissants before baking.
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​I can’t believe how dark it is in the morning with sunrise after 7 AM and sunset just after 6 PM. I don’t know where the day has gone and yet there are things left on my “to do list.”
 
Recently my daughter saw an Instagram post by @schoolnightvegan for Almond Croissant Focaccia. It’s a vegan recipe although I substituted butter and milk. The recipe’s ingredients are listed in metrics, but I converted to standard measurements. The conversion and substitutions are listed in the recipe.  It does take time to make as your preparing not only the focaccia, but almond paste filling and a simple syrup.
 
For the focaccia you’ll need warm water, granulated sugar, milk, yeast, all-purpose flour, salt and butter. The almond paste filling is made with ground almond meal, granulated sugar, butter, almond extract and milk. The focaccia toppings are butter and sliced almonds. The simple syrup is made with Amaretto, granulated sugar and water; but more on this later.
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​I’m still taking advantage of the last of the summer vegetables. Matt’s Farm Market in Belmar estimates that tomatoes should be coming in until the end of the month. In the past few weeks, squash (green, yellow  and spaghetti), corn and hardy greens have been in our CSA box.
 
I couldn’t resist, or should I say punish myself, by making yet another tomato sauce recipe. This time I opted to try Chunky Fresh Tomato Sauce, a recipe from the cook book “Naples at Table,” by Arthur Schwartz. For the recipe you’ll need ripe plum tomatoes, extra-virgin olive oil, an onion, salt and basil leaves. 
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​Now that school is back in session, I’m on the road once a week to babysit my granddaughter. I also help my son and daughter-in-law by picking up my grandson two days a week after preschool, busy life!
 
Our CSA box continues through mid-November and I’m still taking advantage of the last of the summer produce. I recently tried my hand at making homemade ketchup, light and crispy zucchini fritters, helped my granddaughter Lucy make “oat balls,” as she calls them, and meat sauce Bolognese. Phew, that’s a lot of cooking.
 
My husband suggested that I try making different recipes using tomatoes. When I was looking through my NYTCooking app, I found a recipe by Melissa Clark for Tomato Ketchup. For the recipe you’ll need 4 pints of grape tomatoes, red wine vinegar, dark brown sugar, salt, black pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Ms. Clark says you can use plum tomatoes in lieu of grape, which is what I did. I used 4 pounds of San Marzano style tomatoes that I found at Matt’s Farm Market in Belmar.
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​I don’t like loose ends; so today I’m going to bring you up to date with my dining and baking adventures.
 
I promised our oldest granddaughter that when she turned 7, I’d take her to see “Wicked” on Broadway. It seems like that promise was so long ago, that I forgot. But she turned 7 in August and  I kept my promise and bought tickets for myself, daughter and granddaughter to attend a Saturday matinee performance. I had seen the show about 10 years ago; although I recall most of the show, there were some things I had forgotten.
 
The Saturday we went in was fortunately not as hot as it had been in August. We took the train in from Metropark to Penn Station. We had lunch before the theatre at Bar Primi. I follow food and travel journalist @thisgirlcaneat on Instagram and she had posted her visit to Bar Primi that was very close to Penn Station. They do not have a kid’s menu, but my granddaughters have sophisticated palates, how many kids do you know eat duck poutine? 


​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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