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​I wanted to share with you a short vacation my husband and I took at the beginning of June. We decided to visit Boston to see an old friend of mine who used to live at the Jersey shore, tour the city and take in a baseball game at Fenway Park. 
 
My friend’s daughter went to college in Boston and remained there after graduation. Although my friend drove a few times by herself to Boston, she decided to take AMTRAK from Metropark Station in New Jersey to Boston. I convinced my husband to give it a try and he agreed. We booked a trip from Friday to Monday leaving at approximately 9 in the morning. We selected two aisle, business class seats to allow for extra leg room and assigned seats.
 
We arrived at the station and found our car. The car was comfortable and spacious. The trip took approximately 5 hours, but we arrived relaxed and my husband wasn’t exhausted from driving.
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​It’s been a busy start to September and I can’t believe how far behind I am in updating you on the wonderful recipes I’ve been making. I’m hoping that you can find some late season peaches to prepare Pork, Pistachios and the Perfect Peach recipe. Matt’s Farm Market in Belmar had sweet, juicy peaches from Idaho that were fabulous and Delicious Orchards in Colts Neck also had some peaches from out of the local area.
 
The recipe is from the “Financial Times,” which is a British daily newspaper. This past August, they published a recipe by Ravinder Bhogal (on Instagram @cookinboots). For the recipe you’ll need pistachios, panko bread crumbs, lemon zest, salt, pepper, an egg, Dijon mustard, pork loin steaks, olive oil, fresh sage and fresh peaches. One thing to note on their recipes, is that some of the measurements are in metrics. Not to fear, you can Google for conversion or use a digital scale switched from grams to ounces. 
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​The summer season ended with my granddaughters visiting for a week, which curtailed my cooking. However, I did squeeze in a few new recipes that you may enjoy.
 
I prepared a delicious recipe from The New York Times/NYT Cooking website for Grilled Chicken Thighs and Corn with Lime-Basil Butter.  The recipe, by Clare de Boer, actually calls for thighs, but my husband and I prefer breasts. For the recipe you’ll need skinless and boneless chicken thighs, garlic cloves, olive oil, kosher salt (Diamond Crystal), black pepper, zest and juice of limes, unsalted butter, basil leaves, fresh corn that is shucked and flaky sea salt. Corn season is just about over and the basil and your garden is starting to wane, but if you can find some at your local farm market, go for it. 
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I am friendly with my former coworkers at a local school. Two of my friends still work at the school were lamenting that the new school year begins in a mere three weeks. How can it be that summer is almost over? In fact, my husband was asking me when I was going to start making my fresh tomato sauce.
 
During the summer months, most of my produce comes from two sources either Dreyer Farms in Cranford or Matt’s Farm Market in West Belmar. As I have mentioned before, the tomatoes, peaches and corn have been outstanding. In a recent CSA box, I received a container of cherry tomatoes. Luckily for me I had the perfect recipe from The New York Times/NYT Cooking for Lemon and Garlic Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes. The recipe, by Martha Rose Shulman, calls for extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, fresh garlic, fresh rosemary, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, boneless and skinless chicken breasts, dry white wine, cherry tomatoes, sugar, all-purpose flour, a neutral oil, fresh parsley.  Parmesan cheese is optional.
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It was beautiful Saturday afternoon as I sat on my porch typing and glancing over to view the river. During the past several weeks, I found some tasty salad recipes in which to use the wonderful produce from my Dreyer Farms’ CSA box of Cranford and Matt’s Farm Market in Wall Township.
 
There was no need to blanch and freeze any more broccoli. I previously made a broccoli salad recipe by Trisha Yearwood, but  I found a recipe by Kay Chun of The New York Times and realized while typing this blog post, that it’s almost identical to Ms. Yearwood’s. Ingredients for Ms. Chun’s recipe are kosher salt, bacon, broccoli florets, mayonnaise, red onion, apple cider vinegar, granulated sugar, coarsely grated cheddar cheese, golden raisins and roasted, salted sunflower seeds. In some instances, the quantities are the same or slightly increased and she uses a red onion whereas Ms. Yearwood just calls for “an onion.” Ms. Chun also added grated cheddar cheese to her recipe. Though Ms. Chun is a native New Yorker, her recipe for “Southern Broccoli Salad” clearly comes through as southern. How did it taste you ask? Quite yummy. I like the fact that there are different textures and mouthfeel from the shredded cheese, to the softened raisins. I use Duke’s Mayonnaise, a southern product, for the nice twang it lends to the broccoli. Overall, a recipe just as good as Ms. Yearwood’s. ​
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​The heat and humidity have been relentless this summer. As the weather has been quite uncomfortable, I’ve found some recipes that work quite well during this hot weather. I made a meatloaf, but you may not believe how I cooked it. Zucchini has been abundant in our Dreyer Farms CSA box and I found an easy to prepare side dish. With the Olympics in full swing, I took advantage of the theme and made an elegant appetizer using the last of my pâté. Utilizing summer stone fruit in a dinner salad or with grilled pork is always nice, especially with sweet, juicy summer peaches. Kirby cucumbers were also included and I used a recipe from the CSA recipe sheet to make a new dill pickle recipe.
 
Meatloaf is one of my husband’s favorite meals. I had some ground turkey that I wanted to use, but baking a meatloaf for almost an hour wasn’t appealing. After a little internet sleuthing, I discovered that I could cook it in my slow cooker on high for three hours, perfect. Easy Turkey Meatloaf by Melissa Knific was chosen for this preparation. Besides ground turkey, you’ll also need nonstick cooking spray, an egg, an apple, an onion, seasoned panko bread crumbs, garlic powder, kosher salt,  black pepper and Italian seasoning (optional). For the sauce, you’ll need ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar (cider, distilled, white or red wine), Worcestershire sauce and black pepper. I didn’t have seasoned panko bread crumbs, so I used Spice and Tea Exchange’s Tuscany Spice Blend for flavoring. 
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“Hot Fun in the Summertime” was written by Sylvester Stewart, or better known as Sly Stone of the band Sly and the Family Stone. Sly Stewart wrote this song in 1969 extolling the beginning of summer and the fun that one has during these lazy days. I will say this summer so far has certainly been hot, and extremely humid too. Despite the heat and humidity, one still needs to eat no matter how hot it is.
 
Now that New Jersey peach season is in full swing, I tweaked Melissa Clark’s recipe for Baked Oatmeal with Berries and Almonds to work with peaches. First I made a tiny cross on the bottom of the peaches and blanched them in boiling water for approximately 30 seconds. This enabled me to peel off their skin. Next, I cut segments into the peach and cut it away from the pit. In place of almonds, I used toasted walnuts that I coarsely chopped and used 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon in lieu of nutmeg. The baked oatmeal came was delicious and had a lovely sweet taste from the peaches. The peaches were full of flavor and was a great change from using berries. Give it a try while peaches are still available. I’m going to purchase some and prep them for baking, but freeze them in portion sizes for fall and winter when I’m yearning for a bit of summer.
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​Recently I was faced with having a head of cabbage from my CSA box. While I could have made a traditional coleslaw, I wanted to try something new. My husband just received the current issue of “Garden and Gun Magazine” which had an article featuring a former “Top Chef” contestant, Ashleigh Shanti. The article featured her recipe for Hot Slaw, and I do mean spicy hot. For the recipe you’ll need green cabbage, a red onion, carrots, kosher salt, hot sauce (such as Tabasco), tomato paste, yellow mustard, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, minced garlic, paprika, black pepper, celery salt and cayenne pepper.
 
The recipe begins by thinly shaving 2 cups of green cabbage, however, I doubled the recipe. The preparation starts by placing shredded cabbage, julienned red onion and matchstick size carrots in a colander, adding kosher salt and tossing the mixture. The salt is used to leech out the moisture from the vegetables and soften them. 
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It’s been a busy start to July as our daughter and her family were here for the week, followed by playing catch up after they left. The weather this summer has been unbearably humid and hot; so, who feels like cooking. My husband likes a “cold supper” in the summer, which means I have to cook it earlier in the day so that we can enjoy it chilled for supper. However, I had in my possession from last May a recipe by Steven Raichlen for Shrimp a La Plancha. For this simple, tasty recipe you’ll need shrimp, extra-virgin olive oil (preferably Spanish), minced flat leaf parsley, fresh garlic, pimentón (optional), coarse sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, either brandy or sherry and lemon wedges.
 
Pimentón is a type of paprika used in Spanish cooking and comes in several varieties such as sweet, spicy, smoked and combination. I substituted smoked paprika.
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​I had some candy cane beets in my last CSA box. Recently in my Insta feed, I saw a restaurant promoting one of their nightly specials, beet carpaccio. This inspired me to create my own carpaccio using roasted beets sliced 1/8-inch thick on a mandoline. I made a balsamic glaze reduction by slowly cooking down the vinegar until it was a thick syrup and lightly drizzled on top. I placed a thinly sliced piece of Wild Mushroom Pâté from Alexian Pâté on  top and added a cornichon for a tart and slight sweet flavor to play off the acidity of the balsamic vinegar. What a scrumptious appetizer. The flavors of the ingredients were a great combination, refreshing for a summertime snack.
 
As I didn’t use all of the pâté, I thought I would try incorporating it into an omelet for lunch. Using a recipe by Sara Moulton for souffléd omelet, it was filled with chopped spinach, thin slices of cheddar cheese and diced pâté. What a lovely weekend lunch. The structure of the omelet was light, fluffy and puffed up nice and high. There was just enough cheese to add a bit of sharpness against the fresh taste of the spinach. The pâté provided texture and earthiness from the mushrooms.


​meet donna

A former teacher, shop-a-holic, empty-nester redefining quick, family approved dinners.

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