​Almost two weeks ago, my daughter and her family moved in temporarily while their kitchen is undergoing a gut renovation. My husband and I lived through two kitchen renovations. It was a challenge when our children were young and we did it during warmer weather. My daughter has a 2-1/2 year old daughter who is always in perpetual motion. It’s more of a challenge during the Corona virus when daycare is not available and playgrounds are off limits
 
One of the first things I made when they arrived was banana cake. My daughter arrived with several very ripe bananas that needed to be used immediately. I searched my usual favorite websites, a few cookbooks, but wound up finding a wonderful, easy recipe that my mother-in-law had given my husband when he was on his own after college. You could tell the recipe was a bit dated has it called for margarine, which I substituted with butter. The other ingredients included sugar, an egg, milk, flour, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla and three bananas. I added chopped walnuts for texture. After I had it baking in the oven, my daughter wondered if I added chocolate chips to the batter, which would have been a great addition to the nuts. The cake was tender and moist; a nice change from cookies.

My daughter is expecting her second child in August. She has a craving for cinnamon rolls. Of course, I came to the rescue and offered to make a batch for her. I checked Martha Stewart, Ina Garten and Ree Drummond’s website for possible recipes. I didn’t want something overly complicated. I also looked at food blogger, Deb Perleman’s website, Smitten Kitchen. I finally wound up looking at an old cook book from Jean Anderson called “The Grass Roots Cookbook.” In the section entitled, “The South,” there was a recipe by Mrs. Jake R. Hatfield for Cinnamon Rolls. Mrs. Hatfield stated her grandchildren demand her cinnamon rolls. Well, with an endorsement like that I chose her recipe.
 
The recipe was quite easy to make and took me about 4 hours. Don’t panic, the dough had two risings and a 10 minute rest before rolling out the dough. 

​I’ve been blogging about food for four years. I can’t believe in all that time I haven’t shared my mother’s recipe for manicotti. Could it be that I haven’t made them in four years?
 
I had a craving for manicotti and I thought during the virus lock-down, it would be a good time to make them. My mother made her own shells, but they are more like a crepe. The batter consists of flour, eggs, water and a pinch of salt. You make her manicotti shells like you are making pancakes, however, you don’t have to flip them over. My mother used a ¼ cup measuring cup to make each crepe, cook on one side. They’re done when they lose their gloss and turn to a matte finish. I made approximately two dozen crepes.

​I am always on the search for new chicken recipes as we eat so much of it. Leading up to the Passover holiday, Joan Nathan, a renowned cook and cookbook author of Jewish cuisine, wrote about a recipe she acquired while attending a dinner party where the guests were sharing Passover recipes. This recipe, from the late Esther Soussan Berman who grew up in Morocco, was shared by her daughter-in-law.
 
The flavors are wonderful together and a bit unexpected if, like me, you haven’t tried Middle Eastern cuisine. For the recipe you’ll need, lemons, artichokes, chicken thighs, an onion, garlic, fresh parsley, saffron, cinnamon and chicken broth. I used frozen artichoke hearts that I had in my freezer. I did have a tiny amount of saffron on hand. [Just a note, during the Christmas holidays, my local Costco carried tiny jars of saffron for approximately $15.] Instead of chicken thighs I used chicken breasts.