​I can’t believe that April is just about over and the start of the summer season at the Jersey shore is in the not-too-distant future. My daughter and her family have had a busy spring, what about yours? Between softball practice and games, soccer and birthday parties how do young families deal with their kid’s busy schedule. My daughter tries to cook ahead for the week, but if you can’t I found some easy to do weeknight meals. I’m also sharing a recipe I found in Cook’s Illustrated Magazine that I made for Easter dessert.
 
There’s nothing like a one pot meal such as Lidey Heuck’s Chicken Potpie with Cornbread biscuits. Eric Joon’s Pepper Steak is a two-pot supper, one for the stir fry and another if you want to serve it with rice. Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin “Filets” from Southern Living Magazine was a delicious meal that took about 35 minutes to prepare. 

​As a belated birthday gift from my son and his family, he took me to Mabel at Bell Works in Holmdel, NJ. Bell Works is in a pastoral setting just off the Garden State Parkway at exit 114. Once off the parkway you head for Crawfords Corner Road and look for the signs for Bell Work which leads down a long serene drive. The Bell Work’s interior has a huge inner atrium surrounded by various levels of offices. On the main level you’ll find restaurants and retail shops. Mabel sits in the middle of the building. They’re open Wednesday through Sunday with lunch service through Friday, dinner service through Saturday and brunch on both Saturday and Sunday.
 
We had a reservation for a Friday evening. The restaurant is quite large with several dining rooms. We sat in the room off the deck which was  spacious . We began with a cocktail with me ordering the Rotary (Woodford Reserve bourbon, cola syrup, angostura and orange bitters) and my son had the Rum punch. Although the punch wasn’t currently on the menu, the bar was able to make the drink. By the way, they also have several non-alcoholic beverages.

I’ve discovered my love for all things cacio e pepe, from pizza to pasta and recently with gnocchi. During a mindless search on the internet for recipes, I came upon “Food & Wine’s” webpage for Cacio e Pepe Gnocchi. It’s a thirty-minute meal and you use shelf stable gnocchi. Though the recipe serves four, I made half the recipe for my husband and I.
 
For the recipe you’ll need olive oil, refrigerated gnocchi (I used Wegmans shelf stable gnocchi), black pepper, heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, pecorino Romano Cheese and fresh flat leafed parsley for garnish. Using an oven-safe skillet, the gnocchi is sautéed in olive oil until a golden brown. The gnocchi is removed and set aside.  In a clean dry skillet, olive oil is added to the pan along with black pepper. The pepper is toasted which will intensify the flavor making it more fragrant and complex. Next, the cream is added and brought to a simmer.  Off heat the cheeses are added and stirred with the cream until melted and silky. Add the gnocchi and stirred until covered with the sauce. Transfer to a preheated oven and broil until the top of the gnocchi is browned in spots and the sauce is thickened. 

Some recipes are easier than others when scaling down for two people. Other times, I’m asking Siri for conversions or using my calculator to get the measurements just right. A sheet pan recipe by Ali Slagle of The New York Times made it easy for me with her recipe for Sheet-Pan Chicken with Artichokes and Herbs.
 
For this recipe you’ll need fennel bulbs, a can of artichoke hearts, cherry tomatoes, extra-virgin olive oil, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, minced garlic, ground fennel, fresh rosemary, fresh sage, chicken thighs (bone-in, skin-on), pitted green olives, fresh lemon juice and red pepper flakes.
 
The fennel is cut into wedges and placed on a rimmed baking sheet along with the artichokes, tomatoes and dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper. In a small bowl garlic, ground fennel, rosemary, salt and olive oil are whisked together. The chicken is seasoned with salt and pepper and rubbed with the spice mixture. The chicken goes on top of the vegetables skin-side up. ​

My husband recently said to me towards the end of a week, “Let’s go to Cape May overnight.” With such short notice I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to locate a room. We previously stayed at The Queen Victoria Bed & Breakfast located on Ocean Street. It’s conveniently located a block away from Beach Avenue and a short walk to the Washington Street Mall. We enjoy staying here because of the off-street parking adjacent to our room, afternoon tea and a lovely buffet breakfast, but more on this later.
 
There are three buildings that make up the inn, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and  House of Royals. Our favorite room is in the Prince Albert building, which is a ground floor room located at the back of the property. The room has a queen size bed, two sitting areas and a generous bathroom with step-in shower. There’s also a gas fireplace across from the bed making the room quite cozy. The front of the Queen Victoria also has a wonderful front porch with rockers and chairs to enjoy the weather. ​

Earlier last week I found myself creating a variety of recipes which my husband and I both loved. In fact, twice my husband said, put an asterisk by this one. Here’s what we ate last week: Cheese Straw Biscuits with Ham, Bourbon-Braised Short Ribs, Wine-Braised Chicken and Vegetables and, lastly, Almond Frangipane Cookies.
 
We subscribe to “Garden and Gun Magazine,” which is published in Charleston, South Carolina. Cheese straws are a popular snack in southern states. Katherine Cobbs, a cook book author from Birmingham, Alabama, re-imagined cheese straws as a biscuit and then filled them with country ham.  ​