​My sheet pan pancakes were a big hit with my granddaughter. Apparently, the batch I brought to my daughter’s never made it into the freezer. Being a good Nana, I made another batch yesterday, but left them plain. I found in my June 2020 issue of Southern Living Magazine a recipe for Mini Hash Brown Frittatas that can be made ahead and frozen.
 
For the frittatas you’ll need frozen shredded hash browns, cheddar cheese, frozen chopped spinach, butter, an onion, eggs, half and half, salt, pepper and cherry tomatoes. I know my granddaughter won’t eat tomatoes and neither will her father, so I left those out.

In the New York Times Sunday edition, they have a fairly new section called “Home.” This section has a page devoted to “5 Dishes to Cook this Week.” In the October 4th paper, there was a recipe for Crisp Gnocchi with Brussels Sprouts and Brown Butter. My husband and I love brussels sprouts. This is a quick meal to make as it uses shelf-stable or refrigerated potato gnocchi.
 
Besides the gnocchi and Brussels sprouts, you’ll need a lemon, red pepper flakes, unsalted butter, honey, Parmesan cheese. The Brussels sprouts are cooked in the olive oil with salt, pepper and lemon zest. Once the sprouts are a toasty brown, red pepper flakes are sprinkled on. The Brussels sprouts are cooked until crisp tender then removed from the pan.

​I just realized it has been approximately two weeks since my last post. After dinner I found that I don’t have the ability to focus on writing about the wonderful dishes I made. Is it the fog of hearing too much COVID-19 news, the election or the inability to get restful sleep?

I’m sitting at my kitchen table with my iPad focusing on the new and tasty dishes I found and made since my last post. One of those was a one skillet meal that my son-in-law sent me from the Food Network, Pork Chops with Pear-Pecan Slaw. The week that I created this dish, Whole Foods had pork chops on sale. Through tomorrow, Whole Foods again has boneless pork loin chops or roast on special for $5.99/lb. (Prime members get an additional 10% off).

Besides the pork chops, you’ll need paprika, dried thyme, kosher salt, pepper, chopped pecans, extra virgin olive oil, red cabbage, dried cranberries, a pear, scallions and apple cider vinegar.

​Recently I was going through Jean Anderson’s cook book “The Grass Roots Cookbook” I came across a quick bread recipe that uses butternut squash. I love vegetable-based breads and cakes such as zucchini bread and carrot cake.  This recipe seemed a bit similar to my carrot cake recipe in that it uses vegetable oil. The oil will give you a moister and more tender product.
 
For the recipe you’ll need sugar, brown sugar, cooked and mashed butternut squash, vegetable oil, eggs, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger, water, raisins and chopped walnuts. (I omitted the raisins).

​Another recipe that my son-in-law recently forwarded to me was for Sausage and Grits Lasagna. The recipe was found on the website for Country Living Magazine and was described as a hearty casserole. It sounded like a meal that would be heavy on the stomach, but quite truthfully it was totally delicious and light!
 
For the recipe you’ll need stone-ground grits (I prefer Geechie Boy from South Carolina), parsley, salt and pepper, sweet Italian sausage, olive oil, yellow onion, red bell pepper, garlic, red pepper flakes, dry white wine, petite diced tomatoes, 6-ounches provolone, fresh basil and fennel seed. The recipe takes approximately one hour and 25 minutes from start to finish. The first thing you’ll need to make is the grits as they take approximately 25 minutes to cook. Once you have the grits going, it’s on to sautéing the sausage. To make them easier to cook, I removed the sausage from its casing. After the sausage has browned, it’s removed from the pan and kept warm.