I’m winding down watching my second granddaughter one day a week. The weather has been most uncooperative this spring, and we’ve had more cloudy and rainy days than I care to remember. Last week, I thought it would be nice for her to decorate some sugar cookies. The recipe is from the cook book, “The Official Disney Parks Cookbook: 101 Magical Recipes from the Delicious Disney Vault.” My son-in-law was on a recent business trip to Orlando and picked up this book. We had taken my daughter’s family to Disney two years ago, so this was a nice remembrance. Thinking ahead, I planned on making Pop’T Art Sugar Cookies and have my granddaughters decorate them.
 
While you don’t necessarily need to follow the Disney recipe, you do need to prepare a sturdy sugar cookie base. Also, consistency in thickness is important too. I rigged up a system using a paint stirrer and a 12-inch ruler, which were approximately the same thickness, and rolled my cookies between the two. The recipe yields six cookies that are 3x-5-inches, but I opted to prepare half a batch. For the recipe you’ll need sugar, butter, an egg white, all-purpose flour and salt. The glaze consists of powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and food coloring. ​

I think spring with its warmer weather has finally arrived. April and May were chilly to the point I was still wearing my flannel pajamas and turning the heat on early in the morning to take the chill off. This warmer weather also yields plenty of spring fruit and vegetables.
 
I had my granddaughters for a few days at the end of the last month.  Their hope was to swim in our neighbor’s pool, but no such luck. I was, however, able to take them strawberry picking at Battleview Orchards, in Freehold, NJ. In the spring they have strawberry picking with sour cherries, peaches and nectarines in the summer. The fall brings apple picking with over a dozen varieties.
 
With boots in hand, we were off to the orchard. It had rained the previous day so I was glad I had the girls bring their boots as the field was damp with clay  type dirt. It was $5 per person to enter  and they give you a cardboard tray to hold your strawberries. Once done, the fee is credited back to you and applied to your strawberry purchase. It cost approximately $5 per pound, but they were juicy, red throughout and delicious. Once we got home, I washed the berries in a mixture of white vinegar and water. This also helps the berries to last longer in your refrigerator. 

​Mother’s Day is now in the rear-view mirror, onto another week of sports, spring cleaning and walking in the sunshine.
 
I hosted a brunch for my daughter-in-law on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the table before everyone dug in. I prepared Creamy Baked Eggs with Leeks and Spinach, Home Fries with Onions and Chives, bacon and Whole-Wheat Bran English Muffins. As we were a small group of four adults, I picked up a fruit bowl from Delicious Orchards in Colts Neck and four pastries from Hey Peach Bakery in Bradley Beach. I selected Pain Suisse, chocolate croissant, all-butter croissant and a cheese Danish. Brunch was delicious if I don’t say so myself. The eggs were perfectly cooked and my husband toasted several English muffins on our gas grill so they were ready at the same time. A fruit salad is always lovely to serve as something light  and sweet. My husband and I shared the Pain Suisse, which was wonderful. There was a light custard filling with a bit of chocolate; all the proportions were perfectly balanced offering a slight sweet flavor. 

Perhaps you’ve decided to celebrate mom at home this year. I’ll also be at home as I’ll let my son and daughter enjoy the day with their own families. If you’re someone that will be hosting mom and others, here are some suggestions to make the day enjoyable for you too.
 
Brunch is a great option for celebrating. Here are my suggestions for Mother’s Day.
 
If blood oranges are still available, Blood Orange and Grapefruit Juice makes for a wonderful switch from the normal orange juice. ​

​My son-in-law enjoys sending me IG videos and recently he sent one of chef Christian Petroni preparing lemon pasta. In watching the video you’ll see him cook spaghetti in salted water. Next, he fills a large sauté pan with a ladle of pasta water followed by par cooked spaghetti. To the pan, he squeezes the juice of two lemon then adds them to the pan. A good amount of cheese (Parmesan?) followed by a knob of butter. Toss, toss, done! I couldn’t be that adventurous so I found a similar recipe, Pasta al Limone, on the website “Serious Eats” by Daniel Gritzer.
 
For his recipe you’ll need unsalted butter, finely grated zest of a lemon plus its juice, minced garlic, kosher salt, spaghetti, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and freshly grated black pepper.
 
Mr. Gritzer recommends cooking the pasta in less water so it becomes starchier and he recommends fresh pasta with this lemon sauce. I dove with both into this recipe by whipping up fresh spaghetti.

​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. 

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. 

​I’ve been temporarily sidelined with my recovery. My husband takes me to physical therapy three times a week, food shopping at Wegmans and Costco and occasionally dining out. Being in the house is starting to drive me crazy, thank goodness I’m getting more mobile.
 
I am able to stand longer and have begun seeking out new recipes. I recently had a craving for risotto. While I thought I would make Risotto alla Milanese, I found a recipe in Marcella Hazan’s book “The Classic Italian Cook Book” for Risotto with Parmesan Cheese. I found Ms. Hazan’s recipe to be interesting as the broth could be homemade meat broth or chicken broth mixed with water. Forgive me Ms. Hazan, but I had a box of Wegman’s beef broth that I wanted to use. Although the recipe calls for 5 cups, the box was 32 ounces (4 cups), hopefully enough. For the recipe you also need shallots or onions, butter, vegetable oil, Italian Arborio rice and Parmesan cheese.

I  don’t know where the month went. My husband and I have been shopping for a second-floor bath renovation,  did an overnight getaway and had some neighbors over one afternoon to celebrate the holidays.
 
During the winter, I prepare a lot of soups. Pea soup is a favorite as well as butternut squash apple soup. However, there’s one I recently craved and that’s creamy mushroom soup. Many, many years ago, “Bon Appétit Magazine” published a mushroom soup from Wolfgang Puck’s that was rich and creamy. I held onto that magazine just for the recipe, but after Super Storm Sandy, my collection of old “Bon Appétit” and “Gourmet” magazines were tossed. I was able to locate a copy of the recipe online. What I loved about the soup was its richness and how the addition of thyme imparted such a wonderful flavor. I had a similar soup at the now defunct Manor Restaurant in West Orange, NJ.

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.