My husband was away for a few days last week attending homecoming at his college. Prior to his departure, I made a few meals which resulted in leftovers for my dinner in his absence. In one of the last CSA boxes, my daughter and I split a head of Napa cabbage that I turned into Unstuffed Cabbage. For another meal, I was in the mood for Tarragon Turkey Hash Meatloaf. This meat loaf contains ground turkey and a variety of vegetables such as potatoes, green peas, an onion, red pepper and seasonings. The only thing I needed to add to make this an easy meal was a green salad. These recipes were easy to prepare and made for a tasty dinner and even cold meat loaf sandwiches, which my husband loves.

I like to keep a tin of cookies on my counter for my husband and I to nibble on. Instead of baking off an entire batch, I’ll bake nine cookies at a time to slow down our sweet snacking. In one of our recent Dreyer Farms CSA boxes, we received a half gallon of Melick’s Town Farm Apple Cider just as I received a catalogue from King Arthur Flour containing a recipe for Apple Cider Snickerdoodle Cookies. I had everything on hand except boiled cider. On their website they gave a recipe on how to make it. A gallon of cider takes six hours to boil down to approximately two cups. As the recipe called for just two tablespoons of boiled cider, I placed a half gallon of cider in a heavy bottom saucepan, brought it to a boil then simmered for three hours. At this point the liquid had a syrup like consistency. 

​Well, I’m near the finish line of getting my blog posts up to date. As I mentioned in my last blog, earlier in the week, I’ll be covering Mini Chocolate Chip-Ins, White Wine Lobster Ravioli Sauce, Sheet-Pan Miso Chicken with Radishes and Lime and, finally, Wild Mushroom and Thyme Frittata.
 
My oldest granddaughter is an avid reader. She loves to read, one recently being “Act,” by Kayla Miller. In the back of the book, there was a recipe for Mint Chocolate Chip-Ins and she suggested we bake a batch. For the recipe, you’ll need a stick of butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, an egg, vanilla extract, peppermint extract, green food coloring, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, chocolate chips and sprinkles. The recipe begins by creaming the butter and sugars either in a stand mixer or by hand with a wooden spoon. Next, you’ll add the egg, extracts, and food coloring and mix again. The dry ingredients are sifted together, then added to the wet ingredients. Lastly, the chocolate chips and sprinkles are added. The dough is formed into 1-1/2 tablespoon balls, then rolled in the sprinkles (separate bowl). They’re placed 2 inches apart on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes in a 350° oven. 

Can you believe it, it’s already September. Forget pumpkins, I was at Costco and they have their holiday lawn decorations out. That said, what did I cook those last few weeks of August.
 
I had a few stalks of leeks left from another recipe I prepared. In the cook book “5 Ingredient Fix,” by Claire Robinson, I found a recipe for Potato Bar Soup. I’ve made a few of her recipes and they have been quite good. For this recipe you’ll need strips of smoky bacon, leeks, Yukon Gold potatoes, chicken stock, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper and cheddar cheese for garnishing.
 
The bacon is cooked in a large Dutch oven until crispy; it’s removed to a paper towel lined dish to drain. Sliced leeks are added to the bacon fat and cooked until softened and golden. They too are removed and set aside. ​

We are in week six of our CSA and the greens have been plentiful; could it be the rainy spring helped? In our box was a head of cabbage that I turned into Buttery Caramelized Cabbage with Barley, Peas and Spring Herbs. This recipe is by chef Katie Reicher who owns Greens Restaurant in San Francisco; it appeared in The Wall Street Journal on April 5th.
 
Ms. Reicher’s recipe called for farro, but I substituted barley. For the recipe you’ll also need kosher salt, fresh or frozen peas, olive oil, green or Savoy cabbage, butter, an onion, water, soft herbs (preferably a mix of mint, dill and basil), lemon zest and lemon juice. Fortunate for me fresh peas were included in our box and I had both dill and basil growing in my garden. ​

Writing a blog takes more time than I thought, how do full-time food bloggers do it? Do they have “people?” I’ve changed up my system so instead of posting an image on Instagram, I hold off until I have a link to both the recipe and its review. Let me know what you think…do you care to comment?
 
One-Pot Chicken Cacciatore is from The New York Times and was developed by Cybelle Tondu. For the recipe you’ll need bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, kosher salt, olive oil, waxy potatoes (Yukon Gold or fingerling), a sprig of fresh rosemary, anchovy fillets, fresh garlic, capers, dry white wine, white or red wine vinegar and fresh parsley.
 
I’ll start by saying my husband loved the potatoes in this dish and requested they be made on their own. However, they are cooked with the chicken which lends the rich flavor to the potatoes. The potatoes were cut into chunks and seasoned with rosemary, anchovy, garlic, capers, olive oil and salt. ​

Back in 2023 I took on the challenge to prepare a Turkey Porchetta from the cooking show
“America’s Test Kitchen.” Patience was the key to executing this recipe, but it turned out fabulous. I recently came across a recipe by Kay Chun, of The New York Times, for Porchetta-Spiced Roasted Potatoes. These potatoes were scrumptious. They had all the seasonings of a porchetta, minced garlic, fennel, dried thyme, fresh rosemary, fresh sage, freshly ground black pepper, red-pepper flakes with the baby potatoes (such as creamer, baby white or new potatoes) tossed with extra-virgin olive oil.
 
The pieces conveyed a taste similar to that of an actual porchetta roast, but without the hassle. The recipe takes 40 minutes from start to finish and crisped up very nicely in my oven.
 
I was looking for something different to make with ground beef when I stumbled upon Kevin Pang’s recipe for Loose Meat Sandwich. The sandwich is popular in Iowa and will remind you of Sloppy Joe. ​

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.  ​

In one of our last CSA boxes, I had a small head of cabbage. I came across an interesting recipe on the “Smitten Kitchen” website for Roasted Cabbage with Walnuts and Parmesan.
For the recipe you’ll need a medium-large or two small heads of savoy cabbage, extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, walnut halves and pieces, fresh garlic, a large lemon, red pepper flakes (Aleppo, if you have) and grated Parmesan cheese.
 
The cabbage is cut into wedges and laid on a rimmed baking sheet that has been coated with olive oil. Additional oil is brushed on the wedges. The cabbage roasts in a 475° oven until charred, about 8 to 10 minutes); then flipped. In the interim, place nuts on a baking dish and roast alongside the cabbage for 4 to 5 minutes. When done, coarsely chop and add extra virgin olive oil, salt and red pepper flakes. Let flavors meld together before adding a squeeze of lemon; adjust seasonings to taste. ​