My husband’s knee replacement surgery has come and gone and he’s in week three of recovery. We both picked up a cold along the way. Between his recovery, rehab and our colds, I still had time to prepare a just a few special things.
 
One evening, I prepared Sticky Chicken and Brussels Sprouts Stir-Fry,  a recipe by Ali Slagle from The New York Times/NYT Cooking app. You can substitute other green vegetables if Brussels sprouts aren’t your thing.  Substitutes such as broccoli florets, green beans or snow peas will work. To spice it up, Ms. Slagle suggests, crushed red pepper, chopped garlic or ginger. My husband sometimes likes to add Chinese mustard to his stir-fry. For the recipe you’ll need soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, cornstarch, boneless and skinless chicken breasts, neutral oil, Brussels sprouts and salt. ​

The next few days appear to be quite chilly in the northeast. Today is Monday, December 15th and the feel like temperature is 13°. With weather like this you need a hearty meal, especially one that is reasonably easy to prepare. Many, many years ago, my husband found a recipe in Food and Wine Magazine for Turkey Pot Pie with Corn Bread Crust. Over the years, I swapped the turkey for roasted chicken breast that I shred off the bone. With the upcoming holidays, you may find yourself with leftover turkey, which this recipe is perfect for. While it may be easier to purchase a pre-made pot pie (my preference is Griggstown Farms), for me it’s just as easy to make and less expensive than purchasing.  For eight servings you’ll need carrots, baking potato, unsalted butter, onions, stock (turkey or chicken stock or canned broth), salt, white pepper, hot pepper sauce, four generous cups of meat (cubed cooked, skinned), lima beans (I substitute frozen peas). For the crust you’ll need all-purpose flour, white cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, an egg, milk and a neutral oil.

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. ​