Another year has come and gone; you’ve made it! The new year is off to a fresh start and I’m having hip replacement surgery in a few weeks, woohoo! In the meantime, I’ll be cooking, stocking up and blogging on new recipes that I think you’ll find delicious enough to try yourself.
 
A few weeks ago, I found on Lidia Bastianich’s website a recipe for Balsamic Chicken Stir Fry. This recipe takes just 30 minutes to prepare and it has a nice Italian twist to a standard stir fry recipe. What you’ll need is chicken stock, balsamic vinegar, honey, cornstarch, kosher salt, extra-virgin olive oil, boneless and skinless chicken breasts, broccoli florets, broccoli stems trimmed and peeled cut into matchsticks, white or cremini mushrooms, red bell pepper, scallions, peperoncino flakes and white rice if desired.

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. ​

​The other day I shared a recipe for an Almond Croissant Focaccia. You may have sat there and sighed over the time it would take to make. Fear not, Claire Saffitz shared on The New York Times/NYT Cooking website an easy recipe that takes store bought all-butter plain croissants and turns them into almond ones and they’re wonderful. It takes approximately one hour and even my four-year-old granddaughter, Lucy, can put them together.
 
For the recipe you’ll need 8 stall croissants, cut in half horizontally. For the frangipane, an almond cream,  you’ll need almond flour, unsalted butter, light brown sugar, eggs, almond extract, all-purpose flour and kosher salt. For the syrup, granulated sugar, dark rum and water. Sliced almonds are needed to top the croissants before baking.

​Now that school is back in session, I’m on the road once a week to babysit my granddaughter. I also help my son and daughter-in-law by picking up my grandson two days a week after preschool, busy life!
 
Our CSA box continues through mid-November and I’m still taking advantage of the last of the summer produce. I recently tried my hand at making homemade ketchup, light and crispy zucchini fritters, helped my granddaughter Lucy make “oat balls,” as she calls them, and meat sauce Bolognese. Phew, that’s a lot of cooking.
 
My husband suggested that I try making different recipes using tomatoes. When I was looking through my NYTCooking app, I found a recipe by Melissa Clark for Tomato Ketchup. For the recipe you’ll need 4 pints of grape tomatoes, red wine vinegar, dark brown sugar, salt, black pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Ms. Clark says you can use plum tomatoes in lieu of grape, which is what I did. I used 4 pounds of San Marzano style tomatoes that I found at Matt’s Farm Market in Belmar.

​It’s been a busy start to September and I can’t believe how far behind I am in updating you on the wonderful recipes I’ve been making. I’m hoping that you can find some late season peaches to prepare Pork, Pistachios and the Perfect Peach recipe. Matt’s Farm Market in Belmar had sweet, juicy peaches from Idaho that were fabulous and Delicious Orchards in Colts Neck also had some peaches from out of the local area.
 
The recipe is from the “Financial Times,” which is a British daily newspaper. This past August, they published a recipe by Ravinder Bhogal (on Instagram @cookinboots). For the recipe you’ll need pistachios, panko bread crumbs, lemon zest, salt, pepper, an egg, Dijon mustard, pork loin steaks, olive oil, fresh sage and fresh peaches. One thing to note on their recipes, is that some of the measurements are in metrics. Not to fear, you can Google for conversion or use a digital scale switched from grams to ounces. 

“Hot Fun in the Summertime” was written by Sylvester Stewart, or better known as Sly Stone of the band Sly and the Family Stone. Sly Stewart wrote this song in 1969 extolling the beginning of summer and the fun that one has during these lazy days. I will say this summer so far has certainly been hot, and extremely humid too. Despite the heat and humidity, one still needs to eat no matter how hot it is.
 
Now that New Jersey peach season is in full swing, I tweaked Melissa Clark’s recipe for Baked Oatmeal with Berries and Almonds to work with peaches. First I made a tiny cross on the bottom of the peaches and blanched them in boiling water for approximately 30 seconds. This enabled me to peel off their skin. Next, I cut segments into the peach and cut it away from the pit. In place of almonds, I used toasted walnuts that I coarsely chopped and used 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon in lieu of nutmeg. The baked oatmeal came was delicious and had a lovely sweet taste from the peaches. The peaches were full of flavor and was a great change from using berries. Give it a try while peaches are still available. I’m going to purchase some and prep them for baking, but freeze them in portion sizes for fall and winter when I’m yearning for a bit of summer.

​Recently I was faced with having a head of cabbage from my CSA box. While I could have made a traditional coleslaw, I wanted to try something new. My husband just received the current issue of “Garden and Gun Magazine” which had an article featuring a former “Top Chef” contestant, Ashleigh Shanti. The article featured her recipe for Hot Slaw, and I do mean spicy hot. For the recipe you’ll need green cabbage, a red onion, carrots, kosher salt, hot sauce (such as Tabasco), tomato paste, yellow mustard, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, minced garlic, paprika, black pepper, celery salt and cayenne pepper.
 
The recipe begins by thinly shaving 2 cups of green cabbage, however, I doubled the recipe. The preparation starts by placing shredded cabbage, julienned red onion and matchstick size carrots in a colander, adding kosher salt and tossing the mixture. The salt is used to leech out the moisture from the vegetables and soften them. 

The title of this week’s blog post is credited to Aristotle. I am most happy when I have a list of things to do each day and can cross them off when accomplished. Sitting still isn’t something that comes easy to me. I find cooking relaxing and very enjoyable. From the search for the right recipe, sourcing needed ingredients and a review of how the dish came out is satisfaction for me.
 
Such was the case with Melissa Clark’s recipe for Roasted Asparagus with Crispy Leeks and Capers. In all honesty, I did adjust Ms. Clark’s recipe by using spring onions from my CSA box in place of leeks. Besides the ingredients named in the recipe title you’ll also need extra-virgin olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper, drained capers, lemon wedges, fresh parsley, Dijon mustard and fresh garlic.

Each week when I receive my share of Dreyer Farms CSA box, it presents a new challenge as what new recipe can I find to create a memorable meal for my husband and I. The downside of this is that my poor husband very rarely gets the same meal twice. Occasionally he reminds of something we had last year or a few months ago, then I have to sort through my memory, or even my website, to see what he’s talking about.
 
Recently in the CSA box was fresh spinach, garlic scapes and Napa cabbage. Patty at Dreyers Farms does an excellent job of providing storage information and recipes. Sometimes I’ll use her suggestions or find some on my own. ​