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. ​

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. ​

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. ​

Where did spring go, it was here for just a short time. Nevertheless, Memorial Day weekend is early this year. I have my granddaughters coming to stay for a night so Nana better get the red velvet or lemon ricotta pancake batter going.
 
In the meantime, spring sport season continues. I recently made a recipe by Claire Robinson, Asian Beef Roll-Ups from her book “5 Ingredient Fix.” This delicious recipe was a snap to make perfect for weeknight meals when there’s an after-school practice or Mommy “just had a day.” For the recipe you’ll need the juice of two limes, 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 to 2 tablespoons chili sauce, or to taste (sriracha is recommended, which I used) and one pound of flank steak.

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.