Welcome to the Food & Recipes section of my blog! This is where you will find links to recipes along with my original ones.
There are also blog posts about food, cooking, eating out, gluten-free info & substitutions, plus lots of food memories in this section. I hope you find this category helpful and easy to use.
Please consider making a small donation to my blog in the “Support my blog” section if you enjoy my recipes. No matter how small, all donations are welcome and make me feel like my time and effort is appreciated. Thank you so much for your support! 🤗
Lemon vinaigrette…
Cold shrimp scampi salad Inspiration comes from everywhere. As a young cook, I HAD to use recipes; if I didn't, ...
March 19th, St. Joseph’s Day…
I wrote about St. Joseph two years ago on my blog. This post was fun for me to research and ...
St. Patrick’s Day…
100% accurate! ☘️ 🇮🇪 After discovering I am 78% Irish, St Patrick's Day means more to me each year. Since ...
Thai red curry with chicken recipe…
We all know by now that I am a techie knucklehead; I have many other strengths after trying to share ...
Butter swim biscuits…
Last Wednesday, when I was at my dance partner Kathleen’s house between belly dance classes, she showed me what she ...
Galentine’s Day tea party…
When my friend Maria planned a bonfire cookie party to celebrate her 60th birthday, she texted me that she knew ...
“The” omelete…
One of my favorite TV series is "The Bear." I'm not going to get into the series or episodes, but ...
Meat mallet 101…
Call it what you will: meat mallet, pounder, or tenderizer. I have a 4-sided one that is about 30 years ...
Butternut manigutt (manicotti)…
By now, most of my readers know I am from New Jersey. I grew up in Elizabeth for the first ...
Feast of the Seven Fishes…
I grew up not knowing any of my nationalities. If you have recently joined my blog, I was adopted. People ...
Soy curls…
Sweet and sour "pork." Let’s clarify: I am not a vegetarian or vegan. Life is too short not to indulge ...
Post holiday post…
I hope you all had an enjoyable and delicious Thanksgiving. This was a wonderful Thanksgiving for us. Holiday dinners for ...
Thanksgiving advice…
I am a natural-born teacher. I’ve taught dance for almost 20 years and taught high school students how to cook ...
Irish Spice Bag…
We watch all kinds of food and cooking shows on YouTube. We like Sam the Cooking Guy. One dish Sam ...
Nailed it…
All images from the show Nailed it. I’ve seen plenty of memes from the show called Nailed It. Ordinary people ...
Oktoberfest…
Last night was our Oktoberfest dinner party I began planning for a month ago. Bottom line…it was a success and ...
It’s go time…
A few weeks ago, I invited our small circle of friends to an Oktoberfest dinner party. The theme makes sense ...
Pumpkin milk porridge…
This post has three topics: culinary, history, and literary. All that for oatmeal? You, betcha. I love food anthropology. It’s ...
Turning “scraps” into something…
Last year, I wrote a blog post titled Lazy Man's Lobster. Our friend Martin, who is a professional chef turned ...
One chicken…
My chicken is waving, "Hi, guys!" I picked up a chicken the other day for a reasonable price. Whenever I ...
Second class citizen…
An all-male brigade of chefs. I have been stewing about a situation that happened more than a week ago when ...
Mema’s veggie bowl…
When I was a little girl, I spent a lot of time with my grandmothers, Mema & Nana. I had ...
Slurpy yellow noodles…
I’ve been saying I could eat spaghetti with tomato sauce every day ever since I was a little kid; I ...
Feeling chefy again…
Everything in this photo has a blueish tint to it from the patio umbrella on the deck. I woke up ...
My perfect summer lunch…
While we are working in the production kitchen, I spend a lot of time thinking about food. What’s new, right? ...
A childhood favorite with a twist…
Mumbi Sloppy Joes When I was a kid, I had some favorite meals that my mother made for dinner. I ...
Beet Salad…
I don't usually write about what I make for lunch, but I started thinking about lunch this morning while making ...
So, this is how you do it…
My own veggie bean burger topped with mushroom bacon, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and In & Out Burger animal sauce. Marty ...
Chocolate Cream Pie
When you read the title, "Chocolate Cream Pie," and see the photo, you may be thinking about a blog post ...
Bolognese sauce two ways…
I’ve been making traditional bolognese sauce for years, but last week I tried making a vegetarian version of my own ...
Breakfast…
Cannoli Pancakes I love Sunday mornings. It's the one day we truly take off and relax. We also love making ...
Bell peppers…
We live in a world that is hard for many people to understand. They don’t get the whole they/them pronouns ...
Cottage pie…
Happy St. Patrick's Day! ☘️ This year, I made cottage pie instead of the usual roasted corned beef, cabbage & ...
Pretzels Heah…
Image found on Pinterest. Marty and I miss many of our favorite foods because of our gluten-free diet. One of ...
Hosts once again…
The cast of characters at our dinner party; Marty, David, Arthur, Buzz, Tabetha, Martin, Alexandra, and yours, wearing my cooking ...
First dinner of 2023…
I haven't made pork and sauerkraut in years. The last time I made it, I still owned a crockpot. The ...
Pizza burgers…
Everyone has their ideas when it comes to comfort food. I have several, but one of them I had a ...
The turkey of my dreams…
Behold...my magnificent turkey! I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving or a nice day for those who don’t celebrate ...
Hot German potato salad…
Mise en place. Before Marty and I created The Vermont Spätzle Company, I used to make regular spätzle like everyone ...
Spaghetti con le polpettone…
Spaghetti with tiny meatballs. I found out on Sunday we've been eating spaghetti and meatballs wrong. I watched a Youtube ...
How to eat Chinese food…
I love Chinese food! I love Chinese and Italian food so much that I could eat them every day and ...
Apple crisp…
I love history, especially American history. I also love food, so combining both is the best. If I ever wanted ...
Holy mole…
When my boys were small, I made a real Sunday dinner every week like I had growing up. Our family ...
Big ass cookery…
I love teaching people how to meal plan and cook several meals ahead. This is one step above planned leftovers, ...
Our pear harvest…
We have three pear trees in our yard. For a long time, we only had two. We never got one ...
Save & a beaut…
When I was a kid, I always watched the NY Rangers games. One of the broadcasters would always say after ...
A series of short food posts…
My gorgeous enamel blue cast iron dutch oven was last year's Christmas gift. 💙 I've made time to cook even ...
Leftover sweet potato gnocchi…
Crispy sweet potato gnocchi sautéed in brown butter and sage. Last week, I made sweet potatoes for dinner to go ...
A grown-up grilled cheese sandwich…
When I think of grilled cheese sandwiches, I think about grilled, golden brown white bread with ooey gooey American cheese ...
Getting there…
We went from vegan to carnivore overload in 24 hours. Lol! Last week I wrote about our taxes and how ...
My butter chicken recipe reimagined…
Sam came down the stairs and immediately asked what I was making. The smells drift up the stairs and into ...
Lobster feast…
Photo credit Noah Irion. Yesterday, we celebrated my youngest son Sam's 22nd birthday with a seafood boil, and it was ...
Stuff they don’t tell you…
Sam's birthday cake. Whenever I read a new recipe before I try it, I read it twice; the first time, ...
More omelet practice…
My French omelet with a good sprinkle of black pepper. It could look prettier, but I was happy how it ...
Influencers…
Image from memegenerator.com. What is an influencer? Noun A person or thing that influences another. A person with the ability ...
Flammkuchen…
I don't know how this happened. Marty is from Germany, and I am a lover of all things from France, ...
Lining cooking at home…
Glazed carrots with chopped parsley. I was making our dinner this afternoon, so it will be ready when I get ...
Tomato tart recipe…
Tomato tart with plum tomatoes. It's that time of the year when everyone's gardens will burst with beautiful, ripe tomatoes ...
Jersey tomatoes, a food of love…
It’s Jersey tomato season bitches! Oops, sorry, I get a little carried away when it's that time of year—kind of ...
Taming the heat…
I learned a new cooking trick this week that I wanted to share with you. In my cooking classes, I've ...
Rainy day leftover soup…
I made a lot of different dishes this weekend and had some leftovers; not enough to be served on their ...
Spanakopita scones…
Last Saturday, at the Troy Farmers Market, a vendor had the most glorious, large spinach & feta scones. Of course, ...
Pizza & some other drool worthy foods…
Klausie-boy is watching me eat my pizza. Eeewwwww! 😂 We eat dinner at home 90% of the time. I do ...
A perfect bite…
What makes a perfect bite? Everyone has their ideas of what a perfect bite of food is. Some people prefer ...
Cooking heroes…
The Victory Cookbook Wartime Edition Yesterday, Marty and I were delivering in Saratoga & Albany, NY. We stopped at Restaurant ...
Curry cravings…
Stock photo of a curry plant with yellow flowers. When I was picking out my flowers and herbs, I smelled ...
Menu by weather…
Twice-baked potato drizzled with Pan Sauce along with Steak Diane & Green Beans Almandine. Over the weekend, we had some ...
Dope-ass chicken…
I triumphantly achieved the success of some damn good bbq chicken. It may have been the best bbq chicken I ...
Marty’s brisket…
Last summer, we tried teaching ourselves how to use a smoker. We had many failures and a success or two ...
Thai pork peanut curry…
I was thinking last week that for someone who has a cooking and living blog, I haven't written about food ...
A classic martini…
Thursday nights martini. A martini may be one of the most recognizable cocktails known worldwide and are an American cocktail ...
20 Minute Gnocchi with Pomodoro Sauce…
Sundays. I love Sundays. They are my make a big breakfast and eat it slowly. They are making and enjoying ...
Looking up my own recipe…
I decided to make a loaf of Irish soda bread to take to the farmer's markets tomorrow morning for breakfast ...
Manicotti…
Last year I took a stab at making manicotti with homemade pasta sheets. That isn't a big deal if you ...
Pork Oscar…
Today is my birthday! I went back yesterday to see what I wrote about last year...food. No surprise there. I've ...
Planning a 7 course tasting menu…
We had our friends from DC, David & Arthur, over for dinner last night. As soon as they accepted my ...
A Very Betty Birthday…
The birthday boy! ❤️ The title of this blog post makes me think of my favorite tv show of all ...
Eggs Benedict…
I've been on a fancy toast kick for the last month, and it has saved my ass several times when ...
Jeweled hot cereal…
Marty and I went to an Indian tea house and had a dish that we loved twenty years ago. I ...
Sugar bomb toast…
Last week, I mentioned how excited I was to start making fancy toast. I watched a few YouTube videos for ...
Just a little taste…
Right after I turn off my sauce, it's my tradition to have just a little taste to make sure it ...
Chinese Chicken & Broccoli
I've written about my love of Chinese food; one of the hardest decisions of my childhood was to have Italian ...
Fancy toast…
I've had two words on my mind since Saturday, fancy toast. Fancy toast? One of my friends who has to ...
Some waffles, timing & the danger zone…
It's taken me a long time to get the timing right when cooking. You know the scenario, rushing around trying ...
Potatoes what?
Being friends with a chef who cooks for us often has taught me not only about foods I have never ...
Red Cabbage Recipe…
Last night I posted about the German meal I made for Sunday dinner. While making the red cabbage I took ...
German Sunday dinner…
Roasted pork & spätzle topped with mushroom cream sauce and red cabbage. We own and operate a German food manufacturing ...
Family time in the kitchen…
New Year's Eve dinner table. We had a great visit with my sister Jen, Sofia, and Julian, her children. As ...
The pressure is on…
Last year, I made two Korean dishes; kimchi arancini (rice balls) and Korean beef and rice flakes. I made it ...
Some like it hot…
Mediterranean Cucumber Cups. Whenever I hear potluck dinner, I immediately start thinking about what to make. I always make a ...
Silverskin…
Silverskin is a nasty topic they never really address on cooking shows or even in most cookbooks. Home cooks follow ...
Fondant Potatoes Recipe…
Fondant Potatoes are probably one of the most elegant dishes you can make. These potatoes wow the hell out of ...
Spaghetti & Sand Recipe…
Last night, after a long day on the road, I wanted to eat something flavorful, comforting, and easy to make ...
Eggs in Purgatory…
Eggs in Purgatory. Eggs in Purgatory are one of my favorite ways to use leftovers while giving them a total ...
White clam pizza…
Tonight's white clam pizza. Let’s forget I am gluten-free for a second and talk about how amazing NJ & NY ...
Thanksgiving 101…
I chose this Norman Rockwell iconic artwork because he painted it right here in Arlington, VT where I live! Last ...
Gluten-free Pie Crust Recipe…
Mini two-crust pies... It took me a long time to master regular pie crust for pastries. Then, I needed to ...
Lazy man’s lobster recipe…
I had a reader request my recipe for lazy man's lobster. I had to sit down and think about how ...
Faux jambalaya…
Coming up with ideas to cook is the hardest part of cooking for most people. I nailed Sam and Marty ...
Macaroni and chop meat…
Macaroni and chop meat. I am not sure if this was just a Jersey saying or generational. What in the ...
Lazy man’s lobster 🦞
I love lobster but I am way too much of a cheapskate to buy them these days. Have you seen ...
Chinese hot & sour soup recipe
Mise en place I love Chinese food! When I was little my parents took me out to dinner for my ...
Another eggplant post…
I've written a whole blog post about eggplant parmesan, specifically, my eggplant parm stackers; one of my favorite meals in ...
Shrimp scampi…
Tonight I made shrimp scampi, one of my favorite dishes. It tasted delicious and comforting after a long day. Spending ...
Swedish Meatballs
I love Swedish meatballs! My son Sam loves them as much or possibly more than me; he and I have ...
Chicken soup…
Some days I require a bowl of chicken soup for lunch; other days require a strong ass Bloody Mary. I ...
Beef stew recipe
Fall is really here in the northeast, along with what some people have wished for all summer. Flannel shirts, fuzzy ...
Sam’s birthday dinner…
Yesterday was Sam's birthday. It's hard to believe how quickly 21 years have flown by; it's even harder to imagine ...
Fried Flounder
Fried flounder, homemade tartar sauce with Indian spiced lemon rice. When I was a kid, the only fish we ever ...
French Macrons…
My love of Paris, France, started when I was a little girl. I loved reading the Madeline series of books ...
Chicken Marsala…
I made us chicken marsala for dinner tonight with mashed potatoes. No veg, just cranberry sauce, I know it sounds ...
Never apologize for a bad meal
Photo meme Pinterest I cook a lot of pretty delicious home run food, but now and again, I strike out ...
How to eat cereal…
One of my very first blog posts was about how to peel a banana properly. According to my son Sam ...
Piri Piri Chicken
Seen here right after the initial sear; I flipped the chicken over and moved it to the indirect side of ...
Jersey Tomatoes
Me at a farm stand down the Jersey shore back in 2016. I love that the sign said, "Please handle ...
Steamed Clams
I love steamed clams. I like small clams such as littlenecks, cherrystone, and Manila clams. Steamer clams are larger and ...
Barbeque Chicken
We went to the supermarket Shop-Rite last Thursday after making a few deliveries in the Albany, NY area. I like ...
Julia Child’s French Onion Soup
I’ve made French Onion Soup many times; I started with Julia Child’s French Onion Soup recipe from “Mastering the Art ...
Surf & Turf
Classic surf & turf. Image from Pinterest. Whenever you think of surf and turf, do you think about a fancy ...
Twice-baked potatoes…not just a catered sit-down dinner side-dish
Think of the last time you had a twice-baked potato? You never see them on a restaurant menu anymore; I ...
Food fit for a king…
I know they say a dog won’t starve itself to death…but bulldogs are stubborn and will hold their ground until ...
St. Louis-style ribs
Yesterday I decided to attempt to make St. Louis-style ribs for the first time on the smoker. It was in ...
A hot & sweaty breakfast…
Steaming hot & spicy miso gf ramen. This morning I woke up craving a bowl of steaming hot and spicy ...
Shish kebabs & kofta…
Photo credit Normandie Kitchen. Professionals making kofta kebabs. I may be going out on a limb here, but when people ...
Nailing another food memory!
Brushetta topped pizza crust. We haven’t rented a house for a week down the Jersey Shore for 19 years. We ...
Sausage & Peppers
I’ve written about food smell memories before, but the one that screams summer down the Jersey shore is sausage and ...
Green Beans Almandine Recipe
I used almond slivers instead of thinly sliced almonds since that's all I had on hand. I had a nice ...
Rollin’ smoke 101
There is such a huge difference between cooking, baking, grilling, barbecuing, and smoking meats. Cooking...anyone can cook if you can ...
Parsnips…the good, the bad, and the ugly
Parsnips in natural daylight today. Two years ago, I tried parsnips for the first time; our chef friend Martin made ...
Cheeseburger…
I cook a lot of food, some photo-worthy, some not. Some of my food I actually style for a photo; ...
Bourbon Old Fashioned
My ice cold Bourbon Old Fashioned last night. Sunday night, we went over to our friend Martin’s place, and we ...
Mini desserts strike again
Mini Strawberry Shortcakes in small canning fruit jars. I always add a splash of balsamic vinegar when I macerate strawberries ...
A few good things & some Swedish meatballs
Saturday was a fun and successful day for me at the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market. I got to catch up ...
Orange ice…
Me at age 5 or 6 the right age but the wrong season. Jesus, our son Sam looks just like ...
Noteworthy meals
Spaghetti with White Clam Sauce topped with Pecorino Romano Cheese. You may have noticed that I haven't written about food ...
Better than stackers?
Eggplant Rollatini I’ve been wanted to make eggplant rollatini for almost 3 months. I wrote about how I was just ...
What came first?
Right after I got my Moderna vaccine I got a headache and a sore arm. A normal side effect. The ...
Easter dinner
I skipped making a ham dinner and decided to go with Pork Saltimbocca with a Pan Sauce. I also made ...
Brunch for two
Holidays are different now, living my life on the journey. I used to get depressed that we don’t have extended ...
Good planning
This week I planned to make meals that I haven’t made before or haven’t been as successful as I expected ...
Hard-boiled eggs 101
Every Good Friday, when I cooked at school, a teacher named Barb would come into my kitchen first thing in ...
Chicken Schwarma
Wikipedia The first time I ever heard of Shawarma was four years ago in Montreal. We went for the weekend ...
Make way for San Giuseppe
Just two days ago, on St. Patrick’s Day, many Irish as well as non-Irish people celebrated by wearing green and ...
Any day Irish soda bread – quick and easy!
Last night before I went to bed, I measured out and mixed the dry ingredients for a loaf of Irish ...
Easy broccoli cheddar soup recipe
Easy Broccoli Cheddar Soup topped with Cheddar and Croutons I must have tried to make broccoli soup 50 times and ...
Eggplant parm stackers recipe
Eggplant parm is one of my favorite things to eat. I could eat it a couple of times a week. When ...
Su-per-cauliflower-listic-ex-pi-a-li-do-cious
Royalty free image I never had cauliflower growing up. Not once, not even frozen. I really don’t remember when I ...
A mish-mosh cook
Marty's Chicken Surprise with Crispy Spatzle. I usually make Marty and me breakfast and lunch, but today we decided we ...
Stop boiling your dinner…
Corned Beef with Colcannon topped with Crispy Bacon and Green Onions Many people say this time of year, "I don't ...
Mama mia…Soft & Fluffy Meatballs & Sauce Recipe
I always pull a meatball or two out the pot before it’s done cooking and I eat it standing up ...
Out to lunch
Wilmington, VT Out to lunch, that's how I've been feeling all week during this gluten reaction. Today I am happy ...
When a lousy dinner becomes a life lesson…
Individual Beef Wellington with Fondant Potatoes and a Bleu Cheese and Bacon Salad. Last week I cut into a picture-perfect ...
What’s for dinner? Cubano Sandwich Recipe…
Menu planning is not meal prep or mise en place; it’s asking yourself what do I want to eat or ...
Weeknight porchetta
The real deal...Traditional Porchetta.Photo image from Pinterest Porchetta is a beautiful thing to see and an even more delicious thing ...
Mini birthday cakes for Marty
The birthday boy! Today is Marty’s birthday. We decided ahead of time that since our birthdays are less than two ...
Meet me at the Reo…
My Reo Diner Pickles When we moved to Vermont from hectic, overcrowded NJ over 30 years ago I knew there ...
A delicious mistake
Yesterday morning I saw a recipe for eggplant rollatini which was perfect because I just bought an eggplant on Monday ...
Bringing back old school favorites…Steak Diane Recipe
Steak Diane with Mini Baked Potato & Caesar Salad Today I wanted to start a recipe series titled, "Bringing Back ...
The tale of the 4-way
The opposite of yesterday's carefree summer living photo. Same loose hair, same sunglasses but bundled up since it was 60 ...
Remembering Annie – Stuffed Cabbage Recipe
We moved from Elizabeth to Iselin when I was nine years old. My father’s family were shocked that we were ...
Better not squash
Roasted Butternut Squash & Spatzle with Brown Butter, Sage & Parmesan. Seasonal eating...I learned about this a couple of decades ...
Hello mother sauce
Braised red wine short ribs in a sexy, velvety gravy So I know I mentioned before that I have taught ...
Chicken Croquettes Recipe
A croquette is a savory, breaded patty that can be made of meat or vegetables and is usually fried. The ...
Day boat scallops
Scallops served over creamy pasta with bacon & peas Day boat scallops are a thing, a thing I never heard ...
The little chicken that could
Remember that 5 pound package of chicken that I picked up for just $5? Guess what? I got 4 meals ...
5 lbs of Chicken
5 lbs of split chicken breasts When you see a 5 lb package of split chicken breasts for 99 cents ...
The Galloping Gourmet
My dad Russ When I was young I used to watch the Galloping Gourmet with my dad. It was on ...
When ingredients speak to you…listen!
A perfectly ripe avocado We went to the store today to pick up a few things for dinners & lunches ...
The Asparagus Situation
Mini egg cups with Swiss, ham & Asparagus Ugh I overcooked my gorgeous asparagus!!! I tell my cooking students if ...