Just~One~Donna

You might remember that next to brownies, chocolate chip cookies are a favorite treat of mine.  As a matter of fact, back in my corporate warrior days, it was well known that if a certain unnamed person needed buttering up, one should come with chocolate chip cookies in hand. Not just any chocolate chip cookie will do.  No, they must be quality chocolate chip cookies.  While bakery chocolate chip cookies can sometimes fit the bill, grocery store brands do not make the cut.  Sorry, but I'm not wasting my calorie budget on packaged chocolate chip cookies.  Blame it on Mom.  My taste buds were trained on the traditional Toll House cookie recipe that Mom always made.  They were buttery, crisp on the edges, chewy in the middle and filled with chocolate chips and walnuts.  Mmmmm.... Perusing blogs the other day, I came across a recipe for Tried and True Chocolate Chip Cookies at Pie in the Sky's lovely blog.    Those cookies called...

Making a tasty egg salad starts with perfect hard boiled eggs.  Do you have trouble making perfect hard boiled eggs?  There a couple of simple things to keep in mind, but anyone can make a perfect hard boiled egg.  From there you can make an equally perfect egg salad. First, you'll need some eggs.  I like to use either large or extra large eggs.  Any size will do, your choice is a matter of preference.  Ideally, your eggs should be a week or more old, because a little age will make it easier to peel the shells.  This is more important if you are serving your hard boiled eggs whole or halved because they will look prettier.  The eggs I used to make my egg salad were very fresh and as a result, the shells were very hard to peel. Fresh Eggs May be Harder to Peel Place your eggs in a pot with a lid and cover them completely with cold water.  Place the covered pot on your stove over medium high heat.  When the pot comes ...

Hamburger Penne Pasta Lately I have not been in the mood to cook.  I blame it on spring.  There always seems like something else I'd rather be doing, or need to be doing.  Do you ever feel the same way?  This recipe was the result of my dinner making efforts on one of those days when there was too much to do and too little time to do it all.  Once again I turned to my freezer and pantry for ingredients that could be pulled together to make a tasty dinner quickly. You probably have these ingredients in your kitchen as well.  There are no exotic ingredients here.  The basic building blocks are the hamburger, some flavorful vegetables, tomatoes and pasta.  If you don't have both red and green pepper, substitute chopped celery.  No jalapenos in your refrigerator?  Add 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes instead, or leave it out entirely.  If your family prefers elbow macaroni instead of penne pasta,...

Baked Cod New England has a proud fishing heritage with many of the early settlers choosing to plant their roots along the shoreline.  For over 400 years the New England fishing industry has been known for its abundance of ground dwelling fish like haddock and cod.  As fishing methods changed and became more efficient the sustainability of the fish stocks became threatened.  As a result, New England's fishing industry is threatened.  With this in mind, I wasn't surprised to see that while the cod in my grocer's case was from the United States it was from the Pacific and not the Atlantic.  Seafood Watch Guide Is Pacific cod a good choice?  I checked my Monterey Bay Seafood Watch Guide  and found that U.S. cod from the Pacific is rated a best alternative.  Imported Pacific cod is listed as a fish to avoid, so knowing that the cod I was buying was from the U.S. was an important distinction.  Do you want to be sure you are purch...

Banana Cake This banana cake recipe has been with me for about 25 years, ever since a work colleague gave it to me way back when.  Over the years I had forgotten about the cake and forgotten who had give me the recipe.  After all, there have been many more recipes and many more colleagues in those 25 years.  Not too long ago I was going through my old recipes and found the page with this recipe.  There was a time when I was making banana cakes frequently, but I hadn't made one in several years.  I put the recipe in my recipe binder, planning to make a banana cake again soon. About a month ago I received a phone call from that long ago colleague.  She was looking for the banana cake recipe and thought she remembered giving it to me.  Ah ha, at last I knew from whom I had received the recipe.  Did I have it. she wondered?  You know the recipe with bananas in the frosting?  Yes, I did have it.  She was relieved and I was motivated ...