Favorite Dish

Sautéed Fresh Spinach
Garlic, Olive Oil & Pine Nuts, a sprinkle of Salt
Extra Sharp Cheddar Elbows, Chicken Romano from Labriola’s and the Sautéed Spinach

Clementine Paddleford

Have you ever heard the name Clementine Paddleford ?

I’d never heard the name Clementine Paddleford (b.1897-d.1967) until I found it on a recipe tucked in an old cookbook.

Turns out she was an early food writer who was a pilot, flying all around the country in her Piper Cub plane, writing about the food discovered in different regions of America.

The recipe I found, tucked in Boston Cooking School Cookbook

Paddleford’s own book How America Eats (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1960) can be purchased but the least expensive price is $50

So I ordered a used book Hometown Eats written about her and learned a lot.

Hometown Appetites is a biography By Authors Kelly Alexander and Cynthia Harris include 55 recipes

A Paddleford quote in Saveur article (written by author Alexander)

“We all have hometown appetites,” Paddleford once said. “Every other person is a bundle of longing for the simplicities of good taste once enjoyed on the farm or in the hometown they left behind.”

Here’s a screenshot of one of her cookbooks you can still get from Abe Books (this is not a link)

Feeling Devilish? Guest Blog

Is it Devilled or Deviled?  Who cares?

Either way you spell it, these hard boiled, then split-in-half eggs with the yolks scooped out and mashed, are frequently devoured with enthusiasm at a party. The 1800’s Housewife spells with two Ls and has a source for this question from this link at the Grammarist     It depends upon where you live!

 my friend Joanne’s deviled/devilled egg dish photos are below.

Click the link for the Devilled Eggs  1877recipe from The 1800’s Housewife 

Joanne writes- 
Do I have enough devilled egg dishes? 
I do love them and have trouble passing by a devilled egg dish at a yard sale or antique shop…..I’ve collected these over the years and I do indeed make devilled eggs often.  My friends ask/expect me to bring them any time a potluck event is planned.  My favorite recipe comes from my original Betty Crocker (red plaid cover) cookbook from 1968 ….. the flavor comes from adding mustard and vinegar to the mayo.  And I sprinkle mine with dill weed.  My friend adds curry powder to hers.  Of all of my dishes, I use the long white ceramic one the most.  
Here is a link to a one minute video Classic Betty Crocker but I see they omitted the vinegar

Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding on Bleecker Street

Will the real Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding please stand up!

1 Banana Pudding Recipe

2 Banana Pudding Recipe

3 Banana Pudding Recipe

In the Magnolia Bakery window

In 2013 I did a NYC Bakery blog post which included Magnolia Bakery.

You can make it at home

Pasta Primavera

It’s Spring!

Here’s the Pasta Primavers Recipe I used as a guideline. By Giada Delaurentiis

Roasted in oven on a sheet pan

Rainbow carrots, zucchini, garlic, broccoli, green beans, cherry tomatoes- halved, red onion, garlic cloves, tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper and a sprinkle of Italian Seasoning a mixture of herbs. Roasted in a hot oven. The green beans and broccoli were leftover from the past two nights so added the warmed beans towards the end.

Penne
450 degrees
Parmesan Cheese sauce and extra on top.

Guest Blog Inspired by Hotdish

dc, the Florida guy, is a blog follower and frequent commenter. His words make me laugh out loud! He’s the one who doesn’t care for mushrooms. 😉

dc was inspired by the Minnesota Hotdish blog post (thank you Audrey!)

Here’s what happened after he read the collaborative post I did with the help of Audrey H of Minnesota Prairie Roots blog.

dc wrote

What is the difference between hotdish and casserole?

Definition: Casserole is the name of the dish used to cook with, whereas hot dish is the meal itself. Ingredients: Casseroles can contain any ingredients under the sun practically, where hot dishes have set ingredients they have to have.

Today’s post was an inspiration. Photos to follow.”

Here are the photos dc sent me throughout the day

I asked if he’d put on a flannel shirt. He said he’d dress for dinner

Thanks dc. That was fun. I know it tasted good.

Every Single Dish Was Delicious

A tribute to a restaurant, La Cucina Flegrea– opened in the late ‘90s. now permanently closed. This print is when it was located on Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill.

Rigatoni alla Vodka Spaghetti alla Rucola (Arugula) Tagliatelle Zucchini, and the soups!

Steve bought this print in Bloomfield years ago. It’s on my kitchen wall. I was thinking about all the delicious meals I had eaten over the years. My family celebrated my fiftieth birthday at this restaurant in 2002. I took a cooking class with Chef Anna Fevola in 2010 (click to see blog post)

Mementoes of a favorite restaurant, which has been closed a long time ago. Where every single dish was delicious!

Lješnjaci Yes or No?

Greetings from Zagreb.

It’s Lješnjaci season. Hazelnuts. Do you like hazelnuts? I’ve never seen them sold like this in the USA but they grow and are harvested here in Croatia. These lješnjaci are out of the shell and sold in net bags. .

Corylus avellana. Hazelnuts are sweet with characteristic slight notes of musty and earthy. One of the significant flavor mixtures found in hazelnuts is fiber tone. Filbertone is a naturally occurring ketone found in hazelnut oil. It has a roasted, marbled, sweet, and long-lasting character”

https://youtu.be/w9NY1rTnALo video of harvesting hazelnuts in Croatia

Nopalitos – Marinated Cactus

When I was Arizona, I saw this unusual (to me) products

Nopalitos marinated Cactus recipe for cactus salad

Prickly Pear Cactus paddles Yes or No?

“Are nopales in a jar good for you?”

“Nopales and prickly pear fruit are high in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. They are a nutritious addition to a balanced diet and may help decrease blood sugar, reduce inflammation, and lower cholesterol.

Red Hot Peppers

The kind of peppers where you might need gloves to handle them when you cut them and you never ever touch your eye!

Here’s an article how to use them without getting burned

These were given to me a few weeks ago.

I let them dry out. Pretty soon, with the change of weather, it’s going to be chili season. A big pot on the stove’s back burner on a chilly afternoon could be a little spicier this year. I have a jar of dried red Chile peppers I use to add some zip to dishes. Sometimes they can make your lips sing.

Freshly picked
Dried
This is what I have on the spice rack

Red hot pepper was what we used to call out when cranking a jump rope, speeding it up, seeing how many jumps you could do at a rapid pace.