A bit ago we made a simple dinner: chicken tenders with sweet potatoes and pull apart garlic bread. The chicken tenders were very simply made, and if I were being honest, a little bland so each could add a sauce individually for dipping.
Looking at those sad, pepper covered white tenders, I decided to try something new.
I grabbed a can of mandarin oranges from the pantry, poured them into a saucepan on medium, added dried cranberries, a tiny bit of orange peel and vanilla extract, and mixed them, letting the oranges crush just a little bit. It thickened just slightly, and when it was warmed, I poured it over my chicken tenders.
It was lovely.
From the photo, you can see that I still need to work on my food color balancing, but all in all, delicious.
I never ate oatmeal as a kid, but when I started attending retreats, I began to eat oatmeal for breakfast on any of the weekend retreats that I went on.
I can’t explain why or how much I love oatmeal on the retreat weekends.
I get an extra helping and add butter, brown sugar, and craisins.
I eat it slowly and savor it. It’s warm and wholesome, and all I need to start my day.
Well, with a cup of tea, but that is how I start my days on retreat.
I plan to share some of the amazing vacation food we enjoyed on our visit to Canada. When we returned, we had our thirtieth anniversary and the end of summer through Labor Day and there was food fun throughout!
I’ve decided to share two recent family dinners, put together easily. The first one is a tiny bit more work than the second but they were both extremely satisfying. Give them a try.
As these come up in my life, I notice them more and more. I know that they are idiosyncratic, and some are downright weird, but they are what they are, and I thought I’d share them with you. Please share some of yours in the comments.
I call everything “jelly,” but I never buy jelly. I only buy jam or preserves.
When I add ice to my cup at McDonald’s, I always pour out a couple of cubes.
I only and always eat latkes with applesauce AND sour cream. I also eat them year-round, and more at Passover than at Chanukah.
This isn’t food related, but I put NO Chanukah ornaments on our Christmas tree.
Now that I have a collection of Big Mac Sauce packets, I bring them with me when we go to a local restaurant that has patty melts (which I love) but no Thousand Island dressing.
Food adjacent – I don’t use Saran Wrap. It never works.
I wing cooking but never baking. Baking is too precise.
I won’t eat matzo or gefilte fish after Passover. I may make an exception for matzo brei.
I only eat kosher all beef hot dogs. When people talk about not knowing what’s in their hot dogs, I have no idea what they’re talking about. My hot dogs only have beef, no fillers, no anything else. Also, Mustard only. And sauerkraut when available.
Real NY bagels – never toasted.
I love bagels and lox, but I only eat it on Fridays in Lent.
The only soda I drink is Diet Coke. Not Pepsi, not Coke Zero, not RC.
I have had a recent obsession with peanut butter and bananas – any bread including matzo. (Not pictured English muffin.)
Peanut butter and banana on a Waffle. (c)2024Peanut butter and banana on egg bagel. (c)2024Peanut butter and banana on matzo. (c)2024
Brand names. I am a good tryer of generic and store brand foods. Except:
Cream Cheese – Philadelphia Kraft
Macaroni & Cheese – Kraft in the blue box, 7.25 oz.
Butter – Land O Lakes or Cabot. Exception for Kerrygold when I have the money for it.
Orange Juice – Tropicana or Florida’s Natural
Bachman Jax Cheese Curls only.
Skippy Peanut Butter.
Pretzels – Rold Gold
Hot dog rolls – Martin’s Potato Long Rolls
Craisins – Ocean Spray only
This is also food adjacent: Ziploc bags and Reynold’s Aluminum Foil. Hands down, generic just doesn’t have the same strength.
From the top, clockwise: Peanut butter and banana on toast, egg bagel with cream cheese and lox, sweet potato, grilled cheese, Berry French toast bake with strawberry syrup.
We all have foods that we go back to throughout our lives, a lot of them from our childhood. All of the above are in some way, shape or form from my childhood and teen years. My favorite thing as a child, home sick from school, was a soft, buttery sweet potato. I can recall sitting in the darkness of my mother’s bedroom, basking in the soft glow of the television eating this ever so slowly.
Recently, I have become obsessed with peanut butter and bananas. I’ve even slathered on the peanut butter and put a whole banana in the center of the bread and eaten it like a hot dog. A great snack!
Bagels with lox really needs no explanation; nor does grilled cheese. I enjoyed this on a few of my meat-free Fridays during Lent.
This French toast bake is from Cracker Barrel and has a custardy, cheesecake filling on top with whipped cream. Decdadent and delicious. This was a special treat. I am a French toast purist, dipped in egg, griddled, butter, and maple syrup.
In anticipation of Passover, my mouth is already watering when I think about the Matzo-brei that I will make, eat, and share with you here in a few weeks.
I made two weeknight meals recently that were a complete hit with my family, even the picky eater. They were both easy, and the goulash was with leftovers, so it was doubly exciting for the kitchen and the checkbook. There was a minimum of prep for each, and it was so great that the goulash is already planned for dinner for Monday night.
Griffins and Ginger Snaps 