Like many of you, I have made one or two or more resolutions. I, for one, am on that intermittent fasting. I don’t eat before 11 a.m., nor after 7 p.m. This is an easy diet for me: I like lunch more than breakfast and I often am in bed at 8:30, where I read for at least two hours. So dinner at 6-ish works for me. I have lost around seven pounds since mid-December, even with the … [Read more...] about A la Carte: A New Dish for a New Decade — Roasted Shrimp, Caulifower with Quinoa
A la Carte: A Day for Dauphinois (aka Scalloped Potatoes)
If you are reading this column today, you know that yesterday was Christmas. If you have little ones, they probably woke you up at dawn, to let you know that Santa had arrived. When our little ones were young, we spent Christmas with my husband’s sister in East Bloomfield, N.Y. We arrived on Christmas Eve, early enough to get to my in-laws’ church in Rochester. There my … [Read more...] about A la Carte: A Day for Dauphinois (aka Scalloped Potatoes)
A la Carte: Time for Turkey? Sure, But What to do With the Left-Overs — How About Making Turkey Hash Salad?
Oh, my, Thanksgiving is upon us, although it is late this year. As you read this, you actually have an extra week to buy your turkey and make the stuffing (I make the stuffing the day before, refrigerate it and stuff much of it into the cold turkey). I have made roasted turkey almost every way possible. I have brined it, roasted it upside down before turning it upside, baked it … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Time for Turkey? Sure, But What to do With the Left-Overs — How About Making Turkey Hash Salad?
A la Carte: Add Flavor to ‘Everything’ with Chile Crisp, Basil Pesto
I have written two recipes for today’s column. The recipe for chile crisp is from a writer, who always has a jar of it in his refrigerator. He puts it on everything from “eggs, guacamole [and] pizza.” It does seems spicy, so if you make it, try a little less than a quarter cup of red pepper flakes, although I like spicy, especially for breakfast. The other recipe is the … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Add Flavor to ‘Everything’ with Chile Crisp, Basil Pesto
A la Carte: Spice Up Summer With These Carb-Free Chicken Lettuce Wraps
My first visit to Stone Acres for my CSA [Community-Supported Agriculture] on a warm, pretty afternoon and it would have been perfect had not my old hip hurt. Fortunately, the parking lot is just a hop, skip and jump to the farmstand. As I walked to the stand, I saw Stonington First Selectman Rob Simmons and his wife take some visitors on a tour of the farm. Someday I would … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Spice Up Summer With These Carb-Free Chicken Lettuce Wraps
A la Carte: Thinking Delicious Dessert? How About Date Walnut Bread with Buttermilk Sorbet?
This is a difficult time of year for me when I bake. I want fresh rhubarb, strawberries and blueberries (although the last I usually buy frozen because I don’t care for fat, cultivated blurriest, preferring Wyman’s frozen wild blueberries). With no fresh fruit, I made two lemon loaf cakes from Ina Garten’s recipe. I took the cakes to meetings and they were eaten in no time. … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Thinking Delicious Dessert? How About Date Walnut Bread with Buttermilk Sorbet?
A la Carte: So You Want to be Creative With Chicken? Add Chili and Citrus!
When I was maybe eight- or nine-years-old, if I ever felt a little “nauseous,” or a bit sick to my stomach, I would ask myself if I wanted a bacon, lettuce and tomato (BLT) sandwich. If I didn’t want one, I knew I was sick. When I was much older, a BLT is still my favorite sandwich and I will make an entire pound of bacon, let it cool on paper towels, then put all of it in a … [Read more...] about A la Carte: So You Want to be Creative With Chicken? Add Chili and Citrus!
A la Carte: Whether It’s Easter or Passover in Your Home, Lamb is Always Lovely!
It seems lately that Christian and Jewish holidays seems to happen within weeks, or days, of the year. For those who think that Hanukkah is like a Jewish Christmas, it is not. And Passover is nothing like Christian Easter either. Rather, the Jewish calendar and the Christian calendar (the latter is actually the Gregorian calendar) are not the same. I was born in the Jewish … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Whether It’s Easter or Passover in Your Home, Lamb is Always Lovely!
A la Carte: Hard to Believe, But You Can Make Mac & Cheese Glamorous! Lee Shows us How …
I don’t remember tasting mac and cheese until I was 14- or 18-years-old. i.e., high school or college cafeterias. Nobody made it in my house. I remember asking for it when I was fairly little, but at my house it was made with cottage cheese, sour cream, maybe butter, cinnamon and egg noodles. Basically, it was unconstructed noodle kugel. When I was married the first time, I … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Hard to Believe, But You Can Make Mac & Cheese Glamorous! Lee Shows us How …
A la Carte: Best (Recipe) of 2018’s Best … Says Lee
Many, many years ago, I did a radio show with Johnny London on WICH out of Norwich, Connecticut. We began with an hour and, after the first year, it turned into two hours. I grew up with radio, although my parents did get a television in 1948. But we had radios everywhere in our house—we had clock radios, a radio in the kitchen and a “console” radio in our dining room. … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Best (Recipe) of 2018’s Best … Says Lee
A la Carte: Got Leftovers? How About a Turkey Casserole?
Perhaps you are reading this column on the morning after Thanksgiving as you drink your cup of coffee or tea. It has been quite a few years since I sat with the newspaper and figured out which I should do first. I have been in my condo for almost five years and only created Thanksgiving dinner once, and only for around six or seven of us. Many, many years ago, when my own … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Got Leftovers? How About a Turkey Casserole?
A La Carte: ‘Tis the Season for Some Scrumptious Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread!
Writing can seem like a lonely profession, but if you are a journalist, it never is. I always wanted to be a journalist and go to either Michigan State or Northwestern. Unfortunately for me, I got a New York State Regents Scholarship and my father, who wasn’t sure I wanted to be a student (I liked the social part but not so much the academics), told me to pick a college in the … [Read more...] about A La Carte: ‘Tis the Season for Some Scrumptious Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread!
A la Carte: Looking for an Incredible Dessert? Look No Further Than ‘Banana Split Cake’
Almost every Friday evening, I share an early dinner with friends from Groton and Noank at Sneekers. As I have mentioned before, the food is really good and the prices are easy on the wallet. The two owners, Annie and Rhonda, have been friends for years and they opened Sneekers over 30 years ago. They and our favorite waitress, Kelsey, take good care of us and all of their … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Looking for an Incredible Dessert? Look No Further Than ‘Banana Split Cake’
A la Carte: Bake the Best Big, Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies!
A few days after I made banana bread (about six overripe bananas I had, to which I added five overripe ones from Noank friends), I decided it was time to make cookies. (By the way, all four of the banana breads left my homes to friends’ kitchens, because I didn’t want to eat them.) Alter all, I had already thawed two pounds of unsalted butter and, while looking for the … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Bake the Best Big, Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies!
A la Carte Goes Colorful with Crispy Cod with Chorizo, White Beans and Cherry Tomatoes
Back in January, I was invited to a dinner party. The food was incredible, beginning with an appetizer of a seared sea scallop, topped with shredded duck and enveloped with a sunny yellow hollandaise and an arugula in subtle vinaigrette. As an “intermission,” there was glorious white lasagna which melted in our mouths. The entrée was beef and carrots in Borolo, silken mashed … [Read more...] about A la Carte Goes Colorful with Crispy Cod with Chorizo, White Beans and Cherry Tomatoes