Retro Recipes and Traditional Fare

Some nights I just can’t decide what to make for dinner - especially when time is short, and I’m not in the mood for recipes that require lots of prep (and therefore lots of cleanup).

This lemon chicken recipe adapted from Ina Garten’s cookbook – How Easy is That? – is perfect when you’re looking for “fast and delicious”.

Lemon, garlic and thyme is a classic combination for chicken – I usually buy chicken breasts with rib bones and skin, I think it adds a lot more flavor to the dish.

A good steak never needs something extra to make it stand out.  However, sometimes I do have a craving for an extra twang to go with my meat.

We love ribeye steaks.  I would say 90% of the steaks I buy are ribeyes; they just always grill to perfection.  I guess I should thank my husband for that. 

Anyway, yesterday I had a craving for something to go on top of my meat.  I remembered seeing a recipe for a vinaigrette topping ribeyes.  I searched my recipes until I found it, Ribeyes with Red Wine-Feta Vinaigrette.  It was exactly what I was craving.

Vinaigrette on meat you say?  Yes, a million times yes.  The vinegar and feta cut through the richness of the steak perfectly, leaving you with this melt in your mouth experience.  I loved it.  I suspect this would also go well with grilled ahi tuna steaks or pork chops.  If you add more oil it would also be perfect in a Greek salad.

Easy and impressive food...I love it. Another quick and easy appetizer to make your dinner party go as smooth as possible.

This is the perfect finger-food. It is a breeze to make and serves lots of hungry mouths. You can even make them up the day before and bake them off right before guests arrive. Since it makes enough for a couple sheet trays, you can either bake them all together, if all guests arrive at the same time. Or bake one sheet tray at a time, having some available for guests who arrive late.

Either way, these buttery-tasting puffs will have everyone grabbing for more...make sure you grab a couple when they get passed the first time. They will disappear! 

A couple of weeks ago I stopped into a cozy coffee shop tucked into a rural community in West Central Minnesota. On the exterior, it was just an old brick building, but one step through the door and my nostrils were greeted with the aroma of rich brewed coffee. Cookies, sweet rolls and scones tempted me from the case of sweets. I decided this was a place I could nestle into for a while.

As I ordered my first cup of coffee of the day — large dark roast, no cream — I spied a cake in a 9-x13-inch pan situated on the counter. A couple of pieces had already been served from the cake, so I could see its insides.

I thought for sure it looked like a rhubarb cake. If I could be that lucky, I would definitely splurge on a big chunk to eat with my coffee. It was a very brief back and forth conversation with the server in the shop that dashed away any dreams of satisfying my taste buds that had begun to salivate for rhubarb cake.