Countdown to Good Taste! Best 2022 Recipes

Countdown to Good Taste! Best 2022 Recipes

by | Dec 29, 2022 | Appetizer, Board, Books, Canvas & Cuisine, Dessert, Dinner, Freezer, Parties, Pork, Poultry, Recipes, Remix, Salad, Side Dish, Sunday Best Dishes

Can you believe 2023 is almost here?!

Check out my top recipes of 2022 and discover why these dishes were all the rage in home kitchens across the country (and for good reason!).

These recipes are delicious, easy to make, and perfect for any occasion.

If you’re looking for some new recipe ideas to add to your repertoire, or just curious about what all the fuss was about, check out my best recipes from 2022.

Happy cooking and Happy New Year!

Cooking With Mushrooms and Spinach

Spinach Au Gratin With Sauteed Mushrooms

I LOVE cooking mushrooms. This humble fungi inspire my dishes with their complex flavors and many uses.

Spinach Au Gratin With Sauteed Mushrooms is one of my favorite recipes that is easy to make and will make you feel like a celebrity chef!

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Southern Style Charcuterie with This Cocktail Pairing…

Southern Style Charcuterie

My Southern-Style Charcuterie board is really something to behold, and your guests won’t believe the spread when you set out this showstopper.

My board is PACKED with deviled eggs, spiced crackers, pimento spread, pickled okra, millionaire’s bacon, cilantro shrimp, and an assortment of turkey and ham roll-ups!

Wash it down with my prickly pear cocktail, inspired by strolls at the Farmer’s Market.

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I Did It My Way! Veal Sinatra Inspired By Locanda Rustica

Veal Sinatra Recipe Inspired By Locanda Rustica

A cast-iron skillet. Thick slices of eggplant. A ladleful of marinara sauce and a double-topping of cheese. 

Take advantage of your favorite variety of eggplant using this simple frying technique to create a super Italian-inspired dish and make eggplant parm magic tonight!

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how to make easy grilled veggies for memorial day

Schnitzel Parmesan & Schnitzel Milanese

Make pork two ways with this freezer-friendly meal, perfect for remixing your dinner ingredients without getting bored!

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how to make easy grilled veggies for memorial day

Spring Dinner Party Menu Featuring Fresh Dinner Salads

Steal my very best springtime entertaining ideas that will guarantee you have just as much fun as your guests with these main course salad ideas!

  • Grilled Flank Steak With Roasted Onions, Sliced Tomatoes, Blue Cheese and Poblano Pepper Vinaigrette
  • Poached Chicken In Tuna Sauce
  • Roasted Salmon In the Grass With Cucumber Mint Sauce
  • Farmer’s Market Orzo Salad 
  • Sunshine Cake from Sunday Best Dishes
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how to make easy grilled veggies for memorial day

The Only Fruit Chutney Recipe You’ll Ever Need 

If you’re looking for the easiest chutney recipe, look no further.

This is the best peach chutney recipe that can be used with a variety of fruits and is great on crackers, sandwiches, or even cheese plates.

Learn how to make fancy chutney with the only chutney recipe you’ll ever need from Jorj’s kitchen!

 

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how to make easy grilled veggies for memorial day

Party Dip Recipe Ideas

I have made my fair share of chips and dips over the years, every which way and for just about every occasion.

From appetizers to party take-along to afternoon snacks, the versatile chips and dip dish strikes a satisfying balance of keeping us just the right amount of being full before a big meal (or in-between them)!

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Chicken Dinner Ideas, Three Ways!

Chicken Dinner Ideas, Three Ways!

by | Sep 4, 2022 | Canvas & Cuisine, Chicken, Dessert, Poultry, Recipes, Sunday Best Dishes

Who says chicken has to be boring?

Chicken is a great go-to protein for home cooks, but the same ol’ routine can get a bit stale.

We’re all looking for new and easy recipes to add to our rotation, and I have not one but THREE for you to try!

Join me in the kitchen as I transform chicken into three fantastic recipes that you can easily recreate! 

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Chicken Pepperoni

Chicken Francaise

Chicken Milanese

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The Art of The Fresh Market

Grab the book that contains my favorite travel adventures, with inspired original artwork by artist Susan Fazio.

Canvas & Cuisine

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New Year, Old Friends and the Birth of This Book

Chilling Down The Fourth: Creative Ice Cream Recipe!

Chilling Down The Fourth: Creative Ice Cream Recipe!

by | Jun 30, 2022 | Dessert

Red, white, and YUM! This sophisticated ice cream infusion will elevate your Fourth of July celebrations this weekend. It’s easier than you think!

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What’s more Fourth than firecrackers? Ice cream, that’s what!

You’ll eat ice cream at least once during the holiday weekend and I bet you can almost taste your melting cone when you visualize those fireworks exploding in the sky.

Well, I have a FUN NEW ICE CREAM for you to consider.

It’s NEW because instead of making the base with traditional egg custard, we thicken the cream with a cornstarch slurry and a bit of cream cheese.

It’s FUN because we infuse the cream with your favorite herb, spice, or almost anything else you want.

Infused ice creams give your base a little somethin,’ somethin’ that grabs your taste buds and makes you ask, “What’s in this?”  For this recipe, I infused the cream with chamomile flowers that I bought at the farmer’s market.

The chamomile gives the honey-based cream an earthy, rich depth. But you don’t have to seek out fresh chamomile. Lavender, basil, and even sage leaves are great to experiment with.

You can infuse the cream with anything you have on hand. Take your kid’s favorite cereal and infuse the cream with this. You can use citrus rinds, berries, store-bought cookies…. anything. Don’t Google this, by the way, or you’ll be lacing your ice cream with cannabis! 

I was describing to my friend what difference chamomile makes in the ice cream and I came up with this.

Remember when you were feeling poorly, and your mom brought you a cup of (probably chamomile) tea with a spoonful of honey stirred through? Remember what it felt like when that tea hit the back of your throat? It soothed and warmed and comforted.

That’s what this ice cream tastes like!

For this chamomile-infused ice cream, I replaced some of the sugar with honey and swirled in a dollop or two of peach sauce made from some pretty ripe peaches also bought at the farmer’s market. (There’s a trick with a bit of vodka stirred into the base at the end.) 

My ice cream machine does most of the work, so making the base the day before allows little ones to take part in reaching the final product.

Like I said, it’s FUN!!

Chamomile Honey Ice Cream
with a Peach Swirl

Servings

6 Large Scoops

Ready In:

60 minutes plus some freezer time

Good For:

Dessert
Entertaining

For peach swirl:

4 to 6 medium ripe peaches, peeled and diced

⅓ cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon corn starch

Juice from ½ lemon, about 1 tablespoon

For ice cream:

3 cups half and half

1 ¾ cups heavy crem

¾ cups granulated sugar

4 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

⅛ teaspoon kosher salt

¾ cup fresh chamomile

3 tablespoons corn starch mixed with 3 tablespoons half and half

3 ounces cream cheese

Tried it? Tag it!

I would love to see what you did with this recipe.  Share your creation by tagging #inthekitchenwithjorj and with Scrumptious Possibilities With Jorj, my free private home cooking group.

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Place a loaf pan into the freezer.

Place the peaches into a pot. Add ⅓ cup sugar, 1 tablespoon corn starch and lemon juice. Cook over low heat until the peaches are completely broken down, about 10 to 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Pour the peaches into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to make a smooth sauce. Place into the fridge to cool completely.

Pour 3 cups half and half and the heavy cream into a deep pot. Stir in the sugar, honey, vanilla, and salt. Cook over medium heat until the cream just begins to simmer. Remove the pot from the heat. Stir in the chamomile. Cover the pot with a lid and let it sit for 20 minutes.

Pour the cream through a fine mesh sieve (you can use a mesh colander) into a bowl. Then pour the cream back into the pot. Cook over medium heat until the cream just begins to boil. Add the cornstarch slurry and whisk until the cream thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, just a couple of minutes.

Place the cream cheese into a bowl. Pour some of the thickened cream into the bowl. Stir the cream cheese into the warm liquid to melt and then pour this back into the pot. Whisk over medium-low heat until the cream cheese is completely melted, and the cream is quite thick. Stir in the vodka.

Pour the cream through the fine sieve (again) and into a bowl. Place this bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice. Cool the cream for 30 minutes and then place the bowl into the fridge to cool completely, about 2 hours more.

Pour the cold cream into the bowl of your ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer’s directions. When the ice cream is ready, spoon ⅓ of it into the cold loaf pan. Swirl in 3 or 4 tablespoons of the peach sauce. Continue layering the ice cream and peaches. Chill in the freezer for several hours. 

Spoon extra peach sauce into the bottom of the bowl. Scoop the ice cream on top.  

Thing to Note:

The vodka makes your ice cream soft and creamy and easy to scoop when you are ready to serve. It doesn’t add any flavor and you can leave it out if you want.

Strawberry Field Recipes: Easy Whipped Cream Cake

Strawberry Field Recipes: Easy Whipped Cream Cake

by | May 17, 2022 | Baking, Cake, Dessert, Fruit, Recipes

Strawberry Recipes for Desserts

You can just never have too many strawberries! Pick too many and turn excess into opulence with this luscious strawberry whipped cream cake.

I hope there are strawberry fields forever because the strawberries that you harvest from their growing green vines are the reddest, ripest, juiciest, sweetest, most flavorful berries you are ever going to eat.

Add the wonder of youngsters plucking for the first time, and you have a moment to remember…forever.

When you get to the farmer and he weighs your overfilling baskets and you find out you have collected eighteen pounds of strawberries, the wonderment retreats just a bit.

Until the lightbulb goes off and you’re able to prolong the day by making EVERYTHING strawberry. 

Strawberry Whipped Cream Cake

The cake is simple. I start with a box of white cake.

The recipe calls for 3 egg whites. If you have the time, you can beat these and fold them into the batter for a fluffier cake. Pour into 2 round (or square cake pans).

Chop about 4 cups of strawberries and sprinkle them with just a bit of granulated sugar. Let these sit while you bake the cake. When the cakes are cooled, use your electric mixer to whisk together a block (8 ounces) of cream cheese with 1 cup of confectioner’s sugar.

When blended, add 1 tablespoon of vanilla and 1 ½ heavy whipping cream. Continue mixing on high speed until the frosting comes together to form stiff peaks. Assemble the cake by placing one cake onto a platter. Spread a layer of frosting on the cake.

Use a slotted spoon to sprinkle chopped strawberries on the frosting. Cover the strawberries with another layer of frosting. Place the second cake on top and slather the remaining frosting all over the top and sides.

Spoon the remaining strawberries over the top. Chill the cake in the fridge until you are ready to serve.

Here’s the recipe for some really FUN ice cream!

 

Strawberry Ice Cream

Strawberry Recipes for Desserts

Serves:

4 to 6

Ready In:

30 minutes ‘til it’s ready to go into the ice cream machine

Ingredients

1 ½ cups half and half

1 cup granulated sugar

⅛ teaspoon salt

4 large egg yolks

1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups chopped strawberries

Directions

Stir together the half and half, sugar, and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Whisk the eggs in a bowl until pale and frothy. Continue whisking while you slowly pour about ½ cup of the hot half and half mixture into the eggs. This “tempering” of the eggs will prevent them from scrambling. Pour the egg liquid from the bowl back into the pan and place it on the heat. Continue stirring until the liquid thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 5 to 7 minutes more. 

Place a bowl into a larger bowl that is filled with ice cubes. Pour the thickened custard from the pan through a fine-mesh strainer (or colander) and into the bowl. This will catch any solid pieces. Whisk in the heavy whipping cream and continue whisking until the mixture is cool. 

Pour the custard into an ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions, adding the chopped strawberries at the end of the cycle. Serve soft, right from the machine, or transfer to an air-tight container and place into the freezer.

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Lots of CHIPS! Easy Chocolate Chip Recipe Ideas

Lots of CHIPS! Easy Chocolate Chip Recipe Ideas

by | May 15, 2022 | Baking, Cookies, Dessert, Provisions, Recipes

Chocolate chips are meant to be celebrated! Enjoy this deliciously chocolatey morsel with this quick and oh-so-easy recipe to treat yourself.

Can you believe it’s National Chocolate Chip Day! Yay o yay!

Since chips are one of the things that are always in my pantry, I’m so happy to celebrate this deliciously chocolatey morsel. There are soooooo many dishes that use chips, I can hardly decide which ones are my favorite.

Here are just a few:

Shall we start with the hallowed cookie? Chocolate chips are the favored add-in for chocolate chip cookies. But don’t stop there.

Any chip works,  as do nuts and dried fruit.

Mini-chocolate chips are perfect in coffee-dunking biscotti.

Chips are great on an ice-cream sundae bar.

Let’s mix these chips into brownies and bread, like chocolate chip banana bread.

Sprinkle a handful of chips into your homemade trail mix or bake them into your granola bar.

Just a few chips add a great bit of fun to your dessert bread pudding.

Ohhhh, and you can melt chips into things.

I once won a chili cookoff when I added dark chocolate chips to my chili base.

You can make a super mole sauce by adding in some chocolate chips. Chocolate and spice are everything nice!

Melting chocolate chips produces a rich chocolate fondue or a fabulous fudge sauce. Speaking of fudge sauce.

How easy is this?

1. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a deep pot over low heat.

2. Add 1 (14-ounce) can of sweetened condensed milk.

3. When the butter melts and the mixture is warm, remove the pot from the heat and stir in 2 cups of dark chocolate chips.

The result is a richly, chocolatey mound of chocolate fudge sauce that you can use to top ice cream, smush in between two cookies, spread onto a pretzel, or just dip your finger into when you need a dose of chocolate. It’s all good!

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Stop Food Waste With These Recipe Remixes

Stop Food Waste With These Recipe Remixes

by | Apr 27, 2022 | Beef, Cake, Chicken, Dessert, Fish, Pork, Recipes, Rice, Salad, Side Dish, Vegetarian

Stop Food Waste Leftover Remix

Make Earth Day every day in your kitchen! Take the pledge to stop food waste with my best tips for reusing produce and remixing leftovers! #StopFoodWaste

Stop Food Waste Day was first introduced in 2017, and this years marks the fifth year of inspiring action around food waste reduction.

Who even knew this was a THING?  

 I discovered very early in the family kitchen that fruits and veggies lingering a little too long must be given a new lease on life! And that leftovers getting too comfortable on the fridge shelf demand an encore.

In honor of Stop Food Waste Day and the innovation and creativity in reducing one’s food waste impact, here’s Jorj’s list of what to do with leftovers.

I thank my grandma’s for the training on this one.

EGGS 

Don’t throw away left over scrambled eggs. Use them in tomorrows egg sandwich or burrito.

WAFFLES

Cut leftovers into chunks and toast them in the oven with a bit of cinnamon and sugar. Now you have waffle croutons for your ice cream dessert.

PANCAKES

Slather left over pancakes with cream cheese or peanut butter. Roll up and place into a baking dish. Douse with syrup and bake until warmed through. Pancake roll-ups for breakfast!

SALAD

Leftover salad with dressing is not as good as it is the first day, but it will work on sandwiches and subs. However, leftover everyTHING will make a great salad. Look in the back of your fridge’s veggie drawer and use those ingredients to doctor up your everyday garden salad. Carrots, fennel, radishes, cukes, peppers, cauliflower… these all work. Look into your jars too. Pickles, sun-dried tomatoes, and olives are perfect additions. Don’t forget the cheese. Salads are a perfect dish to avoid food waste!

CHEESE

I’ve written about cheese about a hundred times. But here are some highlight dishes that are perfect for your leftover cheese: grilled cheese, cheese spread, hot cheese dip, cheesy deviled eggs, cheese-filled omelets, veggies in melty cheese sauce.

NOODLES

Leftover pasta is my go-to thing for that morning-after breakfast. But left over noodles are great for reinvention. Leftover Alfredo pasta top pork cutlets and sauteed eggplant for an inspirational mid-week dish. Stuff some leftover mac ‘n cheese into your next roast beef panini sandwich. And don’t forget spaghetti pie, noodles in casseroles and pasta turned into frittatas.

CHICKEN

Besides chicken salad there’s chicken quesadilla, chicken soups, chicken casserole, chicken burritos, chicken hash, chicken pot pie…… this one’s easy.

FISH

Salmon and tuna turn into salmon and tuna salad with just a couple of additions. Other left over fish can be turned into croquettes, chowders and spring rolls.

BEEF

Leftovers work perfectly in fajitas, cheese-steak subs, stuffed peppers, open face steak sandwiches on Texas toast, quick beef stew and beef and potato hash.

PORK

Shred leftover pork and douse in barbecue sauce for a pulled pork sandwich. 

VEGGIES

I challenge you to give me ANY veggie and I will give you three ways to repurpose the leftovers. These will all revolve around soups, stews, quesadillas, cheese spreads, hot cheese dips, salads, croquettes, veggie bread puddings, veggie filled omelets, casseroles, veggies with pasta, veggie enchiladas, stuffed peppers, hash, veggie pies…. Get the idea?

DESSERTS

Whether you have leftover cake, pie or cookies you can use these to create a crispy topping for ice cream, a base for bread pudding, a fruit crumble and a layer or two for your favorite parfait.

I think you have the picture. (I also think I watch too much CHOPPED!) 

Now, let’s hear what THING you can create with your everyday leftovers.

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