Chinese Style Roasted Chicken Thighs: Cabbage, Garlic and Vegetables

I ate chicken often as a child;  my mother did too, but not because she cooked it, we were fortunate and had a housekeeper who cooked and shopped for our family. Mostly I recall eating chicken as a leftover in such dishes as chicken a-la-king over rice, probably served  with a variety of canned veggies…

Stuffed Jumbo Shells, 4 Cheeses, Layered with a Meaty Marinara Sauce, Baked

Pasta for lunch, usually curly kinds  or other  elbow shaped varieties were common in my childhood.  That’s what our live-in maid/housekeeper cooked for us, ( my 3 younger siblings and I) often with butter swirled in,  plus  a smattering of American cheese scattered from above. As an adult I’m still fond of that meal, but…

Shepard’s pie with fresh Mediterranean flavor

My husband and I ate the pie so fast, I forgot to take a photo! But since we loved it so much, I’m surely going to repeat it.  Then I’ll take a picture, and in particular, get a good shot of the meaty bottom,  which is where most of the good flavor reside. (I finally…

Pasta, Cabbage, Potato and Bean Soup

  I love soup, and often check them out at restaurants seeing if they resemble something  that appears tasty to me, or if they bring back fond childhood memories or fresh recent ones. Soup comforts and satisfies, especially on cold, snow days, like we often have in Denver, even as the sun shines! I like…

Saucy Asian Pork and Shrimp meatballs

I’m a big meatball fan using beef; I especially love meatball  recipes which use small pieces of slightly moisten bread cubes folded into the meatball. (That’s how our maid, when I was growing up, cooked her meatballs.) But cooking pork meatballs never occurred to me until I saw  recipes in various Chinese  cookbooks.  Recipes with…

Chinese Char Sui – an American approach

As a  young lady, beginning  in my  20s  in New Jersey,  I sometimes ate  at Chinese restaurants with friends.  These restaurants dotted the landscape at strip malls in  small  towns across southwestern New Jersey.  My best friend Helene and I went to one such place in Irvington, a 20 minute drive from my Maplewood home. …