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I know many of my readers are vegetarian or vegan, and others don’t eat pork, but stick with me here! Even though one part of this week’s Berkshire Eagle column involves my favorite brine for pork chops, the other part is a peach-chipotle sauce that is good on so many things. In addition to pork chops, I’ve used it with chicken and duck, and I’m sure it would be good with other things, as well. If you try the sauce with something new, let me know! 

With an open hand (pie) and an open heart, sharing and caring brings out the best in all of us. The 4th of July may have come and gone this year, and, perhaps, you didn’t feel very celebratory. Never mind, though, because the recipe in this past week’s Berkshire Eagle column will work with various fruits. For the visual red, white, and blue, I used strawberries and blueberries for the photo, but peaches or cherries would work just as well, and you can use a heart cookie cutter, instead of a star.

I have to admit I didn’t take my own advice. I’ve made the farro salad from this week’s Berkshire Eagle column any number of times, most recently when I was preparing this recipe for publication, measuring everything more carefully than I usually would with this kind of dish.

Since it was getting close to summer, I suggested that readers could make a big bowl when they see the forecast trending hotter. And yet I didn’t make it yesterday, the last day before a heat dome settles in over the Northeast! You could certainly substitute raw vegetables for the roasted suggestions so as not to turn on the oven, or you could tuck this recipe away for the next time there’s going to be a heat wave!

Not too long ago I was chatting with Mike at Mazzeo’s Meat & Seafood, located in Guido’s Fresh Marketplace, telling him about the time my father apprenticed as a butcher, and I realized that story needed to be part of a tribute ahead of Father’s Day. There were few foods Dad didn’t like – I can only seem to recall a distaste for raisins and oxtail – and yet he once patiently removed all of the green and orange pieces of fettuccine from a plate of tricolor pasta for his (formerly picky) grandson, Wilson!

For this past week’s Berkshire Eagle column, I made a grilled salad that Dad would have loved – grilling both the steak and the romaine lettuce, with some blue cheese on top. The photo I took reminds me how Dad loved his meat rarer than rare, so much so that once my cousin, Paul, quipped, “A good vet could get that thing back up on its feet!” We miss him so. 

The day after this week’s Berkshire Eagle column appeared in the paper, I got a message from a friend that she had already made it! I love hearing when someone has tried one of my recipes, and it seems this one was a success for her!

While I love artichokes, I’m kind of lazy when it comes to prepping them, so think of this recipe as an easy way to enjoy the flavor without so much work.

We recently attended an event that provided the inspiration for my most recent Berkshire Eagle column. It wasn’t quite like being on the TV show Chopped, where the chef contestants get a mystery basket of ingredients, but still I had to come up with a sauce using items I could find in the kitchen where the event was being held. Obviously it turned out delicious, since it became a recipe worth sharing!

Although I know this will never be as good as an order of fish & chips in a British pub, it’s still a worthwhile way to get a bit of the flavor, especially if you use malt vinegar as I suggest below! The “chips” part of this combo can be found in a previous blog post (or see the Berkshire Eagle link below), and for the actual column with the oven-baked fish from this past Wednesday’s Berkshire Eagle, click here.

I made two batches of these mini potato kugels well before Passover, froze them on a half sheet pan, and stored them in a plastic bag. And last night every single one of them was eaten. We had 20 at our Seder table, and now everyone has gone home and the house is quiet again. I have stacks of plates and serving dishes to put away, and sheets and towels to throw in the laundry, but right now I’m too, too tired!

But this column was in the Berkshire Eagle last week, just in time to make for Seder, or over the week of Passover for people who are observing. And even if you don’t observe, these mini potato kugels are good any time!

Even when I write a column to include a recipe I’ve made more times than I can count, I like to make it again before composing the column, so that I can make sure I include all the steps, some of which may have become automatic for me.

After I bought a couple packages of tortillas and some shredded cheese and a can of beans for my column this past week, I still had quite a number of tortillas left over. For several days, with whatever leftovers I found in the fridge, I kept making these simplified tostadas. If you come up with a particularly fabulous combo, please share! 

I can’t say exactly why, but when I was growing up, canned sardines were frowned upon. Perhaps one of my parents had distasteful childhood memories of eating them so we never had them in our house. Or perhaps they were seen as a desperation food – both of my parents were born during the height of the Great Depression so their parents’ attitudes were shaped by that era – and eating them triggered some sense of trauma. For whatever reason, I never ate them as a kid.

These days, you can get wonderful canned fish products, and in last week’s Berkshire Eagle column, I devised a recipe for pasta with sardines, cabbage, and leeks.

When last week’s Berkshire Eagle column appeared in print, it was two days before my husband’s second knee replacement surgery. Now the deed is done and he has a matching set! I’ll definitely be making more chicken soup, both for the comfort and for the protein! 

I wouldn’t recommend counting the beans for these recipes, but you can make beans count for more than one meal when you make a potful! And as bonus, in bitterly cold weather, the recipes from this past week’s Berkshire Eagle column require a long oven bake to make your house warm and cozy!

In developing my recipe for this week’s Berkshire Eagle column, I made several batches of blondies with several types of peanut butter, and another batch with sunflower seed butter, and I am sure it would work with any number of other nut butters!

This past week’s Berkshire Eagle column reminds me of when my mom first taught me about deglazing a pan with a bit of white wine. I’ve made many such dinners with thin cutlets, and for this one I’ve added lemon and capers for even more zing! 

My first Berkshire Eagle column of the year appeared in print on January 1st – Happy New Year! Today with low temps and the wind howling, I can think of nothing better than a recipe that requires you to turn on the oven. Instead of potato rolls, as delicious as they may be, I’m using a twice-baked potato instead of a roll. You can make this with hot dogs or any kind of sausages, even vegan sausages, and you can pick different cheeses for the twice-baked potato to suit your selection! 

It always gives me great pleasure when someone gets in touch with me about a column. I was especially tickled today when my stepson texted a photo of his breakfast place with the message, “Wonder where I got the inspiration for this?!” And just like this week’s Berkshire Eagle column suggested, he improvised with what he had on hand, including carrot slices in today’s version of his leftover hash. 

Occasionally I write an “off-week” column for the Berkshire Eagle. More often than not, it’s a longer version of what I normally write, with two or three recipes rather than the usual one. For last week, however, I decided to share some of my favorite kitchen gadgets, offering ideas for stocking stuffers or Hanukkah gifts (plus a few ideas about spice gifts). So if you still have items to cross off your list, here are some ideas for anyone who enjoys cooking! 

Every year when I receive a box of pears – a nostalgic tradition as my father, of blessed memory, always used to send them – I think about which recipes to try this year. In this past week’s Berkshire Eagle column, I decided to write about a winter salad with pears that can be plated fancy (as in the photo, portioned in an outer radicchio leaf) or made more simply in a bowl. The bright colors make it a festive addition to the dinner table during the holiday season! 

Deep in the midst of Thanksgiving prep, I also keep in mind who is coming and what they do or do not eat. This year I’ll be trying a green bean casserole without mushrooms because my daughter-in-law won’t eat them at all.

So often for these grand meals vegetarians guests just get the side dishes, but I’ve come up with something a bit elaborate, most of which entirely doable ahead of time for a festive occasion. It’s also lovely as a side for everyone else! The Berkshire Eagle column itself can be found here, or scroll down. 

In my Berkshire Eagle column this past week I wrote about the Dutch apple pie that I like to make for Thanksgiving. I am not sure why a pie with crumb topping is referred to as “Dutch,” but what I do know is that we are better and stronger when we weave together a life, a culture, a society of people from different backgrounds – and by different, I mean in all the different ways that now feel threatened.

I’ve written before about how fraught the Thanksgiving myth is, knowing what was inflicted upon the indigenous people who were here. And for those who think there is nothing political about food, nothing could be farther from the truth.