DinnerSmith

08/05/2023

I found a farm stand is close by, the corner of Passaic Ave and Parsonage Hill Road. Turn right off South Orange Ave just before the Livingston Mall. the stand is about a mile. The peaches from south Jersey are so good. and the tomatoes were fresh and firm. they take cash and zelle.

02/21/2023

Back in the day when I was running Dinnersmith, my own storefront food business, I started to track the cost of food as my main cost of doing business. These numbers are mostly from 2010. As an example spinach cello, spinach in a cellophane bag, was yesterday 1.99. These days my brain isn't strong and I use this spreadsheet so I can look up something that might be on sale. I also am reassured about my costs and grocery inflation.

12/10/2022

I wrote this in 2016. The idea is the same, the menu needs an update. I think I eat a more Mediterranean-style salad.

Print this out. Cross out the dinners that do not appeal to you. Make a shopping list and order online. Having all the ingredients and a plan will make a difference.

Dinnersmith is a meal prep service and personal chef service in South Orange NJ. a beautiful village just outside of New York city, a diverse communtiy with great schools. see maplewoodonline.com

12/10/2022

Yesterday I made my mom's granola, or as Anna calls it Gramola. here it is resting and cooling. seven cups of crunchy goodness. Mom recently made a batch using up all the extra nuts in Rose Meade Hart's pantry. This is a great way to clean the pantry for the New Year! Yes three cups of nuts, anything you have will do.

01/31/2019

Wow what an amazing woman. 100 millon books donated to children.

12/20/2016

I wrote this morning in respose to a stupid yahoo news clip about how to save money on food during the holidays....I have some more realistic ideads...blog is screwed up, click thru to read my response, not about corkscrews

This seems really cool. There are times when the corkscrew cannot be found. Usually during the holidays, folks walking around talking and opening the bottle. The corkscrew is a small thing, among all the others . It is for me one of those things that when missing, really upsets me. Until now. I am t...

05/05/2016

Frozen fruit and veg recall:this is the list of all the affected products...check your freezers this is a big recall.

As a precaution, CRF Frozen Foods of Pasco, Washington is expanding its voluntary recall of frozen organic and traditional fruits and vegetables. We are performing this voluntary recall in cooperation with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC...

07/27/2015

Reposting this. I was reminded over the weekend. Someone wanted to throw out used baggies that barely been used.

Hacking is usually associated with computers, the internet and software. Life hacking refers to any productivity trick, shortcut, skill, or novelty method to increase productivity and efficiency, in all walks of life; in other words, anything that solves an everyday problem of a person in a clever o…

04/04/2015

Very sad. Our community, in particular, our restaurantor community has lost a treasure.

Update: a link has been added to the fundraising site friends have set up for funeral expenses. Laura Nichols, the proprietor of The Blue Plate Special and a longtime South Orange resident and business woman, died suddenly early this morning …

03/28/2015

Are you planning for the week ahead? This pilaf is going in the freezer for Thursday. The pilaf in a box is inexpensive, 1.19, and I made two boxes. There is some with steamed veggies for lunch today. Made with out the 'flavor packet' , the sodium is really low. This brown and wild rice is getting steamed vegables for a great weekend super fast dinner!

09/01/2014

Martha and DinnerSmith on the same page.....prep ahead. keep it simple. buy a big package of chicken and cook it all the same time. use seasoned breaded from a can and add corn flake crumbs or cornmeal for crunchier flavor. use mayo as the glue . and bake them on a cookie sheet for extra healthy. (the mayo will give you the yummy crunch) great after school as a chicken parm.

August 26, 2014 Weeknight Dinners: One Time-Saving Ingredient, Five Days of Recipes What takes a meal from “quick and easy” to “too much for a Tuesday” -- and would the answer change if you could skip the latter’s first three steps? We think so, which is why we’re stocking up on these make-ahead (or…