Your recipe of the day from King Kullen

What's for dinner tonight? That is the question that weighs heavy on your mind all day long. It loams over you like a black cloud. In most families, dinner is the is the most hectic time of the day. Everyone is tired from long hours at work or school and everyone is starving. You want to prepare a quick, delicious and nutritious meal that everyone will love. That may just be a fantasy, but you can get ideas for dinner everyday delivered to your in box from King Kullen when you sign up for their recipe of the day.

Go to the King Kullen web site and click on the green tab at the top "Weekly Specials". This page has a bunch of useful links to their weekly circular, recipe database, shopping lists and the button you want - sign up for savings and more. Here is where you create an account and select what information you want emailed to you, only on the days you pick. So you choose if you want a recipe delivered to your email every morning or just on Tuesdays. The recipes are easy and use products you can buy in King Kullen.

Always check out the web sites of stores you frequent a lot - local and national. There is useful information on these sites, especially when you sign up for their newsletters. They often will email you special coupons and let you know about deals before it is publicized in other places.

King Kullen in Blue Point is located at 29 Montauk Highway 631-363-9899.

It's Grandparent's Day In The Bayport Bubble!

Grandparent's Day - who invented that holiday? Actually it was not The Hallmark Card Company, although they probably profit from it. It was Marian McQuade and she wanted to a way to remember the elderly in nursing homes. In 1978 President Jimmy Carter proclaimed the first Sunday after Labor Day would be Grandparent's Day. This year it is celebrated on Sunday, September 13th.

You do not have spend a fortune on Grandparent's Day. What do all Grandparents want? They want to spend time with their Grandkids - that will make them the happiest. And with all these other holidays that we go overboard on, keeping this one low key will make it extra special.

Long distance Grandparents would love a phone call or an email note to say hi. Why not post on your Grandpa's Facebook page "I Love You!". Send a card - homemade cards are extra special. For young kids just take a piece of paper out of the printer, give them a crayon and make a card. Grandparents will treasure this.

For Grandparents that live around the corner - go by with bagels and homemade cards. Go for walk by The Bay with them. Invite them over for dinner. Just spend some extra special time with them, they will cherish it.

If you or your children no longer have Grandparents, you can still celebrate the day. Do something nice for an older neighbor - bake cookies and pick her some flowers. Or spend some time remembering a Grandparent that has passed away by bringing out the family photo album. Children love looking at old pictures and hearing old family stories. It's a nice way to remember them.

We celebrate Grandparents Day in our house by inviting all Grandparents and Great Grandparents over for an early dinner. Our traditional Grandparent's Day dinner is pesto - it is a simple and delicious meal. Pesto is great this time of year. Right now on Long Island everyone's basil and parsley plants are huge. Then the kids help make some cookies for dessert and along with their homemade cards - it is a great afternoon that will make Grandparents feel terrific!

Pesto Recipe

* 2 cups loosely packed basil leaves, no stems, washed and dried

* Small handful parsley leaves

* 2 cloves chopped garlic

* 2 tablespoons pine nuts (optional because they are expensive)

* 1/4 cup olive oil

* 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Combine basil, parsley, garlic, pine nuts and 1/4 cup olive oil in food processor. Pulse and add more oil if mixture seems dry. Add grated cheese and mix with freshly cook pasta. Makes about 1 cup of pasta.

Scream For Your Own Ice Cream

I got this recipe from a library class for making fast and fun vanilla ice cream with the kids. You will amaze them!

1 tablespoon of sugar
1/2 cup of milk
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla
6 tablespoons of salt
1 pint size zip plastic bag
1 gallon size zip plastic bag
ice

Fill the large bag half full of ice. Add the salt and seal the bag. In the small bag put milk, vanilla and sugar. Seal this bag and put inside large bag and seal it too. Shake bags until mixture is ice cream - about 5 minutes. Wipe off top of small bag really good and then open. You will have enough ice cream for a small bowl.

Just make sure you really clean off the small bag - if you don't your ice cream may be a bit salty, but still good. Make some now - you know you have all the ingredients! =)

Your Recipe Of The Day

I love recipes and I am always in search of a good one. While surfing the King Kullen web site, I found out they have a recipe of the day. For almost a year I gotten a new recipes in my inbox a few times a week. King Kullen is in Blue Point and is where I do most of my shopping. It is always good to look at the sites of stores you shop at a lot. Check online because most stores - national and local have web sites. There are bargains and other useful info on these sites, like the recipe of the day! If you live in The Bayport Bubble and shop at King Kullen here's their web site http://www.kingkullen.com/default.asp

PS - Does anyone else remember what King Kullen in Blue Point was before it was a King Kullen?
=)

What's For Dinner - Again

The one thing I hate more then emptying the clean dishwasher is figuring out what's for dinner. I have to feed three very picky eaters. Sometimes I end up making four different things and no one eats anything. Ahhh!!! I came across this site from Kraft that might help - http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/Dinner/Pages/DinnerLandingPage.aspx?cm_mmc=eml-_-rbe-_-welcome-_-web

There is a side bar where you type up to three ingredients and a pull down menu where you choose if you are making dinner, breakfast, etc. I tested it out cause I had scallops and tomatoes, but nothing came up. Probably too gourmet for Kraft. So I just put in scallops and got five recipes. It's in my favorite's file now - maybe if I could just get one meal out of it that everyone would eat.

Warm Pear Salad

Here's a recipe for Warm Pear Salad I made last week for a party. My friend asked me to email it to her. So since I typed it out for her I am cutting and pasting to The Golden Lily to share with The Bayport Bubble!

Warm Pear Salad

* Spring Greens (I use most of the Costco box - depending on how many people)

* Real crumbled blue cheese

* 2 Pears (I use the ones I call black pears - any pears work)

* Walnuts

* Olive Oil

* White Wine (any wine works)

~ Peel and core pears. Slice pears in half and place in sauce pan. Cover pears with white wine and cook under low flame till pears get soft.

~ When pears are done take out of wine and chop.

~ Then add in this order to large salad bowl or you can do individual salad bowls.

Spring Greens

Blue Cheese

Chopped Walnuts

Pears - it tastes best if they are still warm

Drizzle with olive oil and some of the wine from the pears

Yum!

=)