Honey Garlic Chicken requires only a few minutes of prep time and, while baking, will make your kitchen smell fantastic! Bon Appetit!
Ingredients (Serves 4 – 6)
1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces Continue reading
Main Dishes
Sunday Lasagna
Fancy enough for Sunday dinner, but easy enough to let you enjoy your Sunday afternoon, this recipe offers a slight twist on a traditional lasagna. The filling is pleasantly creamy, the flavor packs a punch… and yet there are no “weird” ingredients to find. Happy cooking, happy dining!
Ingredients (Makes a 9″ x 13″ pan) Continue reading
Baked Trout, Tom Sawyer Style!
The munchkins here at Crowded Earth Kitchen recently finished reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Whenever they reach the end of a classic bedtime story such as this, we try to do something fun in keeping with the theme Continue reading
Summer Squash Fritters
Yellow summer squash have taken over my garden – what a delightful problem! Alas, yellow summer squash doesn’t seem to freeze as well as zucchini. We need to enjoy these sunny little veggies fresh, or cook them into something delightful before freezing. This recipe for Summer Squash Fritters accomplishes both – you can enjoy these as Continue reading
Creamy Asparagus Soup
Asparagus is at it’s lowest price of the entire year right now, at least where I live. I bought a few bundles and used some to make a pot of this amazing soup. If you’d like to stock up (this soup really is that good), simply follow the directions below and stop at Step 3. You can freeze the partially prepared soup well into autumn, then thaw and continue with the last few steps. So easy!
Ingredients (Serves 4) Continue reading
Kids in the Kitchen: Cheesy Tuna Casserole
This tasty weeknight supper is easy enough for children to prepare, and they’ll feel proud to serve the family! Cheesy Tuna Casserole is not a “from scratch” recipe, but then, not every meal needs to be. By starting with an ingredient familiar to children everywhere – boxed shells and cheese – you’re more likely to have cooperation from even the fussiest of pint-size diners. The added vegetables and protein aren’t so… suspicious… when the noodles and cheese are already a sure hit.
As long as an adult handles the boiling water and oven transfer, the kids can do the rest. Sit back and let them cook you dinner for a change!
Ingredients (Serves 6; recipe can be easily cut in half) Continue reading
Best Lobster Roll in Salem!
First things first. A few hours after arriving in Salem, we ventured into a cute little restaurant right off of the touristy Essex Street pedestrian mall. We were able to escape the bright sun while still enjoying the open air, grabbed a quick bite to eat (grilled cheese with fries) and listened to some really excellent live music.
However…
If we weren’t jet lagged, we might have realized before we asked for a table that restaurants in touristy areas also have touristy prices! We passed on the $25 lobster roll. Seriously – who charges $25 for a lobster roll when you can practically see the ocean from the restaurant kitchen? I digress.
Time to contact my good friends GOOGLE and UBER!
A quick web search for the best local lobster roll and where do Salem locals eat pointed us squarely in one direction – Dotty and Ray’s Restaurant. Located about a mile from The Hawthorne Hotel, Dotty and Ray’s is across the river from the touristy town center in residential Salem, where locals live and eat. Google says it’s a 16 minute walk. Uber says it’s a $4 ride. Take your pick, but GO!
For $12.95 you’ll get a lobster roll that’s so generously portioned and delicious, I dare you not to go back the very next day for more (we did!). Look! Look and imagine how delicious this is!
Casual, delicious, regional home cooking with great service and very reasonable prices -what more does a hungry tourist need? It was fun to watch the staff visiting with other diners in a familiar way; Dotty and Ray’s is clearly the place to catch up on local news over lunch. Even as outsiders, we were welcomed and enjoyed a bit of conversation with our server. It felt a bit clandestine to be the only tourists in a beloved local establishment, as if we’d discovered something too magical to share.
Scallop Roll
(Magical… Salem… see what I did there?)
Their scallop roll was amazingly sweet and also generously portioned. We substituted the fries for mashed potatoes, which were buttery and wonderful. If you’re in the Salem area, don’t miss out on lunch at the tucked away gem that is Dotty and Rays.
