Recipes
Mom’s Homemade Lasagna with Homemade Sunday Meat Gravy
Making lasagna with my mom was one of my favorite ways to spend time together. She would go all out making loads and loads of her Sunday Gravy, and I uphold that tradition by making a double batch every time I do homemade lasagna. Click through to try my Mom’s incredible recipe for yourself!
Auntie Norma’s Chicken Salad with Grapes and Walnuts
Everyone calls her Auntie Norma—she’s one of my mother-in-law's best friends. We love Auntie Norma, and we love her cooking, too! Today is our lucky day, because I get to share her amazing chicken salad recipe with all of you. Thank you, Auntie Norma!
Hard Cider Pork Roast with Pink Lady Apples
Use a hard apple cider or apple and pear cider to both braise and make a sauce for this delicious autumn entrée. Rosy-colored Pink Lady apples are my favorite for this recipe but Honeycrisps also work great!
Grandma Vivardo's Favorite Cherry Pistachio Biscotti
With green hues imparted by pistachios and red from dried cherries, these are always on my Christmas cookie platter.
Aunt Rita’s Pecan Tassies
This special cookie gets a free pass because we all know its true identity is the tiniest of pies.
Bud’s Cracklin’ Pork Shoulder with Hard Cider Gravy
This crispy pork rind cooks to a perfect golden brown and blends perfectly in the oven with just the right array of spices and herbs. A delicious and aromatic hard cider gravy is the perfect complement to this meat dish.
Mom’s Italian Easter Pie AKA Calzone
The preparation of this Italian Easter pie, also referred to as calzone, is a traditional part of the holiday in my family. I grew up making this recipe with Tuma cheese. Known as “the lost cheese of Sicily,” this unique creamy cheese is made with cow’s milk from an age-old recipe. I also love to use Scamorza cheese in this recipe. Scamorza is another southern Italian cow’s milk cheese. Like mozzarella, the cheese curd is stretched, letting the curd mature in its own whey for several hours to allow acidity to develop. A good substitute for these cheeses is a mix of mozzarella and provolone.
Mary’s Classic Shepherd’s Pie with Ground Lamb
My recipe features a nice rich mix of traditional root vegetables—turnips, parsnips and carrots—as well as a wonderful pop of taste from sweet potatoes and a little bit of sherry, vermouth, or white wine. This dish also serves as an excellent alternative to corn beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day!