Quick Fix Dinner

By Lori Powell
For One or Two Bites, a blog for singles and couples

Tomorrow, 11 people will be showing up on my doorstep to stay for four days and many meals. One of the meals is the big turkey day; the rest involves several breakfasts and lunches. So tonight, I am a cookin’ fool.

Right now I have a stock simmering away, cornbread cooling and am in dire need to get my pie dough made, as it is 6:30 p.m. and I have to get some early shuteye. The house is relatively clean, at least for now. Dishwasher is full with a sink full of dishes yet to load. I could use a kitchen fairy about right now to cook me up some rocket fuel to make it through the night.

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Pork Roast: How Lori Weathered Sandy

By Lori Powell
For One or Two Bites, a blog for singles and couples

As mentioned last week, I got through Sandy by cooking two roasts, one beef and the other pork, in an attempt to soothe and satisfy neighbors who were not as fortunate.

Below is the recipe for the roast pork. My leftovers are sitting in my now-working freezer and will serve as the base for a delicious pork and white bean chili for the night my Thanksgiving guests arrive.

I spent part of last week sorting out and clearing out my pantry, freezer and fridge…long overdue. It was very cathartic and now I’m ready to cook from what survived in my pantry from the storm.

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Weathering Frankenstorm Sandy

Enjoy music while you cook. You can win a Logitech z515 wireless speaker for smartphones and tablets. Just tell us how long you take to cook dinner and you’ll be entered in our sweepstakes. Good luck!

By Lori Powell

I am hoping that all of our Special Fork audience is safe and sound and hunkered down, weathering the aftermath of this storm with good eats and good company!

As mentioned in prior blog posts, I keep a well-stocked larder and have an upright freezer that is usually at least halfway filled with edible gold. So, to insure the freezer stuff, I am one of the fortunate ones who owns a generator.

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Long Day, Short Night

By Lori Powell

Lately I have been working into the evening Monday through Friday and then at least one day on the weekend. So I’m trying to get better at meal planning.

I love leftovers so that’s not the problem. I just don’t love the same dish for three nights in a row.

So I am trying to make things that I can transform easily into something else. One of my tricks is roasting a ton of vegetables -- roasted vegetables are one of fall and winter’s delights. All you need is a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and any fresh or dried herbs that you have kicking around, and you have a meal starter for a week’s worth of dinners.

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My “Every Meal Solution” Recipe

By Lori Powell

Apples are everywhere at this time of the year, but is it me or is there a whole new crop of varieties out there?

One of my all-time favorites is the Honeycrisp (breeding is still not clearly determined). It’s large enough so you can make a meal out of it.

I’m not sure how it is in your neck of the woods but in mine, Honeycrisps are the size of softballs. They are the perfect combination of sweet, crunchy and refreshingly juicy. It’s a modern apple variety developed by the University of Minnesota to withstand cold climates.

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