VPR Cooks

VPR Cooks

We're lucky around here… quite a few VPR staffers are terrific cooks. Fabulous smells often emanate from our kitchenette, and we do a lot of recipe swapping and taste testing! We love to cook for one another, and we'll use this page to showcase some of our favorite recipes, as well as the stories and traditions behind them.

Ty Robertson's Curried Chicken Salad

Production Engineer Sam Sanders made a big bowl of curried chicken salad to share with friends at a get-together earlier this week. But when everyone canceled on account of snow, he brought it to VPR to share. Thanks for the delicious lunch, Sam! He used the recipe from our colleague Ty Robertson, VPR's special events coordinator. It’s a favorite at VPR shin-digs, too!

Cheryl Willoughby's Favorite Cider-Roasted Chicken

Saturday nights for me usually mean live music. But when I do stay home I'm often creating a special meal to share with a few good friends, like my 'eating locally' party this past Saturday evening. The menu included baked local beets with caramelized onions, and topped with local feta. Potatoes were mashed with local sour cream and butter, homegrown rosemary and garlic. A fresh spinach salad and tart apple crisp completed the meal. The main dish was one a friend recently made for me: cider-roasted chicken. It's tender, flavorful, and completely delicious. Happy harvest-time! Note: This recipe is originally from Cooking Light Magazine.

John Van Hoesen's Baked Apples

Vice President of News and Programming John Van Hoesen says, "The baked apple is simple and elegant. It brings out the best of the season with a big reward and very little work. I like to prepare the apples for breakfast as a side dish for pancakes, but they work at lunchtime, for a snack, or for an elegant dessert. Use your imagination for the filling and the garnish or go for the very simple; they will warm up your home either way. My personal choice is McIntosh."

Eggplant, Tomato, and Smoked Mozzarella Tart

VPR Membership Assistant Jean Murphy says, "I cut this recipe out a long time ago, but never tried it until recently. It was unbelievably good, and surprisingly looked as nice as the picture! I used a little more of the smoked mozzarella than they called for, but otherwise followed it pretty closely."

Blueberry-Ricotta Pancakes With Blueberry Sauce

Even after I froze enough for winter I still had about 7 pounds of freshly-picked blueberries in my kitchen. What can I say? I get a little carried away in August. These pancakes were my favorite of all the recipes I tried, and a hit at my house last weekend. Definitely take the time to make the blueberry sauce – and serve the pancakes with cottage cheese or even vanilla ice cream if you’re feeling decadent. Recipe is courtesy of Eating Well Magazine.

Michelle Jeffery's Summer Spinach Pie

My family loves food. I mean,

Michelle Jeffery's Blueberry Cake

This recipe is from my late grandmother, Irene Tarallo, who lived for the all-too-short summertime—from jumping off the Longfellow Bridge into the Charles River as a teenager, to her methodical tanning ritual at Long Beach in Gloucester.

VPR Maple Shortbread Cookies

Last week during VPR’s membership drive, loyal listeners and supporters Sue and George Meyers of Arlington sent David Warren back to VPR with a tin full of maple cookies in the shapes of the letters V, P, and R. We suppose you could cut them in any shape you desired, but we think VPR tastes the best! The recipe has been adapted from our good friends at King Arthur Flour.

Patti Daniels's No-Knead Bread

My friend brought this to my house for a party. There was way too much food, so I ended up saving this and brought it to VPR on Monday. It was fresh and delicious even after a couple of days!

VPR Family's Cold-Curing Concoctions

Eugenia is a VPR volunteer who swears by this homemade "tea" when she feels something coming on. "Cures what ails 'ya," she says!

Cheryl Willoughby's Sambhara

In my house I usually prepare a special meal of some particular ethnicity for Thanksgiving. Indian cuisine (that's South Asian Indian, not Native American) is our favorite. This Sambhara (Gujerati-style cabbage with carrots) comes from Indian cuisine expert Madhur Jaffrey and it's one of my favorites.

Thea Platt's Artist Mug Chocolate Cake

Why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only five minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night! This can serve two if you want to feel slightly more virtuous.

Gesine Bullock-Prado's Golden Eggs

Confections of a Closet Master

Vermont Foodbank's Carrot Salad

Joe Goetz's Kahlua Fudge Cake

Here's my mom's recipe for Kahlua Fudge Cake....the perfect way to end any large Christmas dinner!

Jonathan Butler's Pineapple Cream Cheese Pie

When it comes to baking, my mother, Donna, is in a league of her own. Breads, pies, cakes, brownies, cookies - everything she makes wins raves at family, school, and church events. However, for all of her culinary masterpieces, one of my all-time favorites is this very simple pineapple cream cheese pie she makes during most the holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, too). She found the recipe on the side of a can of pineapple years ago and it was so well received (especially by my dad, Richard) she's been making it ever since. It's one of my favorites and I particularly appreciate it because I did not inherit her cooking talents and this pie is ridiculously easy to make.

Cheryl Willoughby's White Cake with Buttermilk Frosting

This is another recipe from my "mom" files. It's kind of like your basic white sauce: you can enjoy this cake just as it is, or use it as the starting point for much more creative things. Add some flavoring, decorate it, make it a split-layer, jelly-filled cake...use your imagination! Best of all, it's very moist, and even if you do nothing else it's fancy enough for most occasions without any other embellishments.

The Vogelzang Family’s Cream Cheese Braids

"Easter Sunday is one of my favorite holidays. The entire Vogelzang clan is home for the weekend, and we have to get ourselves off to church for early choir rehearsal and what will be a packed sanctuary for Easter services, complete with glorious music. But first food! The kids, spouses and little ones arrive downstairs in the kitchen, smelling the fresh bread baking in the oven, looking for a taste of their mom's special cream cheese braids. This recipe comes from our years in Bowling Green, Kentucky; a recipe my wife Rhonda found in a 1982 issue of Southern Living magazine. She still uses the torn-out page. It's scrumptious any time of the year, but has the most impact on a holiday morning!" -Mark

Tere Gade's Chicken in White Wine Dijon Sauce

"The foundation for this recipe probably originated at my mother-in-law Mary's table (as many of our meals do), where many an herb has awakened our palates and imagination. My husband Chris and I adopted this recipe and tweaked it to our tastes, and it's now had enough play at our table that we call it our own (as only family can do). We like to think it reflects the evolution of our culinary curiosity, past Mary's inspiring table, our love of fresh herbs, and our need for fast and simple. Have we strayed far afield or fallen next to the tree? Only Mary will know for sure."

George Thomas' Blue Oatmeal

This recipe was found in a neglected trunk of sheet music in the basement of Louis Armstrong's Corona, Queens home. Legend has it this was first eaten by Louis Armstrong when, after moving to Chicago, a local doctor insisted he try it instead of his usual Swiss Kris. Windy rumors have it that he lasted but a week before a visiting Fats Waller, noticing the color of his breakfast remarked, "What did you do to be so Black and Blue, Lou?"

Robin Turnau's Butternut Squash Chili

"I love to grow vegetables, and this past summer my garden was in full gear. The butternut squash plants that I had carefully started in my little greenhouse got off to a great start, and were healthy and strong when they were set out in the garden. By October I ended up with 29 good sized squash to store away for the winter. So, besides the usual soups, pies and purees, I've been looking for different ways to serve butternut squash and came upon this recipe from Sheila Lukins' All Around the World Cookbook by Workman Publishing. The grated orange adds a wonderful flavor, and it's great served by itself or over rice. A healthy alternative to beef chili!"

Sam Sanders' Lentil Soup

"A favorite of mine is lentil soup. It's very easy and no-fail. There is no family history to this recipe, I just kind of made it up. What I like about it is that it's simple, fast, healthy (and vegetarian) — and it's almost impossible to mess up!"

Ty Robertson's Really Good Christmas Fruitcake

"This is a fruitcake recipe I've been developing over the years. It's finally done, I think, but then I can't help but tinker with recipes each time. The most important thing is to use only dried fruits that you like and leave that awful nuclear waste called citron to those who like fruitcake in Technicolor. This fruitcake is a dense, moist and chewy cake that is a symphony in drab brown, the way the English meant it to be!"

Grendel's Guilty-Gobbling Ginger Bears

"These cookies were originally called "Mama J's Ginger Bears," after my mother-in-law, who makes them every Christmas. I've renamed them "Grendel's Guilty-Gobbling Ginger Bears" because last Christmas our black lab mix, Grendel, ate a whole bunch of them off the coffee table and then looked really guilty about it...if not exactly sorry. When we can keep them out of his reach, they're a big part of our own holiday celebration."

Marialisa Calta's Christmas Pudding

"Making Christmas Pudding is a ridiculous amount of work, but one bite transports you to a Dickensian reverie: snow is falling on cobblestone streets, young choir boys are singing ancient carols, and Scrooge himself is having a change of heart. Enjoy! (And don't mind about the suet)."

Rachel Johnson's Sweet Potato Soufflé

ere is my mother's recipe for sweet potato soufflé. She made it on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and it has now become an essential part of my family holiday meals. Don't be scared off by the soufflé part. It's easy to make and foolproof —it has never failed me. Guests at our holiday table always ask for the recipe.

Cheryl Willoughby's Pumpkin Soup

"Like any true Taurus I have a deep, undoubtedly over-developed appreciation for creature comforts—great wine and food are top priorities. (You'd have to ask my friends if I'm true to the sign in being stubborn. I'll never admit to it...and I'm sticking to that!) I love trying new recipes and then fixing them to my own taste. There isn't much a handful of onions and a good pinch of turmeric and cayenne can't fix."

Michelle Jeffery's Mushroom Soup

This simple, rich mushroom soup is a Thanksgiving staple in my family. My mom found this Julia Child recipe in Parade Magazine in 1979, which makes the recipe almost as old as I am. Given the choice between me or the mushroom soup making an appearance at Thanksgiving dinner, I'm not entirely sure my family would pick me!