Donut Miss Frosty's

Most people think of lobster or other seafood when considering food choices in Maine, but there's other indulgences as well. In Brunswick, ME, that means donuts.

Selection of donuts at Frosty's Donut Shop in Brunswick, ME

Since we missed celebrating National Donut Day on the first Friday in June last month, we made up for that oversight last weekend.

Frosty's, 54 Maine St, Brunswick, ME

Frosty's founders, June & Bob Frost

Frosty’s Donut Shop is located in the heart of downtown Brunswick, ME, ironically on Maine Street. It was established in 1965 by Bob and June Frost. Within a few years, their selection of traditional donuts, from glazed to frosted became well known in the area leading to a faithful following. Customers either made a stop here as part of their daily routine or found a reason to travel to Brunswick. (Luckily, we were already there for another event.)

The donut shop became an “iconic institution” in the community and recognition in regional and national recognition in publications such as Downeast, Travel & Leisure, and Saveur. 

The current name and location were not the original shop. The Frosts had originally bought into a Spudnut Donut Shop franchise for an initial investment of $5,000. They opened it near Bowdoin College in Brunswick. 

Vintage Spudnut Donut Ads

Spudnut shops, which predated Dunkin'® Donuts, were selling about 400,000 spudnut donuts made with potato flour annually. The American franchise grew to more than 300 shops at one time. While the parent company no longer exists, about 35 independent shops remain open in nine states. The name was originally coined by company founders Al and Bob Pelton of Salt Lake City, UT, who created a dry potato mix which made it feasible to franchise their creation.

The original recipe is based on a German folk recipe. Spudnuts were advertised with the slogan Coast to coast—Alaska to Mexico. Over the history of Spudnuts, there were over 600 stores throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. A bow-tied donut character, Mr. Spudnut, appeared in ads, restaurants, and parades. In the late 1960s, there were 315 franchise holders, with combined annual sales of $25 million. Spudnut shops were the largest doughnut franchise in the U.S.

Two years after the Frosts relocated to the Maine Street location, business became slow and the shop name was changed to Frosty’s. (I'm not sure if the donuts continued to be made with potato flour.)

Bob and June Frost maintained the popular Frosty’s Donut Shop for 46 years until Bob closed its doors in June 2011, shortly after June's death. 

Nels Omdal and Shelby St. Andre

In 2012, Nels Omdal and his wife Shelby St. Andre, a local couple, who had also been loyal customers purchased Frosty’s. Omdal had a background in food production and restaurant management and his wife had experience in business and finance. They felt they had the skills and drive needed to grow the business throughout the state.

They didn’t know anything about making doughnuts.

The couple stayed faithful to the recipes and business model developed by the Frosts and Bob worked with them in the kitchen. The basic donut recipe remained the same. (Bob Frost died in June 2019 at age 85. )

Running the donut shop meant long hours. After taking over Frosty's, its new owners served donuts 7 days a week.  They expanded the business to four more retail locations throughout Maine—Augusta, Bath, Gardiner and Freeport—and delivered breakfast items to over 40 locations statewide. When the Covid pandemic hit, all shops were voluntarily closed. The Gardiner and Freeport closures closed permanently to maintain the long-term health of the company according to its owners.

Grenville & blueberry fritter

If you're in Brunswick, ME, on a weekend and looking for a sweet treat, stop into Frosty’s at 54 Maine St. The donut shop is open Friday to Sunday, 7 am to 2 pm, takeout only, no delivery. The menu includes raised donuts, cake donuts, rings, glazed twists, and bagels as well as hot and cold drinks.

In 2023, Frosty’s owners opened a production facility in Brunswick and now deliver breakfast items to over 40 locations throughout the state.

Although ALL of the donuts looked delicious, we can personally recommend the fritters. Grenville enjoyed a blueberry-filled one and mine was the traditional apple-filled variety.

Not only were both were both delicious 😋 but, of course, calories don't count when traveling 😉. . . isn't that right?

Chicken Pot Pie Comfort

These are nothing else will more a more welcoming dinner than comfort food.

Chicken Pot Pie definitely meets that criteria and it's an easy meal prep too. Area  restaurants remain shuttered here too, except for take-out orders. We enjoy dining locally and when traveling, But, cooking dinner at home has always been a regular occurrence. This dinner was delicious served with a side salad. 

I wasn't specifically looking for a dinner recipe, the night we enjoyed this, but so glad to have found it while net-surfing. Does everyone do that in these days of self-isolation? 

The recipe is courtesy of former talk show host/actress Jenny Jones and available on her Jenny Can Cook website and on YouTube (note you won't find any ads or endorsements here).  For those who may remember it, The Jenny Jones Show was a tabloid-style TV talk show. It ran for 12 seasons, from 1991 to 2003 and was taped in Chicago, ILL.

Chicken Pot Pie Recipe

The creamy filling and flaky crust are made without any cream or butter, just milk, chicken broth and vegetable oil.  It's helpful to have all the ingredients chopped and ready before starting. You can substitute veggies like broccoli, corn, mushrooms, green beans in this recipe. It's a great way to use any leftover/frozen vegetables in the fridge or freezer. 

Prep Time: 35 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 
Serves: 3-4 (leftovers are a good thing)

Filling

• 1 C chicken stock (unsalted) 
• 1 C whole milk
• 1/2 C all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 boneless chicken breasts (about 1 lb.) cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 C chopped onion
• 2 carrots, sliced 1/8-inch thick (1 C)
• 2 stalks celery, sliced 1/8-inch thick (1 C)
• 1 C frozen peas, thawed on a paper towel
• 3/4 tsp salt (less if using salted stock)
• pepper to taste
• poultry seasoning (optional)

Top Crust

• 1 2/3 C all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 C vegetable oil
• 1/3 C 1% milk
• egg wash (one egg yolk + 1 tsp water)

INSTRUCTIONS

Filling

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together stock, milk, and flour until smooth. Set aside.
3. Heat the oil in your biggest pan over med-high heat. Cook and stir onion, carrot, & celery for 2 minutes.
4. Add chicken. Cook & stir for 2 minutes.
5. Stir in peas followed by chicken stock mixture, salt & pepper. Cook, uncovered, for 2-3 minutes until thick.
6. Pour into a 9-inch deep dish pie pan. Set aside, uncovered.

Crust

1. Combine flour and salt in a bowl.
2. Add oil & milk all at once. Stir with a fork.
3. Shape into a 5-inch disc and place between 2 sheets of floured wax paper, then roll into a 12-inch circle.
4. Brush rim of pie pan with eggwash.
5. Gently remove crust from wax paper by draping it over your arm and place onto pie. Trim away or flute overhanging crust, pressing down edges.
6. Brush entire crust & edges with eggwash. Using a sharp knife, poke a dozen holes in the top to release steam.
7. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes. Let stand 15-20 minutes before serving (if you can wait that long).

Luckily, all the ingredients were available in our home in the freezer and pantry. This was an easy recipe. I'm planning a do-over with various veggie combinations.

Grenville's rating was two forks. He was happy there were leftovers for another meal.

Banana Bread with Chocolate Drizzle

Looking back, this isn't the first and probably not the last banana bread recipe I will post. After all, can we ever have too much of a good thing? 

Looking back to previous posts, there were several others in 2010 to 2012. Seems I "skipped" a few years, so here's a "new" (to me), so easy and very delicious banana bread recipe that was tried after watching Ellie Krieger's PBS cooking show.

This recipe has a lot of good stuff, that's healthy too — bananas, nuts, yogurt, wheat flour, not much sugar. So what's not to like? This recipe calls for a chocolate drizzle which I didn't make. Instead, Grenville drizzled chocolate syrup on his slice(s), so that works too.

Banana Bread with Chocolate Drizzle

• Cooking spray
• 1/3 C walnut pieces, optional
• 1 C whole wheat pastry flour, or regular whole wheat flour
• 3/4 C all-purpose flour
• ¼ C granulated sugar
• ¼ C packed light brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ C canola oil, or other neutral flavored oil such as “light” olive oil or grape seed oil
• ¼ C low fat plain yogurt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 large, very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed (about 1 ½ cups)

Chocolate Drizzle:

• 2 TBSP confectioner’s sugar
• 2 tsp 1% low-fat milk, plus more if needed
• ½ oz. dark chocolate (60-70 % cocoa solids) finely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.
2. If adding walnuts, spread onto a baking sheet; place in oven until toasted, about 8 minutes.
3. In a large bowl whisk together whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
4. In another bowl whisk together oil, yogurt, eggs and vanilla, then whisk in mashed banana to combine. 
5. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in the toasted walnuts, if using. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until a wooden skewer inserted in center comes out clean, 50-55 minutes. Cool and then transfer bread to cooking rack.

Prepare the chocolate drizzle

Place confectioner’s sugar and milk in a small saucepan over a low heat and stir until melted. Stir in chocolate and cook until just melted, about 1 minute. Drizzle chocolate over top of banana bread. Allow chocolate to cool and set, then slice and enjoy. 

A cold glass of milk is a great accompaniement.

If You're From NJ . . .

Then you know about Pork Roll. If not, you probably won't understand (or appreciate) the saying on this T-shirt Grenville bought at a local thrift store this week.

Because "pork roll" is definitely "a Jersey thing " and as NJ natives we really know that.

Never heard of Pork Roll?

This combination of miscellaneous pork product, sugar, spices, and salt is unlike any other processed meat product in the U.S. and it's processed, smoked, packaged, and sold in NJ and almost nowhere else. 

John Taylor created his secret recipe for the product in 1856 in Trenton, NJ, selling it as Taylor Ham. Competitors like George Washington Case, a farmer and butcher from Belle Mead, NJ, created a own recipe for pork roll in 1870. Other producers entered the market and subsequent food labeling regulations required Taylor to designate his product as a "pork roll" alongside its competitors. A 1910 legal case ruled that the words "pork roll" could not be trademarked. 

Known as Taylor Pork Roll or Taylor Ham, this product is most commonly available in regional areas of several East Coast states: NJ, NY, DE, parts of PA and MD. Luckily, we were able to find it on the VA eastern shore — but not here in NH. 

It's a favorite NJ breakfast meat eaten as part of a sandwich called a Jersey Breakfast or Taylor Ham, Egg and Cheese. In these combos, pork roll is fried and served with a fried egg and cheese on a hard roll (or bagel). On a grilled burger, it's a Trenton Burger in northern NJ; a Jersey Burger in southern and central NJ.

Pork roll is almost always sliced and pan-fried or grilled with one to four cuts made along its outer edge to prevent slices from curling in the middle and cooking unevenly. 

In grocery stores, it comes packed in a cotton bag in 1, 1.5, and 3 lb. unsliced rolls or packaged in boxes containing 4, 6, or 8 slices. It's also sold at delicatessens, diners, lunch stands and food trucks and it's a basic food group in many NJ public school cafeterias.

It's probably a very good thing that we can't find it locally in NH — there isn't anything nutritious or healthy in pork roll . . . but it really tastes good !

Anyone have a regional food favorite that's harder to find elsewhere?

Snow Day Pot Roast

As Grenville posted earlier today, we had a “snow event” here on the VA Eastern Shore last night. So what better meal on a cold Sunday than something from the crockpot / the slow cooker.

This recipe is from The Farmer’s Wife Slow Cooker Cookbook, a gift that Grenville lovingly gave me a couple of holidays ago after telling me that I was “the farmer’s wife.” The book has “101 blue-ribbon recipes adapted from farm favorites.”  It was bought at a Tractor Supply store, which has been known to be one of Grenville’s favorite shopping places.

Recipes include soups, sauces, main and side dishes, and desserts adapted from The Farmer’s Wife, a monthly magazine published in Minnesota between 1839 and 1939. There were no slow cookers then, so these recipes have been adapted for slow cooker use. The cookbook contains many appliance and cooking advertisements, which are fun to read. Interestingly, most of these period advertisements were from the 1940-50s. They will be featured in a separate post.

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

• 3-4 lbs. boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 C flour
• dash of garlic powder
• 4 carrots, peeled and cut
• 4 celery ribs, peeled and cut
• 4-6 potatoes, peeled and cut
• 1 large onion, peeled and sliced
• 1 can beef broth
• 1/4 C cider vinegar or red wine
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, low-sodium
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1 tsp oregano

1. Remove packaging from meat and dry off with a paper towel. Combine flour, salt, pepper and garlic power and roll beef in mixture. Save any leftover flour.
2. Heat olive oil in large skillet and brown the meat, turning to brown all sides.
3. When browned, transfer the beef to the slow cooker. Add some red wine (cooking wine OK) to the pan to deglaze it. Add in the beef broth as well.
4. Pour the broth into a heat-resistant cup then take all the cut up veggies and mix them together in the pot, seasoning with the parsley and oregano. Add the veggies around the beef roast. Pour the broth all around. Cook on LOW 7-9 hours or until meat is tender.

To thicken the juices, take some of the reserved flour and some of the juices and whisk in a bowl or Pyrex cup. Add back to the crock pot and turn on HIGH for 10 minutes. Alternately, you can remove the juices, whisk in the flour, transfer to a saucepan and cook until thickened, making sure to stir.

This dish is a meal in itself, but can also be served over buttered noodles. There’s sure to be leftovers, which are even better the second night.

Happy Mardis Gras Weekend to ALL!!!!

And what a weekend it has been here at the F&P. Yesterday was a fun filled day of ‘patio pulling up and re-laying’ for me and some serious weeding for Beatrice along with regular yard chores. The patio we laid last year in the wild flowers was over taken by the wild flowers so i decided that it needed to be realigned and made a little bigger. The first attempt made a month ago was a dismal failure due to rushing the project and a lack of sand for the base. This time i had 21 bags of sand (and used it all). AND now the pavers are facing the correct direction and the high spots have been removed. AND the audio connections were completed so the shop radio now goes all the way to the ’Wild Patio’. The rock in the upper right corner is one of the speakers.
Of course lets not forget what spring in the country is famous for…. ‘Manure Season’ or as we fondly term it for the tourists ‘Ode De Spring’. We only got 240 lbs this trip since the poor truck was loaded with 1000 lbs of sand. Wednesday we will pick up the rest and hopefully get it spread and tilled in next week. 
Being Mardis Gras weekend we went to our favorite restaurant



 
“Annie’s, where butter is a food group” for their Mardis Gras special buffet. There’s not many places here on the  shore (none to be exact) where you  can get fresh home made CRAWFISH ETOUFFEE. Now i am not a big CRAWDADDY fan, at least not when i have to suck them out of the shell, BUT Chef Matt’s Etouffee was great. And lets not forget the blackened Catfish, Jambalaya, Gumbo, and Fried Gator. All topped off with some King Kake (neither of us got the baby). As always, i over ate and on leaving told Chef Matt he had to stop cooking as good as we do or i would never loose weight. He said NO!!!!!
Breakfast this morning was our usual Sunday Treat  (as if we really needed another after last night) of pancakes. Today’s were Cranberry  Pancakes. Almost as good as ones right out of the Bogs at Double Trouble NJ.
 
So what is up for today?????? Some serious digesting, reading, relaxing (raining here today) then off to the ‘Y’ and a long soak in the Hot Tub after yesterdays fun, and a quick stop at Wally-World on the way home. Tonight is Chicken Bean Soup, Fresh Spinach Salad, and fresh Wheat Bread. Watch for Beatrice’s post. Hope that your Sunday is a great Sunday.
Grenville

Souperior Meat Loaf

No, that’s not a type in the blog post title. Dry onion soup mix is a featured ingredient in this meat loaf recipe. Grenville now asks for this version every time we have it for dinner.

Souperior Meat Loaf

• 1 Lipton® Onion Soup Mix (or any brand you prefer) 
• 1 lb ground beef 
• ¾ C plain bread crumbs 
• 2 eggs 
• ¾ C water 
• 1/3 C ketchup

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Combine all ingredients in large bowl.
3. Shape into loaf in 13x9-inch baking or roasting pan.
   (Optional: spread some ketchup on top of loaf)
4. Bake uncovered 1 hour or until done.
5. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 6-8; prep time 10 minutes; cook time 1 hour

Sorry, there’s no photos of last night’s dinner.
It was delicious served with homemade macaroni and cheese.
Perfect comfort food for a rainy winter night – or snowy one too.

Potatoes, Onions & Eggs – Saturday Breakfast

It’s the weekend. Wait a minute, since Grenville and I are both retired from the paid working world – every day  is like a weekend. Whoops, sorry if you are still in that world. In a sense we still work, only now it’s called volunteering, which is a different form of work.

Saturday and Sunday breakfasts are special cause that’s when we make something quicker than oatmeal, toast or smoothies. Grenville’s specialties are pancakes or French toast, made using leftover homemade bread. Today was my turn and so here’s an easy breakfast using potatoes, onions, eggs and cheese.

Slice a couple of potatoes very thin. Cut and slice an onion or use the whole onion if you really like fried onions. Season the potatoes with some salt and pepper or your choice of spice(s).

We had some red potatoes so that’s what was used today. Put some olive oil in a pan and heat until hot. Put in the potatoes and onions and start cooking.

This photo shows the potatoes and onions separated as I started the potatoes a little sooner, then added the onions.

Here they are cooking together. Keep flipping the potatoes until they are all browned and crusty. When they start sticking. they are getting – we like them really browned.

While the potatoes and onions are cooking, I scrambled 4 eggs and when the potatoes and onions were nicely browned, poured the eggs on top and let them cook.

The final touch, which I almost forgot today, is to add some shredded cheese on top – today it was cheddar, mozzarella works well too.

Once the eggs have set and the cheese is melted, it’s ready to serve. Today was an NL (no lunch) day so I cut this in half and served with a fruit cup of bananas, kiwi, pecans, and dried cranberries.

Here’s Grenville's breakfast plate.

If you’re ever in our neighborhood, let us know and we’ll serve this for breakfast – weekend or not. It’s best enjoyed in “jammies” so don’t forgot to bring yours – and slippers too.

Great Grandma's Banana Bread

There were some overripe bananas sitting in our fruit bowl a The Frog & PenguINN which usually means that it’s time to bake another loaf of banana bread. 

Last year, I tried a couple different recipes and we liked all of them. One of those could have been used again, but I bought The Old Farmer’s Almanac Best Home Baking for $1 at a yard sale and on page 45 there was a new (to us) banana bread recipe. What made this recipe different than others we tried is that it uses bread flour and  sour cream, both of which were on hand. And, we have lots of pecans from last fall’s bumper crop harvest.

While, the book didn’t say whose Grandma created the recipe, feel free to pass it off as a family member’s treasured favorite.
After all, who’s to know?


Great Grandma’s Banana Bread
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease 9x5-inch loaf pan. Makes 1 loaf.

• ½ C (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 C sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• ½ C sour cream
• 2 bananas, mashed
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 C bread flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ C chopped pecans (or walnuts)

1. Cream butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs, sour cream, bananas and vanilla; mix well.
3. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda; add to egg mixture and stir well.
4. Stir in pecans or walnuts (if using).
5. Pour into greased 9x5-inch loaf pan. 
6. Bake for 55 minutes, or until loaf tests done.

We’re sampling the finished bread tonight in our “jammies” and slippers – evening dress at the F&P.

Best served with a cold glass of milk or a cup of hot chocolate.

What to do on a snowy day?????

As the last post says, it’s ********SNOWING******** here on the Eastern Shore. Not everyone is as happy as we are but then again we are “those damn Yankees from up north”. So what is one to do as the snow accumulates, businesses close, and the clock reaches noon????? We decided to head to our favorite restaurant Annie's in Parksley Va. We like this place cause they like dragonflies, and the food is really good too!!!! Chef/owner Matt was ready for us with a great Thursday buffet (besides the regular menu). Today was my favorite, meatloaf, veggies, stewed tomatoes, and baked apples. Perfect comfort food for a cold snowy day. And they were all decorated for Christmas which made our stop just a little more special.

 

 

 

So what to do after lunch (besides a nap)???? Why not make a loaf of bread to go with the Butternut Squash soup for tonight’s dinner. Now I’m sure most of you have heard that baking is really a chemical reaction (a science i am not fond of nor good at). You have to measure the ingredients precisely, and add them at the proper time or there is no telling what will happen. I am a little lazy and use a bread machine for the whole process. Being a little late starting today and being a little rushed i sort of messed up on the sequence and timing of ingredients to add. If you have ever wondered what a nuclear reaction in a bread machine would look like, wonder no more.

While the top sort of resembles a mushroom cloud, i assure you that it was perfectly edible, even without butter. 

 

 

 

Removal from the machine required a slight tearing off of one edge (really yummy). But as i was struggling with the loaf (and grumbling a little) i happened to look out the window onto our patio and was treated to a wonderful sight.

Sorry, no fireside cocoa and cookies tonight.

Ice Cream Appetizer

Any excuse to go out for ice cream is a good one – just ask Grenville!  Of course,we had a friend visiting the F&P this holiday weekend and when he offered to treat, then NO excuse was needed. Just get in the car and go, so we did and headed right to our favorite local ice cream shop – the Sugar Shack.

 

 

Ice cream is the feature on the menu and it’s only Hershey’s Ice Cream. And, also frozen yogurt and sherbet. for any non ice-cream lovers (whoever they may be).

If you’re thinking this is the same company that makes chocolate – it’s NOT. Hershey’s Ice Cream was founded by the Hershey brothers, Jacob,  Isaac, John, Paris, and Eli in 1894 – no relation to the  The Hershey Company founders. The company operated from the Hershey family's Lancaster County farmhouse and was one of the first to offer consumers pre-packaged ice cream pints. Ice cream was packed in metal-lined wooden containers that the brothers designed and built. The containers were loaded into trucks with ice packed around them to keep the ice cream fresh and cold. Salesmen traveled daily routes to deliver to customers in the county and surrounding areas.

In the 1920s, the company merged with the Holder family's Bethlehem-based Meyer Dairy Company, but kept the Hershey name was taken over by the Holder family.  With their shared names and cities of origin, Hershey Creamery and Hershey Company (founded by Milton S. Hershey, no relation to the brothers) have had an uneasy relationship marked by lawsuits over trademark issues. In the mid-1990s, the companies settled their most recent legal battles  with Hershey’s Creamery agreeing to add a disclaimer on its products, website, promotional items, and releases to state, “not affiliated with Hershey's Chocolate".

So, now you know the difference.

But, I digress (as usual). When you’re at the Sugar Shack, There’s lots to look at inside while waiting for your order. See if you can detect a “theme” to the decor. (No, this candy is not made by the “other” Hershey company.)

  The house specialty here is its signature banana split. We had one of these a couple of years ago for an anniversary treat. Yes, it’s as large (and good) as it looks.Hard to believe that we passed on this treat and settled on sundaes instead cause we still had Grenville’s ribs to enjoy for dinner. This was just an appetizer!  Isn’t ice cream the best comfort food?