Month: February 2012

meatless monday — curried brie and artichoke quiche

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you know how i am, i’m all about using up my food in my fridge….waste not i declare!!!   when eyeing the options in the fridge; pie crust, eggs, brie and artichokes the light bulb turned on and quiche was put on the menu for dinner.  i’ll admit quiche isn’t something that usually sounds good to me, it dare i say it, always seems really girlie, but once i make quiche i’m always pleasantly surprised.  my second thought after “no that doesn’t sound good”  is often “why don’t i make quiche more often?”

quiche with a little hummus salad

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meatless monday — spicy apricot brie

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about every 6 months i go through a phase where all i crave is brie and i can’t get enough of it, which usually leads me to go to costco or sam’s club to buy brie in bulk.  i love brie when it gets all warm and gooey and bubbly.  mixing it with something sweet and i am in heaven.  for meatless monday i made a spicy apricot glaze out of apricot jam and tons of cayenne pepper, that was topped on a wedge of brie.  along with it was toasted slices of homemade multi-grain baguette and a green leaf salad.  i must say it will be hard to top this.

now that is what i'm talking about

 

RECIPE

1 small wheel of brie or a large size wedge

1 jar of apricot preserves

2 Tbsp cayenne pepper

1 clove garlic — minced

 

1.  preheat the oven at 35o, coat a baking dish with non-stick spray. place brie into baking dish.

2.  in a bowl combine the apricot preserves, cayenne pepper and minced garlic, poor apricot mixture over the brie.

3.  cover dish, bake brie for 30-35 minutes or until the brie begins to melt.  serve with toasted bread slices.

sunday night dinner — downton abbey style

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so the past couple of sunday night dinners that dad has created have been down the lines of something like this………………….

the farrises at dinner

well actually no, not so much like that, but we have been seriously distracted by the soap opera of downton abbey coming to an end.  last week we even had an in-depth conversation of what would be a good downton abbey themed cocktail, mom yes my mother, even got out bartending books to look up drinks.

steph and i currently have a frozen custard bet going on about whether or not mr. bates really killed his wife, i say no she says yes, alas we won’t know till next season!!!!!!

with the season finale last night i suggested, to kick off the third season, we should start a pool for plot developments, think like a super bowl pool except for a pbs 20th century historical masterpiece theater, i think someone could win some serious money $$$$

now that we won’t have in-depth plot discussions, or contemplating a downton abbey worthy meal, i will perhaps start remembering to take pictures of the wonderful food dad makes on sunday nights.

 

 

meatless monday — brunch potluck

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time to chow down

last monday with all of us having the day off got together at my friend ingrid’s house to do a little brunch potluck.  ingrid and zeb cooked up fresh hashbrowns, eggs, and crescent rolls, em brought along juice and tea, i came up with a dish of pears and brie baked in puff pastry that i topped with a little balsamic reduction.  quoting ingrid “that is why i invite you!”  but i think we’d all be in agreement that amiee brought one of the best items nutella. (her yogurt and granola was yummy too!)  brunch on a monday is the way to go, i highly recommend it!

meatless monday — curried egg salad

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to use up leftover ingredients from other meals was the goal for last monday night’s dinner.  yet as dinner time approached a jar of paul newman’s vodka sauce was seriously tempting me. but i made what was planned because i knew i’d just get mad at myself if those ingredients went bad before i used them up.  on the menu curried egg salad on an everything bagel with a spinach salad, which included a little homemade balsamic vinaigrette.  and i’ll admit although i wasn’t excited about it, when i looked down at my plate i knew i had made the right dish for the night.

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Just incase you didn’t know, I have another baking blog going! This is a fictional one, so if you like fairytales and baked good, then you’ll have to check out Gretel’s Oven!

Super Bowl Drunken Hot Dogs

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For as long as I can remember we’ve had drunken hot dogs as a Farris family Super Bowl tradition. I made them vegetarian this year with tofurkey kielbasa hot dogs.

Here’s the recipe:
1/2 cup brown sugar

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Add a half a cup of bourbon.

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Add a half a cup of ketchup.

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Stir together and simmer on low.

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For the veggie dogs, I sautéed them first in some oil then add them to the simmering sauce pan. This made them crispy on the outside before getting doused in bourbon goodness. For regular hot dogs you can just cut up a package of uncooked hot dogs into bite sized pieces and put them in the sauce. The veggie dogs should be in bite sized chunks too.

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Let them simmer for 15 to 30 minutes. You can also use a small crock pot to keep them warm. I always eat mine with toothpicks- mom may have served them like this once, but it’s how I like them!

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Baking Cookies with Grandma!

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The winter months can be pretty hard on everyone, this winter maybe not so much, but still it doesn’t hurt to eat a little extra sugar.

Spending time with my Grandma in the kitchen makes me feel like I’m six again. My favorite parts of the baking afternoon were the easy chatting, grandma’s crafty way of hanging her recipe while working (tucking it under the cabinet door), moments of sweet silence and stirring, and her asking me
what I would like for lunch.

And the cookies turned out pretty good too.

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Love you, Grandma!

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