Author: lynley

lynley http://imwiththebandlfarris.wordpress.com i bake cookies for bands i make art i play the accordion i hunt graffiti i knit i dj i cook i am process driven i love whiskey i had a spiritual moment at graceland the past is our present its the whole karmic enchilada

crockpot saturday — caribbean chicken

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yummy goodness

sweet potatoes, chicken, orange juice, pineapple, cinnamon all wonderful things to cook together in a crockpot.  the caribbean chicken i made for crockpot saturday was at first i thought a disappointment.  there didn’t seem to be enough pineapple and i thought the seasoning was lacking it needed more WOW.  but as i ate the leftovers throughout the week it just kept getting better and better.  i think it was because the seasonings had time to actual marinate into the chicken and vegetables. this recipe i think will get dog-eared in m crockpot cookbook as a keeper.

soul cakes

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a little soul please

what are soul cakes?  well, they are something i only make once a year for halloween.  the closet relative to a soul cake i guess would be a scone.  but they date back to the middle ages in great britain.  the tradition goes…….soul cakes are baked for all hallows eve, you were to place a plate of soul cakes outside your door or window with a lighted candle and a glass of wine to appease or feed the spirits of the dead that had returned that night.  children often went “souling” or going door to door collecting the cakes, thus the practice of trick or treating began. many times the dough for the cakes were shaped into figures using raisins as eyes, mouth, etc.  while i have never set them out to appease the dead, they do appease my breakfast appetite the whole week of halloween.

RECIPE — SOUL CAKES

makes 1 dozen

1 package yeast

1/2 cup sugar, plus 1 tsp

1/4 cup warm water

1 stick butter (1/4 lb)

2 cups milk — scalded

6 cups flour

1 tsp salt

3 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp all spice

1/3 cup raisins or crasisins

*dissolve yeast with 1 tsp sugar in warm water.  while yeast is dissolving slightly scald milk, meaning boil for a 3-4 minutes

* cream together butter and sugar, stir in milk.  in a large bowl sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, allspice

* combine flour mixture with yeast, add to butter mixture, mix thoroughly.  add in raisins or make people out of dough using raisins for decoration.

*bake at 375 for 30 minutes

the queen city fall whiskey festival

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real ladies drink whiskey

i decided to have a whiskey festival this fall.  why?  i wanted to celebrate, the beginning of fall with things i love including good friends, whiskey and pie, and that is exactly what i did along with my friend elise who offered to have the event at her house.  to start things off about a month ago i created 10 different specialty infused whiskies.  the list included:  almond rose, vanilla blueberry, mint, rosemary, spiced cider, pumpkin pie, apple crumb, chocolate mint, lime and pepper, and finally cherry lemonade.  my goal was when someone sampled the whiskey i didn’t want them to feel like they were tasting whiskey i wanted it to feel like they were drinking pumpkin pie or lemonade.  there was lots of testing and smelling and a little tweaking but the patience paid off. the verdict……apple crumb was the #1 whiskey flavor, followed by rosemary and shockingly lime and pepper.  coming in close though was the almond rose and chocolate mint, although i really ended up enjoying the vanilla blueberry, the berries even turned the whiskey purple.

there was whiskey………..

and

more whiskey

we also had a variety of whiskies from tennesee and kentucky varying in proofs 80, 90, and classic moonshine of 100 proof, along with some nice sweet tennesee honey whiskey.

this is the stuff you could run your car on

the next step was the baking.  elsie and i both baked like mad the day before, creating what we called a “homemade pie buffet.”  the buffet had honey pie, apple pie, pumpkin-pecan pie, chocolate-peanut butter pie, sugar cookie pie and pumpkin mouse pie along with my famous whiskey jug chocolate sugar cookies.

pie my favorite food

you can’t eat just one

the night was filled with whiskey, board games, friends, pie and ended around the fire pit in hopes of seeing the meteor shower.  i’ve already started creating  the list for next years infusions and have decided to add a little competition for the 2nd whiskey festival, an infusion competition.  so ya’ll got one whole year to tweak your whiskey creations and compete at next year’s queen city fall whiskey festival!

meatless monday — black bean soup

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oh yes the soups on monday are still happening.  this time i was seriously craving some black bean soup.  i was shocked to find out at the grocery store, quick and easy black bean soup whether in a can or a ready mix, is actually had to find.  my options were amy’s black bean in a can, wolfgang puck also had a canned black bean, panera now is selling premade soups at the grocery store but i felt their black bean was a little over priced, ortega has a black bean soup mix which for some reason i was really nervous about so avoided it and i finally settled on full circle’s premaid black bean soup mix.

trying something new

it’s always a little nerve-racking trying something new because what if it completely stinks.  however this soup was REALLY good, i may have even said that aloud to myself after i took the first bite.  i topped my soup with a little plain yogurt and cheddar cheese and ate some yummy hint-of lime tortilla chips with it.  this is what i call a black bean soup success!

just a little southwestern feel to it

mexican mac and cheese

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an everything but the kitchen sink mac & cheese

the other night i was horribly tired, under the weather and couldn’t breath out my noise.  while the last thing i wanted to do was cook and eat something i knew i needed dinner.  all that sounded good was mac & cheese.  as the pasta was boiling away i started cleaning out the fridge to see what needed to go and what needed to stay.  looking at the items that were taking up space in the fridge that needed to be used up i realized they were all mexican themed and all could go into the mac & cheese.  kidney beans, peach salsa, green pepper, onion, half a tomato  all got mixed in, topped it with the last little bit of guac i had, i know mac topped with guac sounds weird but oh so good, and mexican mac & cheese was born.  now thinking about it i think i was hopping this odd combination of flavors would penetrate my cold and hopefully make my noise run, it was just what i needed that night.

meatless monday — split pea soup

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a bowl of mmmmmm

yep i’m still on my soup kick.  perhaps its the fall weather, the trees turning and all that squash that is becoming available, but i haven’t gotten tired of whipping up a big pot of soup yet.  although my freezer is now quickly filling up with all the soup leftovers.  for this week’s soup i used a soup mix by bear creek, i highly recommend them.  quick, easy and oh so good. for their split pea i added a few things to it including fresh spinach and some randall northern beans.  with a little french bread and goat cheese this was a meal hard to beat.

national school lunch week 2012 — friday

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pasta bar

the most hated menu option on the middle school lunch program is the pasta bar.  i have watched students line up 25 deep for deli sandwiches because we are out of everything else to eat except pasta bar.  so what makes up this loathed pasta bar.  you get a serving of noodles, and a choice of up to 2 sauces out of 3 options of sauce including; cheese sauce, spaghetti sauce, and spaghetti meat sauce. the funny thing is the kids love mac and cheese.  and the mac and cheese is the same noodles that are used on the pasta bar with the same cheese sauce, just on the pasta bar they aren’t mixed together.  some days i worry about them that they haven’t figured out to create mac and cheese from the pasta bar.

my final conclusion about eating lunch every day at work…………i’m glad it’s over and i shall be bringing my lunch again next week but i’m also taking a menu home with me so i can highlight the days when i want to chow down on some of the food i do enjoy.  while the food wasn’t that bad just lacking in flavor it also wasn’t very filling.  i think it’s from all the soy and corn fillers commodity food is filled with.  i understand why the kids are starving by the end of the day when they go home, the food temporarily fills them up and is gone 2 hours later. i have also come to realize that we could probably only serve them chicken nuggets and pepperoni pizza every day for the rest of the year and the kids would be the happiest kids in the world.  my hopes and dreams for the youth of america……that by the time they get to college they get more adventurous with their food choices.

national school lunch week 2012 — thursday

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wrap it up

the photo does not do this lunch justice.  so far its been my favorite from celebrating national school lunch week.  today’s hot line option was buffalo chicken nuggets.  so i took those spicy nuggets and put them into a wrap sandwich, a little lettuce, tomato, plenty of pickles, american cheese and a dash or two of ranch dressing, all wrapped up in a giant tortilla shell.  i will admit it was yummy and got me thinking this lunches haven’t been that bad. a little lacking in seasoning and flavor but by far not the worst thing i’ve ever eaten.  and i’ll admit i’m a total sucker for those industrial mashed taters.  give me those instant tater flakes!!!

taters in a can

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

national school lunch week 2012 — wednesday

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grilled cheese with apple slices 

pumpkin pie

 

ok so these are not school lunches.  that would be because we didn’t have school today.  god bless teacher work days. if there aren’t kids to feed lunch ladies don’t have to work.  the other day we all agreed we’d never want a “normal job” all we do is count down till the next 3 day weekend, then thanksgiving vacation and once christmas has come and gone you start looking forward to spring break and spring break marks the final days till summer vacation, aka 3 months of paid time off.

so what did this lunch lady do on her day off?  it involved a fall trip to “the orchard”  or better known as sunshine valley farm. best homemade bread and pie in tow.  i chowed down on a grilled cheese sandwich which i like to put my apple slices on, drank some hot apple cider and finished the meal off with pumpkin pie all while being surrounding by apple orchards, pumpkins and the lovely company of my friend elise.  i was also informed on this trip to the orchard that if you ask the right people they’ll do “fancy grilled cheese” for you.  when’s that next day off?

 

national school lunch week 2012 — tuesday

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the queso dog

tuesday in the middle school cafeteria is known as “tortilla tuesday”  aka nacho day.  nacho day is our most successful day for the hot lunch line.  normally i bake 40-45 pizzas a day, on nacho day i bake a total of 15.  nachos however were not sounding as tempting as they could be so for today’s national school lunch week lunch i created what i am going to call a “queso dog.”  i took a hot dog which we were offering on the grill line and topped it with some of the nacho cheese, jalapeno, and chopped tomatoes.  the funny thing about the hot dogs, is that starting at the middle school level they get a foot long hot dog but they don’t allow us to order foot long hot dog buns. no matter which lunch lady wraps up the hot dogs they always comment on this.  i think it is because we take pride in our product and having your hotdog hang out of its bun an inch on both sides just isn’t how these ladies would proudly serve their dogs.