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

meatless monday: pasta fagioli with sage-garlic focaccia

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louis prima always makes me hungry especially for italian food.  so while creating my meatless monday meal of pasta fagioli, a traditional italian soup, and some homemade focaccia, i think i listened to the song “angelina” possibly 3 times (sorry neighbors).  so much yummy food in the song and who wouldn’t want to be the waitress louis prima is in love with!

making homemade bread can be a very scary process because you don’t really know if it is going to turn out till the very end.  so this year i started out with the idea i was going to work my way through the bread bible.  well that goal hasn’t quiet worked out but i have gotten into the swing of making bread.  i know to start my yeast right away in hot water on the stove while it is heating up with plastic wrap on top of the mixture.

yeast a working

when it comes time to bake i know that you should always use a pizza stone and a pan of water to form and instant bread oven.

bread a baking

whole wheat sage-garlic focaccia

i have had a variety of pasta fagioli over the years.  my favorite is at nonna’s in springfield, she loads it up with a ton of vegetables and beans.  but i must say when making it i try to keep it as original as possible, beans, noodles, and tomato sauce.

always top it with some parm

RECIPE:  PASTA FAGIOLI

ING:

olive oil

1 onion chopped

16oz tomato sauce

salt and pepper

oregano

1/2 bag of pasta

1 can of white beans

1.  saute onion in olive oil and pepper.  add tomato sauce and oregano when onions have gotten tender.  while saute onions cook pasta.

2.  combine pasta (with the water from the pasta) in tomato sauce mixture, simmer for 10 minutes

3.  serve soup topped with parmesan cheese

 

 

sunday night dinner: august 21, 2011–tequila tilapa

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along with mushrooms i’ve been working on liking peppers.  this has been much easier than the mushrooms.  i’m to the point where i even like jalapenos.  so this called for some mexican cooking a la lynley.  sunday night’s dinner included tilapa which i marinated in tequila, jalapenos, limes and some special seasonings.  i always seem to bake my fish in the same little casserole dish that carol sanford gave me.  don’t know why but this has turned into my fish dish.

tequila just seems to make fish oh so better

then came a little experiment, this was pure cooking like dad. that means totally making up what you are doing and throwing everything in to cover up if it doesn’t work.  i wanted to create a mexican rice.  so black beans, rice, taco sauce, jalapenos, onions, tomatoes, diced can tomatoes, a variety of seasonings, queso cheese, and i think i am leaving out about 5 other ingredients.  honestly i don’t know what all went in it and i’ll probably never be able to make it the exact same way again but it was a success none the less.

my kitchen sink mexican rice with a tomato-avacodo salad

with all that spicy-ness i had to cool off my mouth, so what better way to do that than to make a root beer float.  i always keep a mug in the freezer just for this reason.  once you have the root beer float in a frozen mug you’ll never go back!

its sssooo fizzy

 

meatless monday: summer eggs

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they're just so colorful

i’ve discovered while researching for vegetarian recipes to try for meatless monday that i’m now eating a lot more eggs for dinner.  which is ok with me.  eggs are cheap, excellent source of protein, and i mean i know i’m not the only one who digs their smooth, rich taste.  have you ever noticed that? the next time you cook eggs, don’t over cook them!!!  it takes away that butter rich taste of an egg.  how to tell an egg is over cooked?  is there burnt bits in it or around it? has the white started to turn yellow?  do they have a rubber texture?  that my friends is an over cooked egg.  trust me the egg is the hardest thing to cook.  often the part of the interview process for a chef is cooking eggs.

this recipe i have decided to call summer eggs.  it involves heirloom tomatoes.  i like using heirloom tomatoes they add such a variety of color to a dish.  vegetarians are often encouraged to plan their meals not based around food groups but the color wheel.  if you plate is all one color you aren’t getting a variety of nutrients but if you plate looks like the color wheel your food as different vitamins, minerals, and loads of other good stuff.

essentially all i did was cook the eggs, sunny side up, with the tomatoes in a skillet, once the eggs had become pretty set, i topped the dish with some shredded queso cheese, popped that in the oven and broiled the dish till the egg whites were done.  so easy and so good!  you could probably add lots of other yummy ingredients to this and i’d say that is worth a try as well, but honestly i think what made this dish was its pure simplicity.

sunday night dinner: august 14, 2011–bbq pork

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this requires my ass kickin boots

this weekend i attempted a recipe of my aunt linda’s, bbq pork that is made in the crock pot.  it was a three day process but worth it.  day one is seasoning the pork butt.  i used a seasoning that was purchased at Harter House in springfield, mo.  Harter House is the creme de la creme of butcher shops.  no matter were else we have moved around to there is just no other place quite like it.  its totally my dad’s candy shop.  the butchers all were white shirts, aprons and those little white paper hats from the 1950s and all are eager to help him….”what can i get you today mr. farris?, have you been helped to day mr. farris?, anything else for you today?”  sometimes the butchers that have known me since the age of three still will try to give me a free little smokie sample when i’m there, and yes i always take it.

never in a million years did i think i'd be taking a picture of a pork butt

day 2 of the bbq process was cooking the meat in the crock pot with beer.  for this recipe i totally went for a more summer light brew of boulevard’s Zon.  i cooked it all day on low.  the house smelled soooooo good.  after it was done cooking in the crock i took the now super tender meat and shredded it up for the next day.

it just fell apart, yum

day 3 the shredded meat was put back in the crock and i added 2 bottles of jack daniels honey smoked bbq sauce.  if you are looking for a new bbq sauce to try i highly recommend the jack daniels brand i haven’t had one i haven’t liked yet.  this i heated to the point that it was all heated to a warm temp all the way through. while it was in the process of getting nice and hot i cooked up the rest of my dinner.  classic coleslaw, along with cheesy-garlic grits that i put on-top of homegrown tomatoes.  needless to say this meal hit the spot!

that's what summer should look like

and for dessert?????????  i’m still working on mastering the art of fruit filled pies.  this go around was a double berry pie which of course had to have homemade vanilla ice cream with it.  i mean really how can you have homemade pie without homemade ice cream, that just seems like a sin to me.

so good you might as well eat it for breakfast too

 

what do you do with your aprons?……i wear them

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wearing grandma's aprons

yes my sister and i will travel with our own aprons.  but at my grandma’s there are always 2 aprons that are in the back laundry room for us to wear.  i have always considered them to be her aprons but when she tells you to use one she’ll refer to them as “connie’s aprons.”  connie was her grandmother.  she is always attempting to give them away to us, but every time steph and i refuse hanging them back up so we can use them again on our next visit.

whenever i go on an apron hunting expedition in boonville i’ll always come back and show my grandma what i’ve purchased.  often modeling my new wears.  my favorite in-depth conversation we have had about aprons is the purpose of the little pocket on aprons.  i have found it perfect for my cell phone.  but in 1956 that was not the purpose of the pocket.  my guess was cigarettes.  which grandma supposed was a main purpose but other options were contemplated.  my favorite come with the extra attached elongated pocket that was specific for close-pins

putting on an apron to me is probably like how some people feel about putting on their favorite pair of jeans.  you feel confident, you can do anything in it, you look good, and you’ll just want to wear them again tomorrow.

sisters in aprons

happy birthday big sis!

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in honor of your birthday i ventured all the way to south knox to get one of your favorite baskin and robin ice cream flavors, peanut butter and chocolate.  remember the time mom, you, and me pulled up to the b & r drive through and kevin the manager had to come back and double check there was no peanut butter & chocolate in our order because you decided to get mint chip that day instead and we were all…..oh man maybe we come here to much?!?!?!

mmmmm now that's a birthday

 

my first attempt at making meatballs

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steph and i cooked up a spaghetti fest for the farris clan when we were in boonville.  i got put in charge of making the meatballs.  what i didn’t share with the fam was this was my first time ever making meatballs.  how this had happened i don’t know.  i had seen my dad make them countless times but me fully responsible for them, never before.

i’m always trying to get the fam to eat a tad healthier, so when it came to buying the ingredients for the meatballs, when we made a family grocery store run, i had to hid the meat till purchase.  why?  because i wasn’t just making meatballs i was making turkey meatballs.  i can hear my aunt linda now whenever i bring up using turkey instead “it taste different i can tell!”  i knew all the basic parts of the meatball mixture, ground turkey, turkey italian sausage, italian bread crumbs, parm cheese, and egg. plus a little addition that my uncle stan introduced to us some time ago olives in the meatballs.

meatballs, mixed and ready to be cooked

the most nerve racking part of the meatball process was the cooking of them.  this is when they could crumble and fall apart or not get done in the middle or burn or a thousand other possibilities.  i knew from conversations with my dad it was key to let the meatballs sit awhile before the actual cooking process. true to his advice they didn’t crumble, so it was all time and temp control to make sure they got done and not burnt.

checking the insides of the meatballs...are the done?!

once they were all cooked through i transferred them to another pan and created a quick tomato sauce to let them stay juicy and warm in.  for my first attempt i’d say it was a success!

turkey italian meatballs

 

RECIPE—Turkey Italian Meatballs

Ing

1 lb grd turkey

1 lb turkey italian sausage–remove from casing

1/2c-1c italian bread crumbs

1/4 c shredded parm cheese

1 egg

1/3 c chopped olives green or black (optional)

 

1. mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  make sure mixture isn’t too moist.  to test this start forming balls that are golf ball-tennis ball size.  if mixture is too sticky keep adding bread crumbs. the mixture should be moist enough to hold the meatballs together but not be so sticky that it all still sticks to your hands

2.  heat a skillet on med-high with butter in it.  brown outside of meatballs to form crunchy outer surface.  once this is done lower hear and place lid on skillet.  turn meatballs occasionally till insides are cooked.  once meatballs are cooked through transfer them to plate with paper towel to absorb extra grease, then place into your favorite tomato sauce.

meatless monday–peanut tofu stir fry

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this meatless monday i had extra help with my best friend taggart being in town.  taggart needs to eat about every 2 hours so when she travels she always has an enormous bag of food in tow.  with her contribution to dinner we had quinoa and she possessed the recipe for the peanut sauce.

in a tiny kitchen we were able to both work on our parts.  i was in charge of stir frying the tofu with mushrooms (which i aim still trying to learn to like, i swear i’m making progress), peppers and carrots.  taggart created her peanut sauce for the meal.  which took a little longer than expected.  she couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t getting spicy until she realized she was putting in crushed red pepper instead of cayenne pepper.  let me till you there is a difference heat wise and you want the later if you like it spicy.

taggart mastering the art of peanut sauce

the meatless dinner for 2 included wine that was leftover from a family function (thanks trish!),  simon & garfunkel records, and laughing over stories about ex-roommates.

 

 

sunday night dinner: august 7, 2011—dinner with the Smiths

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the last night taggart was in tennessee we spent it in the great city of nashville, mainly so she could catch an early flight the next morning but also to explore the wonders of the city, aka the gold rush bar.  our friend alaina was raised in nash and her family is still there so she played tour guide/host for us.  first on the agenda was dinner at the smith’s house.

i got really excited about one part of this meal and that was the drinks before hand.  alaina’s mom, claudia offered me what she called “big girl punch”  low and behold this was my family’s reciepe for slush which i had passed on to alaina and she to her mother.  the tradition continues!!!!!

taggart mixing up a slush

the meal was a yummy summer combination of grilled chicken, zucchini pie, cooked cabbage, summer tomatoes, watermelon, and homemade sourdough bread.  over dinner we discussed many a topic from taggart’s nursing program to me starting school in the next week, along with tales of mrs. smith’s teaching experience and finally an in-depth conversation on whether or not it is best to read the book before seeing the movie it is based on.

so good i had seconds

to add to the theme of homemade summer goodness, dessert was a team effort by both parents, of homemade ice-cream.

testing the ice cream

blueberries, oreos and a coveted box of girl scout thin mint cookies were all up for topping the creamy vanilla ice cream that was put into one of my favorite items from childhood, those little hard baseball hats that you used to get sundaes in at baskin-n-robins.  it was good to the last bite!

no ice cream was wasted

sunday night dinner: july 31, 2001—an earthfare picnic

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it takes 10 hours to get from farris headquarters in boonville, mo to knoxville, tn.  when making the drive on my own i kill the time with audio books. the key to this, epic novels that take the entire trip.  i find myself becoming more involved with them then say shorter books.  best yet…peyton place.  scandal scandal scandal, i even caught myself saying aloud at one point “that bitch!”  but this last trip back was not taken over with an epic work of literary quality.  i had the entertainment of my best friend jessica, aka taggart.  who ventured back to knox with me to celebrate our 25th anniversary of being best friends.

25 years of being best friends

we got back just in time to unload the car and have some dinner.  my house was empty of food since i had been gone for 10 days and we were both so exhausted the thought of cooking was too much.  so the master plan was formulated to hit up  earth fare’s salad bar and head to the park for a picnic.

taggart ready to picnic

on the menu for me was veggie nuggets, salad, and veggie pasta salad.  taggart dined on tomato soup, cabbage rolls and bbq tofu.

veggie nuggets with a variety of salads

cabbage rolls, bbq tofu and soup