sunday night dinner: july 3, 20111 —-RIBS

July 8, 2011lynley 2 Comments

so i had to do some master planning for my meals this week. the fourth of july was on monday. i am not eating meat on mondays. solution……my fourth of july feast on sunday! i decided to grill in good ol’american fashion. one of my favorite bbq items is ribs. i also find this ironic considering my 5 years of vegetarianism and now one of my favorite items to eat is using my teeth to tear off meat from bones. yay baby! i had to consult dad about whether to marinate or not to marinate ribs. following his advice i dry rubbed the ribs with a mystery seasoning that i had concocted some time ago and had no idea what was in it, and allowed them to get to room temp.

while all that was going on i put together my side dishes for the night. coleslaw, as well as pea and macaroni salad. i know i am totally channeling my father when i look down at a dish and think ” there is not enough color. i should add paprika!”

pea salad with a splash of color

then came time to set up my grill. this was highly entertaining. 4 trips in totally to get all needed equipment downstairs to the front stoop. grill, charcoal starter, charcoal, newspaper, lighter, tongs, sauce, brush, plate with meet, extra plate for cooked meat, and a can of pbr. i have come to terms with the concept that my neighbors find my entertaining and totally corky. from planting container gardens on both the front and back stoops to working on art projects outside and now with elaborate grill set-up.

grill set-up (why yes that is an official graceland beer cozie)

grilling always goes faster than i think but when i am in the processes of it, grilling never goes fast enough. i’m also overly paranoid about turning my meat into giant chunks of charcoal so i have a tendency to turn my meat a little too often. ribs get me excited. over the last few years i have actually developed a “rib voice” that only comes out when talking about, cooking, or eating ribs.

after the bug bites, the patiently waiting, the heat, and the multiple trips to the stoop and back it was totally worth it my fourth of july feast was finger licking good. and to top it all off for dessert i had homemade ginger-jack peach pie!

fourth feast

my first peach pie

ginger-jack peach pie

July 2, 2011lynley 1 Comment

fruit pie #2

i’ve been trying to conquer making fruit pies. this is my second attempt. issues to overcome…..runny insides. so after in-depth discussion with steph i totally took her advice even if the recipe says not to heat up and cook the pie filling do it anyway. it totally worked insides not runny! thanks steph! this pie was a take on a traditional peach pie with a little something extra added to it. those extras would be marinating the peaches with ginger and jack daniels. making this pies felt like such a summer experience. sitting in the kitchen in front of the fan peeling peaches and listening to the cicadas outside. i had master plans to make homemade-maple syrup ice cream to go with it but i’m a firm believer in using up what you have first so it’ll just have to have plan ol’vanilla for now.

sunday night dinner: june 26, 2011—jerk-curry chicken with rice

June 30, 2011lynley Leave a comment

when i went and bought the groceries for this recipe it felt like a deja-vu experience. maybe because i had bought the groceries for jerk-curry chicken 5 days before. tuesday of last week knoxville had a micro burst sweep through town causing 125,000 people to lose power. 3 other times this year we’ve had massive power outages and both times i was fine so of course it was my turn. 5 nights 4 days without power. if i had better prepared laundry and food wise i seriously think i could go off the grid for much longer than that. every hopeful my power would be turned back on in a short amount of time i transformed my fridge into a massive cooler adding bags and bags of ice. day 2 first casualty the popsicles and by the 4th day almost everything including my jerk-curry chicken ingredients. needless to say not cooking for 4-5 days also was kind of driving me crazy. i may have gotten a little over excited to start making my sunday night dinner. for this celebratory occasion of cooking and having power i wore a new apron.

my new 70s terry-cloth apron

this recipe is one i’ve been wanting to try for a while. it has some of my favorite ingredients in it; jerk seasoning, curry seasoning (which i swear you can add to anything and it makes it better), sweet potatoes, and peanut butter. how could you go wrong. it’s also a one pot dish, which when your kitchen is tiny and you have no dishwasher is a total plus. as i was throwing things in the pot i got sudden urges to add extras like red wine, and other veggies. i soon concluded this is a “everything but the kitchen sink” recipe.

my one pot dinner

the stew like concoction is served with jasmine rice and was really yummy. i put in a little extra peanut butter which was the right move. sweet, salty flavors in a bowl of yumminess.

jerk-curry chicken with rice

for some extra “i now have power!” entertainment at dinner i began the first season of “Soap” on netflixs. yes the ridiculous 70s comedy show that makes fun of daily soap opreas and has a very young billy crystal playing a gay man. and of course this entertainment was best enjoyed with one of my favorite combinations for dessert, vanilla ice cream topped with m&ms. a celebration of being back on the grid was truly had!

it just looks like a party

meatless monday

June 25, 2011lynley Leave a comment

in honor of sir paul mccartney i have decided to start embracing meatless monday.

oh paul

having been a vegetarian for 5 years i thought this wouldn’t be hard, but it suddenly made me way more aware of how much meat i do eat. it was especially challenging at work monday is always “burger monday” for the specials. i overcame and had a veggie sandwich at lunch. for dinner i created a spinach salad with roasted potatoes, blueberries, and a poached egg with raspberry vinaigrette dressing served with homemade poppy loaf and some swiss cheese. it was delicious!

spinach salad with bread and cheese

sunday night dinner: june 19, 2011 — BLT

June 23, 2011lynley Leave a comment

certain signs of summer—homemade ice cream, the desire to buy popsicles, and making BLTs for dinner. i must say my thought while making these sandwiches was….after 5 years of vegetarianism i never thought i’d be frying up bacon!

fryin bacon in cast iron

you know when a BLT is just right it is when you bite into and the tomato is sssooo ripe that it smears the whole sandwich causing it to all slide apart. kind of making my mouth water just thinking about it. and of course you have to have mayo on it no BLT is complete without mayo. choice of side, what else but salt and vinegar potato chips. potato chips my one true addiction, mmmmmmmm.

BLT with chips, summer classic

since it was father’s day as well i made a special dessert, dream cookies or better known as “no bake.” why these for father’s day? because i can remember when i was little when my mom made dream cookies my dad and i would check ever 5 minutes standing with the fridge open just waiting for the cookies to set up with their ooohhey goooey-ness. so i have always associated these cookies with my dad. happy father’s day pop!

dream cookies

SSSSSSLLLLUUUSSSHHHHHH

June 19, 2011lynley Leave a comment

that’s right slush. mom doesn’t drink but she is the master mixer of slush, a summer tradition in the farris family. slush is a yummy frozen combination of lemonade, orange juice, pineapples, apricots, vodka and brandy. even as small children we knew the wonders of slush. countless times non-alcoholic versions were attempted but they always froze solid and frankly just weren’t as good. by ever 4th of july at least one batch of slush had been made. i decided to bust out the recipe for a ladies night gathering and introduce knoxville to the wonders of slush.

slush in its natural frozen state

after describing it, the ladies were excited and game to try. all demanded the recipe in hopes of having their tea-toting mothers into a drink with their daughters. my favorite was when i handed over a glass to my friend courtney, her response…..”oh god damn!” farrises have you all made slush yet?

alaina trying slush

sunday night dinner: june 12, 2011—“eat up what’s in the freezer”

June 16, 2011lynley 3 Comments

ever once in awhile i do a week or two of eating up what i have especially the items in the freezer. this is mainly so i can make more and then freeze the leftovers. i daydream about deep freezers, no kidding. so for dinner i baked up a frozen pizza i have had on hand for sometime. for me i often don’t crave fast food but when i do love me some bake-able frozen pizzas. my little guilty pleasure. over the years my favorites have changed (although i will always love the 75 cent party pizzas) but lately i have totally been digging the california kitchen frozen pizza. isn’t that wolfgang puck?

mmmmmm pizza

this pizza was a spinach and artichoke topped pizza, its one of my favs but, i really haven’t had a bad one and have been eyeing the ones that have bread sticks included, it just seems so decadent! if you’re making pizza at home YOU NEED A PIZZA STONE. even if it is just frozen pizza. they are fantastic and you can also use them to make bread. a pizza stone with a pan of water….volia instant brick oven.

nice and crispy pizza

and of course you can’t have pizza without a beer. do to my fantastic best friend taggart i still have some boulevard wheat in my fridge which she brought from kc when she visited in may. boulevard hasn’t really started shipping east of the mississipp, so in east tennessee we ain’t got it. i have totally had to figure out a new “go to” beer. and let me tell you that hasn’t been easy.

beer and pizza classic combo

new addition to the family

June 14, 2011lynley 1 Comment

ok its not food related but its family related damn it! i got a new kitten. please meet dorothy rae aka dottie!

It’s my Birthday!!!!!

June 12, 2011lynley 2 Comments

this year i was dead determined to redeem my birthday from last year. why? you may ask. perhaps because i spent 5 hours in an emergency room with a kidney stone. i can officially declare that birthday the worst ever! so for this year my friend alaina and i made a whole day of activities. we started off with a champagne brunch at my place of work. chocolate chunk bread pudding french toast, salmon plate with homemade caper-dill cream cheese and a frog in a ditch (a frog in a ditch is where you put a hole in a slice of bread cook the egg in the middle, then it is topped with cotswold cheese and a sausage patty) with hashbrown casserole. which was brought out by the entire staff singing happy birthday! my favorite part of that was we no longer had any birthday candles at work so they constructed one out of a toothpick and hand drawn flames.

chocolate chunk bread pudding french toast

and then because we didn’t have enough food to stuff our selves with, the chef created a dish just for me. a broiche egg sandwich with bacon, avocado, tomatoes and a pesto sauce with a few of our homemade parmesan potato chips. it melted in your mouth like butter.

my special dish

after brunch we head off to asheville, nc. i’ve been in love with asheville every since my uncle lived there for a few years. my love for asheville as well as john denver and the tv show the waltons, is totally what led me to living in the smokies. i’m convinced of it. shopping galore is the activity we did all day. hippie shops, urban outfitters, art galleries, and bake it pretty bake shop. she specializes in baking needs particularly those related to cupcakes, as well as serves cupcakes. each day the cupcake names have a theme first 3 to guess the theme wins a cupcake. oh yes alaina and i won free cupcakes! the theme for the day….the musical grease.

free cupcakes!

one was an Ambroise pineapple cupcake the other was a cinnamon cream cheese cupcake. and they were delicious.

my birthday dinner which we shared was a flat iron steak and a twice baked potato with a dinner salad that had feta, roasted pecans, strawberries, blueberries and a cucumber-watermelon vinaigrette.

but the night didn’t end there. last fall stephanie discovered a book store/champagne bar in asheville when we were there on a road trip. battery park champagne bar is the coolest place i’ve ever been to. it is what it says it is first and for most a bookstore, where there is a full service bar that specializes in champagne. if you know me you know i love champagne it is happiness in a glass. i would have been satisfied with a champagne cocktail or 2 but when the bartender found out it was my birthday he gave us a whole bottle for free, yes for free. i must say this was one of the best birthdays ever!

ddooonuuttt

June 6, 2011lynley 2 Comments

well my homemade donut adventure was not quite like that but it was fun all the same. i put on some harry belafonte which seemed to me like donut making music, and used my whole afternoon with making dough, using my new donut cutter and learning the fine art of deep frying. homemade donuts do not i repeat do not taste like any other donut in fact they taste much more like a funnel cake, a deep fried chocolate cake that is iced in chocolate, funnel cake. will i be doing this again….yes!