an adventure in chili making

March 27, 2013lynley 1 Comment

my kitchen of late has been quite the popular place for chili making. first round was with my friend warren, aka the chili master. he hosts a yearly chili cook-off, last year he claimed the title. spicy meatiness was on the menu for warren’s chili. secret ingredients include bacon, bbq sauce and curry powder. we ate this batch ala frito pie! a classic lunch lady move.

frito pie makes every lunch lady happy

warren with excited chili face

next up was chili making with elise. after my art show opening where i served up tater tots, we concluded that the best way to use the remaining 3 lbs of tots was to cook chili to put on top of them. elise showed up with loads of beans, i had ground turkey and our secret ingredients included sarachia, okra, and tater tots, extra crispy that is!

tater puffs!

mmmhmmm

still got about 2.5 pounds of tots left. anyone else wanna come and cook up some tots and chili?!

A cup and mug state of mind

March 25, 2013sfarrisyoung Leave a comment

I own a lot of teacups and mugs- that’s a fact. Do I have to stack them to shut the cabinet door? Yes, yes I do. Does this stop me from buying a teacup or mug as a souvenir from anywhere I go?
Only slightly.

Each morning the first thing I do is make a pot of tea and pick out my cuppa for the day (I average a daily 3-4 cups of tea a day). With so many to choose from I realized recently that I was picking my tea mug based on what I wished my day to be like or representing my mood when I woke up.

So here are my choices for this week
(Read into them what you like)

Sunday with Yorkshire Gold Tea

This has been my Sunday teacup for the past few years. Nothing like a little good luck for the week ahead.

Monday with P&G Tea

When I woke up I realized I had been dreaming about explaining the plot of “Alls Well That Ends Well” to co-workers in a dream and decided I might need a little London at my waking work that day.

Tuesday with P&G

Tuesday is the hardest day to get up. This morning I needed a little help from Tall Paul and the Gemini Giant, old roadside attractions we saw during a road trip to Chicago during March. Nothing like vacation longing on a weekday.

Wednesday with P&G (apparently my go-to-weekday tea).

I picked my bluebird mug because I woke up feeling hopeful and calm (plus all the snow is supposed to melt today).

Thursday with P&G

Woke up trying to decide if I was going to try and visit my grandparents and Aunt this weekend in Boonville. If I read the mug signs right, they seem to point to yes.

Friday with P&g

Friday felt like a good day for a little happy ever after.

Saturday with Yorkshire Gold.

On my way to Grandmother’s house with a Time Lord by my side!

National Pancake Day

March 22, 2013sfarrisyoung Leave a comment

For the first time ever we celebrated National Pancake Day. I have an unreasonable love of pancakes. Do I lay awake on Wednesday nights because I am so excited about having pancakes on Thursday morning in the corporate cafeteria at work – yes, yes, I do.

It’s embarrassing that we haven’t participated in this holiday and the FREE buttermilk pancakes IHOP gives away every year.

Needless to say FREE pancakes brings out a lot of people. So many in fact we were given a celebrity to mark our wait in line.

This was my first time ever having IHOP pancakes and I have to admit I wasn’t expecting greatness, flavorlessness was more like it. And after waiting with the crazy crowd, I was expecting a very dry, cold stack of pancakes.

I am happy to report that I was sadly mistaken- they were good, quite good. Moist, warm, buttery and all the dough-wonderfulness a pancake should be. I feel foolish to have doubted The International House of Pancakes- never again my friends.

meatless monday — with guest chef elise

March 18, 2013lynley 1 Comment

meatless monday had a guest chef in the kitchen this week. elise volunteered her cooking skills and recipe for gluten free and dairy free lasagna. the gal showed up to cook, in true meatless monday fashion tying on an apron and pouring a big glass of wine to kick off the cooking!

the guest chef

the lasagna had lots of veggies in it, peppers, onions, mushrooms, squash and tomatos and lots of dairy free cheese. it was so cheesy you would have no idea that the creamy stuff didn’t actually come from a cow. and the secret to the sauce….sraricha.

cheesy goodness

i contributed a salad and bread to complete the meal and friends packed in around the table ready to eat!

a big plate is a happy plate

lori’s a first timer at meatless monday and please just ignore ray

i ventured into more vegan baking for desert researching recipes i discovered a vegan cheesecake. the crust was made of pecans, coconut and dates, and the cream filling had pureed cashews, tofu, and maple syrup it. topped with some raspberry puree, it was the perfect way to end an italian fest.

Jessie’s Kale Salad

March 10, 2013sfarrisyoung Leave a comment

We had this amazing kale salad at our best friend Jessie’s house. She said she got it from a magazine, but I’m giving her all the credit because she is an excellent cook.

Jessie’s Kale Salad- serves 8

1/2 a lemon- you need the juice
1/2 a shallot chopped
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 bunches of de-stemed kale
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup sliced almonds
8 dated, pitted and chopped
A sprinkle of Parmesan cheese

How-to:
In a bowl whisk together lemon juice, shallot, honey, salt, and pepper flakes.
Add kale and toss well. Let it sit 20 minutes. Mix in oil. Refrigerate for up to 1 day or serve immediately. In a dry pan, toast almonds over medium heat, tossing constantly until color turns golden (1-2 minutes). Add almonds, dates and cheese to kale and serve.

We had our kale salad with fried potatoes.

Reheated mixed grain casserole (which we sprinkled on the potatoes).

And honey corn bread!

Thanks for the yummy recipe, Jessie!

meatless monday — ramen with sun-dried tomato thai pepper sauce

February 26, 2013lynley Leave a comment

sriracha

suffering from a head cold is no fun. especially when you can’t taste anything because of it. the solution i figured was flavors that were powerful enough to taste but with that comforting soup sort of feel. the solution some fancy ramen. ramen can be a wonderful basis for a quick easy asian dish. while the noodles cooked. i stir-fried onions, sun-dried tomatoes and peppers in a thai pepper paste. paired with a couple of crab rangoon, this meal was just what i needed, good to the last chopstick full.

meatless monday — rice noodles with a peanut sauce

February 23, 2013lynley Leave a comment

spicy goodness

last week my cold made me want some comforting soupy, tasteful food. now feeling better but still stuffed up like crazy i wanted spice and i wanted to be able to smell it and taste it. after a cleaning out of cabinets and fridge to see what i needed to use up, i came up with rice noodles, bbrocoli, and peanut butter. there is no telling how potent this sauce became. all i know is i added ginger till i could smell it and sriracha till i could taste it. it was pretty good probably the best last minute stir-fry i’ve made in awhile. topped with some boca chicken nuggets it couldn’t be beat!

vanilla-blueberry whiskey roasted chicken

February 23, 2013lynley Leave a comment

after my whiskey infusing frenzy in the fall i still have several jars of it left over. so what to do with a whole lot of fancy whiskey? why not cook with it. eyeing the jars i decided the thing to do with my vanilla blueberry whiskey was to roast a chicken in it. i got myself a pretty fryer. stuffed it with homemade dressing made of brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon bread, layered the chicken with onions, carrots, and potatoes, then poured all that whiskey on it, including blueberries. it smelled wonderful and then i learned my lesson with cooking with whiskey its called flambe! the blueberries self-combusted triggering a flames shutting out from underneath the roaster lid. needless to say that was a tad panicking to see in your oven. out went some of the whiskey and in went a lot more vegetable broth. however the flambe created this really crispy skin on the chicken and the stuffing was to die for. only if i could create this beautiful accident again and i’d say this chicken would be one for the record books!!!

before

after

Hot Cocoa Buffet

February 21, 2013sfarrisyoung Leave a comment

So a couple of friends and I felt the winter time urge to spend the afternoon drinking hot cocoa. I couldn’t help but think if you’re going to spend the whole afternoon doing that then why not have a hot cocoa buffet!

We had three different kinds…

Nutella Cinnamon

For one serving you heat 1 cup of milk almost to a boil in a saucepan, stir in a 1/3 of a cup of Nutella, and a pinch of salt and cinnamon.

Fluffernutter Hot Cocoa

For one serving you bring one cup of milk almost to a boil thin whisk in 1/4 cup Fluff, 1/3 cup chocolate chips, 1/3 cup peanut butter chips and continue whisking until smooth.

The last cocoa was a Ginger Spice that I had to fudge some of the ingredients (has anyone ever found 5 spice powder at the store??) It wasn’t as cocoa-tastic as the other two, but we did drink it last and by then the bar had been set very high.

Heat 1 cup of milk almost to a boil then whisk in 2 tablespoons of honey, 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder, 1/4 teaspoon of ginger and a pinch of 5 spice powder.

My favorite was the Fluffernutter even though I have been making the Nutella recipe for years. The peanut butter chips just put it over the top (think melted peanut butter and chocolate ice cream). The group was split pretty evenly between the two.

Everyone brought their favorite treat to have with hot cocoa. I made miniature chocolate Pilsbury crescent rolls by simply cutting the precut dough in half and adding mini-semi sweet chocolate chips.

(There were some non-chocolate ones too. I ended up eating them with pasta the next day. They would be great with soup. We were very chocolate focused that afternoon).

My all-time favorite food to have with hot cocoa is Saltine crackers. The salty and sweet are so good together when you dip the cracker into the frothy cocoa. I thought my mom gave me this combo when I was little, but she says that I remember wrong.

Thankfully the memory goes before the taste buds!

Fluffernutter Homemade hot cocoa hot cocoa Nutella

Homemades

February 21, 2013sfarrisyoung Leave a comment

Yes, I saw Silver Linings Playbook too and asked myself “What are homemades?” because for some reason they sound really good.

After doing the tiniest bit of research (1 google search and listening to 1 radio show interview) I found out homemades can be anything from tiny chicken salad sandwiches to homemade egg noodles.

The Super Bowl was rolling around again, so I decided homemades at our house would be tiny homemade pizzas. Think Bagel Bites but even smaller.

I had been thinking for the crust mini-bagels would work, but they turned out to be too big. Cutting English muffins into smaller disks were next on my list until John had the brilliant idea to get Pilsbury canned pizza dough.

All I had to do was crack open the can, spread the dough out on a floured surface, and use a circle cookie cutter.
A glass or a lid would work too.

I lined them up on a greased cookie sheet.

And put a 1/2 a tablespoon of pizza sauce in the center.

I thought it would be fun to use miniature mozzarella balls to keep with my theme.

And sprinkled them with cheddar.

I did bake them a few minutes less than the can instructions advised, but just watch them if your oven runs hot!

I think Bradley would approve.

homemade bagel bites mini pizzas Silver Lining Playbook Super Bowl Food

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