new years eve aka the best party for one ever!!!!

January 12, 2013lynley Leave a comment

a few days before new years eve i was discussing my plans with my mother. her conclusion “wow you really know how to through a party for one!” so why was i hosting a party for one? because for the last 6 or so years i have gone out for new years eve and frankly its never as much fun as when i used to stay home and kept my tradition of watching the beatles movie “help.”

here’s my rant…..often you are in skimpy dresses freezing your butt off, dealing with drunken riff-raff, bad weather, drinking too much, pushing making-out couples off your dj table, so on and so on. then to validate my rant i read an article in martha stewart where a girl was preaching the same thing. after years of crying over lost pairs of high heels and failed attempts at midnight kisses, she decided to return to her family tradition of staying in with her parents, eating caviar, and watching some sort of epic on tv. as i read this article, i felt validation for my feelings towards new years, my plans for the best night ever started to formulate……………..

on the menu…cashew chicken (or as my sis and i now refer to it as springfield caviar), champagne (pink of course), and chocolate cake and the epic event i chose to watch for the night….season 2 of downtown abbey, oh there is something so satisfying when selecting “play all”! home is now my happening new years spot for years to come!

canton inn

mom even provided me with a mystery dinner guest for the night (this also was one of my stocking stuffers)

who will it be ????

daammmnn straight

double chocolate chip bundt cake

http://video.pbs.org/video/2135520290/

meatless monday — a soup bowl of split pea

January 7, 2013lynley Leave a comment

the fire was blazing, the irish music was playing and on the menu for the night a soup bowl of split pea with some pepper jack cheese melted on top. yes the evening started, dare i dorkingly say it, have a hobbitish sort of feel to it. all i was missing was a merry to my pippin and some really good ale!

this might have just made my night

Savory Apple and Cheese Pie

January 6, 2013sfarrisyoung Leave a comment

I’ve been wanting to make this recipe for Apple and Lancashire Cheese Pie for about a year, but it always gets lost among all the other things I decide to make– Well, no more!

The first problem I ran into was I couldn’t find in Lancashire cheese in my local international cheese department. Since it’s a type of cheddar I decided to mix to cheddars together:

It worked out fine, but I’m still curious as to what Lancashire cheese tastes like…

Ok here’s the recipe!

Preheat oven to 375.
Peel and thinly slice 3 potatoes (1/5 pound-ish)

Add them to a saucepan of boiling water. Add a dried veggie broth cube to the water. Boil for 3-4 minutes then drain and set aside.

Thinly slice 4 apples into disks. I used honey crisp, because why the heck not?

And then slice 2 shallots.

Grate or buy pregrated 8.8 oz’s of Lancashire or sharp cheddar cheese.

Earlier in the day I thawed out a box of puff pastry (16/17oz) 2 sheets. Roll one sheet out until it’s 1/2 to a 1/4 inch thin. Set aside on a greased cookie sheet (or a cookie sheet covered in parchment, which is what I used) and roll out the other piece of pastry. You’ll want the stretchier, biggest piece for the top.

You’ll then layer your slices. Add a layer of potatoes to the pastry dough on the cookie sheet. Leave enough room at the edge for sealing later. Season with sprinkles of thyme, garlic salt and pepper.

On top of the the first layer of potatoes and seasoning, add a layer of apples and shallots.

Then add a layer of cheese and more seasonings. The seasoning measurement is really up to you and how flavorful you like it. I like flavor, so I kept sprinkling.

Repeat all layers again until you use up almost all your potato, apple, shallot, and cheese. Don’t add the second piece of puff pastry- that’s for the big finish!

I had two layers, almost three.

Slightly beat one egg. Brush the edges of both pastry pieces with a little egg. Save the leftover egg for later.

The Big Finish – Lay you other puff pastry crust on top of your layers.

Seal the edges and brush the top of the pastry with the leftover egg.

Voila!
I laughed because it kind of looks like a mammoth ravioli!

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden and puffy.

Then it’s ready!

We had ours with a warm lentil salad and a spicy mustard based dressing and glass of stout ale.

Melty cheese and apple wrapped in pastry warmed up our winter cold night. I’m glad I finally tried the recipe!

New Years Eats

January 6, 2013sfarrisyoung Leave a comment

We had plans on New Years Eve, but the party ended up being canceled. So we followed Lyn’s advice and decided to treat ourselves to a little Downton Abbey marathon and some of our favorite cozy/party eats.

Nothing says cozy and party at the same time like homemade pizza!

It was half cheese/half veggie Lentil loaf crumbles, sausage, roasted brussel sprouts, and tiny tomatoes.

Breadsticks, too.

And of course the big wine glass.

John asked for a homemade chocolate pie. He never fusses about eating the leftovers from all the pies I make for others people, so when asks for a pie he gets whatever he wants!

Yes, indeedy- it was nice and cozy!

On New Years Day we always start the morning with something sweet to celebrate the sweetness of a new year. We had homemade bread with honey and butter as our breakfast in bed.

For lunch I had to have my black-eyed peas. John isn’t a believe and after being together well-over a decade, I don’t force the good luck rituals on him (he’s pretty lucky already!)

I made a hash with veggie sausage, kale, garlic, cauliflower, carrots, walnuts, and onions.

(I had enough leftover that I ate it for breakfast the next day).

We also have the “Young Family Planning Summit” on New Years Day where we schedule possible places we want to travel. Afterwards we celebrate the hard work of planning fun by going out for fondue at the Melting Pot.

The cozy trend continued with a quaint corner booth across from a slightly puzzling piece of artwork.

We celebrated with the classic cheese and chocolate.

Here’s to more good eats in 2013!

farris family baked potato bar aka christmas eve

January 5, 2013lynley Leave a comment

festive table

if i can i always like to host christmas eve. this sometimes is a hard sell on the rest of the family. steph likes to do her tradition of cashew chicken, mom always likes everyone under the same roof on christmas eve, if dinner isn’t at her place i think she fears this might not happen, and of course its hard for dad not to cook up his own meal. then of course there is trying to come up with a menu that will suit everyone. this year i created a baked potato bar for the fam. i actually got the idea from work. the kids used to love baked potato bar and i figured that’d give a wide range of options for everyone’s taste buds.

waiting for dinner

what is a baked potato bar? baked potatoes and lots of toppings; broccoli, cheese, sour cream, dill dip, green onions, bacon bits, along with a big ol’crock pot of beans and sausage! i seasoned the potatoes with olive oil and sea salt. good thing steph showed up early to help. this turned a little messy doing five potatoes that way. i’m used to just my one baked potato prep mess. i also decided to do up a big crock pot of beans and sausage. i knew dad would want some sort of official meat and ever since i saw the english put baked beans on potatoes i’ve been a bit sold on that practice.

toppings

mmm good

my plate!

after the main course the fam has a tradition of playing the christmas game. kind of like monopoly but with reindeer, Scrooge and getting stuck at places called gift wrap. dad of course always starts complaining how he doesn’t like the game when he gets stuck at traffic jam, roll 7 or doubles to get out!! while we played we nibbled on yummy holiday cookies. this was the easiest dessert every. leftover cookies from my holiday cookie party frozen and then thawed out for christmas eve….thanks friends for baking my dessert!!!

tis the season to wassial

January 3, 2013lynley 1 Comment

having song a lot about wassial during christmases past, but never actually done any wassial drinking, i threw a wassial and cookie party this year. friends were invited over for wassial, board games, and holiday cookies. they of course were encouraged to bake goodies or bring board games.

the wassial was an interesting mix of wine, cider, baked apples, cinnamon and of course butter. i baked up peanut-butter blossom cookies, chocolate-chip candy cane cookies, and created some chocolate dipped marshmallows, all i must admit were yum, yum and yum.

my cookie tray

this was kind of the best idea EVER

mr. raymond showed up with a platter full of baked goods, including a sugar cookie as large as ingrid’s face, pretty impressive for his second attempt at baking

ray showing off his giant sugar cookie

ingrid quickly claiming her favorite cookie of the night

jess arrived with a yummy plate of pumpkin snikerdoodle cookies, yes that is correct pumpkin snikerdoodles. friends these cookies were savory yet sweet moist with just the right amount of crispness. this girl knows how to bake.

the best way for a friend to arrive at your house with a plate of cookies

the wassial started to pour and the conclusion was that rum was needed. then the board games were busted out. by the second passing of the rum bottle and lets just say the clue game became very series.

col. mustard in the study with the rope…………

RECIPE: CHOCOLATE-CHIP CANDY CANE COOKIES

makes 2 dozen

1 bag sugar cookie mix

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup broken up candy canes

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

6-8 drops red food coloring

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 egg

*mix cookie mix, butter, extract, food coloring, and egg in a bowl. mix until soft dough forms. stir in chocolate chips and candy cane pieces. the easiest way to form cookies to make small balls of dough. place balls of dough about 2 inches apart because the dough does expand while baking, bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

indian chicken casserole with curried peas….an experiment with new recipes

January 1, 2013lynley Leave a comment

a dinner experiment

every once in awhile i make myself make a recipe that i have held onto for sometimes years and have never made. thus i wind up with a little experiment. this meal was such a meal. it was for a casserole entitled “indian chicken.” lesson one make sure you have all spices that are required. for the life of me i still can’t believe i was out of ginger. the creative substitute, nutmeg. while i think the ginger would have defiently given it more of an asian feel, the meal was still yummy. and i also created a “curried pea” dish. aka peas with lots of curry powder, garlic and olive oil. that my friends i highly reccomend.

It’s the end of the world, or maybe not, dinner

December 31, 2012sfarrisyoung Leave a comment

So all the “end of the world talk” made Lynley, John and I decide to have a “last meal” dinner on 12/22/12.
This also meant we had to put on our comfy, expanding eating pants, because if you’re eating your last meal then you don’t want uncomfortable clothes getting in the way.

Lyn decided her last supper would consist of lots and lots of shell fish. She’s allergic, so she could yell “to heck with it” and let her skin peel away while the earth ends around her. Needless to say we all believed there would be a tomorrow, so Lyn decided on an alternative last meal with less ramifications.

Chips, dip and Red Stripe beer.

You may not know this but Lynley had goldfish named chip and dip as a child so her passion for her final food was sincere. We did pick-up some “quality” chips just to fancy it up a bit.

John debated on his meal. He loves breadsticks with cheese dip and Lyn’s chips and dip almost pushed him in that direction. Instead he went with cheese manicotti with Cupini’s pasta sauce. I decided to make him breadsticks anyway…when the world may or may not be ending, why not have it all?

I, of course, had Paul Newman’s vodka sauce. Although it was tempting to eat it straight from the jar, which I might have done if the people speculating about the Mayan’s seemed to be right, I cooked it up with the widest pasta noodle I could find. I had to have a big glass of Pinot, fresh mozzarella, and garlic stuffed olives too.

…and a breadstick to wipe up that extra sauce! I made that sort of, but not really, last meal count.

Not only did we dine on some of our favorite foods, we decided to make a dinner and a movie of it.
Here we’re our doomsday choices….

We went with the less apocalyptic choice of Talladega Nights. I’m not sure what this says about us but it says something.

Well the world didn’t end, but our comfy, eating pants were put to good use.

Winter Solstice Mulled Wine

December 31, 2012sfarrisyoung Leave a comment

Winter Mulled Wine Recipe
1 orange or half a cup of apple cider
1 lemon
1 lime
1/2 cup of sugar
3 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 star of anise
1 cinnamon stick
I bottle of Chianti

Add sugar to a large sauce pan on medium heat. Cut fruit and squeeze juices into the sugar then drop all the fruit into the pan. Add the cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, vanilla and the nutmeg. Pour just enough wine to cover the sugar.

Let this simmer until the sugar has almost dissolved, then bring the wine mixture to a rolling boil. Your making a syrup so don’t add the rest of the wine for 5 minutes or so, until you have a thick-ish syrup.

Add the wine and the star of anise once your syrup is ready. Turn the heat to low for 5 minutes then serve!

The Spaghetti Factory plus Paul McCartney = Love

December 31, 2012sfarrisyoung Leave a comment

We went to see Paul McCartney in St. Louis recently. The show wasn’t until later and I was all primed for an Italian feast on the famous Hill, the birthplace of fried ravioli. I got restaurant recommendations from lots of people and was prepared to have my pasta-loving socks blown off.

And then we discovered that almost every restaurant on the Hill is closed on Sundays! Ack!

While trying to find somewhere else very St. Louis to eat, John remembered eating at the Spaghetti Factory on family trips as a kid.

We both knew that the food was not going to be the same as the Hill, but we decided to indulge a craving for nostalgia instead.

John had the basic tomato sauce and pasta (which he probably ordered as a kid).

And I ordered their special Mizithra cheese pasta. The placemat told me to do it.

We laughed a lot during that dinner and enjoyed stepping back into John’s childhood. Was the perfect pre-Paul meal? As long as I was with my honey, you bet it was!

And, yes, we were wearing matching Wings t-shirts.

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new years eve aka the best party for one ever!!!!

meatless monday — a soup bowl of split pea

Savory Apple and Cheese Pie

New Years Eats

farris family baked potato bar aka christmas eve

tis the season to wassial

indian chicken casserole with curried peas….an experiment with new recipes

It’s the end of the world, or maybe not, dinner

Winter Solstice Mulled Wine

The Spaghetti Factory plus Paul McCartney = Love