Pre-Halloween Eats!

October 28, 2012sfarrisyoung Leave a comment

Here are some of our Pre-Halloween eats from today.
Breakfast…yes, pumpkin faced donuts again. I had to make two trips to get them this time. Thanks 2nd Krispy Kreme for having them.

Annual Oreo Pudding Graveyard for book club tonight.

I make this every year and it’s tied with pumpkin beer as my favorite Halloween treat! You’ll note there are ten graves this year. We read Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” where there are 10 perspective victims.

And then there was none is also the general outcome for the graveyard pudding.

mexican mac and cheese

October 25, 2012lynley Leave a comment

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.

Sneaking in one more summer dinner

October 23, 2012sfarrisyoung Leave a comment

Our friend Megan joined us for dinner a few weeks ago. It was Friday night so that usually means homemade pizza, but we had a guest, so I debated a “welcome to fall” meal.

Then I said- “Nah. Let’s have loose pizza.”

As you may remember oven roasted mint and garlic tomatoes are one of my favorite things. I make them all summer long while tomatoes are local and fresh. Putting them on top of fresh pizza crust topped with mini fresh mozzarella balls is just another one of my sneaky ways of eating them more often.

Oven Mint Roasted Tomatoes:
Pre heat oven at 325.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs of cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 cup of olive oil
7 cloves of garlic split length wise
A healthy handful of mint leaves trimmed
1 tsp garlic salt
I tsp freshly ground pepper

Wash tomatoes and add to a pottery or ceramic dish in a single layer. Pour oil over tomatoes. Toss in all other ingredients.

Bake, uncovered, for 45-60 minutes or until skins start to split on the tomatoes.

Spoon on baked pizza dough (or bread) and top with fresh mozzarella.

Yeah, we had some salad too.

Megan brought dessert – homemade cookie dough and ice cream. We baked up some right after dinner. Yum.

It was so much fun to bake together! Good idea Megan.

Ok– here’s the other great thing about these tomatoes. If say, you make too much (which I always do– very sneaky of me), they are great reheated and mixed into pasta for a whole other meal the next day!

Yeah, I think I might need to make them again…

meatless monday — split pea soup

October 22, 2012lynley Leave a comment

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

October 20, 2012lynley 1 Comment

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

October 19, 2012lynley Leave a comment

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

October 18, 2012lynley Leave a comment

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?

Sunday Donuts!

October 17, 2012sfarrisyoung Leave a comment

Dinner at Farmer’s Gastropub

October 17, 2012sfarrisyoung 1 Comment

Farmer’s Gastropub in our little Springfield Missouri was voted one of the best gastropubs outside of the U.K. You know we had to get to the bottom of this!