But I'll Stand My Ground

Monkey Bars 

The tried and the true.  Recipes you've made time and time again, that never disappoint.  It's almost tradition to make certain soups and baked goods, at least one time in the season. Split Pea Soup and Monkey bars. 

Split Pea with Ham

Neither of these food offerings will win any awards for excitement but when they are warm and hot in front of you, they are as satisfying as anything. I am not sure you can improve on the basic soup recipe (but if you did, please let me know)!  I think the key is using a real ham bone and although it is tempting to do this soup in the crock, I like to saute the trinity of celery, carrots, onions (and garlic) beforehand, along with the bone.  For me that is key to developing more flavor in the broth. 

She is All I Need Tonight

I can't resist Corn Chips but try to eat them only on special occasions.  I'm finding there are a lot more days to celebrate when you're open to interpretation!  But there are always those leftover bits and pieces at the bottom of the bag, broken but still good.  Because they have so much flavor, they are better than bread crumbs to coat chicken and bake.  Crunch them up and toss them in seasoned flour and dip the chicken in egg first.  Onto a baking sheet at 475 degrees for 25 minutes. 

I had a little extra, so I dipped and tossed the zucchini slices on the pan as well.  The bird was very crunchy, mocking deep fried chicken.  A great use of expensive chips and you can feel good that you're not wasting. 

What a smart girl you are!!!

HeyI Here Comes My Girl!

Autumn in Brooklyn

I love to experiment with food ideas.  Once in awhile I'll invent something that not only tastes good, but is sort of, spectacular.  This was that day.  Roasted Red peppers are sweet and smokey, so delicious!  Stewed shredded chicken in a spicy tomato sauce is absolutely lovely, more commonly with Mexican rice or in a taco. Putting these two beauties together, could be stellar.  But what made these stuffed red peppers incredible, was an afterthought.  Instead of rice, I thought to spice up and smash a can of pinto beans with cumin, jalapeno and garlic and smear that on the base of the peppers....

....along with Queso Fresco, then the stewed chicken in the light tomato-y garlic pepper sauce, covered and baked for 35-40 minutes.  Once they were tender, I topped them with cilantro and more fresh cheese.  

Normally, cooks rely on others for compliments but let me tell you, when I brought out this gorgeous piping hot red dish and took my first bite, they burst in my mouth with all vibrant flavor feels. I just had to shout about it!  

This Feels So Good and So Free and So Right

 

Do you ever 'frozen pizza' your dinner?  I'm in Brooklyn with currently 4 pizza restaurants within 1 block of my apartment, but yeah, sometimes I frozen pizza it.  The value is that you can add your own toppings, use up leftover bits.  You control the calories a bit more.  I added a big salad that I was able to toss together quickly.  And frankly, it's sort of fun.  On the cheese, I topped with a little leftover pesto and on the other I went hog-wild and added ground beef, pepperoni, tomatoes, bell peppers and black olives.  This was Paul Newman's brand and the crust was thin and better than expected.  

Amped up Paul Newman's Frozen Pizza 

Give Me Some Sugar My Little Honey Bee

BBQ Braised Country Pork Ribs

Making your own BBQ sauce is like making mud pies as a kid.  It's so fun creating on the spot, whatever you want it to be.  So many ingredients taste amazing in a BBQ sauce once you get the basics going.  Some love sweet, some love mustardy, some like to bring the heat.  Today, I wanted a bit of tang mixed with just a hint of sweet and most definitely some pepper but not overwhelming.  Ketchup, Worcestershire, honey, mustard, apple cider vinegar, spices, onion and garlic slow simmered until everything married gave a rich glaze to slather onto my braised country pork ribs.  Brown Sugar is probably best, but I didn't have any so used honey to sweeten and it was fabulous!

Don't ask

It's Good to Be King

Roasting Pan Dinner 

I slightly switched up my sheet pan game by using a deep roasting pan to see if I could still achieve the color on the meatballs while retaining the juice in the mushrooms and onions.  The answer is yes and if you're inclined, you could make a little sauce with the drippings.  The recipe is anything you like on a tray, at 450 degrees, for 20-25 minutes. 

Roasted Vegetables over Quinoa

This morning a NY Toasted Everything bagel, from La Bagel Delight, christened a new record producing project for this food monkey.  For years I've heard my mate sing and play, record his solo records while giving support but not as much input.  I bit my tongue when I had creative ideas because as far as music goes, that can be tricky to get inside someone's head while they are actively forming the songs.  I've respected his process but this time, just couldn't help myself.  On a friendly neighborhood walk I confronted that process and challenged him with another way.  So, this time, with a grouping of what I feel are highly worthy songs, I'll attempt to direct and produce what I hope is a more palatable plate of offerings to the best of my limited abilities.  

I've always felt myself a wannabe Jimmy Iovine throughout time.  We share working class, Catholic sensibilities mixed with the love of music from the heart.  I'd see things in artists that were good but I felt they could be great with slight tweaks and turns of the knobs, or in many cases, better lyrics.  Of course, this all happened in my head but it never felt less real to me despite any proof.  

Jimina Iovine, if you will

With this man, I believe his lyrics are the true jewels and I've always thought, boy I'd love to hear him sing them slightly softer while enunciating the words so that you aren't working so hard to get what he's laying out there.  Not so drunken-Merle sounding.  Instead of less cowbell, I've asked for less cowboy.  It's simple logic but getting it through 20 inches of thick head-wall is a true feat, especially as I give it with the bedside manner of a rough Italian New Yorker, I'm sure.  I'm not great at sugar coating but in return I've given as much honest feedback as the relationship can withstand.  We'll see how it goes but I feel it's making lemonade out of this pinche pandemic period.  Something good needs to come out of all this pain.   Several friends and family are doing their best to produce assorted creative works and in that way, it's a very exciting time.   It will be very interesting in 15-20 years to look back and hear and see what it was like, when we were all living through this tough time. 

You Belong Somewhere You Feel Free

Black Bean turkey burger wraps with Buffalo Cauliflower

Baked turkey burgers with black beans that looked like chocolate chip cookies on the baking sheet.   But the real treat here was this Roasted Buffalo Cauliflower.  Another day, I would have definitely finished this off with some crumbled, softened, bleu cheese and chopped celery for garnish, not that it was needed.  In fact, another couple of minutes under the broiler to finish would have brought it over the top.  I always passed this recipe up thinking, how good could it be?  And then I opted for this lower carb version, to skip any flour coating.  Best choice!  Cauliflower, roasted anyway, is always so much better than you expect it to be.

I often expect my days off to be so rewarding, joy filled, especially after a multi workday run.  Why would we assume life would miraculously get better just because we don't have to work?  I mean, it's partially true.  Life does improves by at least 34% on average on days off.  It's the other 66 percent that ends up being the wild card.  Added pressure to make it great, doesn't help.  There is a ton of nervous energy or staring into space for hours,  the processing wheel endlessly spinning and you can't get anything off the ground, or the couch.  A plan of action is helpful but who wants rules or lists during a time when freedom should reign?  

Some days you have to wait it out, hope something comes along, an idea develops, a happening happens.  And many times it does but other days you make due with small accomplishments like this tangy, roasted white vegetable and burgers you can joke look like cookies. 

Give Me Some Sugar, My Little Honey Bee

The easiest recipe from a gracefullittlehoneybee.com 

I played around with this wonderful recipe.  Because it makes an abundance of amazing juices, I figured why not give it something to soak them up, other than serving over rice, which is a viable option.  Lackluster canned Cannellini beans become glorious baked beans in this Honey Garlic Chicken party.  Use the Crock Pot to avoid heating up the kitchen.  Add tons of chili garlic sauce to give it kick.  Brown the chicken first to 

 keep it succulent.  

How to eat less meat while your mate goes full on carnivore?  A solution to this recurring problem is to find a way to transform the vegetable or grain side into lunch meals. I'd make a pot of something to last a few meals, save time, all good, only to find all the meat was gone and suddenly it was no longer a doable dinner option.  So now, what's been working is after the initial meal, I separate the meat and I supplement the vegetable or grain.  For example, I added kale and roasted cashews to these flavorful beans. Its surprising how delicious homemade food can taste in a work environment.  Why not allow it to go where it's appreciated?    

You Belong Somewhere You Feel Free

We celebrate what would have been Tom Petty's 70th Birthday.  I put on the video of last night's celebration with morning coffee and it completely transformed the day.  Each performance was rightly in the spirit of creating the best, personal version of the song.  Kudos to his daughter and all that produced this incredible 3 hour tribute.

We talk to friends so infrequently now that even the simplest remark can carry weight as we have more time to contemplate each word.   My friend, as I recall, was not a huge Petty fan but had come around after his death to appreciate Tom's music.  When you are so close with someone and they don't feel the same way about a band that you love, it's frustrating because you want to transfer all your gorgeous memories and life experiences that brought you to feel this way about the artist.  Due to age differences, some people enter an artist at the wrong time, or just a different one.  There is no way to put into words that lightning strike to my heart.

Tom Petty was there for so much of my emotional growth spurt as I've written about before but you can't relay those spiritual encounters, you can only make the pitch through the actual songs.  But the man himself, how he formed his band, his respect for each member as a true relationship and cohesive unit is something you can't ignore either.  His entire musical trip, all the way to how he died was admirable.  I mean, one could argue it was suicide by touring.  I can't accept it as logical but certainly proof of how deeply his love for the performance and live concerts ran through him, how he basically let his body disintegrate right on that stage.  Right or wrong, it was a final sacrifice for the fans and perhaps his last hand at the controls of his legacy.  

Even though he was from the south, all of us in the Midwest were granted cosmic permission to take one more step up on the evolutionary music scale when his efforts, through his mix of sound was undeniable to not just the states but the world.  He was proof that authentic wasn't exclusive to the Brits or the coasts.  Honestly, that was a chin-raising moment for so many of us in my town and I would imagine many others like it.  It was verification that our gut was correct, that this greatness lived in us too.  Hearing Breakdown at 15, changed my life forever.  It was kindling for a million fires around the states.  It awoke a restlessness, and a promise that if you follow the sound, it will take you to those better places, that so far you had only dreamed existed.  You have to remember that even though the 60s and 70s were amazing, the day to day living for a teenager in say Fort Wayne, Indiana for example was pretty bleak.  We had to live our own time and so much had already been done.  It was time to record our response but what could we possibly donate from such nothingness?  So, those first chords to any of the songs on Petty's first album was the giant pointer in the right direction.  For that alone, I'm forever indebted to this man and band.  His whole musical life was a huge gift to history, my history, that felt so very personal but in reality all these great musicians honoring him today hold an ember of that light too, along with a multitude of fans.  They show the scope of his impact and how powerful a contribution he was able to make with his unbroken vision.  Isn't it magical how we recognize great music, like a future memory, as if its been living dormant inside of us, until a band comes around and plays it or sings it?  At first confused, then wildly excited to hear that it really DOES exist! It's Alive!!!  

In 2020, Rock and Roll as a term holds this old man jeans stigma but it's actually a world born out of a very beautiful, humble place.  It's habitants hold a genuine, deep love and respect all musical roots, so much that they retain the spirit of sharing and inclusiveness at it's core.  Similar to being in a state of love, when you fill up with that joy, you just want everyone to be in it.  That kindness is one of my favorite attributes of the genre. This celebration is much needed particularly at this time in history to remember that spirit, the unique and inspirational music the likes of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers contributed to America.  To remember living in a time when we all wanted to build upon that greatness together.