Chicken Burger with Carrots & Squash

Chicken burger topped with grilled red onion, bacon & gouda cheese with sauteed carrots & grilled patty pan squash

Pattie Boyd's Paradise Chews

1/4 pound softened butter or margerine

1 cup flour

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Mix the ingredients and press into the bottom of a greased 8-inch baking pan. Bake at 375' for 12-15 minutes. remove from oven and lower temperature to 275'.

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup grated coconut

1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix the ingredients and spread evenly over the first layer. It is not neccesary for this to be cool. return to the oven at 275' and bake for 25-30 minutes. 

Source: Mary Frampton & Friends Rock & Roll Recipes 1980

My Little Kitchen Helper

My boy cat likes to help out in the kitchen (okay, in reality he's trying to steal). He likes to hang out with me in the kitchen and taste whatever falls to the floor or get a handout that he can eat.

Banana Pancakes with Bacon

French Toast topped with Honey-Strawberries

Food Quotes: Cynthia & Julian Lennon

"The first thing Julian wanted to do in life, well, before he wanted to be an artist and then a musician, was to be a chef. He'd come home and say 'Why don't you bake cakes like my friends' mothers?' I'd say, 'Oh, Julian, go out and buy a Mary Baker cake mix and do it yourself!' That started him off! By the time he was 13, he'd disappear into the kitchen whenever we had visitors and emerge with beautiful canapes. Now he thinks nothing of cooking for ten or 15 people, and he does it so calmly."
-Cynthia Lennon

"I probably have more of a passion for cooking than I do for music. I love traveling and finding great little hideout restaurants and little villages and going to the open markets. Eventually I must admit I want to do a cookbook, though people might think it a bit gimmicky - the musician turned cook. Cooking and music, they're very much the same sort of therapy. Both depend on adding the right ingredients to come up with a product that not only you, but everyone else, enjoys. A friend of mine in the South of France has a house with an enormous kitchen. When I'm staying there I tend to find myself less in the sun than cooking for about ten people every day. Music might give me a couple of hits a year, but in cooking, depending on how many meals I cook, I can get three hits a day!"
-Julian Lennon

“Noel [Charles, husband] and I love cooking. He does his cooking and I do mine. I’m the traditional English cook, with a twist now and then. Because I was married to an Italian, I’m also pretty good at Italian food. Noel, he can cook anything, so can Julian.”
-Cynthia Lennon

"Had I not been involved in taking the direction of music or now with my interest in photography I certainly would have been a chef, no question about that." 
-Julian Lennon

Bacon & Corn Manicotti

Ingredients:
Filling
1 medium size can of corn, drained (if using frozen, thawed and drained)
4 strips of bacon (save some of the fat to grease the baking pan)
15 oz of ricotta cheese
1 clove of garlic
a few leaves of basil
1 egg

Sauce
1 cup of whole milk, room tempature
1 cup of mild provolone cheese
3 tablespoons of butter, room tempature
2 tablespoons of flour
about a palm full of paprika

Manicotti noodles
about 2 cups of provolone cheese and parm. cheese

Method:
Cook your bacon (stove top or microwave) until crispy to your liking. Save some of the bacon fat. Put the bacon strips in the food processor with the corn, garlic, and basil with salt and pepper to mix into a pesto-like texture. In a medium bowl, mix in the corn/bacon mixture with the ricotta, (a handful) parm. & provolone and egg. Set aside

Boil water to cook the manicotti noodles to close to al-dente (they will continue to cook in the oven), drain and let cool enough to handle to stuff in the bacon/corn mixture.

In a small sauce pan on medium heat, melt butter and flour, mixing it until thick with a whisk. Slowly whisk in the milk. When the milk is slightly thickening, start adding the provolone cheese a small handful at a time whisking into the sauce to smooth and thick. Season with a little pinch of salt, pepper, and paprika.

Grease a baking dish with the bacon fat and pour some of the cheese sauce on the bottom. Stuff the bacon/corn mixture into the cooled manicotti, placing them in a row of the baking pan until full. Sprinkle the remaining provolone/parm. cheese mixture on top

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. If you would like the cheese topping to brown more, use the broiler for a few minutes (keep an eye on it so it wouldn't burn). Let stand for about 10 minutes before digging in.