Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

On Saturday my husband and I spent the day mostly sitting around.  Well, actually we did stuff early in the morning, and in the evening, but we spent most of the early afternoon hours doing nothing but sitting around.  I got a sudden craving for macaroni and cheese so I searched for a recipe that wouldn't require me to go shopping and I went ahead and made it.  I started with this recipe and made a few little changes as I went. 

It came out pretty decently, though it was a little grainy for my taste.  I think it could have used a bit less flour in it.  Next time, I'll cut back on the flour, use a more flavorful cheese (I used extra sharp cheddar, but I think it needs something else), and add something else like yogurt or cream cheese to help add to the creaminess. 

Here's my slightly updated version of the recipe:

8 ounces of pasta (I just eyeballed half a box)

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

2 cups milk

1 tablespoon mustard

8 oz shredded cheese 

Cook the pasta, drain.  In a separate saucepan, melt butter and add the flour.  Slowly stir in the milk.  Mix until the lumps are gone.  Add mustard.  Stir in the cheese.  Add pasta.  Serve. 

You can add whatever you like to the top.  I added salt to taste, some cayenne pepper, and bread crumbs.  The bread crumbs made it feel a little bit more like the baked stuff and added a nice flavor to it. 

I also recommend shredding the cheese yourself.  Pre-shredded stuff comes with anti-caking agents so that the shredded cheese doesn't clump together in the bag.  It changes how it melts.  It will, however, look like an obscene amount of cheese.  It took up an entire dinner-size plate. 

Balsamic and White Wine Pasta Sauce

Last summer my husband and I went out to eat at a local restaurant that has amazing food.  They always have a seasonal menu to go along with the regular one and they had a pasta dish with a bunch of veggies and chicken in it and a balsamic and white wine sauce.  It is amazing.  I seriously thought about it for weeks after we went there.  I tried to find something similar online and either I suck at searching (entirely possible) or there's nothing on the internet like that recipe (less likely). 

I tried to experiment.  I knew it had garlic and white wine and balsamic vinegar.  I substituted water for the wine (because I'm cheap and I'm not a big fan of white wine), but I could not figure it out to save my life.  I had two massive fails under my belt and just couldn't seem to find anything to help me.  Then we went back to the restaurant.  I asked for that meal even though it wasn't on the menu (which I've done before) and she said they couldn't do it.  So I asked for something similar (no balsamic vinegar).  It was good, but not quite the same.  I took my leftovers home and added some vinegar to it the next day.  Amazingly, it tasted almost exactly like it.  I figured out that the trick was adding the vinegar at the end and I was determined to make it work. 

So I spent Friday night looking at recipes for a white wine sauce and figured out the basics (like simmering the sauce to burn off the alcohol).  Saturday night I made it and it's actually a fairly close approximation.  It's close enough to keep me happy throughout the year. 

I didn't measure anything, so these are just estimates, but feel free to try it and make your own changes.

1 cup white wine
2-3 cups water
2 Tbsp of garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
salt
pasta
whatever veggies you like

First, throw some EVOO and the garlic into a pan and saute it a bit.  Once it starts to smell really good add the white wine and water.  Add a touch of salt.  Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.  Start boiling your pasta.  I used angel hair pasta.  Taste the sauce.  If you can still taste the alcohol, keep simmering it (I had to check mine twice-garlic wine is not a good flavor). 
At the very end when the white wine sauce is done, add the balsamic vinegar.  Add more if you like.  The sauce should be a light brown.  Throw in your veggies and pasta.  I used artichoke hearts and cherry tomatoes.  The restaurant also adds mushrooms and chicken.  Saute it all together for a few minutes and serve. 

Other than waiting for the sauce to simmer this recipe is really quick and simple.  Adding some chicken might add some time, but if you already have some cooked then it wouldn't take long at all. 

This is an delicious summertime dish when the veggies are fresh, but it's good all year round.

Strawberry Jam

Recently, I found this blog post about making strawberry jam and was inspired to try it out.  Conveniently enough, my grocery store was offering a buy 1, get 2 free deal on boxes of strawberries so I knew I had to do it.  I am so glad I did.  It was really simple and the flavor is awesome.  I might add a little less sugar next time (I prefer my jam with a little tartness), but this recipe is still awesome.  The recipe that is shown at the bottom of her post made about 6.5 jars worth.  I can't remember what size they were, but they're small.  Not baby food jar small, but smaller than most of the others there.  It's still enough to last us quite a while. 

Nachos

Tuesday night DH and I decided to have nachos.  Our recipe was inspired by this blog post.  I was feeling lazy though and didn't feel like looking up the actual recipe so I just winged it. 

Here's my version:

• 1 large can of cooked chicken
• bag of chips
• salsa
• can of black beans
• shredded cheese

I started by throwing a can of cooked chicken into a pot.  I broke it up because I wanted shredded chicken and these fall apart really easily.  Then I added a can of black beans, drained.  Then about 1/2 to 1 cup of salsa.  I let that heat up while I put chips on a plate.  We used whole grain chips and they were delicious.  Once heated, spread it over the chips and add some shredded cheese on top. 

They were really good.  Definitely something I'd make again.  This meal also convinced DH that nachos were more than just a snack food and could make a legitimate dinner. 

Cheese Fondue

For Christmas I got DH a fondue set because we both loved having fondue when we were in Maui and I thought this would be a fun dinner for us.  Last night we set it up.  It was awesome.  The recipe we used says that it's the same one from The Melting Pot, which is where we ate in Maui.  They have awesome food, but we don't have one near us. 

Here's the recipe, borrowed from here.

12 ounces of beer (we used Blue Moon)
8 ounces swiss cheese, shredded
4 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 cup flour
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp mustard powder (we just used a little bit of mustard)
1/4 tsp pepper

Add the beer and let it start steaming (this happens a lot faster than you might imagine).  Then add the last four ingredients.  Mix the flour into the cheese and add that mixture.  Mix until it's melted.

For dippers we used sourdough bread, gala apples, broccoli, peppers, carrots, celery, pea pods, and pita chips.  Other than the bread and apples everything else came in one of those party trays.  It was delicious and fun.  It's definitely a meal we're excited to do again.  If you buy pre-chopped veggies it makes the whole meal really fast to prepare. 

Recipe books

Today has been a very rainy, stormy day.  We had some flooding behind our house and there are a ton of storm warnings in our area so we decided to stay home today.  I took advantage of the opportunity to organize all of the recipes I've collected over the years.  I've got some from Everyday Food and Rachael Ray Magazine and tons of others as well.  That means I have a ton. 

I have two photo albums that are almost completely full of recipes.  One has about 100 openings and it is full of recipes for regular meals that one might make for dinner.  It's divided into sections like "chicken" or "pasta."  The other is twice the size and is full of desserts.  Going through that one gave me some inspiration to try some things tomorrow so that I can take them to work.  I'll be making some stuff to send to work with DH too. 

I like having it all organized now so that I actually have a chance at finding a recipe that I'm looking for.  It did make me hungry though. 

cake recipes

I decided to type up my finalized cake recipes so I can put them in a binder.  I only have vanilla, chocolate, and mocha cakes completely finalized, but they are now typed up and will be in a binder.  As I experiment with more of the cakes and finalize those recipes I'll add them to the binder.  It's nice to have one recipe that shows the ingredients for many different sizes.  That way I don't have to redo the math each time I want to make a half batch or something like that.

Easy Homemade Lasagna

I've never made lasagna before and it sounded really good so I bought everything at the store today and it's in the oven right now.  I didn't use a recipe; I decided to wing it.  I know the basics of what goes into lasagna so it didn't seem very hard.  Here's my version:

2 jars of your favorite pasta sauce
1 can of diced tomatoes
about 3/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 small tub of ricotta cheese
a little less than a full bag (the small one) of shredded provolone/mozzarella
1 pound of shredded beef
garlic powder
onions (I used dried)
italian seasoning
9 lasagna noodles

Brown the meat with the garlic powder, onions, and italian seasoning.  In a separate pot boil the lasagna noodles.  Once done, rinse the noodles in cold water.  Put a thin layer of pasta sauce at the bottom of your 9x13 pan then put your first layer of 3 noodles.  Put down about half of the ricotta and tomatoes and 1/3 of the parmesan, leftover pasta sauce, and shredded provolone/mozzarella.  Repeat.  For the last layer, put down the final layer of noodles then cover with the rest of the pasta sauce.  Add the parmesan and a layer of provolone/mozzarella.  Put into an oven that is preheated to 375* with a foil tent on it for 25 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for another 20-25 minutes.  The cheese on top should be bubbly and a little brown. 

My house now smells like garlic and tomatoes and I can't wait for my husband to get home so we can have dinner. 

Sugar free pumpkin pie

I made a new recipe today.  We're celebrating Thanksgiving with my mom, her boyfriend, and his dad and brother.  His dad is diabetic so finding a pie that he can have is a little difficult.  My mom called me last week and asked me to make him a sugar-free pumpkin pie so that's what I made today.  I made a half recipe because it just needs to be a little one for him.  I guess other people might have some, but my mom doesn't eat fake sugars and I'm allergic to them.  Here's the full recipe.  It's pretty much the recipe on the back of the Libby's pumpkin puree can, but with a couple changes.

1 15-ounce can of Libby's pumpkin puree
1 12-ounce can of evaporated milk
2 eggs
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup splenda
1/2 tsp salt

Beat the eggs with your mixer, then add splenda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.  Once mixed, add your pumpkin puree.  Then slowly add the evaporated milk.  Bake at 425* for 15 minutes then lower the temperature to 350* and bake another 40-50 minutes (it actually took me a little more than 50).  It's done when a knife comes out cleanly.  Let it cool for 2 hours and then either eat or refrigerate.

Since this one will pretty much be like the Libby's recipe, I imagine it tastes pretty good.