My only Mac and Cheese Recipe!

Ok Jame, this one's for you! This is the only macaroni and cheese that I grew up with, the first time I had Kraft in a box was in college. My mom adapted this recipe from my Grams' recipe that took hours to make, this only takes about a half hour.

2 Cups elbow macaroni
1/4 Cup butter (1 stick)
Approximately 1/4 Cup milk
Approximately 2 inches of Velveeta Cheese

Cook the elbow macaroni according to package directions. Drain. Off heat, place the macaroni back in the pot and add the milk and butter. Cut the Velveeta into smaller chunks (to melt more quickly) and add to the macaroni. Place the pot back on the burner with a low heat. Stirring constantly until the cheese is completely melted.

Once it was all melted, my mom and I would do a taste test. If it is too cheesy, add a splash of milk. If it is to bland, add a couple more chunks of cheese. I've never had macaroni and cheese with a crust or breadcrumbs, but I assume you could just put a layer of breadcrumbs on the top and put it under the broiler for a couple of minutes to brown.

Good luck on your macaroni and cheese mission! I always make this when I need a comfort food or a little piece of "home" so I definately know where you are coming from!

Love,
Andrea

My New Mission

Ok, it's 7:20 on Saturday morning. I am not only awake, but am showered and dressed! Unfortunately I have no place to go until 9:30, which is usually pretty early for a Saturday morning, but in my case today, I have about 2 hours to kill.

So I thought I would inform you all of my new mission: Mac N Cheese. Feel free to join me if you like. For the past month I have been CRAVING Mac N Cheese. No, I'm definitely not pregnant, but went so far as to getting the 9-pack of Easy Mac from Sam's Club last week. They are now stacked all over my little kitchen. Easy Mac is nice and quick, but just doesn't hit the spot. So the past couple times Matt and I have gone out to dinner, I have looked with dissapointment to find no form of Mac N Cheese on the menu. At the Marcaroni Grill I even asked if there was anything like Mac N Cheese. Other than the kid's menu, there was nothing. And the sweet waiter was all ready to sit down at our table and help me create a "custom" entree, which I embarrassingly declined and ordered chicken parmesean instead! But thus began my mission: there has got to be some good recipe for grown-up style Mac N Cheese. You know, elbow macaroni, cheesy, flavorful, breadcrumb topping perhaps?

Last night I pulled out all my recipe books, cards, and did a little internet searching. So I have a list. I have my recipes. And I hope to discover the best grown-up Mac N Cheese out there! I am even prepared to combine aspects from multiple recipes to find the absolute best. Perhaps you know of a great recipe already, that could make my mission very easy :) But if not, I will be sure to share my discoveries with you!

No matter how grown up we are, you are never too grown up to enjoy our childhood favorites, in a more grown up way!

The cooking vacation is over

Well, my cooking vacation is officially over. I guess I should explain. I got a new job for the new year, which is going quite well. My boss mentioned that they had been wanting to do an email newsletter and I said, Oh, that's easy, I can do that for you. Which I did. And she gave me a bonus for it! Which included many restaurant gift cards. Therefore, we ate out (well in, carry out) for the last week or two for free! It was very nice, especially since that time period was also when we got our little guy, Talbot, and he was still adjusting to his new home. So anyways, I went back to cooking this weekend. Saturday I made tried and true chicken parm which always turns out well. Then Sunday, I tried French Onion Soup, which turned out fabulously! Here's the recipe:

Rich and Simple French Onion Soup
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups sliced onions
4 (10.5 ounce) cans beef broth
2 tablespoons dry sherry (optional)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
4 slices French bread
4 slices provolone cheese
2 slices Swiss cheese, diced
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS
1. Melt butter with olive oil in an 8 quart stock pot on medium heat. Add onions and continually stir until tender, translucent, and begin to carmelize.
2. Add beef broth, sherry and thyme. Season with salt and pepper, and simmer for 30 minutes.
Heat the oven broiler.
3. Ladle soup into oven safe serving bowls and place one slice of bread on top of each (bread may be broken into pieces if you prefer). Layer each slice of bread with a slice of provolone, 1/2 slice diced Swiss and 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese. Place bowls on cookie sheet and broil in the preheated oven until cheese bubbles and browns slightly.

Andrea's Notes
-By carmelizing the onions it makes them very soft, which is how I like them. If you prefer more in-tact onion, just simmer them until translucent.
-I did opt for the sherry. I went to the liquor store (not the beer store, Jamie!) and said I need sherry for a recipe and the guy took me straight to it - only $5.99 for the bottle.
-I forgot about the Parmesan cheese, but didn't miss it.
-I used regualar butter and actually ran out of EVOO the day before and just used vegetable oil. So don't think those made a big difference.
-If you have Corelle bowls, those would be safe to put in the broiler, keep an eye on them! Once the cheese starts to brown, it can go from brown to black pretty quickly!
-It smelled very strong while it was simmering for the thirty minutes, which made me skeptical, but it was sooo good, right up there with Panera and Max and Erma's French Onion soup.
-I bought two large white onion and used almost all of them. This recipe says it serves 4, but it would really only serve 2, since so much of it cooks off while it simmers. If you have hearty eaters, you may have to double the recipe, add a salad, or make it the appetizer.
-Very easy to make, just takes a little time. You have to watch the onions as they cook, but you can pretty much walk away as it simmers.
Happy cooking to all!
Love,
Andrea

How Rachael Ray Ruined My Valentine's Day

Thanks, Rachael Ray. I never even liked you anyway.

She always kind of annoyed me. And by kind of... I mean, I think she's the fakest personality alive. Although, I guess I'd take her over Martha Stewart any day of the week... But this receipe-cooking-distaster was her fault, so I'm on a anti-Rachael Ray kick for the moment.

ANYWAY... lol... Jason & I were looking for a receipe to make for dinner on Valentine's Day, and this sounded delicious: Crispy Chinese Lemony Chicken. See? Sounds yummy, right? :)

http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=2496

Well. It sounds easy... but easy it was not. (grumbles)

For whatever reason, we either cooked it way too little... or it burned. Horrifically. We couldn't get the temp. right at ALL. We tried different levels of heat, different amounts of oil in the pan... everything... and one after another... burned, burned, burned. And I felt so bad for Jason, because he was trying so hard with it... and it just wasn't coming together. So we ate Rachael Ray's Burnt-to-a-Crisp Chinese Lemony Chicken for Valentine's Day Dinner... around 1 a.m.

So I guess, techinically, Rachael Ray didn't ruin Valentine's Day... but rather February 15th. lol Do any of you have any suggestions for pan-frying something? I mean, I may be cooking-challenged, but he definitely is not so I don't know what to make of it!

In other news tho!

My friend, LaLa, has the most AMAZING take-to-work or party-treats you could ever imagine! They are the simpliest things ever and taste amazing. I don't think they have a name, so lets call them...

Rollo-Covered Pretzels!
(I'm doing this from memory so here we go..)

Ingredients:
-- Small pretzel-shaped...pretzels
-- Rollos
(Unwrapped, obviously! Thats the biggest pain of the whole process!)
-- Small pecans

(As far as amounts go, buy as many as you want to make. LaLa & I bought 3 bags of rollos and used them all... one bag of prezels is MORE than enough... and a small to medium bag of pecans is plenty.)

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

Arrange all of the pretzels on a cookie sheet, and place 1 Rollo in the middle of each pretzel. Once arranged, melt in oven for ~5 minutes. Remove from oven and instanly push 1 pecan into the middle of each rollo. Let cool for a couple hours, as the chocolate/carmel hardens. Place in little baggies to pass out, or in a giant bowl to serve at a party.

Seriously, they are the best things EVER. My coworkers LOVED them, as did hers. She also brought them to the Superbowl Party our friend had and people couldn't stop eating them. So good!

unusual offer...

I bought a little 6 oz container of Old Bay Seafood Seasoning, only to bring it home to find that I got a 1 lb container of it with a wedding gift. CLEARLY I have enough Old Bay Seafood Spice to last many lifetimes, so if anyone finds themselves with a recipe calling for this, don't buy it! I'd be happy to give my new little container to you :)

That's all!

It's Never Too Late...

So I realized that I have been the "prodigal" member of the blog...I hope to make up for it with more frequent postings! :) Yes, I am alive and well, but in that season of teaching I fondly refer to as "research season" where the kids are turning in all sorts of writings and I am becoming a familiar face at the local Panera as I sit and grade! But of course, one has to eat, so here are a couple recipes I've done over the past week. The chip dip was served at the Super Bowl Party (yeah Steelers!) and the pork for the tacos can be cooked in a Crock-Pot. Enjoy!

 

Pulled-pork tacos

Prep time: 15 minutes

Serves 6

2 cups salsa, plus more for serving (I used about 3 cups total)

2 T (tablespoons) chili powder

2 T dried oregano

2 T unsweetened cocoa powder

Kosher salt

2 1/2 lb. boneless pork butt or shoulder, trimmed of excess fat (you can pretty much use any selection of boneless pork; I told the guy at the meat counter that I was making pulled pork and he helped me find a cut in the refrigerator section)

18 flour tortillas (the original recipe calls for corn tortillas, but I think they taste different :)

1/2 cup fresh cilantro (Jamie, your dad would probably not like this dish :P)

3/4 cup sour cream

1 lime, cut into wedges

Note: you can add Mexican cheese if you like!

• In a 4-to-6 quart slow cooker, combine the salsa, chili powder, oregano, cocoa, and 1 teaspoon salt. Add the pork and turn to coat with sauce.
• Cook, covered, until the meat is tender and pulls apart easily, on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 7-8 hours.
• 20  minutes before serving, heat oven to 350 F. Stack the tortillas, wrap them in foil, and bake until warm, about 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, using 2 forks, shred the pork and stir it into the cooking liquid. Serve with the tortillas, cilantro, sour cream, lime, and extra salsa. 

Velveeta Spicy Cheese Dip

1 lb. Velveeta Cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 can (10 oz.) Ro*Tel diced tomatoes & green chiles, undrained

1 cup Kraft shredded low-moisture part-skim mozzarella cheese

1/2 lb. ground beef, cooked and drained

4 green onions, sliced

• Mix all ingredients except onions in a medium saucepan.
• Cook on medium heat 5-7 minutes or until Velveeta is melted, stirring frequently.
• Stir in onions.
• Serve with crackers, chips, or cut-up vegetables.

"the economy...."

At our Superbowl party we all decided that "the economy..." was an acceptable excuse for just about anything. Can't find a job? the economy... Can't afford to join the gym? the economy... don't feel like cleaning?..... Well it's probably because of the economy one way or another, right??

Well I haven't been doing much cooking recently... the economy... Groceries are stinkin expensive! Beyond our recent "football game food" recipes (which I'd be happy to share if anyone is ever in need of some great recipes perfect for the masses and football game watching), we've been going the simple route.

What has been going on in the domestic happenings of your lives? Ashley, can you post that chip dip recipe?

Well hope all is well in your kitchens and lives!!