Mac 'n Cheese

Ok, ok, I know. Mac 'n Cheese?! But it's one of Ryan's favorite meals, so I scoured the internet looking for a recipe and came up with this from tastespotting.com - a must for anyone that cooks. I noted my changes:

1 pound of pasta cooked and ready to go.
12 oz shredded cheddar ( I used sharp, medium or mild would do better.)
4 oz shredded provolone (I used monterey jack, but I think I'll go with provolone next time to see if it makes a difference.)
1 oz (about 5 - 6 Tab) shredded parmesan - must be the real deal.
1 teaspoon herbes de provence - found at your local grocery store.
3/4 C panko bread crumbs
2 Tab oil
1 quart milk
6 tablespoons butter
1/4 C + 2 Tab flour
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of cayenne pepper (I'd have used maybe a 1/4 teaspoon next time.)
2 cloves of garlic - I used powdered, but next time I'd use the real deal.
12 oz cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half or fourths.

Ok, melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour, stirring for a few minutes. Add quart of milk all at once plus the garlic and cayenne pepper and stir until boiling and thickens into a sauce. Remove from heat and stir in salt and pepper to taste and the cheddar and provolone. Stir in pasta.
Mix together the parmesan, the oil and the panko crumbs, set aside.
Butter 6 ramekins or 2 -3 bread pans. Fill up with pasta, sprinkle with parmesan mixture and top with tomatoes. Bake at 35o for about 20 mintues or until the parmesan is getting browned and the juices are bubbly.

Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup

I don't know if any of you have been to Zupa's but I LOVE LOVE LOVE their cauliflower soup. We had some cauliflower that was within days of going bad so I did some searching and tried out a recipe that I think comes "kind of" close. They probably use real Wisconsin cheese but I just used sharp chedder.

2 T butter
1 medium onion, chopped (I used a white onion because I felt the flavor of a yellow onion would be too strong)
1/4 c flour
1/2 t salt
2 c milk
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth
1 head cauliflower, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 t dijon mustard
2 c shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1) In a 4 quart saucepan, melt butter. Add onion and cook until golden (about 10 minutes) stirring occasionally. Stir in flour and salt; cook 2 minutes stirring frequently.

2) Gradually stir in chicken broth, milk, and 1 1/2 c water (add the broth first so you don't scald the milk on the hot saucepan); add cauliflower and heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer until the cauliflower is tender (about 10 minutes).

3) In a blender, blend the cauliflower mixture at low speed in small batches until very smooth.

(it's smart to do this in small batches so you can remove the center cover of your blender to let some steam escape)

4) Return cauliflower mixture to saucepan; heat until steamy hot, stirring occasionally. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in mustard (with a whisk!) and 1 1/2 c cheese until melted and smooth. (if you add the cheese while the saucepan is still over heat it can make the cheese stringy) Garnish soup with remaining cheese to serve.

When I make this again I think I will substitute some of the cheddar cheese with pepperjack cheese to give it some "kick". We ate it with some french bread and it was so so yummy!

Jamie Oliver's Zucchini Carbonara

Made this zucchini carbonara awhile ago. The pieces of bacon and the zucchini is a very tasty combination! Don't be afraid to use all of the bacon in the recipe! Go HERE to check it out.

Gary Beck's Crab Salad

If I had a restaurant, I'd put this on the menu. If you like crab, you're going to love this. We had some leftover crab from another dinner, and Brian asked me to get the recipe of the crab salad my Dad made us once upon a summer day. 

And it is EASY! And fast! And healthy! Yahoo!

Mix your fresh crab meat with:

1-2 T mayo

1-2 T sour cream

1-2 T fresh squeezed lemon juice

1-2 tsp lemon zest

1/2 T crisp celery diced

Mix it up until it looks like the consistency of a tuna salad and the like. Taste before serving to see if you need more of something. Pile on top of a green salad. Oh the goodness.

Chili Lime Shrimp

Sorry - no picture - we ate it too fast!

This is a Weight Watcher's 5 Ingredient Recipe, and it tasted fabulous. Even my toddler could not stop eating it. The only problem is that it wasn't enough for two adults. Which, I guess makes sense since it's Weight Watchers. They probably assume you eat a tiny bowlful of stuff if you're trying to lose weight. So, double it. :)

Chili Lime Shrimp

3/4 C green onions (basically one bunch of green onions chopped up)
1 - 1/2 lbs peeled and deveined shrimp (we bought the pre-cooked frozen kind)
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 Tab lime juice (we used lemon, but lime would be even better)
2 Tab butter
1/2 teas salt

Spray your pan with cooking spray and set on medium heat. I used a wok. Cook green onions for about a minute. Add shrimp (thawed if you're doing it our way) and sprinkle chili powder on them. Cook a few minutes until hot through, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat, add the juice, butter and salt and stir. Serve with pasta, rice, bread...something else to fill you up. It would also have been amazing as a shrimp taco filling.

Beef Vegetable Soup

So I did a bit of tweaking on this recipe because it sounded so good but I didn't have all the right ingredients. The original recipe is in black and my "tweaking" is in red. If I didn't make any red notes next to the ingredients then I used the original ingredients. This turned out so yummy and yielded plenty of left overs.

Beef Vegetable Soup

1/2 T vegetable oil
3/4 lb beef chuck cut into 3/4" chunks
(I drained 2 cans of canned beef that I had in food storage, omitting the vegetable oil and fresh beef chuck)
1/2 medium onion chopped (I didn't have fresh onion so I used about a teaspoon of dried onion flakes)
2 cans (14.5 oz each) beef broth
1/2 can (28-35 oz) plum tomatoes in juice (I used a jar of tomatoes I canned last summer, if I were to do it again, I would strain a little bit of the juice before dumping it in)
1 c water
1/2 bay leaf
1/8 t dried thyme
1/8 t pepper
1/2 lb carrots, peeled and diced
1/2 lb red potatoes, peeled and diced (I used russets as I didn't have red potatoes on hand)
1 1/2 celery stalks, diced
1/2 package (10 oz) frozen peas (I drained a can of peas as I didn't have frozen on hand, though I would have preferred the frozen)
1/2 package (10 oz) frozen corn (I didn't have any corn so I did without but I will most definitely be adding it next time)

Brown beef in oil in large pot. Add onion and cook 5 minutes. Stir in broth, tomatoes and juice, water, bay leaf, thyme, and pepper; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes.
Add carrots, potatoes, and celery; cover and simmer 45 minutes. Add peas and corn and cook 15 minutes.

In a large pot place beef, onion flakes, broth, tomatoes and juice, water, bay leaf, thyme, and pepper; bring to a boil. Add carrots, potatoes, and celery; cover and let simmer for 30 minutes. Add canned peas and let boil for about 5 minutes. Enjoy with some fresh french bread :)

Honey Garlic Pork Chops & Basil/Parmesan Orzo Pasta

Honey Garlic Pork Chops
1/4 c Honey
3T Soy Sauce
6 cloves garlic, minced
6 pork chops

Mix together honey, soy sauce, and garlic with a wire whisk. Pour most of it over the chops and let sit for about 10 minutes (about 5 on each side). I save a little bit of the sauce so I can pour it over the chops while we BBQ them.

Honestly I've made this marinade so many times I just "Rachel Ray" it (no measuring). If I remember correctly though, 1/4 c of honey seemed a bit too sweet but that's the great thing about marinades, you can make it your own.

Parmesan & Basil Orzo Pasta

2T butter
1 c. uncooked orzo pasta
1 (14.5 oz) can of chicken broth
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 c chopped fresh basil
salt & pepper to taste

Melt butter in skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in orzo & saute until lightly browned. Stir in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce heat and simmer until orzo is tender and liquid is absorbed, about 15-20 minutes. Mix in Parmesan cheese and basil. Season with salt and pepper.

During the summer when my garden is in full produce mode, I'll add fresh bell peppers and roma tomatoes to this as well. Soooo yummy!

Thai Ruby Curry (Ganeg Phed Gai Yang)

Behold, my favorite dish. We first had something akin to this at a restaurant in Provo, UT called Thai Ruby (it's their "House Special"). I fell in love with it. The fresh basil with the sweetness of the pineapple and tomato in combination with the delicious coconut curry is wonderful. So Brian did a little research and we adapted some online recipes and came up with this. We've been making it for years. I now share the recipe with you!

Cut up 2 chicken breasts (it really is best NOT to use chicken thighs)

Cut up about 5 fresh basil leaves, chiffonade

Cut up about 2 tomatoes [we used Romas] into thin wedges

Put a little oil in a pan (not olive oil) and heat it up. Add a teaspoon of red curry paste and fry until fragrant. Then add 1/2 can of coconut milk (shake it up first) and heat it up until a thin film of oil come to the top. Add chicken and cook through. Add 1tsp fish sauce (find in Asian section of your grocery store) and the rest of the coconut milk. 

Add everything else: about 1/2 cup chunked pineapple, about 1/3 cup frozen peas, tomatoes, and fresh basil. Add heaping teaspoon of sugar. Heat until everything is warm and the coconut milk comes back together (shouldn't have to boil). 

Taste to make sure everything is okay. If it needs more curry, ladle out some of the coconut milk into a liquid measuring cup and stir in your curry paste. Once it's dissolved, add it back into the pan.

Serve over white rice.

(Go find an asian market, the red curry paste there is less expensive than the American grocery store's brands. For you Colorado folk, try the Pacific Ocean Marketplace in Broomfield. It's on 6600 West 120th Avenue, Broomfield, CO.)

Baked Manicotti

I made this last week. Or maybe before then. But I got it from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. Wowzers, it was tasty. Especially like the sauce! And I think the no-boil lasagna noodles are great!

Go HERE for the recipe! Try it out!

Lentil Soup & Brown Bread

Ever since I was a teen, I've been making lentil soup. And my mom used to occasionally serve us brown bread, but it came out of a can (go figure, who would think of bread in a tin can?). I found this brown bread recipe, and it is AWESOME! It's not shaped round like a tin can, but it's really yummy. I store it in the fridge, but it doesn't last long because we eat it up! The lentil soup can easily be vegetarian, but I like to add ham or kielbasa.

Lentil Soup

1 onion, chopped

1/4 c. olive oil (I didn't use that much)

2 carrots, diced

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. dried basil

1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

2 cups dry lentils, picked over and rinsed

8 c. water

1/2 c. spinach, rinsed and thinly sliced

2 Tbsp. vinegar

salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

ham bone & diced ham leftovers (optional)

In a large soup pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, and celery; cook and stir until onion is tender. Stir in garlic, bay leaf, oregano, and basil; cook for 2 minutes.

Stir in lentils, and add water and tomatoes and ham bone (optional). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for at least 1 hour. When ready to serve, stir in spinach and cook until it wilts. Add chopped ham, or strip ham from ham bone, or add kielbasa. Heat until warm. Stir in vinegar, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Boston Brown Bread

2 c. whole wheat flour

1 c. all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2/3 c. packed brown sugar (I used dark)

1/4 c. molasses (I used the mild flavor)

2 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, baking soda, and brown sugar. Mix in molasses and buttermilk until just combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake for one hour (I baked mine for probably 45 min. and covered the top with some foil part way through baking so it didn't darken on the top too much). Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, and then remove from pan. Cool completely before slicing.