Best Macaroni and Cheese

I know, the best mac and cheese is the one you grew up on.  I pretty much love all mac and cheese.... I'll eat the blue box stuff with plenty of black pepper on it, and the really soft stuff they make in the south has its place.... BUT this is the macaroni and cheese recipe I'd choose every time (and I do!).

It's pretty much the one I grew up eating that was in one of those church cookbooks around the house, but I've made it my own over the years.

Tomato Macaroni and Cheese
Start by cooking a box of elbow macaroni to al dente in really really salty water.  Remember that the noodles will be cooking in the oven too.... unless you like the mushy noodles thing.

Preheat the oven to 375.  Butter a casserole dish, and set aside.

3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp salt
fresh cracked black pepper to taste
1 tsp. dry mustard
dash cayenne pepper
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cups grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
3 or 4 cups cooked noodles
crumbled Ritz crackers

While the pasta cooks, grate the cheese, mix the seasonings together, and open the tomatoes.

As soon as you drain the pasta, put the butter in the pan over medium heat to melt it.  Once it's melted whisk in the flour, salt, pepper, mustard, and cayenne.  Gradually add the tomatoes and break them up in the roux.  Turn the heat to medium low, then gradually add the cheese until it's all melted.  Turn off the heat and add the worcestershire sauce and noodles.  I add noodles until they're all coated, but certainly not dry.  Top with the crackers and put it in the oven until hot and bubbly, about 30 to 35 minutes.  If you can bring yourself to wait, it'll set up a little after about 10 minutes.

I can never wait that long!

New Feature

I just added a search feature for this blog.  I was thinking about a recipe I might add later, and couldn't remember what I'd posted last year around this time.  So, if you want to make something with chicken.... now you can search chicken and see just the recipes that have chicken as an ingredient.  How about that?

Long overdue recipe (Chicken Soup)

I took a break from most of the cooking around our house for much of the summer.  My husband was home from work (he's a teacher), and being pregnant has left me with much less energy.  Since he went back to work, I've been back in the kitchen more.  We'll see how creative I get while I'm cooking and still pregnant!

We've been cleaning out the freezer, fridge, and pantry recently.  Who doesn't need to do that?!  We almost always cook whole chickens since they're so much less expensive than chicken breasts, and we love the dark meat too.  Over the summer, we don't want the oven on long enough to roast a whole bird, so we often cut out the backbone, pound it down and that way it can grill or cook on the stovetop in a much shorter time.

All of those backbones (and sometimes wing tips) were waiting in our freezer to become stock.  So, as the weather starts to cool off a little, soups start to come back into the picture.

Chicken Stock 

All the frozen chicken parts
A couple of carrots, peeled
A couple of ribs of celery
An onion, quartered
A few bay leaves
As much water as will fit in your pot without boiling over

Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a bare simmer and leave it alone for 3 or 4 hours.  Let it cool for a while before handling it.  Strain out all the solids and discard them.  You also may get a layer or fat on top when it cools, which once refrigerated it really easy to skim off.  Stock can be refrigerated or frozen.  We like to freeze it in a variety of sizes (from ice cubes up to a quart or so) to be used in different recipes without having to thaw more than you need.

Chicken Soup

1 onion, diced
1 or 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
A couple garlic cloves, minced
As much leftover chicken as you can pick off the bone from a previous roasting OR a small package of chicken, chopped really small
Thyme
Salt
Pepper
Noodles (I like egg noodles)

1.   In the pot where you'll cook the soup....if you're starting with cooked chicken, I like to saute up the onion, carrot, and celery in a touch of olive oil, then add the garlic, the chicken.
If you're starting with raw chicken, season it with salt and pepper, start it in the pan first, then add the veggies.  

2.  Simply pour over some stock, bring to a boil, add a sprig of fresh thyme and cook until the veggies are softened to your liking.

3.  Add the noodles and cook according to the package.  Noodles can easily become very soggy.  If you're making a huge batch of soup, you may want to pull out what will be leftovers and cook the noodles in them when you're ready to eat that portion of soup.

Best Cookies!

My husband loves almond macaroons, not coconut. He would likely choose them over almost any other. I found out several years ago that they are remarkably easy to make if you do a couple of things. Those things are: use parchment paper, have a food processor, and buy blanched slivered almonds, can effectively separate eggs. Blanching whole almonds isn't difficult, but when you peel them, be mindful that you may end up shooting them across the kitchen. Yes, it really is that easy!

Almond Macaroons

Makes 2 dozen two inch cookies

3 cups (12 oz) blanched slivered almonds

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

egg whites from 3 large eggs (if you're measuring: 1/3 cup plus one tablespoon)

1 teaspoon almond extract

1. With racks in the upper-middle and lower-middle levels of the oven, preheat to 325. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment.

2. Put almonds in food processor, turn it on for about a minute. Add sugar, let it go for another 15 seconds. Finally, add the egg whites and extract. You may need to scrape down the sides. Let it process until it forms a wad around the blade. It will make a paste that is stiff but malleable. If it's dry, add drops of water through the feed tube while it's running. It won't take much.

3. Roll scant 2 tablespoon scoops of the paste per cookie into a ball. They will spread, so leave about 1 1/2 inches between them. Your hands will get sticky, so when you can't handle it anymore, rinse them with water and begin rolling again.

4. Bake, swapping baking sheet positions halfway, for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. Let them cool on the parchment. They'll keep about 4 days.

To make extraordinary cookies even better:

Once the cookies are cool, melt dark chocolate in a double boiler. I dip the cookies in so that the chocolate is only on half of the cookie and just on the top. It doesn't take much to round out the flavors.

Pizza from Scratch

Friday night at our house is usually pizza night. We don't order carry out, delivery or pop in a frozen pizza... We make it from scratch. We have go-to favorites, but we're finding new ways to use up leftovers and enjoy great pizza combinations.

Dough Recipe

I start this right after lunch to give the dough time to rise.

2 1/2 cups bread flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon yeast

2 teaspoons salt

1 scant cup water

2 tablespoons olive oil

Combine the flours, salt and yeast in the bowl of a food processor or work bowl of a stand mixer. Add the water and oil until it becomes a dough ball and allow the machine to knead it for you for a little while. If it's really sticky add a little flour, or if it doesn't come together into a dough ball add a little more water.

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface to form a ball. Grease a bowl with olive oil, place dough ball inside, cover with a damp towel and allow it to rise in a warm place until about an hour before you're ready to eat.

Divide the dough into 3, roll into balls and let rest for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to at least 500 degrees with a pizza stone on the lowest rack(my oven is old and unpredictable over 500, but heat your oven to as hot as it will go).

One at a time pull each of the dough balls into a circle, taking care not to tear a hole in it. If you have a pizza peel, dust it with course corn meal, then put down the pizza crust. Top with your favorites. You can use traditional Sauce, pepperoni, mozzarella, parmesan cheese. We love pesto, avocado, fresh tomato with mozzarella and parmesan. I often make a "mexican pizza" with leftover refried beans, cheddar cheese, and tomato, if I have some. Recently, I made a pizza with indian flavors using an eggplant relish as the sauce with leftover chicken, and the traditional mozzarella and parmesan. Each pizza bakes for 6ish minutes until the cheese melts and starts to brown and the dough cooks through.

You can also cook the pizzas on the grill. To make sure you don't burn the crust before you melt the cheese, make sure your cheese is room temperature when you're putting the toppings on, and leave the lid closed on the grill to create an oven-like environment for the heat to get to the cheese.

Hope pizza night becomes a regular on your menu too!

Yummus

I grew up eating homemade hummus, and learned to make my own version somewhere along the way. There are some really great store-bought versions available now, but once you compare the cost of making your own, you'll never buy it again. All you need is a food processor to make this simple dish.

Hummus

All these amounts are my best guesses...

1-2 garlic cloves

1 can chick peas, drained with liquid reserved

1-2 Tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)

Juice from 1/2 lemon

1 teaspoon soy sauce (tamari is best)

1 teaspoon olive oil

Toss garlic cloves into food processor and let it mince them for you. Add the chickpeas, tahini, soy sauce, some lemon juice and process until smooth. Scrape down the sides as necessary. I add about a teaspoon of the bean liquid and a drizzle of olive oil to aid in the blending process. The most important step is tasting the hummus. It may need more soy sauce (the salty flavor), or more lemon juice (acidity and freshness), more tahini (nutty), or olive oil (viscosity). I blend it for a really long time until it's very smooth and almost fluffy.

Refried Beans

Our family loves mexican food. We have great memories of our mom (who doesn't speak any Spanish, and is by no means Mexican) making this recipe of refried beans when we were kids. Beans are the perfect way to stretch that pound of ground beef you turned into taco meat. My kids will eat these for lunch and dinner several days in a row (I haven't ever offered them for breakfast).

This is another all day meal that costs pennies to make. Most of the time required very little attention, so you can still get your laundry done while this one is bubbling away on the stove.

Basic Beans

2 cups dried pinto beans, soaked overnight, then drained and rinsed

2 medium onions, chopped fine

2 or 3 cloves garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons peanut or corn oil

1 Tbsp. salt

freshly ground black pepper

Cover the beans with an inch of cold water and bring to a boil. Add onions, garlic, and bay leaf. Lower the heat to a simmer. Cook gently, loosely covered for about 2 hours. As the water evaporated, add a little more.

When the beans are soft, wrinkled, and breaking open, add the oil, salt, and pepper. Continue cooking, uncovered, for 30 minutes, without adding more water. The beans should be soft, almost mushy, and there should be a good amount of bean gravy.

Refried Beans

1 recipe of basic beans

6 tablespoons corn or peanut oil

1 medium onion, chopped fine

4 cloved garlic, minced

1 fresh, ripe tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped (I use ones that I froze from the garden last year that were about to turn)

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil over moderate heat in a large cast iron skillet. Add the onions, saute until translucent, add the garlic for about another minute. Add the tomato, cook for 2 or 3 more minutes. Add a little of the remaining oil, then several tablespoons of the beans. Use a potato masher to mash them directly into the pan. I can usually add several spoonfuls of beans before adding more oil (in fact, sometimes I don't use all 6 tablespoons). Gradually add all of the beans, mashing and stirring as you go. This will make a thick, creamy, and somewhat dry paste.

Serve in tortillas, with avocado, chopped tomato, cheddar cheese, sour cream, lettuce, and even thinly sliced radishes.