Revolutionary Macaroni and Cheese

I know that just looking at it, this does not appear to be revolutionary, but when you see the method, you will be amazed. Get this: you cook the pasta IN the milk. Amazing.

You know how you have those days when you really don't want to make what you planned to make for dinner? I seem to particularly have those days when Joe is on-call or I'm eating dinner alone for some reason, like last Tuesday. And then my friend Erin (One Particular Kitchen Erin, not to be confused with Erin's Food Files Erin even though they're both fellow Nashvillians) mentioned that she had made this macaroni and cheese from Cate's blog. And just like that, I was going to be making macaroni and cheese for dinner. I added some steamed broccoli from our CSA and a bit of tuna and used some smoked Gouda that I had in the fridge. With the whole wheat pasta, I almost didn't feel guilty eating a big bowl of delicious, easy, only-dirtied-one-pot macaroni and cheese for dinner. The sauce was a little on the runny side, but if I had baked it, that problem might have resolved itself.

Revolutionary Macaroni and Cheese
source: Cate's World Kitchen

Ingredients
2 cups dried pasta (I used whole wheat rotini)
2 cups 2% milk
1 cup loosely packed shredded cheddar cheese (I used gouda)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 can tuna (optional)
1 head broccoli, chopped and steamed (optional)

Preparation
Combine the pasta and milk in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring, with the heat low for about 20 minutes (until the pasta is soft). Make sure the milk doesn’t boil!
Stir in the mustard, salt, and cheese (if you’re going to bake it, reserve about 1/4 cup of the cheese for sprinkling over the top).
Cover and let stand for about 5 minutes, then stir well to serve.

Vegetarian Chili Mac and Cheese

There is nothing quite as comforting as a big bowl of cheese and noodles. It's my two weaknesses together. The addition of beans and Ro-tel bulks it up and adds some color. The spices really give this dish some great flavor. Joe loved it, and it took much less time to make than I thought it would. Although not the healthiest, this will definitely be on the rotation as it gets colder.

Stovetop Vegetarian Chili Mac and Cheese
source: A Year in the Kitchen

Ingredients
1/2 red onion, minced

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. butter

salt and pepper

2 tbsp. flour

2 c. milk

2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

6 oz. elbow macaroni

1 12 oz. can Ro-tel with lime and cilantro (I just used plain Ro-tel)

1 15 oz. can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 tsp. coriander

2 tsp. cumin

2 tsp. chili powder

cilantro, for garnish

Preparation
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt and add pasta.

Heat a deep skillet over medium.

Add onion, EVOO and butter. Season with salt and pepper.

Sweat out onions for 2-3 minutes, sprinkle flour over onions and whisk to cook off flour.

Add milk, turn heat to high and bring to a bubble.

Drain rotel and add to the milk, whisk in cheddar cheese and spices.

Once cheese is melted and incorporated, add beans.

Drain macaroni and add to the pot.

Stir well, serve with cilantro.

Brie En Croute

I am fortunate enough to come from a family of baked brie fanatics. The first time I had baked brie was at the Breckenridge Brewery many years ago. I fell in love with the creamy cheese in the bread bowl that came with thinly sliced apples for dipping. And when I lived alone, one of my favorite dinners was a few slices of French bread topped with Brie and melted for a few minutes in a warm oven.

So baked brie made an appearance at both Thanksgiving and Christmas as an appetizer and was quickly gobbled up. My dad tends to collect preserves, jams, and jellies, so there is always something delicious open in the refrigerator. At Thanksgiving we used peach preserves, but for Christmas, I decided to try the boysenberry preserves that were open.

I had a minor kerfluffle with the puff pastry as it was stuck together, but that was quickly remedied by rolling it out on a lightly floured surface. My brother made the mistake of going to take a shower shortly after the brie had come out of the oven, and when he was finished, there were only a couple of bites left!


Brie en Croute

• 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed (follow directions on puff pastry box)
  
• 8 oz wheel of Brie
• fruit preserves
• slivered almonds
• 1 egg (optional)
  

Preheat oven to 350-degrees.

Cut the wheel of Brie in half and spread preserves on cut half. Top with slivered almonds and stack Brie halves on top of each other.

In the center of the puff pastry, spread a layer of preserves slightly larger than the area of the cheese. Sprinkle with slivered almonds and place the Brie on top. Fold up the puff pastry, pinching to seal. Place the puff pastry seam side down on a greased cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Brush top with egg, if you so choose.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until pastry has puffed and cheese is melted. Serve with crackers or thinly sliced apples.

Easy Mac & Cheese

This recipe has saved me from a lifetime of mediocre homemade macaroni & cheese. All of the recipes I tried previously turned out watery and tasteless in comparison to this. Plus, it's practically as easy as making the stuff from the box! I added in chopped ham and broccoli to make it a whole meal, but this would be great as a side for pulled pork sandwiches or anything else really. I'm so glad I have found a go-to mac & cheese recipe. No more Kraft Mac & Cheese for me!

Easy Mac & Cheese
source: Cate's Kitchen adapted from Cooking Light, May 2007

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups uncooked macaroni
1 cup 1% milk
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp salt
a few grinds of a pepper mill

Directions
Cook pasta in a medium saucepan according to package directions. (I threw in the broccoli for the last few minutes of the pasta-cooking time.)
Transfer to a colander.
In the same saucepan, combine the milk and flour over medium heat, stirring with a whisk.
Cook, stirring constantly until thickened (about 2 minutes).
Add cheese, salt, and pepper, and continue whisking until all the cheese is melted.
Turn off heat, stir in the pasta, and let sit for a few minutes before serving.

Crustless Quiche

After Thanksgiving, my parents gifted us with some leftover ham. Because life has been so crazy, I had almost completely forgotten about it until I realized I need to use it up quickly before it went bad. Since I don't normally eat a lot of ham, it's always difficult for me to come up with ways to use it that also fit into my schedule. A quiche is perfect, and since we're all (or at least I am) stuffed on cookies, cut out the crust and save some calories.

Had I had time or the energy to run to the grocery store or cook another dish, I would have served this with a green salad and/or some tomato basil soup. Whenever I would eat at La Madeleine, I would always get quiche and tomato basil soup, so they go together perfectly in my mind. This would also make a nice addition to a brunch. It's kind of like a big frittata, except baked the whole time. You could also probably do this in a cast iron pan. In fact, that's probably a brilliant idea.

Crustless Quiche

source: Cooking Up Memories

Ingredients

4 eggs

1/2 cup AP flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1/2 cup cream

3 tablespoons melted butter

1 1/2 cups grated cheese (This was great for cleaning out the cheese drawer. I used a mix of mozzarella, cheddar, and Mexican cheese.)

3 cups ham, corn, asparagus, mushrooms or whatever you have on hand (I used leftover ham, frozen peas, and frozen corn)

1. Whisk together eggs, flour, salt, baking powder, milk, cream and butter.
2. Stir in filling and cheese.
3. Pour into greased pie plate.

4. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes

Dinner Divas: Mac and Cheddar Cheese with Chicken and Broccoli

I'm so glad that Jenn chose this macaroni and cheese for Dinner Divas because I've been wanting to make mac and cheese from scratch for a little while now, so this was a great impetus. This was also my first Rachel Ray recipe. Let me say, people often recommend RR recipes for beginning cooks, but I've found that they can be somewhat expensive and not very calorie-conscious, which is okay every once in a while. Not everyone can afford pancetta or prosciutto in every meal. I have to admit that I did get in the RR mode and asked Joe to pass me the "S&P".

Anyway, back to the macaroni and cheese, which was very good. I managed to let the sauce boil over onto my range top, so that wasn't too much fun to clean up, but otherwise this is a nice easy 30-minute meal. My sauce came out a little soupy, which could've been because I used a little less pasta than the recipe calls for and 1% milk instead of whole, but that was also a common complaint on the Food Network reviews. Joe commented that it wasn't spicy enough, even though I doubled the cayenne pepper in anticipation of that criticism. I think he just needs to realize that there are other flavor profiles besides spicy. This isn't the most flavorful meal I've ever had, but it tastes like real macaroni & cheese.

Mac and Cheddar Cheese with Chicken and Broccoli
(source: Food Network)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan (You can definitely use less.)
1 pound chicken breast tenders, chopped (I chopped normal chicken breasts.)
Salt and pepper
1 small onion, chopped
1 pound macaroni elbows or cavatappi corkscrew shaped pasta twists (I used 14.5 oz of whole wheat elbows.)
2 1/2 cups raw broccoli florets, available packaged in produce department (I just chopped up some heads of broccoli.)
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (As I mentioned before, I doubled this.)
1 teaspoon paprika
3 cups whole milk (I used 1%. Does anyone still drink whole?)
1 cup chicken stock
3 cups yellow sharp Cheddar
1 tablespoon prepared Dijon mustard

Place a pot of water on to boil for macaroni.

Heat a medium pan over medium to medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil and chicken and season with salt and pepper. Saute a couple of minutes then add onion and cook another 5 to 7 minutes until onions are tender and chicken is cooked through. Turn off heat and reserve.

To boiling pasta water, add pasta and salt to season the cooking water. Cook 5 minutes, then add broccoli and cook 3 minutes more or until pasta is cooked to al dente and florets are just tender. (Brilliant! The broccoli turned out perfect!)

While pasta cooks, heat a medium sauce pot over medium heat. Add butter and melt, then add flour, cayenne and paprika and whisk together over heat until roux bubbles then cook a minute more. Whisk in milk and stock and raise heat a little to bring sauce to a quick boil. Simmer sauce to thicken about 5 minutes.

Drain macaroni or pasta and broccoli florets. Add back to pot and add chicken to the pasta and broccoli.

Add cheese to milk sauce and stir to melt it in, about a minute or so. Stir in mustard and season sauce with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken and broccoli and cooked pasta and stir to combine. Adjust seasonings, transfer to a large serving platter and serve.