Baked Macaroni and Cheese {the one}

I haven't posted in forever.  I am still discovering many yummy recipes, but alas, life is just too busy to do it all.  But, I have been on the search for *the* baked macaroni and cheese recipe for years now.  I happened to have a craving for it (hey, I'm pregnant, I'm allowed) and since my husband was out of town (he has banned me from making it when he is home)  I decided the time was right to try again. I was at a friend's house and asked if she had a recipe for it and she pulled out her America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.  It looked good so off I went.  I then proceeded to eat it for the next 5 days as leftovers (since I made the entire 9x13 pan and apparently my kids don't really care for it, either).  I don't know if I have ever enjoyed leftovers so much as I did these.  I looked forward to it every time.  I even had it as a snack one day just because I wanted it.  Yum.  So, of course, I made some changes based on what I had in the house, but really I held to the recipe pretty close.  I will share it as it is in the cookbook and add my changes in red to the side.  This is for my sister-in-law, Karen, who encouraged me to put it on here.  Sorry no pictures; by the time I was going to put it on here it was all gobbled up!

Baked Macaroni and Cheese
serves 6-8
Prep time: 10 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 10 minutes (includes 25 minutes baking time)

8 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
salt
1 lb. elbow macaroni (I used Riccioli, which I found at Costco)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon dry mustard, dissolved in 1 teaspoon of water
1/4 teasppon cayenne pepper (I would maybe reduce this slightly- while I enjoyed it, my almost-3-year-old-son said it was too spicy)
6 Tabelspoons all-purpose flour
3 1/2 cups whole milk (they noted in the recipe that this was a must- they said anything less wasn't rich enough to make a creamy sauce, but I didn't have any in the house- only 2%- and I thought it was just fine)
1 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 pound colby cheese, shredded (4 cups) (I used maybe 3/4 of a lb. of colby (that's all I had) and then supplemented with Romano cheese)
8 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (2 cups) (I used medium because that is what I had)
pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Melt 2 Tablespoons of the butter and toss with the breadcrumbs.  Set aside. 

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil.  Stir in 1 Tablespoon of salt and the pasta.  Cook until it is almost tender, but still firm.  Drain and leave in the colander.

Wipe the pot dry and add the rest of the butter (6 Tablespoons).  Melt over medium heat.  Stir in the garlic, mustard mixture and the cayenne.  Cook until fragrant, only about 30 seconds.

Stir in the flour and cook until golden about 1 minute.  Slowly whisk in milk and broth.  Bring to a simmer.  Cook, whisking often until it thickens up a little (about 6 minutes).

Remove from stove.  Whisk in colby and cheddar until completely melted.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  (You have to taste the sauce at this point- yum!!!)  Stir in drained pasta- breaking up any clumps. 

Pour into a 9x13 baking dish.  Spinkle buttered bread crumbs evenly over the top.  Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling around the edges.  (Mine took less time than this, can't remember exactly, but maybe just 17 minutes or so.)  Let cool 10 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!

I thought this tasted great heated up in the microwave on subsequent days. 

Cashew Chicken Stir-Fry

This recipe came from our friend in Potsdam, NY. We call him "the renaissance man" and for good reason. Think of anything. He can do it. Cook? Bake? You bet. Amazing musician? Incredible. Historian? He'll make you feel as though you were there. Biologist? Doctor? Yup. Yup. He is quite amazing. He shared a whole recipe book with us and I use it very often.

For the vegetables you can use whatever you have available, he recommends a combination of onion, carrots, cauliflower, bamboo shoots, bean threads, and bean sprouts. When I made this tonight I used: broccoli, carrots, onions, green beans, endive hearts, mushrooms, celery, snow peas and red pepper. I love stir-fry!!!

Cashew Chicken Stir-Fry

Cut 1 lb. Chicken (it is easier to do if it is partially frozen) Cover with marinade ingredients and set aside. (You can do this the night before or a few hour before you are going to cook and leave in refrigerator in a sealed bag.

Marinade:

1/3 cup soy sauce

1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

2 Tbsp oil

grated rind of an orange

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ tsp Chinese 5 Spice (opt) (I squirt in a little Sriracha Chili Sauce- the kind with the rooster on it- careful! a little goes a long way!)

Chop up vegetables and set aside in piles according to cooking time.

Order for cooking vegetables: (By the way, this is a great resource for when you are cooking any stir-fry!)

• Put in first:

onions

ginger

garlic

• Longest cooking veggies:

Cabbage

Carrots

Broccoli

Cauliflower

• Shorter cooking veggies:

Summer squash/ zucchini

Green beans

Celery

Bean Threads (soak in water for a few minutes first)

• Add to heat through:

Leeche nuts

Bamboo shoots

Mushrooms

Mini-corn

Egg

• Add off the heat:

Snow peas

Bean sprouts

Sesame oil

Nuts

Prepare sauce ingredients and set aside.

Sauce:

½ cup chicken stock (or chicken base in water)

juice of one orange (1/3 cup)

1 Tbsp corn starch

Heat up some oil in a wok or large pan. Cook chicken over the highest heat about 1/3 cup at a time just until it is cooked. (I never do this. I always just do it all at once.) Set aside, covered. Next add veggies in longest cooking first. Cook over highest heat stirring constantly. Push veggies to the side and pour in sauce ingredients. As soon as the sauce comes to a boil, stir it into the veggies that were pushed to the side and add the chicken. Taste to correct seasonings. Stir in any “off the heat” ingredients and serve at once. (This means the cashews! I just chop them up a little and throw them in. Once I forgot the put the cashew in. It wasn't so much Cashew chicken stir fry!)

Asian Lettuce Wraps

Here is yet another recipe that I tried from Our Best Bites. We really enjoyed this one. Kenneth and myself, that is. The kids? Not so much. It was very hard for them to hold and keep the mixture in the lettuce leaves, which rip and break when little hands mangle them. So, not a meal I will make for them. Luckily, my kids like oatmeal. That is always our fall-back meal if what I made is too spicy for them or really not kid appropriate. They are happy as clams to just eat their oatmeal.
One other thing I really liked about this is that it was great for left-overs. Kenneth and I enjoyed these for lunch for 2 or 3 days. The chicken mixture tasted great reheated in the microwave, the dipping/drizzling sauce kept well in the fridge, as did the rinsed lettuce leaves in a gallon zip-lock baggie.
The gals at Our Best Bites actually found the recipe in Cooking Light and adapted it a little. I followed the recipe exactly as they wrote it and it was fabulous. I even ground my own chicken in my food processor, which worked like a charm! One down side, it is rather time consuming prepping the fresh vegetables. But, good things take time. I chopped and grated my vegetables and even ground my chicken during nap time, so it actually came together quite quickly at dinner time. I highly recommend doing the prep work earlier in the day if possible, so it doesn't seem like quite a chore right before dinner. And, you can do all that work knowing it will feed you for a few days. Here is the link on Our Best Bites. Enjoy!

Asian Lettuce Wraps
Recipe by Our Best Bites

2 tsp canola oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 lb ground chicken*
3 ounces mushrooms, finely chopped (about 8 small mushrooms)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
4 C bagged coleslaw mix or thinly shredded cabbage
1 8oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained, rinsed, and finely minced
1/2 C thinly sliced green onions
4 Tbs soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 lemon, zested and juiced (about 3-4 Tbs juice)
1/2-1 tsp sriracha or other hot sauce (1 tsp of Sriracha is fairly spicy in my opinion, so if you want less or no kick, just give it a little, or you can leave it out completely)
1/3 C roughly chopped cilantro
1-2 heads iceberg lettuce

*To prepare your own ground chicken, cut boneless skinless chicken breasts into large chunks and pulse in a food processor until ground.

Dipping/Drizzling Sauce
4 Tbs soy sauce
4 Tbs rice vinegar
3 Tbs water
2 tsp honey
1-2 tsp finely minced fresh ginger

Heat a very large skillet to medium-high heat on the stove top. When hot, add vegetable oil and then garlic and ginger. Saute for about 30 seconds, until fragrant, and then add ground chicken, chopped mushrooms, and kosher salt. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until chicken is cooked through. (*At this point, sometimes I have some extra liquid in the pan from the chicken. If it’s quite a bit, I tilt the pan and spoon it out so the chicken can cook and not boil.) Add cabbage/coleslaw, water chestnuts, and green onions. Cook for about 2 minutes, until cabbage starts to wilt. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, the zest from the lemon and the lemon juice, and hot sauce to taste. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

To prepare dipping sauce, combine all ingredients and whisk to combine.

To serve, carefully remove the individual leaves from the head of lettuce. (The closer you get to the center, the easier it becomes!) Place chicken mixture in the leaves and serve with sauce.

Yield: about 5 C chicken mixture. Makes 14-16 lettuce wraps.

Cashew Sweet and Sour Pork

Here is a recipe I made that came from Our Best Bites. We all really enjoyed it around here. We love stir fry's in general, but it was fun to use pork, which we don't usually. I did try to chop the pork in my food processor, as was recommended in the recipe. I thought it made the pieces too small. Considering my taste panel, maybe it was the right way to do it!
Here is a link to the recipe on their website, if you are interested in seeing their gorgeous pictures of the process. I love those gals over there!

Cashew Sweet and Sour Pork (from Our Best Bites, from Cooking Light)

2 Tbsp. cornstarch, divided
1 Tbsp. cooking sherry or apple juice
1 lb. pork tenderloin or boneless pork chops, thinly sliced
1/3 c. water
¼ c. sugar
¼ c. cider vinegar
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 Tbsp. ketchup
1 Tbsp. oil
1/3 c. chopped cashews (or exactly one of those little .99 bags of Fritos cashews at the front of the grocery store)
¼ c. green onions
2 tsp. minced or grated fresh ginger
2 tsp. fresh garlic, minced or pressed
6-8 oz. snow peas, trimmed
1 8-oz. can pineapple chunks, drained

Now...to get your pork super thin, you'll need to partially freeze it. When it's semi-frozen (or mostly-frozen), you can either cut it very thinly with a sharp knife or pop it into your food processor fitted with the slicing blade. It's like magic.

When I say trim your snow peas, I mean get the icky hard parts off. Little baby snow peas are very tender and don't need to be trimmed, but you'll probably have some bigger ones in there. Just snap the corners off and then tug a little to get the tough string that goes along the side of the snow pea. It's like a vegetarian version of a fish-gutting. Without the guts. Okay, it's not really like that at all.


Begin cooking your rice.

Combine 1 tablespoon cornstarch, sherry, and pork. Toss well.

Combine 1 tablespoon cornstarch, water, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, and ketchup. Stir with a whisk; make sure there are no clumps with the cornstarch.

Now collect everything that's going into the stir fry next to the stove so you can access it easily.

Heat 1-2 Tbsp. canola oil in a large frying pan or wok over medium-high heat. Add pork and stir-fry 3 minutes. Add onions, ginger, and garlic.

Stir-fry 1 minute. Add snow peas and pineapple. Stir-fry 3 minutes more. Whisk sauce ingredients again and add to pan

bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Stir in cashews and serve over hot rice. Garnish with more cashews and green onions if you want.

Mongolian Beef

I love stir-fry. I was so pleased when I made this recipe. It was one of those dishes that I liked so well I licked my plate when I was done. Hee hee hee. I've made it twice now and my girls have gobbled it up both times. I even enjoy the leftovers!

The recipe came from a friend of ours in Potsdam, whom we refer to as the Renaissance Man, because he is so talented in so many different areas (cooking being one). Apparently, Mongolian Beef is traditionally just beef and green onions, but we like a variety of vegetables in there.

Mongolian Beef

1 lb. Sirloin Steak, cut into small strips
6 cups assorted vegetables (I used broccoli, onions, red pepper, carrots and celery in the picture, I believe)

Sauce ingredients:
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 T sugar
1 T rice vinegar
1 tsp red pepper flakes (I used 1/4 tsp when I made it for the girls- Kenneth would have enjoyed more)
1/4 tsp fresh pepper (I used ground pepper)
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 T water
2 tsp cornstarch

Marinate the beef in 3 Tbs soy sauce and 1 tsp oil. I usually do this earlier in the day and keep it covered in the refrigerator. But, you could just do this step first and let it marinate just during the time you are chopping vegetables.

Next, cut up your vegetables. Set aside in piles according to cooking time.

Here is a great resource for cooking order from the Renaissance Man himself:

• Put in first:

onions

ginger

garlic

• Longest cooking veggies:

Cabbage

Carrots

Broccoli

Cauliflower

• Shorter cooking veggies:

Summer squash/ zucchini

Green beans

Celery

Bean Threads (soak in water for a few minutes first)

• Add to heat through:

Leeche nuts

Bamboo shoots

Mushrooms

Mini-corn

Egg

• Add off the heat:

Snow peas

Bean sprouts

Sesame oil

Nuts

So, after you have that taken care of, prepare your sauce. Set aside.

Heat up 1/4 cup of oil in a wok or large pan. Cook meat over highest heat just until it is cooked. Set aside, covered. Next add veggies, longest cooking first. Cook over highest heat, stirring constantly. Pushe veggies to the side and pour in sauce ingredients. As soon as the sauce comes to a boil, stir it into the veggies that were pushed to the side and add the meat. Serve at once over rice. Enjoy!

Chicken Fajitas

This is one of my tried and true recipes. I got it about 5 years ago from a coworker and have enjoyed making it ever since. She got it from Taste of Home Magazine. I have tweeked it slightly. Kenneth absolutely LOVES this meal and my girls eat it happily. (I love it, too, of course) And. . .leftovers are great! I hope you all enjoy!

Chicken Fajitas

(Taste of Home)

4 Tbls. vegetable oil, divided
2 Tbls lime juice + zest of one lime (under duress you may use bottled lemon or lime juice, I have used all the above. The original recipe said lemon juice)
1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (I use less when making it for the kids, like 1/8 of a tsp or less)
1 1/2 lbs. boneless chicken breast cut in strips (For the picture above I used just one large breast)
1/2 med. red pepper cut in strips (I use a whole one)
1/2 medium green pepper cut in strips (I use a whole one)
4 green onions, thinly sliced (I usually leave this out, unless I happen to have some around)
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion (I use however much I feel like using)
Chopped Cliantro, Shredded Cheese, Salsa, Sour Cream and Tortillas

In large resealable plastic bag, combine 2 Tbsp oil, lime juice, zest and seasonings. Add chicken, seal and turn to coat. Refrigerate for 1-4 hours. In a large skillet sauté peppers and onions in remaining oil until crisp-tender. Remove and keep warm. In same skillet, cook chicken and marinade over med-high heat for 5-6 minutes or until meat is cooked. Return peppers and onions to pan and heat through. Serve with tortillas and toppings.
Yield: 6 servings.

Killer Quiche

Here is another recipe I just made from my new favorite food blog: http://www.ourbestbites.com. I love quiche because it is so lovely as a nice breakfast or a brunch or even dinner. It is just a lovely sort of thing!

I even ate the leftovers reheated in the microwave and still thoroughly enjoyed it. Yum.

I'll paste the recipe here just for ease of those who don't want to go there:

Quiche
½ lb. bacon

10 oz. package spinach

1 c. sour cream (I use light)

salt and pepper to taste

2 unbaked pie crusts

1 onion, minced

½ lb. diced mushrooms

2 c. diced ham

16 oz. Colby Jack or sharp cheddar cheese

4 oz. Parmesan cheese

8 eggs

1 c. half and half (I use fat-free)

1 Tbsp. parsley

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown bacon, drain, crumble, and set aside. Saute spinach in bacon drippings (I told you we were going to be naughty). Drain. Saute onions. Add mushrooms. Stir in ham and bacon. Combine spinach, sour cream, salt, and pepper. Add meat mixture. Mix in cheese. Divide into each pie crust.Mix eggs, half and half, and parsley. Pour over pies. Place pies in oven and bake 45-50 minutes or until tops are puffed and golden brown. Let stand 5-10 minutes. Each pie serves 8.
**If reheating, cover pie with foil and bake at 325 for about 20-30 minutes, checking frequently to make sure it's not getting too brown.