Last Macaroni and Cheese…

The last macaroni and cheese of the season… Because it really is much more of a hearty wintertime dish, even though it is oh-so good. It follows pretty much this recipe here, adapted from Gourmet Magazine. Here’s the way I make it…

• 1-lb Maple Bacon
• 3 Tbsp Butter
• 3 Tbsp Flour
• 1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• 2-3/4 cups Milk
• 3/4 cups Half and Half (because that is what is in the house)
• 4 cups Shredded and/or Cubed Cheeses (I use a variety of cheese, also depending on what is in the house. This batch had: Smoked Cheddar, White Cheddar & Monterey Jack.)
• 2 tsp Mustard
• Pinch of Salt
• 1-lb Whole Wheat Pasta (this batch was elbows and they worked very well.)

1. Boil water for pasta. Cook as directed, drain and set aside.
2. Rough cut bacon and cook. Drain and set aside.
3. Melt butter in a large pot over medium low heat. Whisk in flour and red pepper flakes. Cook, while whisking, for 3 minutes to make a roux. Continue to whisk and add milk in a slow stream. Bring the sauce to a boil and continue to whisk constantly. Simmer, whisking occasionally, for 3 minutes. Stir in 1/2 and 1/2, cheeses, mustard and salt. Remove from heat. Stir in cooked bacon.
4. Add cooked pasta to cheese sauce. Pour mixture into a lightly-oiled baking dish. Cook, covered, for 20 minutes in a 400-degree oven. Uncover, and cook for approximately 10 more minutes, until bubbly and golden. Enjoy! It’s really really good…

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Stuffed Chicken, Roasted Asparagus and Red Potatoes…

With asparagus being in-season and available now, and with my rediscovery of my fondness for red potatoes, we’ve been having some sort of variation of this meal about once a week. The asparagus is roasted, as are the red potatoes, and I usually add some sort of chicken breast dish to the plate. This past week, it was a stuffed chicken.

I cut up some deli ham and brick cheese and used that as the stuffing. After I butterflied and pounded out the chicken, the ham and cheese mix went inside. I was going to lightly bread and cook the chicken in a skillet before baking, but these chicken breasts weren’t really ‘together’ enough for that. So, I skipped that part and they went straight into the oven. After they were done cooking, I sprinkled a bit more of the ham and cheese mix on top. Then, into the broiler for one more minute… And that is literal, because our current broiler has been known to set things on fire if left for more than 60 seconds. No fire this evening… just a warm and tasty cool night’s dinner.

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Saturday Pizza…

We haven’t really been in the mood for anything, food-wise, lately… We’re in the process of buying a house, so cooking and kitchen days have taken a back burner for now. I will add, however, that our new kitchen is very roomy, with lots of cabinets and pantry space. I’m looking forward to playing in there…

So, tonight I went with a ‘homemade’ pizza. The pizza dough was of the Pilsbury variety, and the pizza sauce was of the Classico Alfredo kind. I sauteed some mushrooms, garlic and artichoke hearts in a bit of olive oil. The cheese was both mozzarella and white cheddar. It turned out as expected… tasty, somewhat light, and quick… perfect!

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Variation on Chicken Piccata, with Roasted Asparagus and Creamy Rice…

First, the asparagus: I rolled the stalks in olive oil, sprinkled them lightly with a dried basil & garlic blend, and finished with a dash of sea salt. Cooked at 350 degrees for about 18 minutes. This batch even got crispy on the tips… I liked that crunch.

I had forgotten how simple and tasty this variation on chicken piccata is. I love the lemony flavor in it, and cooking everything in butter just tastes yummier, too! Even better when mushrooms are involved (which they usually are)…

• 1-1/2 lbs. Chicken Breasts, skinless, boneless, pounded flat
• 3 Lemons
• Garlic, minced
• Dried Thyme
• Salt
• 1/4 cup Flour
• 4 Tbsp Butter
• 12-16 oz. Mushrooms, sliced
• 1/4 cup + dash of White Wine

1.  Marinade the chicken overnight with the juice of 2 lemons, minced garlic, dried thyme, and a dash of white wine.

2.  Put the flour on a plate and dredge the chicken breasts.  In a skillet with 1/2 of the butter, brown the chicken on both sides over medium heat, about 5 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove chicken and set aside.

3.  Add remaining butter to skillet.  Cook mushrooms and garlic until tender.  Return chicken to pan.  Add wine and juice of remaining lemon.  Simmer for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally as sauce thickens slightly.  Serve over rice.

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Egg(s) a la Microwave…

I hadn’t used this trick in ages, but the other night, I roasted some asparagus and needed a lil something more for dinner. It takes about two minutes to scramble an egg this way, and it was just what I was looking for…

Find a wide-bottomed coffee mug and spray the inside with a quick spritz of Pam or other such cooking oil. In a separate bowl, break an egg, beat it with a fork until blended and pour the egg into the coffee mug. (Actually, I think I just scrambled it up right in the coffee mug this time!) Place a small plate on top on the mug, and then put it in the microwave. Cook on high power for about one minute, or until you hear the plate ‘pop’. The ‘pop’ is actually the plate shifting on the mug as the steam is released from the egg. And voila… scrambled egg! It makes a nice-sized scrambled egg puff pattie of sorts for an egg and cheese sandwich, too.

For the roasted asparagus above, I covered a baking tray with aluminum foil and drizzled it with olive oil. After rinsing the asparagus and breaking off the thick stalks, I laid them out on the tray and gently rolled them to coat them with the olive oil. Next, I sprinkled on some sea salt and rolled them a bit more. They cooked at 350 degrees in our countertop oven for 15 – 20 minutes. Once again, I am finding that I adore the addition of sea salt!

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Chickpeas…

I’m not too sure what to call this recipe, other than good! It comes from
Orangette, where it is named Chickpea Salad with Lemon and Parmesan. That will work for me. It’s simple to put together, and the ingredients do blend wonderfully. I also agree that cold tastes best. Though I did toss some of this onto a salad the other day, too.

• 15-oz. can of Chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 tsp. Fresh Lemon Juice
• 1-1/2 tsp. Olive Oil
• Pinch of Salt – I used Sea Salt
• 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, shredded

Mix together and chill.  Doesn’t really get any simpler than that…

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Scrambled Pasta…

I had a recipe from years ago, when I first started gathering recipes, for a Scrambled Pasta dish.  Oddly, I had never tried it… Odd, because I love pasta, and I do rather enjoy eggs (though I do tend to eat them off and on, in phases).  Anyway, I’ve recently been enjoying eggs in various ways, so I decided it was time to try this dish.

I looked at my old recipe, and also took a gander at some other ones on the web.  I came up with a very basic way to try adding eggs to pasta.  The meal did feel like comfort food and it was fairly good.  I think it would be even better by adding some fresh herbs or some fresh veggies in the summertime.  I did add asparagus on the side to this dish… We’ve finally got some fresh asparagus here, and honestly, I think I was more focused on enjoying that!    But all in all, a scrambled pasta is an interesting way to make a quick pasta meal… It’s filling, somewhat light and overall pretty darn tasty. I’d also say it would make a yummy base with some fresh herbs and/or veggies, too.

• 12-oz. Whole Wheat Rotini Pasta – I cooked the whole box and then set a bit of the cooked pasta aside.
• Olive Oil
• Minced Garlic
• 4 Eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, shredded (plus extra for topping, if desired)

Cook pasta according to directions; drain and set aside. As pasta is finishing cooking, saute minced garlic in olive oil for 2-3 minutes. Beat together the 4 eggs in a small bowl, and then stir in the shredded parmesan cheese. Add cooked pasta to garlic and warm through. Pour egg mixture over pasta and stir. While stirring (and also scraping the eggs from the bottom of the pan), cook until the eggs are set, about 4-5 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

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Baked Penne with Smoked Gouda…

I mostly followed the recipe for ‘Ziti Baked with Spinach, Tomatoes and Smoked Gouda’ found here. I used penne pasta instead of the ziti, and I omitted the yellow pepper. I just wasn’t in a particularly peppery mood that night. The dish came out quite good. I’ve been enjoying using diced tomatoes in recipes lately… probably because it’s wintertime and you can’t really get good ‘fresh’ tomatoes anywhere here. I quite enjoyed the smoked gouda as the cheese in this dinner. The smokiness complemented very nicely with the tomatoes and pasta. All in all, I’m sure I’d make this again…

• Penne Pasta
• Olive Oil
• Onion, chopped
• Garlic, minced
• 2 cans Diced Tomatoes
• Baby Spinach
• Smoked Gouda Cheese

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Meat and Potatoes…

I was feeling a bit in the mood for a meat and potatoes and vegetable type of meal. Just because, I suppose. There were some pork chops in the freezer (a rarity), so they got tagged to be ‘it’. They were marinated overnight in olive oil and a dried herbed salad dressing mix. We cooked those up on the Foreman grill and called it dinner. They were pretty good, even though I’m not a huge pork chop fan. Fairly moist too… I think the olive oil and the cooking method helped with that.

Oh, were those little red potatoes ever delicious though! I had forgotten how wonderful they are. Red potatoes, olive oil, sea salt (definitely a key ingredient!) and some garlic powder. Big yum! I was going to use dried rosemary, but for some odd reason there was none in the cupboard. Gotta fix that soon… The potatoes were roasted in the toaster/convection oven, and they smelled heavenly as they were cooking. So, all in all, a quite simple yet very satisfying meal. I’m definitely going to get more of those red potatoes on my next trip to the grocery store… Just way too good!

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Eclectic Veggies and Couscous…

Well, it was definitely time for a bunch of veggies for dinner. Sometimes, I just feel the need for that sort of thing. I basically cooked up the majority of what was in the fridge… And I used the entire stovetop in the process. And the toaster oven. The meal became a bit more involved that I had originally planned, but so be it…

Burner #1 – Fried Cabbage, of sorts. Not really fried, but cooked down in some pseudo-butter stuff, with salt and pepper. The cabbage starts out quite bulky, so that got its own cooking pan.

Burner #2 – Steamed Baby Carrots. That was the only veggie that I was steaming, so that too had its own separate place.

Burner #3 – Garlic, Mushrooms and Zucchini. I added the mushrooms because they were there (of course, it’s rare that they are not there), but I didn’t have anything else specific in mind for ‘em. So, those veggies all got sauteed in olive oil together.

Burner #4 – I decided to make some Parmesan Couscous to with everything. It’s a quick cooker… literally 6 minutes start to finish.

Toaster / Convection Oven – I had picked up an eggplant, because I’ve been having a hankering for it. So, I let the eggplant slices bake as I was cooking everything else. It had been too long… Yum.

All the veggie goodness went on top of the couscous, along with just a smattering of feta crumbles. A bit time-consuming, all good, nice and healthy, and just what we needed.

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