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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Chili with Rice…

This is Mr. Food Groove’s chili recipe and it is very darn good! He mentioned making it for this past weekend, and I couldn’t get the thought of it out of my head until we had some cooking. After a morning trip to the grocery store yesterday, we very much enjoyed this chili last night. It’s a warm and hearty meal, particularly delicious on those cold and snowy days. We do indulge a bit with it sometimes by adding bacon. Surprisingly, to me, the bacon adds a nice smoky flavor, along with the chipotle peppers and adobo sauce.

• 1-lb Maple Bacon – Actually, for me, I’ll bet using maple bacon adds just the right amount of sweetness to an otherwise semi-heat-filled dish.
• Medium-sized Yellow Onion, chopped
• 1-lb Ground Turkey
• Garlic, minced – Garlic is always good
• Small can of Diced Green Chilies
• 2-3 Chipotle Peppers, chopped with 2-1/2 spoonfuls of Adobo Sauce – This is where the heat comes in, and as I’m not a big heat fan, this can be increased as desired.
• Few shakes of Ground Cumin
• Salt
• Pepper
• 3 cans of Bush’s Chili Beans
• 2 cans of Diced Tomatoes
• White Cheddar Cheese, shredded
• Sour Cream
• Brown Rice, optional

1.  Rough chop the bacon and cook through.  Set aside on paper towels.  Remove and discard most of bacon grease.  If making rice, prepare as directed while cooking chili.

2.  In bacon pan, add chopped onions and cook on medium-high heat for 5 minutes.  Add ground turkey, garlic, green chilies, chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, cumin, salt, and pepper.  Cook through until turkey is browned.

3.  Pour turkey mixture into a large chili (soup) pot.  Add the bacon.  Add beans and diced tomatoes.  Warm through and let simmer for 15 minutes or more.

Serve over brown rice, if desired.  Top with shredded white cheddar and a dollop of sour cream.  A warm and hearty dish indeed!  We especially enjoy making some scrambled eggs and adding the leftover chili for another night’s dinner too…

Here’s my original chili post from a few months ago… although not a lot of postings ago. Slight variations, some rice, and still delicious.

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Hearty Chili…

Mr. Food Groove made an exceptionally delicious chili last week. It was perfectly hearty and warm for the cooler weather that is now upon us. It also had a perfect amount of spice to it… I, myself, tend to be a non-spicy type of person. Oftentimes, dishes such as chili have just too much heat for my tastes, but this one had a wonderful combination of tangy heat and hearty beans. Here are the ingredients that he used… Believe it or not, and it may not be too hard to believe, but the bacon added a nice additional smoky flavor to it too.  Shredded cheese on top, of course… We also added some scrambled eggs to the leftover chili during the week… yum!

• 1-lb. Ground Beef
• 1-lb. Ground Turkey
• 3/4-lb. Bacon
• 2 cans Diced Tomatoes with Garlic
• 3 cans Bush’s Mild Chili Beans
• Green Chilies, diced
• Yellow Onion, diced
• 6-oz. Chipotle Peppers  in Adobo Sauce

Normally, I wouldn’t even entertain the idea of adding chipotle peppers to anything, but in the past few years, I’ve come to appreciate the smoky flavors that they can add to a dish.  Never would I have imagined…

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Chicken Carbonara (of sorts) – A Classic Around Here…

This dish is a classic around these parts… a Pasta Carbonara of sorts. It’s a relatively simple dish, but hearty and warm, and with many of my favorite ingredients… Pasta, Mushrooms, Bacon, Parmesan, and sometimes Chicken. It’s easy to cook during the week; it always provides yummy leftovers; and it’s lightly hearty for those cooler evenings of autumn… And those cooler evenings have arrived with a bang… 🙂

• 16-oz. Whole Wheat Pasta of choice  (I often use penne)
• 8 slices Bacon, rough cut
• 3/4-1 lb. Chicken Breasts, if desired  (I usually cut mine into bite-sized pieces before cooking)
• 1 medium Red Onion, chopped
• 2 cloves Garlic, minced
• 12-16 oz. Mushrooms, sliced
• 3/4 cups or so Parmesan cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup Heavy Cream (though I usually use half and half because it’s always here)

1.  Cook pasta as directed.

2.  While pasta is cooking, cook bacon.  Remove with slotted spoon and set aside.  Cook chicken in bacon grease.  When done, remove with slotted spoon and set aside.

3.  Cook onion, garlic and mushrooms in bacon grease til tender. Add cooked chicken and warm through. Add bacon, cheese and cream, and cook til thickened and heated through (about 5 minutes). Serve over pasta.

The ingredients are cooking together here, minus the cheese and cream, and it should be thickening a bit. At times I’ve had a bit too much liquid still, so I just scoop some out before adding the cheese and cream. Voila!

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Potatoes O’Joyce

D. put this dish together last weekend, and let me tell you… is it ever delicious! It was a cooler day, weather-wise, so some warm and hearty fare was in order. His potato dish is a creamier version of the more traditional Potatoes O’Brien recipe. We added some cheesy ingredients and turned the dish into a creamy potato delight!

• 6 medium-large Potatoes, shredded and patted dry
• 1-1/2 Peppers of Various Colors – We used green, red and orange
• 1/2 of large Yellow Onion
• 1-lb. Bacon
• 2 8-oz. packages of Cream Cheese, softened
• 1 cup Sour Cream
• 1 package Ranch Dressing seasoning mix
• 2 cups Cheddar Cheese, shredded
• 1 cup Durkee French Fried Onions

1.  Rough cut bacon and cook.  Remove from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside on paper towels to cool.

2.  Using a food processor, shred potatoes and pat dry.  Chop peppers.  Cook potatoes, peppers and onions  in bacon grease until lightly browned.

3.  In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese, sour cream, Ranch dressing mix and 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese.  Stir in bacon, potatoes, peppers and onions.

4.  Spread potato mixture into a greased casserole dish.  Cook in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Remove dish from oven.  Top with remaining cup of shredded cheddar and fried onions.  Cook for another 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted and dish is bubbly.  Enjoy!

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Deep-Fried Bacon-Wrapped Macaroni and Cheese…

Courtesy of Ms. Paula Deen. She does have a knack sometimes for putting together the most outlandish ingredients… Now, I like fried things. I like bacon. I love macaroni and cheese. I even put bacon pieces in my macaroni and cheese sometimes. I still don’t think I would have ever thought to put them all together in this fashion. Tee-hee…

This just cracked me up when I saw it… I’m sure it’s damn tasty, but it just seems like it’s a bit much. I suppose that is the whole point though. 😉

Paula Deen’s Fried Mac and Cheese Video Clip

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Bacon and Blue Cheese Burgers…

Quite tasty! I’m just getting into liking Blue Cheese… So, once the burgers were cooked, we melted the blue cheese under the broiler for not quite a minute. Then, we added the Maple Bacon and put everything inside some nice Onion Rolls. And voila!

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BLT or BLTC…

Is there cheese on a typical BLT? There is on mine. 🙂 Anyway, dinner the other night was a salad and BLT’s, with cheese also. They are actually quite satisfying sandwiches. You’ve got your lettuce (romaine, because iceberg is useless in my opinion), tomato and a hearty 12-grain bread. Add some crunchy bacon strips and a slice or two of muenster cheese, and I’ll call it a tasty and easy eat.

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Gourmet Magazine Mac and Cheese…

Woo boy! Had I forgotten how absolutely delicious this recipe is! For some reason, I had thought that it was more involved than it really is… It’s mostly simple. And ohhh, is it ever yummy! It’s creamy cheesy, luscious, flavorful and all-around very enjoyable.

I used the basic recipe from Gourmet Magazine, which can be found verbatim here. I did make some of my own adaptations to it for this evening’s version… I added a small bit of chopped maple bacon to the cheese sauce. In place of 4 cups of cheddar cheese, I used 6 oz. of smoked cheddar, 2 cups of Chihuahua cheese and 2 cups of a Cheddar, White Cheddar, Monterey Jack cheese blend. Also, in place of 2 tsp. of mustard, I used 1 tsp of hot mustard… because that was all we had in the house. Yum, yum, yummy…
Bonus: Jpup really liked it and even took some home with her. So I can add a Kid-Approved stamp on this one too. 🙂

Here’s the way I made it tonight:
1. Boil water and cook one box/package of Pasta. I used whole-wheat penne, for no reason in particular. Drain, stir and set aside.
2. Rough chop Maple Bacon and cook. Set aside on a paper towel. I ended up with approximately 1/2 cup of the cooked bacon.
2. In a large saucepan, melt 3 Tbsp Butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in 3 Tbsp Flour and 1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes. Continue to cook and whisk for 3 minutes to make a roux. Slowly whisk in 2-3/4 cups Milk, and then bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Simmer for 3 minutes, whisking occasionally. Stir in 3/4 cups of Half and Half, 4 cups of Cheeses (see above), 1 tsp Hot Mustard and a dash of Salt. Add cooked Bacon. Stir until mostly smooth and remove from heat.
3. In a large pot, mix the pasta and the cheese sauce together. Transfer to a greased casserole dish and sprinkle with Bread Crumbs to cover the top. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, until warm and bubbly.

Next time I’ll have to get a picture of the actual insides of the dish. I’m also thinking that a White Cheddar cheese sauce would be fun to try… But oh my, this is the way to go for some good homemade Macaroni and Cheese!

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Fried Cabbage with Bacon…

We spent a good deal of time in the kitchen this weekend. One of D.’s dishes was this Fried Cabbage with Bacon. It was deliciously yummy! Personally, I had never fried cabbage prior to knowing him, but I can say that it is quite tasty. This time, he cooked the bacon (yes, it was the maple bacon) first, then tossed the cubed cabbage in some of the bacon grease, dashed in some salt and pepper (gasp!), cooked it down and mixed it back in with the bacon itself. Quite yummy, indeed!

I’m guessing frying would work for any vegetable, basically. At least the green leafy ones…

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