Macaroni and Cheese

I’ve made macaroni and cheese from scratch before, but I used the Betty Crocker (1950’s) version of cheese sauce.  I don’t remember being impressed.

This version is similar, but it has a higher cheese-to-roux ratio which of course can only mean good things!  Dave said he thought this was the best mac & cheese he’s ever had.  And it’s a good thing it makes a lot, because there were second helpings, lunch for me the next day and another meal to be eaten (it was all delicious and just as addictive as the first day).

I’m listing the recipe here, but I highly suggest you visit The Pioneer Woman’s blog to get the full scoop.  She has some good tips on making this a true success.

I agree with her statement on not adding all the pasta. In fact, I think next time I’ll only cook 3 to 3 1/2 cups of pasta (not that chickens mind the treat).

Oh, and since we’re from Wisconsin where casseroles are meant to have a topping, we added crushed saltine crackers (about 1/2 a package) mixed with the other 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) of butter to the top to give some crunchiness.

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 15 Minutes
Servings: 6

4 cups Dried Macaroni
1 whole Egg Beaten
1/4 cup (1/2 Stick Or 4 Tablespoons) Butter
1/4 cup All-purpose Flour
2-1/2 cups Whole Milk
2 teaspoons (heaping) Dry Mustard
1 pound Cheese, Grated
1/2 teaspoon Salt, More To Taste
1/2 teaspoon Seasoned Salt, More To Taste
1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

Cook macaroni until very firm. Macaroni should be too firm to eat right out of the pot. Drain.

In a small bowl, beat egg.

In a large pot, melt butter and sprinkle in flour. Whisk together over medium-low heat. Cook mixture for five minutes, whisking constantly. Don’t let it burn.

Pour in milk, add mustard, and whisk until smooth. Cook for five minutes until very thick. Reduce heat to low.

Take 1/4 cup of the sauce and slowly pour it into beaten egg, whisking constantly to avoid cooking eggs. Whisk together till smooth.

Pour egg mixture into sauce, whisking constantly. Stir until smooth.

Add in cheese and stir to melt.

Add salt and pepper. Taste sauce and add more salt and seasoned salt as needed! DO NOT UNDERSALT.

Pour in drained, cooked macaroni and stir to combine.
Serve immediately (very creamy) or pour into a buttered baking dish, top with extra cheese, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly and golden on top.

Scalloped Potatoes with Ham

I recently heard a story about Dave’s aunt and uncle that I found rather humorous.  It seems that his aunt made liver and onions every week for years and years until finally one day her husband announced “You know, I really don’t like liver and onions.”  Turns out, neither did she. She was just making them because they were healthy.

Dave also tells stories about how his mother made salmon loaf several times even though the rest of the family hated it. (His mother claims it was only once, but I’m sure the traumatized forced-to-sit-at-the-table-until-bedtime children remember better).

Because of stories like this, we have sort of an unwritten rule in our house that it’s better to be truthful on how we like or dislike a recipe, rather than try to spare someone’s feelings and end up forced to eat it multiple times.  Fortunately for us, we tend to like and dislike the same recipes.

Unfortunately, we can still end up with a breakdown in communication...

Dave has made scalloped potatoes many time, always using the recipe his aunt (a different one than above) made. She always layered the potatoes and sprinkled flour on top of each layer.  It tasted “ok”, but definitely wasn’t one of my favorite recipes.  Turns out… Dave didn’t care for it either.  He just never thought to go looking for a better version.

During a family potluck this summer he learned that their delicious scalloped potatoes were made using a roux, so he went in search of a recipe.  This is definitely a keeper!  I loved these scalloped potatoes – as evident by the second helping I took.  The original recipe came from Taste of Home, but of course he had to change it up.

This isn’t the prettiest looking picture, but we dove into it before I remembered to take a snapshot.  Cheesy. Creamy. And those lovely caramelized bits we fought over.  Yum!

 

Scalloped Potatoes with Ham

6 tablespoons butter, divided
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 cups 2% milk
6 cups thinly sliced peeled potatoes
1-1/2 cups chopped fully cooked ham
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder

In a large saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Stir in flour, parsley, salt, thyme, onion powder, dry mustard powder and pepper until smooth. Gradually add milk; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes.
Combine potatoes, ham and onion; place half in a greased 2-1/2-qt. baking dish. Top with half of the sauce; repeat layers.
Cover and bake at 375°F for 65-75 minutes or until potatoes are almost tender. Dot with remaining butter. Bake, uncovered, 15-20 minutes longer or until potatoes are tender.

Prep: 15 min. Bake: 1 hour 20 min.

Click here for a PDF version of the recipe: Scalloped Potatoes with Ham.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Read that again.  Sticky. Toffee. Pudding.  It sounds good even before you read the ingredients, doesn’t it?  Well, it’s that good.  Especially if you love dates.  Maybe even if you don’t love dates (I wouldn’t know).

I’ve seen several recipes recently for this same recipe (maybe it’ll be the food trend for 2012), but I chose to try the one found at Brown Eyed Baker.  I definitely recommend whipping up some fresh cream to go with it.

And my other tip? Start the dish water right away. You’ll thank me later when you need to wash up several pots and bowls.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

For the Toffee Sauce
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup brown sugar (dark preferred, but I made with light)
2 1/2 tablespoons golden syrup or molasses
Pinch of salt

For the Pudding
6 ounces pitted dates, chopped
1 cup water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350º F and butter an 8 1/2-inch porcelain soufflé dish (or similar-sized baking dish.)

2. Make the toffee sauce by bringing the cream, sugar, golden syrup (or molasses) and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring often to melt the sugar.

3. Lower heat and simmer, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is thick and coats the spoon. Pour half the sauce into the prepared soufflé dish and place the dish in the freezer, and reserve the other half for serving.

4. To make the pudding, in a medium saucepan, heat the dates and water. Once the water begins to boil, remove from heat and stir in the baking soda. Set aside, but keep it slightly warm.

5. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

6. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, or by hand, beat the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, then the vanilla. (Don’t be alarmed if the mixture looks a bit curdled.)

7. Stir in half of the flour mixture, then the date mixture.  Add the remaining flour mixture until just mixed. Don’t overbeat the batter.

8. Remove the soufflé dish from the freezer and scrape the batter into the soufflé dish and bake for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs attached.

9. Remove the pudding from the oven, and let cool slightly before serving. Spoon portions of the cake into serving bowls and pour additional warm toffee sauce over the top. Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream are good accompaniments.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Prep Time: 30 minutes | Bake Time: 50 minutes

Click here for a PDF version of the recipe: Sticky Toffee Pudding.

Lemon Buttermilk Rhubarb Cake

 

I spend way too much time looking at recipe blogs.  Maybe that’s why it’s referred to as food porn, since it’s so addictive.  I found a great way to quickly save those recipes I find interesting – using an add-on for Firefox to copy to Evernote (I discussed this a little bit here). If I don’t save, I’ll never find them again.  And the great thing about Evernote is that it makes it easy to search for recipes or ingredients (it’s not limited to recipes – you can save any kind of note!)

Anyway… back to food.  This weekend, I was going to make a blueberry bar recipe so I’d have some snacks to take to work.  I went downstairs to get a package of frozen blueberries, when I discovered not only did I find frozen rhubarb from 2010 … but I had a couple of packages from 2009!  Time to use that up.  Unfortunately, our vacuum sealer must not have been working quite right (we’ve used them so much, we’re on our third one!) because the 2009 rhubarb had air in the packages and smelled like freezer burn.  But by the time I realized this, I was already on a mission and went back to the freezer to get the 2010 stash.  Yes, I know I could have used fresh from this year, but I need to learn to use up our supplies.

The recipe I found was from the honey & jam website.  I was intrigued by the comment they made “Strawberry may be rhubarbs perfect mate, but lemon is a close second.”  Hmmm … I don’t think I’ve ever tried rhubarb and lemon before.  I really like both, so it sounded like a recipe worth trying.

Very moist, delicious cake.  Dave loved the fact that this just had a simple icing on it so it wasn’t overloaded with sweetness.

I had a little issue getting the cake out of the pan (I know better than to just use spray, but I did it anyway), so the pictures on the honey & jam website are much better than mine.  But don’t let that deter you.  I’d highly recommend giving this cake a go!

 

Lemon Buttermilk Rhubarb Bundt Cake
from honey & jam

2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
zest of 1 lemon
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon lemon oil (i used lemon extract)
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 pound rhubarb, trimmed and very thinly sliced (3 cups prepped)

Lemon Glaze
2 cups confectioners sugar, more as needed
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon nearly melted butter

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter a 10-cup Bundt pan.
To make the cake, sift the 2 1/2 cups flour, the baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Using a handheld mixer with beaters or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest together on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition, then stir in the lemon oil. Stir in the flour mixture in three additions alternating with the buttermilk in two additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. The batter will be very thick.

Toss the rhubarb with the 2 tablespoons of flour and fold half into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the remaining rhubarb on top.

Bake for 30 minutes, then rotate the pan and cook for an additional 30 minutes, or until the center springs back when lightly touched. Cool the cake in its pan on the wire rack for 30 minutes before inverting and removing the pan.

To make the lemon glaze, whisk the confectioners sugar, lemon juice and butter together. The mixture should be thick. If it’s not, whisk in another tablespoon or two of the sugar. Spread the glaze over the cake as soon as you remove it from the pan.

Italian Wedding Soup

I had been hearing about Italian Wedding soup for quite a while when I finally got ahold of a recipe.  The soup itself sounded simple and contained only items we like.  So I gave it a try.  This soup is awesome!  And it’s simple enough to make that you don’t have to bother with buying salt-laden cans of from that giant soup company (rhymes with gamble). 

The original recipe called for only 4 cups of broth.  However, since you are adding the pasta uncooked, it will soak up a lot of the broth, so I doubled the amount.  Even then, if you have leftovers, the pasta will continue to absorb broth, so it will get thicker by the day.  But that’s ok in my opinion.  If you don’t like it, add more broth.

 

The recipe calls for a beef and pork mixture for the meatballs. I’ve used all beef when I didn’t have any pork available, and it worked just fine.

 

 

 

 

The most time-consuming part of this soup is making the meatballs.  It’s not what I would call labor-intensive, but it just takes a while.  To save time for future batches of soup, I have made double-batches of these meatballs (as long as I’m getting my hands sticky anyway) and frozen them after they have been cooked.  Then, the next time, all you need to do is pop the frozen balls into the broth and cook them a little longer to make sure they are heated thoroughly.

 

Italian Wedding Soup

Adapted from Recipe by Penzeys Spice catalog, Fall 2003

1/2 pound ground chuck
1/2 pound ground pork
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon basil
1 tablespoon parsley
1 egg
8 cups chicken stock
2 cups fresh spinach -- rinsed well, stems removed, and cut into strips; or use 1/4 package frozen spinach
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
4 ounces orzo -- or any small pasta
1/4 cup grated Romano or Parmesan cheese

Combine meats, bread crumbs, pepper, salt, basil, parsley, and egg in a bowl and mix until well blended. Form into tiny meatballs, about 1 to 1 ½ tsp. of meat. Bake on a cookie sheet for 30 minutes at 350°F. Meanwhile, bring the broth to a low boil and add the spinach. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Add the meatballs to the hot broth along with the garlic and Italian seasoning. Add the pasta and continue to boil until pasta is tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the cheese and serve immediately.

Preparation Time: 0:30
Cooking Time: 0:45
Serves: 4-6

Click here for a PDF version of the recipe:  Italian Wedding Soup.

Carrot Coconut Cake

I’m not sure if I should classify this as a successful failure or not. 

It looks beautiful.

It tasted good and was very moist.

My sister loved it – which is good since I made it for her birthday.

But this cake was incredibly dense!

Dave and I decided we really didn’t care for it as much as other carrot cakes we’ve had in the past, so I probably will not make it again in the future (unless my sister begs me).

If you’d like to try the recipe yourself, head on over to Simply Scratch.

Homemade Hostess cupcakes

 

Don’t they look yummy?!  Well, let me tell ya, they taste even more awesome than they look!  And compared to the store-bought version, these are so incredibly better.

 

This is made in several steps:

Chocolate Cake

While, you can use boxed cake mix, we found it best to use the Deep Dark Chocolate Cake recipe that we love so much.  Bake these as normal, in muffin tins.  Cool.

Cream Filling

Originally from Evil Shenanigans, this Cream Filling for Cupcakes recipe:

2 tsp very hot water
1/4 tsp salt
1 (7 oz) jar marshmallow cream
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Dissolve the salt in the hot water and allow to cool.

Whip the marshmallow cream, shortening, powdered sugar, and vanilla until it begins to get fluffy.  Add the water and whip well.

Place in a pastry tube or zip-top bag with a pastry tip.  Insert tip in top of cupcake and fill.  Filling the cupcakes is a delicate balance between making sure you get enough filling inside so the taster doesn’t feel cheated, but you don’t want so much filling that it starts coming out the sides or bottom.

Chill until filling has firmed up.

 

Ganache

6 ounces Semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup Whipping cream

Place chocolate in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan bring whipping cream to a boil. Pour into chocolate and stir until chocolate is completely melted. Let cool until mixture is less than body temperature.  Dip the tops of the muffins in the ganache to coat.  Chill until ganache is firm.

 

Icing

Make a simple icing mixture from powdered (confectioner’s) sugar and water.  As you can see above, you need to make sure you don’t get the mixture too runny or it will spread when piped onto the cupcakes.

 

Keep cupcakes refrigerated until serving.  Don’t be surprised if they disappear faster than you made them!