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Has anyone else noticed the unnaturally bright orange color you get when you prepare a box of macaroni and cheese? I know it’s made from real cheese, but the powdery orange stuff just doesn’t seem right.
Whether it’s on the stove or in the oven, I prefer to make my Mac & Cheese from scratch.
Truly homemade macaroni and cheese should have a golden yellow color, something crunchy on top, and gooey chunks of cheese inside. Since you only need a few basic ingredients, this is a good dinner to have on the eve of grocery-shopping day. Look for milk, some kind of cheese - preferably cheddar, velveeta, butter, macaroni, and stale bread.
Scroll down for my recipe for my mother’s Oven-Baked Mac & Cheese…
Baked Macaroni & Cheese
serves 6 / prep. time 30 minutes / bake time: 45 minutes
2 1/2 c. dry macaroni
3 T. butter
8 oz. American (Velveeta) cheese
12 oz. cheddar cheese
1 c. milk
salt and pepper to taste
Topping:
stale bread crumbs
3 T. additional butter
Cook the macaroni according to the package directions - leave it slightly undone (al dente). Next melt the Velveeta and butter in the milk, either on the stove or in a glass bowl in the microwave. Heat your oven to 350. Grease a large casserole or 9 x 13 pan. Toss the cheese sauce with the macaroni and spread it in the pan. Now for the cheddar - if it’s shredded, sprinkle on top of the macaroni and stir it up a bit. If it’s not shredded, cut into chunks and do the same. Sprinkle salt and pepper over all.
For the topping, combine the bread crumbs with the melted butter and sprinkle on top of your casserole. Good alternatives are crushed cheese crackers (cheezits or goldfish) or wheat germ.
Signing off for now… happy eating!
May 9th, 2007
These Roast Beef Sandwiches make a great supper for the family in a hurry. Topped with green peppers, onions, mushrooms, and cheese, they are more than just a lunchmeat sandwich.
If you are on one of the current low-carb diets, do not fear. Simply make yours without the top of the sub roll (you can even forget the bottom, too). Whatever you do, don’t just use hamburger buns - it seems a lot more like a real meal if you use sub buns or “hoagie” buns.
To suit everybody, I do a head count of who wants toppings and who doesn’t. It’s usually even 3-3. Here’s how I make them:
Roast Beef Subs
serves 6 / prep. time 10 minutes / cook time: 5 minutes
6 whole wheat sub buns (or whatever you like)
1 pound (or more) of thinly sliced deli roast beef
1/2 of a green pepper, sliced into strips
1/2 of an onion, sliced
about 6 fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 T. olive oil or 1 t. coconut oil
Velveeta cheese or American singles
Saute the pepper, onion, and mushrooms in oil over medium heat. While that is sizzling, open the bottoms buns and lay them on a cookie sheet. Put the roast beef on the bottoms. Lay the sliced cheese on the tops. When the veggies are done, spoon them on top of the roast beef. Turn your broiler on and place below for a few minutes until the cheese begins to brown. Place each top onto each bottom, slice and serve.
I made myself a delicious carrot salad to go with my sandwich. My kids consider carrot salad to be one of my subtle forms of torture. They had buttered peas. I’ll post my recipe for carrot salad tomorrow…
February 8th, 2007
It’s a pizza… It’s a sandwich… It’s gone before you know it.
Why does my family sometimes prefer calzones to pizza? It seems like the same food to me, just alot more work. They insist it’s not. Maybe they just get a chuckle out of watching me slave for an hour in the kitchen, coat myself with flour, and curse a few times so they can gobble down the results in mere moments.
Whatever the reason, we do have calzones occasionally. They’re not that difficult, but definitely more work than pizza…
Calzones
serves 6 / prep. time: 45 minutes / cook time: 20 minutes
Dough: If you have a favorite pizza dough, use it. Here’s mine:
3/4 c. water
1 T. oil
1 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
2 1/4 c. flout
1 t. yeast
Put all in the bread machine. (If you don’t have one, for heaven’s sakes, go buy one already.) Set it to the dough cycle and take a nap. When it’s done, punch it down and knead it a few minutes. Let it rest while you prepare the filling.
Filling: Choose your favorites:
3/4 c. ricotta cheese
1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
Black olives
green olives
chopped spinach
pepperoni
mushrooms
Canadian bacon
sausage
etc. (you get the idea - anything you like on pizza)
1 egg, beaten
Separate the dough into 8 pieces and form into balls. Cover them so they stay moist. One at a time, roll them out into about a 8-9″ diameter circle. Place filling ingredients on half. Wet the edge of that half, fold the other half over and pinch to seal. Prick with a fork and place on a cookie sheet. (About halfway through this process, heat your oven to 375) When all 8 are finished, brush the beaten egg on their tops and place them in the oven.
While your oh-so-delicious-o calzones are baking, warm up some pizza sauce. If you want to make it yourself, here’s my recipe:
Sauce:
1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
1 c. water
1/2 t. basil
1/4 t. oregano
1/4 t. thyme
1/2 t. minced garlic
1/4 t. salt
dash of black pepper
Whisk it all together and heat on the stove.
Serve your calzones with the sauce on the side. They disappear quickly.
September 20th, 2006
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