Thursday, October 29, 2009

Famous Mac n' Cheese

My favorite food since a very young age has been Mac n' Cheese. Naturally I have been in constant search of the "best" recipe. I am proud to say that for now, I have perfected a favorite.

Becca's Mac n' Cheese



Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grate three kinds of cheese:

4 1/2 cups sharp white cheddar (about 18 oz)
2 cups Smoked Gruyere (about 8 oz)
2 cups Romano (about 8 oz)


I have been using Tillimook Vintage extra sharp white cheddar, Apple Smoked Gruyere, and Stella Romano Cheeses.

Cook up a pound of macaroni noodles, drain and rinse. set aside for later. I personally like to use Rigatoni and Penni, using about a half a lb of each mixed.

White Sauce

4 tbs Butter
4 tbs Flour
1/2 tbs Salt
1 tbs Pepper
2 cups Milk

Mix in pan and bring to a boil. Stir until thick adding a few handfuls of grated cheese.

Now, in a casserole dish layer in this order noodles, sauce, and cheese. Repeat until the dish is full or your out of the three. put lid or tin foil over dish. Cook in oven for 30 to 45 minutes. for the last 5 minutes take lid or foil off to let crisp.

enjoy!

Optional: You can also crumble saltines over the top to give it some crunch. I have also added chicken before and I'm sure that you could add other meats as well.


Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Tomatoes!

At the end of tomato season we had more tomatoes than I knew what to do with. Wasting them I tried this. It has proven so far to provide a really good spaghetti sauce and flavorful tomato soup! I'm sure there are more uses too I just haven't thought of any yet.




Ingredients:

- lots of tomatoes, quartered (large ones, no cherries)
- onion, chunked
- garlic, smashed
- Extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
- fresh herbs, chopped (basil, etc.)
- salt and pepper

Directions:

- pre heat oven to 450 degrees.
- spread the tomatoes on baking sheets with a lip to them.
- disperce the onion, garlic and herbs over the tomato wedges.
- drizzle evoo over the top and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- let it roast in the oven for 10 to 15 mins.
- once removed from oven use tongs and a fork to remove tomato skins.
- then slide contents into a bowl.
- blend using a emulsion (hand-held) blender until mixed well but small chuncks still remain.
- measure out two cups worth and pour into freezer bags for flat freezing or into freezer tupperware containers.

From this point you have the start of spaghetti and tomato soup.

Spaghetti is really easy defrost the bag by running under warm water and then pour it into a pan to heat up. Add a can of tomato sauce, more garlic if desired, a packet of Italian herb seasoning and browned hamburger meat or sausage. Let boil and thicken to taste.

For tomato soup all that you do is add a can of tomato soup and some more herbs if you want. Then let it thicken. If you want some cheesiness to it add half or part of a can of cheddar cheese soup.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Welcome!





This is my first blog entry. I'm excited to share with you my discoveries, projects, and orginizational epiphanies. So welcome, into our home and life.

Becca

-- Posted from my iPhone