Today has been a lazy day. Slept in after staying up way too late watching tv. Better than last year, we slept in after a trip to the emergency room. Ordered the best pillow, I cannot wait to get a decent amount of sleep and solid sleep at that.
Tonight we are going to pig out on a bunch of food, all tried and true and one brand new recipe to try.
We'll be having:
Puff pastry sandwich, from Ina Garten's show
Assorted T.G.I.F. frozen appetizers
Bagged salad, something healthy
Chips, Carrots and Dip, two kinds of dip
Runts candy
Pop
Maybe cupcakes or cookies
Some kind of veggie
Cheese Puffs - new recipe
Please have a safe and fun night!
Happy New Year!
We'll be spending our New Year's Day with my parents and we have to make a hot veggie...time to start prowling for a good recipe that does not include potatoes or sweet potatoes.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
The typical debate in our house during the week between Christmas and New Year's is: What to make for dinner? Are there any leftovers left? Do we want to eat the leftovers? We always settle for comfort food. We had finished all the leftovers already and I felt like making something new. A new recipe that I had found on the internet two and a half years ago. April 16, 2008 to be exact!
While out running errands on Tuesday, we picked up the pasta and other items needed for the recipe, but the condensed cheddar soup. Our local Wal-Mart either didn't have it in stock or were out of it. So we used condensed cream of mushroom soup and it turned out great. We had the mac and cheese on Wednesday night for dinner and then tonight we took the left overs and added chicken to it with a little more milk and cheese and baked it in the oven. I love recipes that can easily be turned into another meal and not be exactly the same.
Here's the recipe from the internet, I do not know the source:
Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (an 8-ounce box isn't quite 2 cups)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, cut into pieces
2 1/2 cups (about 10 ounces) grated sharp Cheddar cheese
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed Cheddar cheese soup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Boil the macaroni in a 2 quart saucepan in plenty of water until tender, about 7 minutes. Drain. In a medium saucepan, mix butter and cheese. Stir until the cheese melts. In a slow cooker, combine cheese/butter mixture and add the eggs, sour cream, soup, salt, milk, mustard and pepper and stir well. The add the drained macaroni and stir again. Set the slow cooker on low setting and cook for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.
My changes for the original recipe:
We used about 1 pound of elbow macaroni and cream of mushroom condensed soup. We also sprayed the slow cooker with cooking spray.
Tonight, we added about two cups cooked chicken pieces and about a 1 cup of shredded sharp Cheddar cheese and 1/2 cup milk. Combined in a bowl and then dumped into an oven-proof pan sprayed with cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and cook for about 30 - 40 minutes until center is hot. Check the mac and cheese at about 20 - 25 minutes, cover with tin foil if needed.
Suggestions for making the recipe, melt the butter on it's own without the cheese. Cool the butter and mix with the other ingredients, then add the cheese and noodles at the same time and mix. I would also mix in separate bowl, so the sauce mixture doesn't stick to the sides of the slow cooker and burn during the cooking time.
I will definitely make this recipe again, and I think I will try it with a white sauce using the butter and milk called for in the recipe to make it extra creamy.
With New Year's Eve tomorrow, I know one thing we will be making, but still need to figure the rest out.
Ina Garten's, Barefoot Contessa, Ham and Cheese in Puff Pastry from the foodnetwork.com site. We made this last year and it was a great success. Even my extended family enjoyed it. We use Swiss cheese in this recipe.
Tomorrow I will post the menu for the night. We are cheating a little and buying a few frozen appetizers to make the night go smoothly and carefree. Come on game night!
While out running errands on Tuesday, we picked up the pasta and other items needed for the recipe, but the condensed cheddar soup. Our local Wal-Mart either didn't have it in stock or were out of it. So we used condensed cream of mushroom soup and it turned out great. We had the mac and cheese on Wednesday night for dinner and then tonight we took the left overs and added chicken to it with a little more milk and cheese and baked it in the oven. I love recipes that can easily be turned into another meal and not be exactly the same.
Here's the recipe from the internet, I do not know the source:
Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (an 8-ounce box isn't quite 2 cups)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, cut into pieces
2 1/2 cups (about 10 ounces) grated sharp Cheddar cheese
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed Cheddar cheese soup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Boil the macaroni in a 2 quart saucepan in plenty of water until tender, about 7 minutes. Drain. In a medium saucepan, mix butter and cheese. Stir until the cheese melts. In a slow cooker, combine cheese/butter mixture and add the eggs, sour cream, soup, salt, milk, mustard and pepper and stir well. The add the drained macaroni and stir again. Set the slow cooker on low setting and cook for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.
My changes for the original recipe:
We used about 1 pound of elbow macaroni and cream of mushroom condensed soup. We also sprayed the slow cooker with cooking spray.
Tonight, we added about two cups cooked chicken pieces and about a 1 cup of shredded sharp Cheddar cheese and 1/2 cup milk. Combined in a bowl and then dumped into an oven-proof pan sprayed with cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and cook for about 30 - 40 minutes until center is hot. Check the mac and cheese at about 20 - 25 minutes, cover with tin foil if needed.
Suggestions for making the recipe, melt the butter on it's own without the cheese. Cool the butter and mix with the other ingredients, then add the cheese and noodles at the same time and mix. I would also mix in separate bowl, so the sauce mixture doesn't stick to the sides of the slow cooker and burn during the cooking time.
I will definitely make this recipe again, and I think I will try it with a white sauce using the butter and milk called for in the recipe to make it extra creamy.
With New Year's Eve tomorrow, I know one thing we will be making, but still need to figure the rest out.
Ina Garten's, Barefoot Contessa, Ham and Cheese in Puff Pastry from the foodnetwork.com site. We made this last year and it was a great success. Even my extended family enjoyed it. We use Swiss cheese in this recipe.
Tomorrow I will post the menu for the night. We are cheating a little and buying a few frozen appetizers to make the night go smoothly and carefree. Come on game night!
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