Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Several years ago, Shonna and I went on a Mother/ Daugther adventure to New York City.  At my niece's recommendation, we ventured into Harlem to eat at Amy Ruth's.  We were the only white people in the place.  We sampled yummy Southern comfort food, including fried chicken, waffles, collard greens and the most delcious macaroni and cheese I'd ever eaten.  Since then, both Shonna and I have been on a quest to find the perfect Macaroni and Cheese recipe.  Since my husband doesn't much care for macaroni and cheese, I don't try very often, but the other day, I gave it another shot.  It was delicious- moist and creamy and oh, so comforting.  

Baked Macaroni and Cheese
1/2 lb. elbow macaroni
3 T. butter
3 T. flour
1 T. powdered mustard
3 cups whole milk
1/2 onion, diced or equivalent dried onion flakes
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 egg
12 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 tsp salt (more to our taste)
Fresh ground pepper (to taste)

Topping:
1 cup panko bread crumbs
3 T. melted butter
Heat oven to 350
In a large pot, heat water with lots of salt.  Cook the macaroni just to el dente.  Don't overcook.
While the pasta's cooking, melt the butter in a large pan or skillet.  Whisk in the flou and mustard and cook and stir for about 5 minutes.  Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf and paprika.  Simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.  Remove the bay leaf (if you can find the dang thing!)   In a small bowl, beat the egg.  Put a couple of tablespoons of the milk mixture into the egg and stir and stir.  Add a little more milk mixture to the egg and stir and stir.  Do it again.  Then add the egg to the milk mixture.  Put about 3/4 of the cheese into the milk mixture and combine well.  Add the drained macaroni and combine.  Pour into a greased casserole dish.  Top with the remaining cheese.  Mix the bread crumbs with the melted butter and sprinkle on top.  Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.  Let set for about 5 minutes before serving.  

Recipe from Alton Brown on foodnetwork.com

What's For Dinner?

Happy New Year!  January's meals are planned and here's the list:
1. Aebelskivers (our traditional New Year's breakfast)
2. Wisconsin Cheese and Potato Soup in Bread Bowls
3. Crockpot Barbecued Chicken Thighs/ Baked Macaroni and Cheese/ Green Beans
4. Tacos
5. Bean and Ham Soup/ Grilled Cheese
6.  Carne a Pizzaiola/ Green Salad
7. Crockpot Swiss Chicken
8. Curried Chicken Salad
9.  Baked Potatoes with Chili and Grated Cheese/ Broccoli
10.  Hot Dogs with sauerkraut
11. Chicken in Lime Butter Sauce

New Recipes to Try This Month(I'll share the recipes here if they turn out well):
1.  Easy Shrimp Scampi/ Rice/ Broccoli (we have fresh broccoli in our winter garden right now and it is so good!)
2. Salisbury Steaks/ Mashed Potatoes/ Peas and Carrots
3. Ritzy Chicken/ Mashed Potatoes/ Veggie
4. Beef and Broccoli over Rice (there's that broccoli again!)
5. Blender Whole Wheat Pancakes
6. Chicken Chowder/ Muffins

Molten Chocolate Cake

2 1 oz chocolate squares (semi-sweet)

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

3 T flour

Preheat oven to 425.

Spray 2 custard cups with cooking spray.

Melt chocolate squares with butter in the microwave in 15-30 second increments, stirring between each until melted.

Add powdered sugar then mix in egg and egg yolk.

Add flour.

Pour into cups.

Bake for 14 minutes.

Let sit 3-5 minutes.

Run a knife around the edge, turn upside down into another bowl and serve with whipped cream (you can also serve it with ice cream, but I  like whipped cream better! It complements the taste of the cake rather than overpowering it.).

Sweet Chili

I can count on one hand the foods I don't like.  I pretty much like everything.  But ever since an unfortunate upchuck incident in the cafeteria when I was in the 2nd grade, I have declared chili to be on my "really don't like it" list.  We recently attended a potluck supper where some wonderful lady brought a crockpot of chili.  I politely took a small spoonful.  When I tasted it, I was surprised and delighted.  It was a sweet chili.  So I came home and googled "sweet chili" and found several versions. I combined a couple of them, trying to duplicate the one I tasted and have come up with a really good recipe for Sweet Chili.  

Sweet Chili
1 lb lean ground beef
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
5 (15 oz.) cans kidney or small red beans, drained
2 (6oz) cans tomato paste
2 (10 3/4 oz) cans Campbell's condensed tomato soup
4 tsp. chili powder
3/4 cup brown sugar
water as needed
In a big soup pot, brown the ground beef with the onion and peppers.  Add the other ingredients and cook on low until hot and bubbly- at least an hour.  Or you can cook the meat and vegetables in a skillet and put all in the crockpot for several hours.  

One of the recipes suggested that her children loved this served over macaroni.  So we tried it with some of the leftovers.  It was good.

Cottage Cheese Butter Horn Rolls

I went to a bread making class by JaDene Denniston and learned this amazing recipe. You can use this recipe as is or you can put stuff in it. My personal favorite is to make them into orange rolls.

Ingredients:
1 pint cottage cheese, warmed
2 eggs
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda
1/4 cup sugar
2 TBSP yeast
1/2 cup warm water
4 cups flour (no more than 4)

Instructions:
1. Mix the warm water and yeast in your BOSCH and let sit to proof a few minutes.
2. In blender, combine cottage cheese, eggs, salt, soda, and sugar until smooth.
3. Pour into large mixing bowl (or BOSCH if using that).
4. Add flour and knead gently but thoroughly.
5. Let rise 45 minutes to an hour, and fold down.
6. Divide dough into two portions.
7. Roll one half of the dough 1/4" thick into a 12" circle.
8. Spread with soft butter. Cut into 12 pie shapes pieces.
9. Beginning at the rounded edge, roll up. Place on lightly greased pan, point underneath.

10. Let rise for one hour. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes until golden brown.

Now to make them into the delicious orange rolls.

Orange Sugar Mix
1 cup sugar
Orange peel from an orange (zest just the orange part, not the white stuff that's bitter tasting)
1 tsp orange extract or 1/4 tsp orange oil
1/4 cup soft butter (I actually had this w/o the butter and they were divine. Not sure I'll ever put the butter in.)
Mix this together and spread on the 12"circle after the first part of step 8, before you cut it into 12 pieces.
This sugar mix is enough for all of the divided dough, so spread half of it on the first 12" round, saving the rest for the other batch.

Orange Glaze
2 TBSP orange juice
1 tsp grated orange peel (again, no white stuff, just the true orange part)
1 cup powdered sugar
Mix together and drizzle over top of the baked rolls. Enjoy!

What's For Dinner?

We attended a funeral out of town, so I'm a little late getting my meals planned and my list of meals posted this month.  December is always a busy month, so I try to plan easy meals.  I notice there are lots of soups of sandwiches!  That's good because they are my favorite meals.  Here's what's for dinner at our house this month:
  Bahn Mi Sandwiches
Chicken Stir Fry over Rice
Christmas Eve Chicken ala King
Chicken in Lime Butter Sauce/ Mashed Potatoes
Curried Chicken Salad on Croissants ( I have to make this every couple of months.  We love it.)
Kristen's Wisconsin Cheese and Potato Soup
Dr. Booth's Baked Eggs
Chicken Quesadilla's with Ken's Guacamole
French Dip Sandwiches
Crockpot Swiss Cheese Chicken
Ham and Broccoli Roll ups
Winter Salad with Chicken
Corn Chowder in bread bowls (I know we just had this last month- but it is REALLY good!)

Recipes to Try (I'll post them if they're good):
Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak
Baked Ziti
Cauliflower Soup/ Homemade Rolls
Patty's Reuben Sandwiches

Merry Christmas!!!

Copycat Mimi's Cafe Corn Chowder

New favorite soup recipe!  We just tried this Corn Chowder and it was really, really good.  Evidence: I caught my husband scraping out the soup pot before he washed it.  He didn't want to waste a smidge.  I served it in hard french rolls.  Either serve it in rolls or bread bowls, or serve hard french rolls or bread on the side.   Yummy!

Copycat Mimi's Cafe Corn Chowder
1/4 cup butter
1 small onion, diced
Several stalks celery, diced (do some celery greens, too)  (about 1 cup)
2 -3 cups water
2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cups frozen corn, thawed (I used part frozen and 1 can corn)
1 can creamed corn
2 T. sugar
2 tsps. salt
Pepper to taste
3 T. flour
1 1/2 cups milk and 1 1/2 cups cream OR 3 cups half and half
Dash of Tabasco
In a large soup pot, melt the butter.  Add the onion and celery and cook until soft.  Whisk in the flour and stir and cook for a few minutes on med. heat.  Add the water, potatoes, corn, creamed corn, sugar, salt and pepper.  Stir and let simmer until potatoes are barely tender.  Add the half and half and simmer until soup is thicker and creamy.  Add a dash of Tabasco and more salt and pepper, if desired.  Serve in a bread bowl.

I've had Mimi's Corn Chowder.  This is better.