Macaroni and Cheese

I love macaroni and cheese, although most of my life the only mac and cheese I knew came from that blue box. I actually used to not like the homemade version that I would encounter because it wasn't what I was used to. But that all changed a few years ago when I made my first attempt and this recipe has just strengthened that love. In fact, the last time I had the blue box variety I could barely eat it and just kept thinking about how fake it tasted.

This recipe is from The Pioneer Woman, it's on her Web site and in her cookbook. It is really pretty simple, in fact while I was making it I was thinking about how it really is not that much more work than the boxed variety. I definitely recommend this recipe, it's really easy and tasty and is total comfort food. One thing though is I do recommend grating your cheese yourself. Yes, it's kind of a pain but I've made this both ways and it is so much better with self-grated cheese. It's more moist and flavorful than pre-shredded and totally worth the work.

Macaroni and Cheese

From The Pioneer Woman

4 Cups Macaroni

1/2 Stick Butter (1/4 cup)

1/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour

2 1/2 Cups Milk (I used our standard 2%)

2 Teaspoons Dry Mustard, heaping

1 Egg, beaten

1 Pound Cheese, Grated

1 Teaspoon Salt*

1 Teaspoon Season Salt*

1 Teaspoon Pepper*

Cook macaroni until still firm; drain.

Beat egg. At this point I recommend having every remaining ingredient all measured out; it will make the next few steps much easier.

Melt butter in a big pot and then sprinkle in the flour and whisk constantly for 5 minutes over medium-low heat.

Add milk and mustard and whisk until smooth and then cook for another 5 minutes, still whisking constantly.

Prepare your egg by slowly adding 1/4 of the sauce to the beaten egg, stirring constantly until smooth. This keeps you from having scrambled eggs in your mac and cheese.

Add the egg to the rest of the sauce and stir constantly until smooth.

Add all but 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the cheese and stir until melted (if you want to serve immediately then add all the cheese now). Add seasonings.

Add in drained macaroni and stir until totally covered. You can serve now or...

Pour into a buttered dish (I've used a 2 quart casserole and a 9x13, both work). Top with remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Check out Pioneer Woman's site for additional suggested seasonings.

* PW calls for 1/2 teaspoon of these seasonings, but we think it's better with 1 teaspoon of each.

Mastering the Basics: Pizza Crust

So I kind of totally dropped the ball on the Mastering the Basics posts last year, but it's ok because they're back! This time I tackled pizza dough.

We love pizza and eat it a lot around here, but usually I use store bought dough, it's part of that whole fear I used to have about using yeast. But I definitely think I've gotten over that fear! In fact I think I'd like to play around with even more dough recipes in the future, so look out for those!

This recipe is from my friend Hornedfroggy's blog and is from Gourmet Magazine. It was really easy to throw together and turned out great, I will definitely be using this recipe again and I highly recommend you give it a try!

Pizza Crust

From Gourmet Magazine and as seen on My Baking Heart

2 to 2-1/4 Cups All-purpose Flour
1/4 Ounce Package Fast-acting Yeast
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
2 Teaspoons Olive Oil
1/2 Teaspoon Salt

In a large bowl whisk together 3/4 cup of flour, yeast, sugar, and 2/3 cup hot water (130 degrees F).

Stir in the oil, 1-1/4 cups of the remaining flour, and the salt and blend the mixture until it forms a dough.

Knead the dough on a floured surface, incorporating as much of the remaining 1/4 cup flour as needed, for 5 to 10 minutes, or until it is smooth and elastic.

The dough can be used right away or it can rise once. Put the dough in an oiled bowl and turn it to coat it with the oil.

Let the dough rise, covered with plastic wrap, in a warm place for 30 minutes, or until it is double in bulk, and punch it down.Top with your favorite toppings and bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

This is just a basic sausage and cheese pizza. What's your favorite topping?

Sweet and Spicy Meatballs

This is a super easy recipe that is great for parties or just a relaxing day at home when you want something different that doesn't require too much work. Doug and I actually ate these on New Year's Day and they were the perfect thing for a lazy day at home.

This is one of those recipes that is really just a list of ingredients - the amounts are really up to you, just add things until it tastes good to you and you have enough to cover your meatballs.

Sweet and Spicy Meatballs

1 Bag of Frozen Meatballs*

BBQ Sauce (your favorite brand)

Grape Jelly

Worchestire Sauce

Place meatballs in crockpot.

Pour a large amount of BBQ sauce into a separate bowl (enough so that it looks like it will cover your meatballs).

Place grape jelly into a separate bowl and microwave for a few seconds until it easily stirs smooth (I usually start with about 1/3 cup, it's easy to add more later).

Add the jelly to the sauce, then add a few dashes of worchestire. Take a small taste and adjust to your liking (more jelly for sweetness, worchestire for spice).

Pour the sauce over the meatballs, make sure they are well covered.

Cook on high for 2.5 to 3 hours or low for 5, or until warmed completely.

Goes great with French bread.

*You can use homemade meatballs also, but they won't need to cook as long.

Best of 2009

Happy New Year!

One of my goals (I hate the work resolution!) is to post on here at least twice a week, so expect many more posts in 2010.

But, in the meantime, here are what I consider my best dishes of 2009.

Strawberry Cake

Lasagna

Banana Crumb Muffins

Chili

Vegetable Soup

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Pie

Hidden Candy Pie

Banana Cream Pie

M&M Cookies

I love these cookies. They are so good and simple. They'd make a perfect addition to any holiday spread or goodie basket with holiday M&Ms.

These come from the amazing Katie at Good Things Catered, so you know they are guaranteed to be good. I made mine with semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of the white chocolate in Katie's recipe because Doug's not a huge white chocolate fan and they tasted really well, so it would work with whatever you choose. I think these would be awesome with mint or dark chocolate M&Ms too. These are great cookies to experiment with - so go crazy!

M&M Cookies

From Good Things Catered

2 Cup plus 2 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
12 Tablespoon (1 1/2 sticks) Unsalted Butter, melted & cooled until warm
1 Cup Brown Sugar, packed
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Large Egg

1 Egg Yolk
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
1 Cup M&Ms
1 Cup Chocolate Chips

Adjust oven racks to upper & lower-middle positions & heat oven to 325 degrees.
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Whisk dry ingredients together; set aside.
Mix butter & sugars until combined.
Beat in egg, yolk and vanilla until combined.
Add dry ingredients & beat at low speed just until combined.
Stir in M&Ms and chips.
Roll about a 1/2 cup dough into ball.
Bake, reversing cookie sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft & puffy (about 15 minutes for me).
Cool cookies on sheets and place on wire rack to cool.

YWPWT: Hidden Candy Pie

Welcome to my second pie for You Want Pie With That?! This month's theme was Masquerade Pie and Halloween was totally my inspiration here.

This pie looks all nice and sweet and innocent with that lovely whipped cream topping. It looks like any regular cream pie.

But then you cut into it and -yowzers!- there's candy in this pie!

I wanted to come up with a super easy and fun pie to go with Halloween and the tasty treats of my youth - so this pie features M&Ms and half of a Hershey bar. Plus the layer of peanut butter filling (it sandwiches the candy) tastes just like a Reese's cup.

This pie could not be any easier to throw together - in fact I feel a little funny even calling this a recipe. But it's so yummy that no one will care how little effort you put into it!

Hidden Candy Pie

By Me

1 Pie Crust, cooked and cooled (I've yet to find a pie crust I love. Use your favorite or even a store bought - I won't tell).

3 Cups Whipped Cream (I used frozen Cool Whip - thawed of course)

3/4 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter

1 Small Bag of M&Ms

1 Regular Size Hershey Bar

Combine 2 cups of whipped cream and peanut butter until well mixed, spread half of this into the bottom of the baked and cooled pie shell.

Chop up 1/2 to 3/4 of the bag of M&Ms (however much sounds good to you) and place on top of the peanut butter cream. Chop half of the Hershey bar and layer on top of the M&Ms. Cover the candy with the rest of the peanut butter cream.

Top with a layer of plain whipped cream, 1 cup would work but Doug loves whipped cream so I made a really thick layer of it.

Chill for 30 minutes and serve.

TWD: Allspice Crumb Muffins

Ok, first of all I realize that these aren't muffins. I've yet to unpack my muffin pans, so therefore these are now muffin-bars.

These are really good. I actually left the crumb topping off - partly because I read that it melts off but mostly out of laziness. These were really easy to throw together and I was really happy with how moist they turned out to be. I think these are a hit and I'll definitely be trying them in muffin form - as soon as I find my pans!

This recipe was picked by Kayte of Grandma's Kitchen Table - check out her blog for the recipe. And check out what the rest of the TWD bakers thought of this recipe.

Allspice Crumb Muffins from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, pages 16-17.