Quote:
Originally Posted by chaoticzenmom
Lady..You're the lunch queen!!! I'm terrible at lunches too. We eat sandwiches or leftovers usually.
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I just love food, and love cooking and feeding people.
My mac and cheese recipe:
1 package macaroni noodles (I actually used cavatappi yesterday!)
4 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/4 cups milk
1 cup cream
salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
2 1/2 cups good quality shredded cheddar cheese
(for the grown up version I added some smoked gouda, and about 1 1/2 tbsp dijon as well as green onion)
Cook pasta and drain.
Melt butter in large saucepan. Whisk in flour until smooth and allow to brown. Add cream and milk and whisk until thickened. Remove from heat and add 1 cup of cheese. Whisk until smooth. Add back to reduced heat and add the other cup of cheese. Don't be afraid to add a little extra milk if it's looking too thick, but you do want it nice and thick. Add salt and pepper and remove from heat.
Add drizzle of maple syrup until it tastes just a teeny bit sweet and kraft dinner ish. At this point add your grown up ingredients if you like.
Toss the pasta and the sauce into an oven safe dish and cover in the last 1/2 cup of cheese. Stick oven at 375, for 20 min.
Allow to stand for a couple min and then devour!!!
:
The nice thing about this recipe is it has possibility for infinite variations!
Soup:
All of my soups start the same way:
4 cups of Stock (chicken, beef or veggie)
add 2 bay leaves, half an onion, a bunch of cloves of garlic just sliced in half (no need to peel)
Bring to a boil
While waiting for stock to boil, sautee diced onion, garlic (and in some soups carrots and celery)
Allow stock to simmer and gather flavor while you prepare rest of dinner. 20 min or so, strain and return to heat. Add diced potatoes, meat etc. and veggies. Add cream (2 cups for 4 of stock) and create a roux. 4 tbsp (I eyeball this rather than measure) of butter, melted in a pan, 3 tbsp of flour. Whisk smooth and add to boiling soup. Mix vigerously so there are no lumps and let boil until desired thickness is achieved.
Some of my "recipes"
Corn chowder:
Thaw a bag of frozen corn (I do this in the sink with hot water)
Get stock flavoring, matchstick bacon (easiest if done when frozen). When bacon is cooked, remove from pan and saute onion and garlic in the bacon fat. Throw in corn and allow to cook for a couple minutes. Carefully blend some of the corn (about half) smooth and return to soup. Add some dried tarragon (um... 2 tsps?) Add onions and garlic, reserving some bacon grease. Add cream, create roux with grease (add butter if needed). Salt and pepper to taste
This soup is great because you can add lots of stuff, chili flakes, spicy peppers, red peppers, chicken, crab... mmmmmmmmmm
Chicken noodle:
My kiddos prefer asian flavors for their chicken noodle, so I heat up the stock, add freshly grated ginger, grated garlic, some lemon grass, 1 tbsp of soya sauce, and carmalized onion and sauteed mushrooms cut in thin rings. Once everything is nicely flavored, add some rice noodles. Throw bean sprouts into each bowl of soup.
I love to do a creamy chicken soup with gnocchi. Veggies of all kinds, potato dumplings, chicken peices in creamy broth.
Soup is the bomb, play around and you will find endless possibilities!