Gourmet Mac n' 5 Cheese

So, I love Mac and Cheese. I love it when it's fancy and gourmet. So, about about a year ago while watching "The Ultimate Recipe Showdown" on the Food Network, this recipe won, and I was hooked. So, I finally decided to spend some money on fancy cheese, and give this a try. It was wonderful! I pretty much ate it all. (I am NOT going to think about the fat . . . ) It was really tasty. If you get the time, the craving, and some dough to spend on specialty cheese (I recommend getting them at Harmons) go for it! Oh, and the picture doesn't do it justice. At all.

Gourmet Mac n' Five Cheese

INGREDIENTS:

1 package (16 oz) pasta

1/4 lb. bacon

1 med. onion, diced

5 Tablespoons unsalted butter

6 Tablespoons flour

1 Tablespoon dijon mustard

2 and 1/2 cups whole milk (I used 1% and it worked fine.)

2 cups heavy cream

1 sprig fresh thyme (didn't have any! worked out ok!)

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 and 1/2 cups grated Fontina cheese

1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese (I only put in like 2 Tablespoons. I'm not a huge fan.)

3/4 cups grated Gruyere cheese

3/4 cups grated White Cheddar Cheese

3/4 cups grated Parmesan Cheese

1/4 cups bread crumbs

3 Tablespoons chopped Italian parsley

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Butter a 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish.

Cook pasta according to package. (I did it a bit less since it will cook more in the oven.) Drain, and set aside.

In a large dutch oven/pot saute the bacon until crisp. Remove with slotted spoon and reserve. Saute the onion in the bacon drippings until soft. Add the 5 Tablespoons butter to the onion mixture and melt the butter, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add the flour. Using a whisk, , stir constantly until mixed well with the fat making a roux. Whisk in the mustard. Gradually add the milk and cream whisking constantly. Add the thyme, bay leaf, and salt. Let come to a simmer and stir frequently for 15 min. Strain the milk mixture and discard the solids. Now mix in 1 cup Fontina, blue cheese, 1/2 cup Gruyere, 1/2 cup white cheddar, 1/2 cup Parmesan and the reserved bacon and parsley. Continue to stir until all the cheese is melted. Addt eh cooked noodles to the cheese mixture to coat. Add the noodle mixture to the prepared baking sich. Mix the remaining cheese and bread crumbs together and sprinkle on top of the noodles. Bake for about 15-20 min. or until golden brown. Remove from overn when done and let rest for 5 min.

ENJOY!

Martha Stewart's Macaroni & Cheese

Martha has really outdone herself with this recipe. I was too busy eating to take a picture of the finished product, so here is a photo I found online. I put in my own 2 cents in bold. Enjoy!

You can easily divide this recipe in half: Use a 1 1/2-quart casserole dish.
Ingredients

* 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for dish
* 6 slices good white bread, crusts removed, torn into 1/4- to 1/2-inch pieces
* 5 1/2 cups milk
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
* 4 1/2 cups grated sharp white cheddar cheese (about 18 ounces)
* 2 cups grated Gruyere cheese (about 8 ounces) or 1 1/4 cups grated Pecorino Romano cheese (about 5 ounces) – (We’ve only used Pecorino Romano – though I love Gruyere. You'll find it in the gourmet cheese section.)
* 1 pound elbow macaroni (we’ve used the really big macaroni & the bigger seashell shapes. Pick whatever shape you want - be sure it's something that will trap the sauce)

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 3-quart casserole dish (9x13); set aside. Place bread in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter (I just microwave the butter to melt it. Let’s save some time, people!). Pour butter into bowl with bread, and toss. Set breadcrumbs aside.
2. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, heat milk. Melt remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a high-sided skillet over medium heat. When butter bubbles, add flour. Cook, whisking, 1 minute.
3. While whisking, slowly pour in hot milk. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and becomes thick.
4. Remove pan from heat. Stir in salt, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne pepper, 3 cups cheddar cheese, and 1 1/2 cups Gruyere or 1 cup Pecorino Romano; set cheese sauce aside.
5. Fill a large saucepan with water; bring to a boil. Add macaroni; cook 2 to 3 minutes less than manufacturer's directions, until the outside of pasta is cooked and the inside is underdone. (Different brands of macaroni cook at different rates; be sure to read the instructions.) Transfer macaroni to a colander, rinse under cold running water, and drain well. Stir macaroni into the reserved cheese sauce
6. Pour mixture into prepared dish. Sprinkle remaining 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup Gruyere or 1/4 cup Pecorino Romano, and breadcrumbs over top. Bake until browned on top, about 30 minutes. Transfer dish to a wire rack to cool 5 minutes; serve hot.

Chicken Cordon Blue Casserole

Layer the following ingredients in this order in a 9x13 dish:
-Chicken breasts
-Swiss cheese
-Ham
-2 cans of cream of chicken mixed with 1/4 C water
-Stove top chicken flavor made with 1 1/4 C water
-1/3 C butter on top

Bake 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees

Creamy Chicken and Rice

This is a great Sunday dinner. I love using the crockpot!

INGREDIENTS:
2 cans (10 3/4 oz) Cream of Chicken soup
1 1/2 cups water
1 package seasoned rice mix (chicken flavor) about 6 oz.
4 large carrots, thickly sliced (I use frozen crinkle-cut carrots and just use as many as I want.)
3-5 chicken breasts.

1) Mix the soup, water, rice, and carrots in the crock-pot. Add chicken and turn to coat.

2) Cover and cook on LOW for 7-8 hours, or on HIGH for 4-5 hours, or until done.

This is a great comfort food meal.

Smarter Fettuccine Alfredo

I made this for dinner last night, and was pleasantly surprised-it actually tasted like something you'd get in a restaurant! I was happy, and it was yummy. I was a little skeptical when I saw the ingredients, but it was great! (I got this out of Kraft Foods magazine for Spring of '06)

Smarter Fettuccine Alfredo:

Ingredients:

8 oz fettuccine

1 1/4 cups chicken broth

4 tsp. flour

1/3 cup light cream cheese SPREAD (not the block kind. I used regular, not light, and it was fine.)

3 Tbsp. Grated Parmesan Cheese (I was VERY liberal in that!)

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg (I know it sounds crazy!)

3 Tbsp. fresh chopped parsley

Directions:

Cook pasta as directed. Drain, and set aside.

MEANWHILE: combine broth and flour in med. saucepan. Stir in cream cheese spread; cook 2 min., stirring constantly (a whisk worked best) until the mixture boils and thickens.

TOSS pasta w/sauce, 2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese, and nutmeg. Sprinkle w/ remaining 1 T. Parmesan cheese, and parsley. Season to taste w/ black pepper.

Makes 4 servings/1 cup each.

*I added a few sprinkles of parmesan cheese to the actual sauce while it was boiling. I love that cheese, and think that you can't have too much!

ENJOY!

Chicken Pot Pie

This is the only recipe I am ever remembered for. I hope my children will love it as much as my friends do.

First, the ingredients...don't be surprised if these are things you already have laying around your kitchen...

1 pie crust
3 chicken breasts
5 red potatoes
2 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 bag frozen peas and carrots - thawed
1 sweet onion - diced
butter
egg

1. Heat oven to 450
2. Heat two large pans of water - these are for the chicken and potatoes
*I usually add some chicken bullion to the water for taste - and we could all use a little more sodium right?
3. Trim fat from chicken and dice the potatoes, then add to the boiling water, separately of course
4. Cook the bottom of the pie crust first, in the oven. Just follow the directions on the back of the pie crust box for a "one crust pie" - I cook mine for 9 minutes. Make sure you set the timer. After cooking, turn the oven down to 400 to cook the pie
*this isn't a one crust pie of course but I do not like having a soggy pie bottom. noboby does. you'll add the top crust later. this is what it should look like after it has cooked for the 9 minutes

5. saute the onion in butter until it is translucent and tender - it can even be a little golden

*if you do not like onions than dice them large enough you can pick them out or small enough you can swallow them whole, but do not leave them out entirely. they add wonderful flavor

6. when the chicken is done shred it into bite size pieces
7. the potatoes are done when they break apart by being stabbed with a fork - strain them
8. combine the shredded chicken, potatoes, peas and carrots, onions and the 2 cans of Cream of Chicken soup in a large bowl

9. pour the glorious mixture into the already-cooked pie crust

10. now add the top crust and trim to fit the pie plate.
11. whisk the egg in a small bowl and baste over the top crust
*the egg is strickly for cosmetic purposes, it helps the pie keep it's color and provides a shine when cooked
12. make 4 slits in the top of the pie with a knife to provide steam release while the pie is baking

13. bake for 40 minutes and then let the pie cool for a few minutes on top of the stove
14. serve!

Hump Day- Meat Pot Pie

Brown 1 lb ground beef with 1/2 C chopped onion. Turn off stove and add:
1 can (drained) green beans

1 can tomato soup

1 tbsp sugar

1/8 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

Pie crust: you can use your favorite pastry recipe (my mother-in-law makes hers from scratch so instead of the salt she uses garlic salt). I am still not that domestic so I use the "Jiffy Pie Crust". It comes in a blue box, is enough for the two-crust pie, and only costs $0.50. It is really fast and easy, and my husband & I think it tastes good. Give it a try!

PS I use a deep dish pie pan, but it is possible to use a regular pie pan it just is really full!

Bake 400 for 25 min.

This is one of my husband's favorite food, and is quickly becoming one of mine. I love how filling it is, its easy to make, I usually have all the ingredients, & is good as left-overs. Also, I fed this to my neices and nephrew (along with my daughter) & they all loved it, so it's kid-approved!

Either It's Been Way Too Long, Or This Is Damn Good Dip!

It's been forever since I've had a good 7 layer bean dip. I've been trying to eat a lot healthier, and I ran across this recipe for HEALTHY bean dip and thought I'd try it... although I normally scoff at low fat cheese because it's just... gross. But not grouped with the following (forgive my ugly microwave in the pic):

3 C (2 cans) black beans
8 tsp EVOO
12 T fat free sour cream
12 T low sodium salsa
4 T chopped green onion
8 oz reduced fat cheddar
cilantro

Mash beans and olive oil (I used a meat masher) and spread it in the bottom of your dish.
Spread on sour cream.
Spread on salsa.
Layer onion, then cheddar.
Sprinkle with cilantro

This serves 4. You can dip chips into it (Baked Tostitos Scoops, in keeping with the healthy theme) or... dump it on a pile of romaine lettuce for a mexi-salad. You don't even need dressing.

Swiss Chicken

I'm not sure what you all mean when you talk about "Hump Day" recipes, but if it means Wednesday night, which is the night of the week I find myself most tired - It's as far into the week as you can get, without being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel (weekend) quite yet. If a "Hump Day" meal means it's the perfect meal for one of those nights where you hardly have enough energy to climb into bed after work, let alone make dinner, then THIS, my friends, is a Hump Day Dinner! This one is so easy, and very simple to adjust for more or less servings. I made it all by myself (which I'm challenging myself to do for all the recipes I post here) and Steve was impressed! This one's from my mom, so here goes:

Ingredients:
6 chicken breasts
6 slices swiss cheese
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1/2 cup water
1 cup bread crumbs
1 stick melted butter

Directions
1. Clean and arrange chicken breasts in a casserole dish.
2. Place one slice of swiss cheese on each breast.
3. Mix the Cream of Chicken soup with the water and pour/spread it over the chicken.
4. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top.
5. Drizzle butter on top of bread crumbs
6. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees, or until chicken is done (juices run clear in middle) The swiss cheese, cream of chicken, and butter make the gravy.

I served it with rice (whatever kind I had in the pantry). When the rice was done, I rolled in a bag of heated-up frozen veggie medley. Easy! And the chicken turns out very tender (I am picky about chicken!)

Comfort Food

Well, I appreciate this site! I have a hard time thinking "outside the box" when it comes to cooking. So, here's a simple favorite that is always good, no matter what! I got this recipie from the Kraft Foods magazine. It's free, and comes every few months or so. All the recipies are pretty simple. ENJOY!

Chicken Pot Pie

Time: about 1 hour-serves about 1 hour

Ingredients:

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/4 c. Italian dressing

4 oz. Neufchatel cheese (lower fat cream cheese)

2 Tbsp. flour

1/2 c. chicken broth

1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen mixed vegetables, thawed.

1 refrigerated pie crust (15 oz. pkg.)

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees.

COOK chicken in italian dressing in large skillet on med. heat for 2 min.

ADD neufchatel cheese; COOK and STIR until melted. ADD flour; MIX well.

ADD broth and vegetables; SIMMER 5 min.

POUR mixture into 10-in. pie plate (I actually put pie crust on top and bottom, they only

do it on the top.)

ARRANGE pie crust over filling; flute edges. Cut four slits in crust to allow steam to

escape.

BAKE 30 min. or until crust is golden brown.