Mac N Cheese

The last few days have been ones of change: packing up my belongings, starting a new job, and beginning a 3-week period of couch surfing. Overall, the new job has been surprisingly pleasant and couch surfing isn't all that bad with an air mattress and some good friends.

Because I am staying in other people's houses, my culinary adventures are going to be fairly limited over the next few weeks, but I am going to do my best to eat more than just scrambled eggs and peanut butter sandwiches. This week, the Tuesday night get-together was a potluck, so I decided to make the classic potluck entrée, mac n cheese. I bought all of the ingredients on the way there, showed up an hour early, and made the dish at my friends' house. Let's just say that there was none left at the end of the night =).

Baked Mac n' Cheese

Adapted from Southern Living

1 pound uncooked pasta -I used penne, the original recipe calls for cellentani

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

1 cup milk

1 (12-oz.) can evaporated milk

2 cups (8 oz.) shredded smoked Gouda cheese

1 (3-oz.) package cream cheese, softened

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper, divided

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 (8-oz.) package chopped cooked, smoked ham

2 cups cornflakes cereal, crushed

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare cellentani pasta according to package directions. Transfer hot pasta to a large bowl.

Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Gradually whisk in flour until smooth; cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk and evaporated milk; cook, whisking constantly, 3 to 5 minutes or until thickened. Whisk in Gouda, cream cheese, salt, and 1/4 tsp. ground red pepper, and nutmeg until smooth. Remove from heat, and stir in chopped ham.

Combine pasta and Gouda cheese mixture, and pour into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Stir together 2 cups crushed cereal, 2 Tbsp. melted butter, and remaining 1/4 tsp. ground red pepper; sprinkle over pasta mixture.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

A Classic

It seems that many of my friends have been in a state of perpetual sickness since January, so I finally decided to try my hand at a homemade, chicken noodle soup. I am so glad I did. The canned stuff just doesn't compare!

I made a batch of this stuff and ended up with about a quart for myself and 2 quarts for friends. Actually, I ended up eating 1 quart, freezing another, and giving the last one to a good friend who was sick. This is a fairly hearty soup, since I like to be able to eat one bowl and feel fairly full.

So good that all of it was eaten up before I got picture, sorry folks.

Classic, Get-Better-Now, Chicken Noodle Soup

Adapted from USA Weekend

2 quarts chicken broth

1 quart water

1 store-bought roast chicken

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 large onions, cut into medium dice

6 large carrots, peeled and cut into rounds or half rounds, depending on size

4 large stalks celery, sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

3 cups egg noodles

2 cup frozen green peas

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring broth and water to a simmer over medium-high heat in a large soup kettle. Meanwhile, separate chicken meat from skin and bones; reserve meat. Add skin and bones to the simmering broth. Reduce heat to low, partially cover and simmer until bones release their flavor, 20 to 30 minutes.

Strain broth through a colander into a large container; reserve broth and discard skin and bones. Return kettle to burner set on medium-high.

Add oil, then onions, carrots and celery. Sauté until soft, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add chicken, broth and thyme. Bring to a simmer.

At this point, you have a chicken soup base that can be made and refrigerated up to 3 days in advance. Return to a simmer before adding the rest of the ingredients, if you choose to make this in advance.

Once at a simmer, add the egg noodles and simmer for 10-20 minutes.

Before removing from heat, stir in frozen green peas and parsley.

Add salt and pepper, to taste.

Mmmm, Pumpkin

Deliciousness!

If you think making homemade biscuits is intimidating, then you don't own a pastry blender. Before I bought my hand-dandy pastry blender for a mere $2.50, I dreaded cutting butter into anything, especially biscuits, but now I am fine -nay, excited- to make biscuits! I am no longer afraid of cutting in butter and the mess that it leaves on my hands.

I realized I had some extra pumpkin that I had frozen a while back that needed to be used, and pumpkin biscuits just seemed perfect for this overcast and chilly day. The two year-old boy and I made them this morning and had a blast. He refused to mix the pumpkin in though and kept saying "yuck!" when he saw me do it. Oh well, he certainly liked eating them! I will be terribly sad when I say good-bye to him next week and start a new job for the summer. Just thinking about how next week is my last got me crying at the library toddler-time on Tuesday.

Ah well, time marches on =/.

Pumpkin Biscuits from Scratch!

Adapted from AllRecipes

Yield: 16-18 biscuits

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, or more to get biscuit dough consistency

3 tablespoons packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 cup butter, sliced

2 cups pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a large cookie sheet (or use a silpat!).

Stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the pumpkin and mix to form a soft dough.

On a lightly floured surface pat the dough out to 1/2 inch thick. Cut out biscuits with a round 2 inch cutter or use a cup. Place biscuits on the prepared cookie sheet.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm from the oven with a pat of butter.

Mmm, fresh out of the oven, still on my beautiful Silpat

Make me anything except a tuna salad sandwich

As some of you may know, my mother visited me about two weeks ago. We had a great time exploring Lexington and the small towns that surround it (Versailles, Georgetown, Midway, Wilmore) and she bought me lots of stuff that I had been too cheap to buy myself, like mascara and a candle lighter.

Because she is caring enough to not want to see her baby starve, she also stopped by the grocery store to get herself some cereal for breakfast and to pick me up some goodies while I was at work. Also, I asked for a can of tuna, since they were 3 for a dollar and I figured, heck, it's 33 cents, might as well get one. However, when she returned, she did not return with just one can of tuna, but 6. Thank goodness that stuff lasts forever. I like tuna a lot, but 6 cans is a lot for one person. Luckily, I have the internet to help me come up with more creative uses for tuna than just the typical tuna salad sandwich.

I love you, Mom. Thank you for all the yummy food and the great weekend.

Tuna Balls with Asparagus

Adapted from BBC

Makes 2 adult portions

Ready in 30 minutes

5oz can tuna in water, drained

1/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs

1/4 cup cheddar , finely grated

1 large egg , lightly beaten

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

2 tbsp olive oil , for frying

1 cup uncooked, wheat rotini pasta

10 stalks of asparagus

*you can always substitute frozen peas and add in at the same time as corn

a handful of frozen corn pieces

1 tablespoon parmesan cheese, grated

Cook the pasta according to directions. Add asparagus to the boiling pasta/water for the last 5 minutes, then add the corn for the last minute. Drain.

To make the tuna balls, spoon the tuna into a 2-3 cup bowl and stir in the breadcrumbs and grated cheese. Add the beaten egg and Italian seasoning and stir again until everything is well mixed.

Form into 8-10 balls the a tad smaller than ping-pong balls, then chill until you're ready to cook.

Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and fry the balls for 8-10 minutes, turning often, until they're golden brown. Drain them on a paper towel and keep warm.

Toss pasta, asparagus, corn, and tuna balls. Top with parmesan.