Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Nowadays people just don't make homemade macaroni and cheese--they think they don't have enough time to do it. Honestly, it doesn't take a whole lot of effort, but what you get out of it makes it seem like it did. Do yourself a favor and make some homemade mac n cheese and forget about the boxed stuff. I promise you'll be glad you did!

You can even make this on the weekend.  Prepare everything, don't bake it, and put it in the refrigerator and bake it later in the week.

Before I go into the list of ingredients I just want to say that the cheese you buy for this will determine the overall taste. Of course it will... it's macaroni and CHEESE. You can buy the already shredded stuff, which will be OK. You can even buy blocks of cheese from your favorite grocery store name brands, which will be OK. Or you can buy cheese from the deli area, those special cheeses that are kept away from all the 'regular' brands, the special cheeses that are imported. Those are the cheeses you want. The cost difference is not significant, but the flavor difference sure is. So take the time to peruse those cheeses in the deli area and pick some that look good to you. You can use any combination of cheeses you like, just be sure to use the number of ounces I point out here. Smoked cheddar is really good in this, and so is Gruyere. So it's really up to you what cheese you prefer.


Ingredients:
1 lb. pasta (you can use any pasta your heart desires)
8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese
8 ounces jack cheese
2 ounces cream cheese
4 Tbsp. butter, plus butter to butter baking dish (Whoa! I used "butter" a lot there)
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup flour
1 shallot, minced
Pinch of garlic powder
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and Pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a large baking dish.

Grate cheddar and jack cheeses. To make this easier you can use a food processor. Set aside.

Cook pasta according to package directions, decreasing cooking time by 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium low heat. Once the butter is melted add the shallot and cook for about 5 minutes, until slightly softened. Sprinkle in the flour. Whisk together and cook for about 2 minutes. Slowly add the milk, whisking at the same time. Cook the milk and flour mixture for about 10 minutes, whisking often, until slightly thickened. Remove from heat. Add the cream cheese and all but 2 ounces of the grated cheeses to the sauce and stir together until the cheese is melted into the sauce. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper. Stir together.

Pour the cheese sauce over the cooked pasta and stir to combine. Pour the macaroni and cheese into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with the leftover grated cheeses. Bake for 25 minutes or until the top is a nice golden brown.

Now serve yourself a dish of this ooey gooey deliciousness and enjoy!

Until next time...

Lady by the Bay

Warm Ginger Apple Crisp

Fruit crisps are one of my very favorite desserts and are one of the simplest things to make.  There's no crust involved, just lots of delicious crumbles that go on top of fresh fruit and get crispy as they bake.  People sometimes confuse crisps and cobblers.  Crisps are usually a topping of brown sugar, oats, flour, and butter, whereas cobbler is a pastry type topping, similar to biscuits.  Both are very good, but crisps are just what I prefer.

This recipe is for apple crisp, but you can use any fruit you like.  If you do not have ramekins or want to make one large apple crisp, just use a 9 x 13-inch baking dish instead.

Ingredients:
3 Granny Smith apples
3 sweet apples of your choice (I used Gala)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

For the topping:

3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
6 ginger snaps
1 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 stick salted butter, chilled, cut into small pieces, plus 1 Tbsp. to butter ramekins

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel and core apples, slice thinly and place in a large bowl. Sprinkle sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice over apples and gently toss to combine. Set aside.

Place ginger snaps in a Ziploc bag and crush with a rolling pin or a meat mallet. Alternatively, you could run them through a food processor or a blender. Combine oats, ginger snaps, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut in butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Set aside.

Lightly butter ramekins and placed on a rimmed baking sheet. Fill each ramekin with apples, pressing the apples down and really packing them in. Top each one with crumb topping, pressing it into the apples.  It is fine if the topping overflows (that's what the baking sheet is for).  You want to get as much as you can into each one, as the apples will bake down.

Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until the topping is a nice golden brown.

Cool the crisps on a wire rack for about 15 minutes before serving. Serve warm with your favorite ice cream. I served ours with butter pecan caramel swirl ice cream. Mmmmm!

Enjoy!

Until next time...

Lady by the Bay

Inspiration - Be Yourself

Chicken Tortilla Soup

It hasn't been soup weather around here lately, but I had some leftover rotisserie chicken and some corn on the cob from the farmer's market, and that's what I wanted to make with it... tortilla soup. For the most part we usually have the other ingredients already in our pantry, so it's pretty easy to just throw this soup together. Make some quesadillas and open an ice cold beer, and you've got yourself one tasty, festive dinner.

This can easily be made during the week, as it takes no more than an hour from start to finish. You can substitute tortilla chips for making the strips, as well as frozen corn for the fresh grilled corn, to cut down on time.  Tip: Grill more corn than you need, cut it all off the cob and store the extra in the freezer in a sealed freezer bag.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pasilla pepper, diced
1 small red bell pepper or half a large red bell pepper, diced
1 rotisserie chicken, meat picked off and shredded/chopped
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes

1/2 cup salsa verde/green salsa
64 oz. low sodium chicken broth

2 ears of corn
2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. chipotle chili powder
1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. kosher salt
6 corn tortillas

2 Tbsp. canola or vegetable oil

Queso fresco
Scallions
Lime
Avocado

I forgot to add this in the original photo of ingredients...

I had half a rotisserie chicken of meat leftover as well as some grilled chicken from the week before that I had put in the freezer, so use any chicken you have on hand.

Directions:
Heat a large pot on medium heat and add olive oil. Add onion, garlic, peppers and salt to pot and cook about 10 minutes. Add chili powders and cumin, stir together and cook for about 1 minute.

Add tomatoes, beans, chicken broth, salsa, and chicken to the pot. Stir and cook over medium heat for 30 minutes.  

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Brush canola oil over both sides of each tortilla. Cut into strips. Lay strips out onto a rimmed baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes, until strips are brown and crispy.

While the soup and tortilla strips are cooking, grill the corn. Drizzle some olive oil over the corn then place on a grill, heated on high. Grill over high heat for about 10 minutes, turning often. You want to get some charring on the corn and bring in a nice smoky grilled flavor, but not burnt.  You want it to be similar to the picture below.  When the corn is done let it cool a minute and then cut it off the cob and add it to the soup.

When the soup has finished cooking, ladle into bowls and top with queso fresco, avocado, scallions, tortilla strips, and a squeeze of lime. Enjoy!

Until next time...

Lady by the Bay

Unique Bookmarks - Cool Product!

I just stumbled upon these adorable bookmarks on Etsy. Yes, I still read actual books and not just a Kindle! Don't get me wrong, I think Kindle is great, but there's nothing like holding a book, flipping its pages, and the smell of the paper. If you're like me, love books, and love cute, artsy things, then you should check these out. I want the flip flop ones!  No, wait, I want the Dorothy slippers ones!  No, wait, I want...

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 banana, sliced (optional)
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-inch loaf pan.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat with a mixer until blended. Add bananas, buttermilk, egg, egg white, Greek yogurt and beat together until all combined. Add flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix well until combined. Fold in walnuts.

Pour batter into loaf pan. Place banana slices along the top, like so:

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack for about 15 minutes and then remove from pan and allow to continue to cool on the wire rack.

Enjoy!

Until next time...

Lady by the Bay