Macaroni and Cheese!

Tweet

Macaroni and Cheese

A meal to empty the fridge to feed 6 big people with leftovers for lunch

Recipe based on Betty Crocker Recipe.

Ingredients

2 lbs uncooked elbow macaroni
1 cup butter or other fat
1 cup flour (whole wheat works fine)
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
8 cups milk
8 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (2 lbs)

Add-ins

2 lbs ground pork or bulk sausage

1-2 cups chopped onion

1/2-1 cup chopped spring garlic

2 bunches radishes, thinly sliced or small cubes

1/4-1/2 lb spinach, cut into 2 in squares or so.

Instructions

*In a medium pot or frying pan, brown the meat.  You can reserve the drippings as a portion of the fat for the sauce if you like.

*While meat is browning, chop and sauté the hard veggies: onions, garlic, radishes, etc.  Cabbage stems or broccoli would also be included in this step if you are using them.  I end up with a medium pot of cooked veggies by the time I am done with at least as much volume as the meat.

*Set the meat and veggies aside while you prepare the sauce and noodles.

*Put a large pan of water on to boil, cook your pasta, drain and return to your large pot while making the sauce.

*Make a roux: melt the butter/fat.  Add in your flour, salt, pepper, mustard and Worcestershire sauce.  Whisk and simmer until the flour smells toasty.

*Slowly add your milk, while whisking to prevent scorching.  Bring to bubbling.  add cheese in portions.  melt before adding the next handful.  You can use the whisk to keep stirring to help melt and prevent scorching.

*Once your noodles and sauce are ready, combine the meat and veggies with the noodles and stir-then add the sauce and stir again.

*If you are using chopped spinach, you may add it to the noodles with the other vegetables.  The steam and heat from the noodles will wilt the spinach just fine.

*Serve and enjoy!*

Honey Sauteed Radishes

Tweet

Honey Sautéed Radishes

Ingredients

1 Lg Bunch Radishes: topped and sliced in half

1 Tbsp Butter

½ Cup Chicken Stock

1 Tbsp Honey

¼ cup minced onions, shallots or spring onions

Salt to taste

Directions

1. Melt butter in pan. Sautee onions until soft.
2. Add radishes, stir until coated in butter.
3. Add stock and honey. Cover and simmer 10 minutes.
4. Remove cover; simmer until liquid thickens to glaze.
5. Add salt as desired and serve warm.

The BEST Egg Salad Ever!

Tweet

So we all know how scientific I typically am about my recipes.  This one's different...

Okay I was just kidding.  I do have some recipes that I'm pretty particular about but this isn't one of them.

Margaret's Amazing Egg Salad 
(based loosely on a Betty Crocker Recipe)

Serves about 6 humans.
(count your children accordingly, some days mine are worth 1 human each, sometimes they total 1/4 human...)

Pumpkin Potato Pancakes

Tweet

A.K.A. Pumpkin Latkas

Part Hannukah, part Thanksgiving, part necessity.



I was surfing the web looking for inspiration for an egg-free breakfast and these are what I came up with.  Egg free in part because my chickens are on strike again and store-bought eggs are just so different!  Egg-free in another part because as much as farm eggs are yummy and healthy and filling and delicious, some people still simply cannot eat eggs.

Oh yeah, and it's kid approved...



See that?  Sour cream not even touched...

Ethiopian Cabbage Dish

Tweet

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Ethiopian-Cabbage-Dish/Detail.aspx?evt19=1

Prep Time: 25 Minutes            Cook Time: 40 Minutes          Ready In: 1 Hour 5 Minutes

Servings: 5

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil

4 carrots, thinly sliced

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 head cabbage, shredded

5 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

Directions:

1.                  Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.

2.                  Cook the carrots and onion in the hot oil about 5 minutes.

3.                  Stir in the salt, pepper, cumin, turmeric, and cabbage and cook another 15 to 20 minutes.

4.                  Add the potatoes; cover. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until potatoes are soft, 20 to 30 minutes.

Gyoza

Gyoza, or Potstickers, are one of our favorite foods to eat because they cook quickly and are in a way, a meal in themselves.  Flavorful and a finger-food for those of us who have yet to master the art of chopsticks (and of course 2 year olds!)  Almost all of us adore them.  Recently, I ventured into making them myself rather than buying them out of the freezer section at the grocery store.  Except for the skins.  For now.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb Ground meat (pork, beef or chicken)
1/2 medium Cabbage, shredded
4 med. Carrots, shredded
6 crimini mushrooms, diced or shredded
1 small onion diced (or leek or green onion
fresh ginger, shredded, 1 med branch
minced garlic, 2 tbsp
salt, pepper to taste
soy sauce, 2 tbsp
gyoza skins, about 1 1/2 pkgs

Filling:

mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.
fill a small bowl with a couple of table spoons of water
line two cookie sheets with wax paper for freezing finished gyoza






Place a gyoza skin in the palm of one hand, use the other to place approximately 1 tbsp of filling on the middle.  Wet the edge of one side of the skin with water.



Fold the skin nearly in half around the filling.  Pinch one side to the other utilizing approximately 6 small folds on one side.  The resulting gyoza will end up in a slight half-moon shape with a flat bottom side.



Cooking:
(Fresh or frozen)
In a heavy frying pan (I like cast iron, but use your favorite), heat about 2 tbsp of oil over med-high heat (just shy of smoking).




Set gyoza in pan with space in between.  My size 8 pan holds about 10.
allow to fry until edges brown and gyoza release from bottom of pan.










Quickly pour in about 2 tbsp of water and cover until water evaporates.








When gyoza release from pan and are browned on the bottom, they are done!


Dip in soy sauce, gyoza sauce or your favorite sauce and Enjoy!



My home-made Gyoza came out beautifully!  There is a bit more ginger in these than many people are used to but it tastes great!  I also thought about making a veggie-only, adding more mushrooms, less meat in general, and about all the different versions I could make as the fresh veggies changed during the summer.

Every family has their own taste preferences.  Think of this recipe as a guide.  Mix, Match and change it around as you like until you find it perfect for your family!

Have Fun!

Stuffed Lamb

This Recipe comes from a book in my personal collection called "Over the Open Fire" by Pamela Alford with Johnny Nix.  This cookbook is for cooking over an open fire, usualy with cast iron however they also list how the recipes would be done in a kitchen and I always add notes to recipes I provide.

"Stuffed Rack of Lamb"

Notes: use cookware similarly sized and scaled to the amount of meat you are working with.  Also, any other cut of meat that you could stuff works as well, adjust cooking times and temperatures appropriately.  shoulder roasts, legs work well, as do chops: just cut from the side for stuffing.

Serving Size: 8
14" deep Cast Iron Dutch Oven
10" Skillet

Stuffed Rack
1 rack of lamb
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbs fresh parsley
3 tbs olive oil
1/4 cup onion, minced
3 tbsp butter

Basting Sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1/4 cup deli mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
4 tsp lemon juice
1 tbs water
1/4 tsp garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ginger, ground
1 tbs soy sauce

Instructions
With a knife sharpener from a knife block, poke a large hole all the way through the rack of lamb.  combine garlic, parsley, olive oil, butter and onion to make a paste.  stuff the paste into the hole in the lamb, as much as possible!    Stand rack bones up on a meat trivet and bake at 400' for 20 minutes.  mix the basting ingredients and bring to a boil.  reduce the oven ehat to 350' and baste every 20 minutes.  Total roasting time is approximately 1 hour 20 minutes, depending on the size of the rack.

Notes: For cuts like roasts or legs, I would monitor for doneness starting at about 40 minutes.  For chops, 20-30 minutes.  It may be a good idea, for chops especially, to consider marinating in the basting sauce after cutting for the stuffing but prior to stuffing and roasting.

Happy Eating!