Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

I love mac and cheese.  It is just one of those great comfort foods that will always make me feel better about everything.  The wife had a dream about mac and cheese so I had to go after this one.   This will also be a great learning experience for creating another French sauce, a cheese béchamel sauce or mornay sauce.  Also great on broccoli and cauliflower or make it with American cheese for nachos.

1 lb large elbow macaroni

10 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese

8 oz gruyere cheese

3 cups milk

3 tbsp butter

3 tbsp flour

1 tbsp powdered mustard (found in the spice area)

1 large egg

Salt and pepper to taste

Topping:

3 tbsp butter

1 cup panko bread crumbs

¼ cup parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350.  Bring salted and oiled water to boil for pasta.  Cook pasta to a hard al dente as it will continue to cook during baking. 

If you have read my blog about biscuits and gravy we will be starting this sauce the same way with a roux.  Start by melting the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat.  Whisk in the flour and mustard and let cook for about a minute.  Now slowly add the milk while stirring.  This will thicken while heating.  Whisk egg in separate bowl.  We want to add the egg without making it scramble so we are going to temper in the egg to the sauce.  To do this take about 2 tablespoons of the béchamel and add it to the egg and mix.  Do this twice to bring up the temperature of the egg without cooking it.  Now add this mix back to the sauce pan with the rest of the sauce.  Add in ¾ of both the cheeses reserving the rest for topping.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Add the sauce to the drained pasta.  Pour the cheesed pasta into a 13x9 baking dish.

In small sauté pan melt butter and add panko bread crumbs till they are covered in butter.  Mix bread crumbs rest of cheddar, gruyere and parmesan cheese together.   Cover the top of the mac with this mixture.  Bake until topping is browned roughly 10-15 minutes.

Serve and enjoy.

Orange Glazed Pork

Orange Glazed Pork

So we like to do a lot of asian style meals.  Here is a decent orange glaze that we used on pork but would also be very good for chicken.  This is also very quick to prepare and really only takes as long as the rice takes to cook which for brown rice is 20-25 minutes.

2 pork loin chops

2 tbsp olive oil

1 orange

1/3 cup orange marmalade

1 clove garlic

1 tbsp ginger

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 package Bird’s Eye vegetables (I used the broccoli, carrots, and sugar snap peas one.)

2 cups prepared brown rice

20-25 minutes cook time

Prepare brown rice.  Prepare pork or chicken by seasoning with salt and pepper.  Warm pan with olive oil and cook chosen meat.  Brown on each side until completely cooked (to shorten cooking time pound meat and make it even thickness).  Remove meat from pan and chopped garlic and ginger.  Let cook for 1-2 minutes.  Add juice of orange to deglaze pan then add orange marmalade and soy sauce.  Let this reduce for 5 or so minutes and add meat back to pan.  Cook Bird’s Eye vegetables in microwave 4-5 minutes.

To serve put brown rice in bowl and add a little bit of the orange sauce then top with vegetables and finally meat.  Add sauce over the top and enjoy.

Chicken Pamesan

So I have chicken thawed, got home from work late, and the wife is busy playing World of Warcraft.  Didn't really want to do the same old chicken and Pasta Roni.  So here is what I put together.  Uh ya no pictures for this one it didn't last that long.

1 minute prep 10-15 minutes cook time

2 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 Jar of your favorite tomato sauce (I used Roasted Garlic Classico)
2 oz Mozzarella cheese
1 oz Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp Olive oil
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tbsp Granulated garlic
2 tsp Salt and pepper
2 Servings pasta of your choice

So this is pretty easy.  Preheat oven to 375.  Put saute pan on medium heat and add oil.  Pound out chicken breast to even out the thickness so it will cook evenly.  Add italian seasoning, granulated garlic, salt and pepper to chicken.  After oil is hot add breasts and let cook till slightly browned on each side.  Now add jar of tomato sauce to pan and mix.  Top chicken breasts with both mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.  Cover pan and cook for 10 minutes or until cheese has melted and chicken breasts are done.  While chicken is in oven cook pasta.  When cooking pasta always be sure to add about a tablespoon of salt to flavor the water and a tablespoon of olive oil to keep it from foaming.

Put pasta down first then top with sauce and a little more parmesan cheese.  Then top it all with chicken breast.

Two Layer Cheesecake

Two Layer Cheesecake

My dad used to make this style of cheesecake.  It isn’t your typical New York style since the flavoring is included in the filling.  Then it has a sour cream topping to add a little tang.  This one have the recipe for here is for key lime.  A nice balance of sweet and tart but other flavors can be done as well.  If using other flavors you will need to taste often to make sure it doesn’t get overly sweet.  Popular ones I have made are Espresso, pumpkin caramel, chocolate peanut butter, and all sorts of berries.  I also use different crusts for them.  This one is made with Nilla Wafers but graham crackers or even Oreos have made great crusts. 

2 Layer Cheesecake

Crust:

1 stick butter

2 cups crushed Nilla Wafers

1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.

Melt butter.  Mix cinnamon and crushed Nilla Wafers.  Add butter until it is the consistency of wet sand.  Should be able to clump together but still fall apart.  Press into the bottom of 12 inch spring form pan.

Bake for about 10 minutes  until slightly browned.  Be sure to watch it as most ovens have hot spots.  You may need to rotate half way through cooking.

Filling:

3 packs cream cheese (I only use Philadelphia brand)

3 eggs

3/4-1 cup sugar

1/2 tbsp vanilla use real vanilla

Zest and juice of 20 key limes.

Preheat oven to 350

Make sure everything is at room temp as it will mix and cook better.  Add cream cheese, eggs, sugar, and vanilla into large mixing bowl.  The best way to do this is with an electric mixer.  If you do not have one then mix together as well as you can then finish with a whisk.  Mix until it is smooth and creamy almost the consistency of pudding.  Last add in zest and juice of about 20 key limes.  (Zest is the outside peel of citrus fruit.  I use the zester on my 3 sided cheese grater, make sure to only take off the colored part as the white part under is very bitter.)  Taste the filling to make sure it has enough lime flavor and sugar.  Add more if needed. 

Pour on top of crust in spring form pan.  Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes.  The edges of the cheesecake should just be starting to brown.  When this happens turn off the oven and let it sit in oven for another 15 minutes.  This will allow it to continue cooking but keep the filling from drying out and cracking when it cools.

Cool overnight in refrigerator.

Topping:

1 24 oz tub of sour cream

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tbsp vanilla

Zest and juice of 6 key limes.

Preheat oven to 300.

Mix all ingredients well.  Taste mix.  It should be sweet but have a nice tartness from the key limes.  Add more sugar or key limes if needed.  Pour on the top of the cheesecake.  Take note that the topping is glossy.  Bake in oven approximately 15 minutes until the top is no longer glossy.  Place in refrigerator and let cool several hours so topping can set.

Slice and enjoy.