The original recipe calls this Macaroni and Cheese, I call it casserole. I think macaroni and cheese is just that, mac and cheese. There no veggies and it’s not baked. Casseroles are baked, as is this.

Back to start - this was soooo good. So incredibly good. Not very filling though, but so good. Would you believe that I wasn’t the one in my family who made this? Yep. My husband made it from beginning to end. When I came home, he already had it in the oven. I’m such a lucky girl!

My husband used whatever veggies we had, which happened to be broccoli, onions, and peppers. Next time, I’d love to add lots of mushrooms too. That’s the beauty about casseroles, you can add whatever you want and it’ll be a wonderfully tasting “belle melange”.

We also rarely have elbow macaroni in our house, so he used whole-wheat penne that was stashed somewhere in the back of our cupboards. Who knew that whole-wheat penne could taste this good? It didn’t taste “healthy” at all!

One thing before you run to make this - this requires cooked noodles, so give yourself extra time. This is also great when you have way too much left-over noodles, which always happens to me. Always.

It may not look pretty, but it sure is tasty.

Baked Pasta Casserole
(Original recipe from The Chef and Photographer)
Serves 6

Ingredients:
1 egg
1 cup low fat cottage cheese
3/4 cup low fat sour cream
1/2 cup non fat or low fat milk
2 TBS grated onion (we used chopped)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
2 cups (8 oz) grated cheese- you can use all cheddar or your favorite cheese or a combination whatever you have on hand
4 cups elbow noodles cooked (8oz uncooked)
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
2 tbs melted butter or olive oil
pinch of salt, pepper, and paprika

Directions:
Pre heat the oven to 350. In a bowl mix the egg through the ground pepper until mixed. Add in the cheese and mix, then fold in the cooked noodles. Spread into a greased 2 quart casserole pan and pat down to evenly fill the pan. In a small bowl, mix the bread crumbs, butter and salt, pepper, and paprika. Sprinkle over the pasta and cover the pan with foil. Bake for 30 minutes and uncover and bake another five minutes or until the bread crumbs brown.

*Feel free to add in anything you want along with the pasta. You could fold in some ham or broccoli, or maybe some roasted poblanos and use pepper jack cheese along with the cheddar cheese.

This was the easiest thing to make. You will need roasted peanuts and a food processor. I used store-bought peanuts and and a tiny kitchen-aid chopper that I use almost daily (i don’t have a food processor). So the end result was crunchy, really thick peanut butter. 1 cup filled 1/2cup storage container. Since we don’t eat peanut butter much, I think it’ll last us a while.

Home-Made Peanut Butter
Makes 1/2 cup

Ingredients:
1 cup roasted peanuts (you can use regular roasted, honey roasted, whatever you have on hand)
1 teaspoon of oil (1 teaspoon per 1 cup)

Directions:
Mix the peanuts with the oil and pour everything in the food chopper/processor. Chop until the peanut butter is the consistency you want. Add salt to taste. You can add honey (or molasses) if you want sweeter peanut butter.

(my little hand chopper couldn’t make anything smoother than crunch peanut butter).

After 3 tries, I finally did it. It finally happened! I baked bread. It actually took me two tries tonight to get it right. The first time I didn’t add enough flour, so the dough was very very wrong (sticky and not dry enough). Then, I tried again and it was perfect! I now know what dough is supposed to really feel like.

Last week, I wrote about my fear of my kitchenaid mixer. That same day, I was looking on various websites and found a recipe for Alton Brown’s Soft Pretzels. I bookmarked it and tried to make them that same night. No luck. I don’t know if I had old yeast, or I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing, but it didn’t foam like it was supposed to.

Since this was my first time eating bread fresh out of the oven, I was blown away. I now understand why people bake their own bread. No matter how fresh store-bought bread is, it’s never as good as the one you make at home. Now, this makes me wonder, does the bread made in a break maker taste as good as one made in the oven (?)

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I was so busy at work that I didn’t even realize that I had to plan for dinner until about an hour before it was time to leave. I sent Andy an email with three options with quesadillas and the sides as one of the options (duh).

I have never cooked tomatillos and, honestly, I didn’t even realize that salsa verde (green salsa) was made with tomatillos. I just always assumed that it was made with green tomatoes. Boy, was I wrong! I recently started watching Rick Bayless’ “One Plate at a Time” and really like how simple and easy his cooking appears to be. So, when I was looking for a recipe for salsa verde, I went straight to the source.

In the end, I actually used two recipes (sorry Rick). The recipe below is for what I did, but I will also include the links to the two recipes I referenced.

Since I was going to attempt to make an authentic Mexican meal, I decided to make the quesadillas with Chihuahua cheese. Once again, this was a first for me. I actually emailed a couple of Mexican ladies (that I see everyday on the train) to ask for their opinion and advice.

Whenever we make guacamole, we have chips. Not store bought chips. Semi-Home made chips. It’s so incredibly easy, you don’t even know. They’re (nearly) fat free, crunchy, fresh, salty, and delicious. The recipe (if you can call that) is below.

Tomatillo Salsa Verde

Ingredients:
4 small/medium Tomatillos
1/2 of a small red onion
1 canned chipotle chiles in adobo, removed from the canning sauce, seeded and finely chopped
juice from 1/2 a (small) lime
some cilantro (to taste)
Salt to taste

Directions

Cut the tomatillos in 1/2 and and set, face down, on a non-stick skillet over medium heat. When they are browned, 3-4 minutes, flip and brown the other side. While the tomatillos are cooking, chop the onion and the chile. When the tomatillos are done, cut them in smaller pieces and combine the chiles, onion, and tomatillos in a food processor. Pulse until all the ingredients are finely chopped and mixed.  Season with salt and cool in the fridge. 

Rick Bayless’ Recipe
Simply Recipes’ Recipe

“Home-Made” Corn Chips

Ingredients:
Corn Tortillas (1 small tortilla makes 4 large chips)
Olive Oil Spray 
Coarse Salt

Directions
Preheat the oven to 450. While the oven is preheating, cut the tortillas into 4ths (for small tortillas). Spread the chips on a cookie sheet or baking pan. Spray the chips with olive oil spray and then sprinkle with lots of salt. Bake the chips for 10 minutes or so. Check the chips every few minutes because they can burn fairly quickly. That’s it! Simple, quick, and super tasty.

I really really didn’t plan tonight’s dinner. Andy offered to pick up food on his way home and, honestly, I felt so tempted to agree. I really didn’t have energy to cook or any idea of what I wanted to make. So I suggested the first thing that came to my mind – pasta. So pasta I made!

Once I got home, I looked through my fridge and kind of freaked out. I had no tomatoes, no sauce, no idea what to make with the pasta. I found some scallions that were close to being extremely gross and found a recipe for scallion sauce online. The only requirement was that the sauce had to be quick and easy. It was. I used angel hair pasta that cooked incredibly fast and the whole meal took less than 30 minutes to make. Lovely. I added some other veggies to the pasta and Andy added some sliced chicken sausage to his.

(forewarning – I barely followed the recipe and used it primarily as a guide)

Spaghetti with Scallion Sauce
(epicurious)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb pasta of your choice
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 4 cups chopped scallions (from 4 bunches)
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped*
• 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 oz finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1/2 cup)

*I found this a tiny bit bland. I recommend adding a lot more garlic and, maybe, some heat (?)

Directions:

Cook spaghetti in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water until al dente.

While pasta cooks, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then cook scallions and garlic, stirring occasionally, until scallions are softened and garlic begins to turn golden, about 5 minutes.

Transfer scallion mixture to a blender and add zest, salt, pepper, remaining olive oil, and 1/2 cup pasta-cooking water, then purée until smooth. (Use caution when blending hot liquids.)

Drain pasta in a colander and return to pot.

Toss pasta with scallion purée, cheese, and salt and pepper to taste over moderate heat until pasta is well coated.

I’ve been feeling a bit tired of eating meat every night and couldn’t figure out what to make for dinner. I’ve been wanting to make my own jam for a while, so when I found this recipe for the pancakes, I knew it was fate.

Both are fairly simple to make and don’t really require any fancy ingredients. To me, these can easily replace a dessert, especially if you add a tad bit more cinnamon and some apples. I’m going to So here we go -

Cinnamon Polenta Pancakes:
(Food & Wine Magazine)

Ingredients:
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup water

Directions:

1. In one bowl, combine all the dry ingredients (flour, cornmeal, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt)
2. In a separate bowl, combine & wisk all the wet ingredients (buttermilk, eggs, olive oil, and water)
3. Whisk the liquid ingredients in with the dry ingredients. If you have some small lumps, it’s ok.
4. Set a griddle or skillet over medium high heat and spray it with vegetable oil spray. When the pan is hot, spoon in 1/4-cup of batter and spread it to form 4” rounds. Cook the pancakes until the bottoms are browned and bubbles appear on the surface, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook until browned on the bottom, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Serve pancakes warm.

Cranberry Jam:
(Gourmet)

Ingredients:

• 1 (12-oz) bag fresh or frozen cranberries (not thawed; 3 1/2 cups)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
• 1 cup water

Directions:

• Bring all ingredients to a boil in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 20 minutes (jam will continue to thicken as it cools).
• Force jam through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, discarding skins and seeds. Cool, stirring occasionally.

COOKS’ NOTE: Jam can be made 4 days ahead and chilled, covered

So I ended up adding a little meat to my meal, who can resist bacon? I found a center-cut bacon that is fairly comparable to the turkey bacon we usually get but doesn’t have as many chemicals.

Tonight, I made granola. My favorite thing to eat for breakfast is granola with yogurt. I always use store-bought granola to add to my vanilla yogurt but today, I decided to make my own.

I saw this recipe a long time ago and bookmarked for future use. Today, while looking for recipes for tomorrow’s dinner, I stumbled upon the recipe (once again).

This is incredibly easy to make and fairly quick. You can constantly change-up the ingredients and flavors.

Confession – I left it in the oven a minute or two too long and it got a little burnt. I didn’t really mind it, but when I make this again I will watch it more carefully. Also, halfway through eating it, I realized that I completely forgot the add the dried cherries. Again, I didn’t mind it at all. Tomorrow’s breakfast will be incredibly delicious.

Ingredients:

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut*

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup sliced almonds (1 oz)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup green (hulled) pumpkin seeds, sometimes called pepitas (1 1/2 oz; not roasted)
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup mild honey
Pinch cinnamon
Pinch salt (flaky sea salt is wonderful in here)
1 cup tart dried cherries

1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup dried pears (1/4 inch dice)
1/2 cup diced dried apricots (1/4 inch dice)
1/3 cup golden raisins
- or -
2 3/4 cups mixed dried fruit of your choice (I used pears, apricots, strawberries, cherries and cranberries)

Directions:

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F. Stir together all ingredients except the fruit in a large bowl until combined. Spread mixture evenly on a large (17-by 12-inch) shallow baking pan lined with parchment paper and bake, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes, but checking every five minutes after the 15-minute mark because it burns quickly.** Transfer granola, in pan, to rack to cool stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes.

Stir in dried fruit.

Granola keeps, frozen (the fruit’s moisture softens granola if not kept frozen) in an airtight container, a few months.

Last month, I discovered the sweet potato. Yes. Before then, I have never cooked a sweet potato. The only time I ate it was at my inlaws’ house on Thanksgiving. Finally, I got enough courage to make something with sweet potatoes. This salad was my first real dish and it turned out amazing. I since gave the recipe to a co-worker who said the same thing. Amazing.

Ingredients:
4 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 large onion, preferably red, chopped 
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons minced fresh hot chili, like jalapeño
1 clove garlic, peeled
Juice of 2 limes
2 cups cooked black beans, drained (canned are fine)
1 red or yellow bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro.

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Put sweet potatoes and onions on a large baking sheet, drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil, toss to coat and spread out in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast, turning occasionally, until potatoes begin to brown on corners and are just tender inside, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven; keep on pan until ready to mix with dressing.

2. Put chilies in a blender or mini food processor along with garlic, lime juice, remaining olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Process until blended.

3. Put warm vegetables in a large bowl with beans and bell pepper; toss with dressing and cilantro. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve warm or at room temperature, or refrigerate for up to a day.

Yield: 4 servings

(Source of Recipe)

For Thanksgiving, I made exactly 1 contribution – Cranberry Sauce. To my taste, it was amazing. The recipe is simple and it can be whipped up very quickly.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1 (12-ounce) package fresh or frozen cranberries, rinsed, drained and sorted through, removing any stems or deflated ones (I used fresh, Ocean Spray cranberries)
Several strips of orange peel, or thick pieces of zest
A few squeezes of orange juice (I used the juice from a fresh orange)

Directions
Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil; add cranberries and zest, return to boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10-14 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a few squeezes of fresh orange juice. Cover and cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate until serving time.

Source (and other cranberry sauce recipes)