Macaroni and Cheese

Cooks' Country Mac and Cheese

Serves 8 to 10.
Ingredients
3–4 slices hearty white sandwich bread , torn into large pieces
8 tablespoons unsalted butter , 4 tablespoons melted
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt
1 pound elbow macaroni
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 (12-ounce) cans evaporated milk (I could swear that they used 4 on the show!)
2 teaspoons hot sauce
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 cups shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/4 cups shredded American cheese , (about 5 ounces) from the deli counter, not sliced or velveeta
3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Pulse bread, melted butter, and Parmesan in food processor until ground to coarse crumb. Transfer to bowl.
2. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add 1 tablespoon salt and macaroni to boiling water and cook until al dente, about 6 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup macaroni cooking water, then drain and rinse macaroni in colander under cold running water. Set aside.
3. Melt remaining 4 tablespoons butter in now-empty pot over medium-high heat until foaming. Stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture turns light brown, about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in evaporated milk, hot sauce, nutmeg, mustard, and 2 teaspoons salt and cook until mixture begins to simmer and is slightly thickened, about 4 minutes. Off heat, whisk in cheeses and 1/2 cup reserved pasta water until cheese melts. Stir in macaroni until completely coated.
4. Transfer mixture to 13 by 9-inch baking dish and top with bread crumb mixture. Bake until cheese is bubbling around edges and top is golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
Make Ahead: The macaroni and cheese can be made in advance through step 3; since the pasta continues to absorb moisture, adjustments must be made to avoid a dry filling. To do so, increase amount of reserved pasta cooking water to 1 cup. Pour filling into 13 by 9-inch baking dish, lay plastic wrap directly on surface of pasta, and refrigerate for up to 1 day. The bread crumb mixture may be refrigerated in airtight container up to 2 days. When ready to bake, remove plastic wrap, cover macaroni mixture with foil, and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle bread crumbs over top, and bake until topping is golden brown, about 20 minutes longer.

NOTE: I made this last night and it is delicious! I actually forgot to use the monterey jack cheese, so we used extra american and a little extra cheddar. The evaporated milk clearly makes the difference in the creaminess of this. So delicious!

Yay!!!! She finally did it!

I have been thinking for the 1.5 years that I've been reading the Pioneer Woman's website, she should have her own recipe website
AND she did!!!!

Introducing "Tasty Kitchen"

Check it out!

Best Banana Bread, ever!

We've been making this banana bread for several years and LOVE it! The original recipe was from a book of recipes that were contributed by all the people that worked for Norwest Investments & Trust back in 1996. I doctored it up and made a couple of changes to make it our own and it is delicious and moist.


Banana Bread

1 cup milk
2 tbsp vinegar (white is preferable, but otherwise cider is ok)
1 cup oil
2 1/2 cups flour
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup mashed bananas (or approximately 2 brown bananas)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (or if you are using the black coated pans, preheat to 325-335 degrees).
Add 2 tbsp vinegar to milk and set aside. Mix the remaining ingredients, except the baking soda, together in a mixer. Add the baking soda to the milk mixture and stir well. Let rest for a minute or two. Gradually add the milk mixture to the flour mixture with your mixer on low.
Divide the batter between two loaf pans that have been sprayed with the non-stick baking spray. (I love the size of the IKEA loaf pans, long and narrow).
Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes and then remove from the pan and continue cooling on a wire rack, or just dig right in a start eating!

hint: what to do with the last brown (or sometime black) banana that is left from the bunch? peel it and put it in a ziploc sandwich bag in the freezer. I'll usually free 2 or 3 bananas together, depending on their size, adding bananas to the bag as they turn brown. Then, when I want to bake banana bread, I've got mashed bananas all ready to go in the freezer. You can thaw them in the microwave or just let them sit on the counter for an hour.

Banana Nut Waffles (sans nuts)

Shortly after Dan and I were married, we were shopping at the Mall of America. We stopped in to Williams-Sonoma to check out the clearance section (they have a great clearance section!). This particular visit, we found a Cuisinart Belgian Waffle Maker for $20, SCORE!
Ever since then, we've made homemade waffles on a regular basis ever since.
Louie loves "awfuls!"

Sunday morning, when we got back from church, I whipped up some waffles and used my rotten bananas that I was saving for banana bread. They were delicious!

I had a recipe for Banana Nut Waffles, but didn't have all the ingredients, so I just made up my own recipe with that other one as a guide.

2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl.
In a separate bowl whisk together:
2 eggs
6 tbsp vegetable oil
Stir into dry ingredients and then add
1 cup yogurt
3/4 cup milk
1 cup mashed banana

Let batter rest for 5 minutes before using. Preheat waffle iron. When the iron is ready, add batter and spread with a spatula to 1/4 inch of the edge. Close lid, when the green light turns on

Voila, you've got some delicious waffles to serve with maple syrup!

Louie can eat two of these, they're so good!

The recipe will make about 12 waffles. Any extras can be cooled on a cooling rack and then frozen in a zipper freezer bag for a quick breakfast. We've never bought Eggo's yet!

Best Hamburgers EVER!

My sister-in-law, Tesa shared this recipe with me earlier this spring and I'm addicted and converted. I used to be strictly a Lipton Onion Soup Burger consumer. We have converted to Hidden Valley Ranch Burgers. They're delicious and super juicy.
Here's the recipe:

2# of 80/20 ground beef (the fat content in the ground beef is very important when putting burgers on the grill)
6 Tbsp of dry Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing Mix (I have the big Sam's Club jar of mix, it's much cheaper)
1 large Vidalia onion, sliced thick
olive oil
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp of vegetable oil

Mix the ground beef and the dressing mix thoroughly, but don't be too rough with it.
Divide the ground beef in half and each half into thirds. Or about 5.75 ounces each (for third pound burgers).
Shape each third of beef into a ball and shape into a burger.
or . . . you can use this handy dandy little gadget: Robinsons Tastee Ring Burger Press

This burger press makes perfect burgers that stay flat on the grill. No little burger balls that are charred and don't fit into your bun! This burger press works perfectly with 1/3 pound burgers. It is the perfect size burger.
Put a piece of plastic wrap in the bottom of the press and then put the ball of beef on top. Cover with plastic wrap and then press with the top of the Tastee Ring Burger Press.

Voila! a perfect burger for your prepared charcoal grill!

Here's our grill with the coals getting ready for the burgers.

Once your coals are ready, prepare your grill for direct grilling. Preheat your grill grate and clean the grate. Use a folded paper towel to oil your grill grate (carefully).

Drizzle the sliced onion with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place the burgers and the onions on the grill and cover. Grill on each side for 5 minutes. Flip once (don't turn over again, they could break apart). Cook for an additional 4 minutes and add a slice of cheese if you'd like it (and who doesn't??). Put the lid on the grill for an additional minute and then remove the burgers and onion slices.

Serve on a good bun with the onion slices and condiments of your choice.

Enjoy! We enjoyed! That's why there aren't any pictures of the finished product!

These are great burgers.

Delicious Garlic Potatoes

Goes with anything! really tasty and delicious.

8 yukon gold potatoes
6 cloves of garlic, thin sliced
1/4 cup of butter
2 tbsp olive oil
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Using a wooden spoon as a cradle, place each potato in the spoon and make several parallel slits into each potato top making sure not to slice completely through. Place 3 garlic slices between slits at the crown of each potato. Toss in a medium bowl with butter and olive oil. Place on a baking sheet and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Bake until tops are crispy and potatoes are cooked through, about 1 hour. Transfer to a platter and top with Herbed Sour Cream.

Herbed Sour Cream:
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Combine ingredients in a small bowl. Season, to taste, and refrigerate until use.

Kona Crusted Sirloin

If you've ever been to the Capital Grill, you may have ordered the Kona Crusted Sirloin. It's delicious! Definitely, the best steak that I've ever eaten in a restaurant.
I tried to remember to take a picture of the steaks after they were done on the grill, but I was so excited to eat mine, that I completely forgot!


Coffee Rub:
(the recipe I found says this is for one steak, it's a lot of rub. I stored excess in a zip-loc bag in the freezer. it is enough for about 8 steaks!)

1/3 cup sugar
1 cup kona ground decaffeinated coffee
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
1/4 cup mustard powder
1/4 cup granulated garlic
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 tablespoons lowry season salt
4 steaks (we used tenderloin on Sunday, although any steak will work)

Mix everything, except the steaks in a bowl. Depending on the cheese, you may want to pulse the blend in a food processor a few times.

dredge the steaks in the rub and pat into the meat. Let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes while you prep your grill for direct grilling. Grill each steak for 6-8 minutes per side (depending on thickness and desired doneness). The ones that I grilled were pretty thick, so we did all four sides.

Grilled to perfection! Medium rare! Yummy.