Macaroni and Cheese

By now, I have made this recipe for three consecutive Fridays. I got this recipe from Martha Stewart's new cook book: Cooking School, Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook. (pgs 389-391.) It seems that Martha (can I call her by her first name?) has a lot of Macaroni and Cheese recipes on-line. As far as I know, this one isn't online.

I don't want Martha's cronies, if she has any, coming by and breaking my oven if I infringe on her copyright, otherwise I would love to post this recipe. It contains 4 cheeses, Gruyere, Parmesan, Cheddar, and Fontina. This recipe was a little daunting at first, but after I made it once, it seemed like a piece of cake the second time. I swapped Romano for the Parmesan and made adjustments with the liquids depending on what I had in the fridge. I also doubled the amount as the original amount would probably not feed a hungry family of 4.

The first time I made this, my children were talking to me and I added too much cayenne so it was a little spicy for my husband and daughter, but my son and I loved it.

She also suggests serving roasted tomatoes on top. I did this two weeks ago and it is a wonderful way to make nasty winter tomatoes very tasty and actually flavorful.

Buttermilk Pancakes

This pancake recipe was from the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. These are absolutely the best plain pancakes I have ever had. The batter takes about 5 minutes to make and I put the hot ones in the oven while I cook the rest. I have also found, like it suggests in the book, that powdered buttermilk is just as good as regular buttermilk. I figured that to make this recipe, it costs under $3.00 with butter and maple syrup. The syrup is the most expensive factor, lately I have not been able to find it for under $14.

Italian Pepper Steak

This is an Italian Pepper Steak recipe from p. 297 of The Better Homes and Gardens New Book Book. I have no idea what year it was published, as it was a gift for my wedding shower and it has been well used these past 7 years. It is not my favorite cookbook though I think it is a good asset to have on hand. I originally made this recipe for my husband during the first year we were married. Usually I serve it with mashed potatoes, but this time we had boiled finger potatoes with butter, salt, pepper and sour cream.

Bacon Egg Bake

Another egg bake!

This time I used:

• 3 strips of leftover bacon (actually I intentionally cooked extra the night before for this)
• 8 beaten eggs
• 2 cups of shredded cheese
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• dash of cayenne
• sea salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Layer cheese in the bottom of a greased pan with bacon on top. Pour eggs with garlic powder, salt and pepper over top. Bake at 325 for 45-55 minutes.

Lasagna Roll-Ups

Ingredients:

• 8 cooked lasagna noodles
• 16 oz of your favorite sauce (I used a marinara because this was for a Friday)
• 8 oz (1/2 a large container) of ricotta
• 1 egg
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella
• 1 tsp basil
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Mix ricotta, egg, basil salt and pepper
2. Divide mixture evenly onto noodles and roll up
3. Pour sauce over top
4. Top with mozzarella cheese
5. Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes

This was just something that I came up with to be a quick meal. We did not want any leftovers, so I made the exact number of roll-ups that I thought everyone would eat.

Simple and Quick Egg Bake

Six eggs, beaten with:

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/2 tsp garlic powder

sea salt and pepper to taste.

Layer cheese on bottom of a greased pan (I pour eggs over it). Bake at 325 for 25 minutes. A simple breakfast that I did not have to mind while the kids and I got ready to begin a busy day.

Pardon my absence but I lost my camera, and have been busy preparing for the end of our school year.

Bruschetta

I have to thank my friend T. for teaching me how to make this. It has been a favorite for awhile.

It is really flexible, you can make any amount and change the amounts of the ingredients to taste.

Here I used 2 Roma tomatoes; diced, 3 green onions; sliced, about 2 oz of feta; crumbled, 7 slices of French bread and pepper to taste. Normally, I would have used about 4-5 leaves of fresh basil, chopped; but it was after Christmas and the store was completely out.

It is pretty simple, just grill the sliced bread in a pan with olive oil (about 2 tbsp), over medium heat and top with mixture. Sometimes I use grape tomatoes because they are sweet. I believe my friend T. recommended that to me.