Baked Mac and Cheese (our fav recipe so far!)

I found a recipe for Baked Mac and Cheese in my October issue of Cooking Light. I changed it up a bit since I thought the amount of cheese the recipe called for was way too little for me. (I know it's Cooking Light so I am sure that is the reason why the amount of cheese in the recipe is only one cup, but hey when I want mac and cheese I want it to be cheesy!)

Ingredients

3 cups (12 oz) pasta (I used the pasta that looks like a cork screw?)
1 (12 oz) carton 2% low-fat cottage cheese
2 to 3 cups finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano (recipe called for fresh parmesan but I had pecorino in my fridge that I had to use up and I found it worked very well in this recipe)
1 TBSP milk 1/2 tsp salt 1/8 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp basil or oregano
dash of nutmeg
3 TSP breadcrumbs/Panko

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Cook pasta according to directions on the box, omitted salt. Drain and place in large bowl. Then place cottage cheese in blender or food processor, process until smooth. .

Combine cottage cheese, 2 cups cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup pecorino romano, salt, pepper,basil/oregano,and nutmeg.

Add pasta to the cheese mixture, add milk and stir well. Spoon mixture into 11x7 inch glass pan. Combine breadcrumbs and rest of pecorino romano and sprinkle on top of the pasta. Add rest of the grated cheddar cheese.



Bake for 15-20 minutes



Sausage Chicken and Shrimp Jambalaya

I am loving my November issue of Cooking Light. It is packed with easy and relatively quick warm meal ideas. I decided to try the 40 minute version of the jamabalya recipe.

Ingredients
2 tsp oil
6 oz reduced-fat smoked sausage (I used andouille sausage which I would highly recommend)
** 6 oz equates to four sausage links (we actually thought it needed more sausage!)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celeary

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice

1 cup water

1/4 tsp ground red pepper

1/8 tsp salt

6 freah thyme sprigs

1 (14.5 oz) can fat free, lower sodium chicken broth

1 (14.5) can no-salt added diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup diced skinless boneless chicken breast
12-15 peeled and shelled shrimp





  


I chopped up all of the meat and veggies first.



Heat a Dutch oven over med high heat. Add oil to pan, add sausage, saute 1 min, add onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic. Saute six minutes or until tender.



Add rice and next 5 ingredients (through broth); bring to boil.  Cover and reduce hear and simmer 20 minutes until rice is done.

While rice is simmering, I de-shelled and de-veined some shrimp.



When rice is about done, I added the shrimp.  This made for a warm and delicious quick meal!





Sloppy Joes

Late October in Chicago is not only bringing cooler weather here, but also blustery winds and lots of cold rain! This gloomy weather has me craving homemade warm cooked meals. I am really loving the CL "fast" recipes in their November 2011 (no I am not getting paid by CL magazine). The picture of the fast 20 minute Sloppy Joe recipe looked so delicious, I decided I would give it a try. I have never really been much of a fan of sloppy joes, they always look weird to me but this recipe has changed my entire outlook on Sloppy Joes, I find that they make a quick and tasty meal!

Ingredients

1 large carrot
10 oz lean ground beef
3/4 cup prechopped onion
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup ketchup
1 TBSP Dijon mustard
1 TBSP worcesterhire sauce
1 TBSP tomato paste
1 TSBP red wine vinegar
1 (8oz) can no-salt added tomato sauce
hamburger buns

I grated the carrot and onion beforehand. The recipe tells you to heat the skillet while you are grating a carrot..but hey I am clumsy enough I don't need any other excuses to try to burn another pan or start a fire.
Add carrot, beef, onion to pan, cook 6 minutes or until beef is browned and vegetables are tender.Add garlic powder, chili powder, and pepper; cook 1 minute.Combine 1/4 ketchup and the next 5 ingredients (through tomato sauce) in a small bowl.Add ketchup mixture to pan, stirring evenly to coat beef mixture. Simmer for five minutes or until slightly thickened.While sauce thickens, arrange buns, cut side up, in a singer layer on baking sheet. Broil 2 minutes or until lightly toasted. Place 1/4 cup beef mixture on half of bun. (we added some parm cheese on top too!)

This was such an easy and quick meal! I made this earlier in the day and when my BF and I got back from a run after work, we reheated up the sauce and put the buns in the oven and had dinner ready in less than ten minutes!

Quick and Easy Chicken Broccoli casserole

There is nothing I like more than a home cooked meal that you know has taken a long of time and and love to prepare..but hey let's face reality, sometimes life just gets in the way and you just don't have time to make an elaborate meal..especially during the week.

I actually felt like I was cheating when I made this recipe, but I knew I needed a meal I could throw together quickly and something I could let cook in the oven while me and the BF went for a quick run after work.

The weather is turning into that cool fall weather so I knew I also wanted some warm and homey to look forward to eating after our run.

So looking for a quick throw together recipe, I went to my allrecipes app and looked for Chicken Broccoli Casseroles and made some adjustments to the recipe I found on allrecipes since I want to make something that was more chicken pot pie like.


Ingredients
1/2 lb skinless chicken breast cubed (you don't have to cook this beforehand)
1 1/2 cups frozen broccoli florets
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1 (10.75) can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1/2 cup skim milk or chicken broth
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp pepper
1 roll flakey refrigerated biscuit (like hungry jack flakey biscuits or whatever your choice of buscuit

In large bowl, combine the chicken, broccoli, and cheese. (I had half a green pepper leftover so I added this as well)Whisk the soup, milk, garlic powder and pepper.Stir in chicken mixture. Transfer into greased 1-1/2 quart baking dish. Bake uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes. Open biscuits, separate each biscuit in half and layer on top. Bake for an additional 25 minutes.

Pulled Pork in ROOT BEER!

We had some friends over for dinner and we decided to go with a make your own taco theme with pulled pork and skirt steak as our filling options.

So for pulled pork, I decided to try using root beer as the liquid in the crock pot.

I got a 5 lb bone in pork shoulder and trimmed off all of the fat. (Note to self: next time I see a pork shoulder with the skin on and think it will be easy to trim off the skin, think twice about this)

I prepared a rub with the following ingredients:

Brown sugar (about 1/4 cup)
smoked paprika (about 2.5 tsp)
cumin (about 1 tsp)
garlic powder
cayenne pepper
dry mustard
pepper

After massaging the rub on the pork shoulder, I let it sit for about 10-15 minutes.
Then heat up a deep skillet and sear all sides of the pork.

After this is completed, I placed the pork in the crock pot.
I add two cups of root beer to the crock pot and set on low. I let it cook for about 7-8 hours. Shred the pork and place back into the crock pot. When ready to serve drain the pork (reserve some liquid) and serve pork with a little bit of the remaining liquid so the meat stays moist.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

There are a million variations of chicken tortilla soup on the Internet. I perused through many of them and finally decided to make the following...and also just added or edited the recipe to my liking. Here is what I did.... (and apologies in advance for the lack of photos, we were having friends over for dinner and in the rush of making everything, I forgot to take more photos..which is pretty standard of me ;)

Ingredients
2 TBSP veg oil
1 small onion diced
2 TBSP minced garlic
2 jalapenos diced (I took out the seeds)
6 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 (14.5 oz) fire roasted diced tomatoes
3 chicken breasts
2 limes juiced
salt and pepper
1 small can green chilies (I only used half)
1 can of corn
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
3-4 corn tortillas


In a medium to large size pot, heat oil and add onions - cook 2 minutes.
Add garlic, jalapenos and cook for 1 minute.Pour in chicken broth and tomatoes (I added in the juice in the can for extra flavor) and bring to a boil. Simmer and then add chicken breast.(I dusted the chicken breasts with a bit of the cumin). Cook 20-25 minutes. Once chicken is cooked, remove from pot and shred (using two forks to shred works the best for me, and I shred it in sections)
Then add the chicken back into the soup, add the cumin and chili powder. Add lime, can of corn, and salt and pepper to taste.


After this, I let the soup simmer. While the soup is simmering, I cut up the corn tortillas into long strips. Heat up a shallow frying pan with vegetable oil and place the tortilla strips in the pan. Flip the tortilla strip after about 45 seconds to a minute (depending on hot your pan is the time may vary) and let cook on the other side. When both sides are golden brown, place on a paper towel on a plate. I then cut up the avocado into slices and grate some cheddar cheese as an accompaniment to the soup.

Guacamole in our Molcajete!!

You know how when you go to a fancy restaurant, you can order guacamole and they make it right there by your table...well..welcome to the Wong and Jobke household where we can make you homemade guac tableside as well! (We are very excited about our Molcajete :) )

Ingredients:
2 jalapenos finely chopped (de-seeded)
1 clove garlic
1/2 onion finely chopped
1 plum tomato (chopped)
2 TBSP cilantro (chopped)
2 avocados, peeled, pitted and cut into large chunks (save one pit - I forgot this so I totally want to remind you to save the pit!)
2-3 TBSP lime juice
salt to taste

Place jalapenos and garlic in molcajete and pound with tejolote until a paste forms.Add the onion, tomato, cilantro, and avocado.With the tejolote, lightly mash and blend the mixture, which should remain slightly chunky. Season to taste with the lime juice and salt.

To prevent discoloring, place the avocado pit back in the guac and adhere plastic wrap the surface of the guac. Let sit for 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend.

Molacjete

My BF's sister gave us a Molacjete for a house warming present. (Thanks Bri, we love our Molajete!)

What is a Molajete?

A molcajete (Mexican Spanish, from Nahuatl mulcazitl) is a stone tool, the traditional Mexican version of the mortar and pestle tool, similar to the South American batan (stone) used for grinding various food products.
I had seen this type of bowl in Mexican restaurants but I never knew the name of it.
Our Molajete came with a salsa and guac recipe so we decided to make the salsa first.

Here is what you need:

6 plus tomatoes
3 large garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 Anaheim chili pepper
2 jalapeno chili peppers (I would advise taking out the seeds)
3 green onoins, finely chopped
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
1 4oz can diced green chiles
1 TBSP olive oil
1-3 tsp lime juice
salt to taste

Roast the tomatoes, garlic, and chile peppers on a foil lined baking under an over broiler until the skins are blackened and the pulp is soft. (this took at least 40 mins for us) (I forgot to take a picture when I took the veggies out of the oven!) I put the veggies in a large zip lock bag to seal in the heat so that it would make it easier to peel the skin off the peppers)Cool and peel the peppers. Combine the garlic and chili peppers in the molcajete and pound with the tejolote until a paste forms.
Add the tomatoes and crush coarsely.Blend remaining ingredients into the tomato and season to taste with the lime juice and salt.Our cutting board with cilantro, green onions, and lime! Putting in the canned chiles, cilantro and onions.
Mix it all in and you have your own homemade salsa! It was yummy!!!

Vegetable Orzo Pasta Salad

Orzo makes a perfect cold pasta salad for a hot summer's night dinner. Although orzo looks like rice, it is actually a pasta. It was my first time making orzo and since I knew it was a pasta and not rice I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Orzo has quite a nice texture as it is pretty fluffy and it makes for a nice light and refreshing dinner.

I browsed several orzo recipes and decided to do the following.

In a medium size pot, I put 1 and 1/2 cup orzo and let it cook for about 8-9 minutes. (you can follow the cooking instructions for time the package - the orzo should be al dente) Pour orzo into a strainer and let it cool.


While the orzo cools, in a large bowl, I put in two TBSP olive oil, one TBSP basalmic vinegar, a tsp of oregano, a tsp of basil, salt and pepper. I then cut up grape tomatoes, (about half a pint), cucumbers (two small ones), broccoli, and some red and orange peppers. After the orzo has cooled, mix the orzo in with the vegetables.





I squeezed about half a lemon into the orzo.

Then I add feta cheese (about half a container) and mix it all up. If you can, let it chill in the fridge for at least a hour.




It's nice to have as leftovers and tastes even better the next day!

Roasted Banana Pudding

My go to source for recipes had this Roasted Banana Pudding in the August CL issue. I love bananas and I love banana pudding so this recipe sounded delicious. This pudding does take some time but it is worth it.

Ingredients
5 ripe unpeeled medium bananas (about 2 pounds)
2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
2/3 cup sugar, divided
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (12-ounce) container frozen fat-free whipped topping, thawed and divided
45 vanilla wafers, divided

Preheat oven to 350°.
Place bananas on a jelly-roll pan covered with parchment paper. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.Remove 3 bananas; cool completely.
Peel and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Bake the remaining 2 bananas at 350° for an additional 20 minutes. Carefully peel and place the 2 bananas in a small bowl, and mash with a fork until smooth.(yes it does look a little gross...but don't worry, roasting these bananas make all of the difference!)
Combine milk and 1/3 cup sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer (do not boil).Combine remaining 1/3 cup sugar, cornstarch, salt, and eggs in a medium bowl; stir well with a whisk. Gradually add hot milk mixture to sugar mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Return milk mixture to pan. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (about 3 minutes), stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add mashed bananas, butter, and vanilla, stirring until butter melts.
Place pan in a large ice-filled bowl for 15 minutes or until mixture comes to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Fold half of whipped topping into pudding.
Spread 1 cup custard evenly over the bottom of an 11 x 7-inch baking dish. Top with 20 vanilla wafers and half of the banana slices. Spoon half of remaining custard over banana. Repeat procedure with 20 wafers, banana slices, and custard. Spread remaining half of whipped topping evenly over top. Crush remaining 5 wafers; sprinkle over top. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until chilled.