Yum.

The following recipe should also be called "how to hold onto your pregnancy weight."  Despite this small set back, however, this is the kind of recipe that will get added to our regular rotation (you know, the same 10-15 meals that you always seem to make despite owning more than 20 cookbooks and having subscriptions to 2 food magazines...).  There has always been something elusive about the perfect mac n cheese recipe for me.  Inevitably, the cheese used didn't pack enough punch, the topping was soggy, or the the end product too runny.  So, when I read the rave reviews for Martha Stewart's Macaroni and Cheese recipe, I was skeptical, but hopeful .   I made a few tweaks to the original recipe, but not much.   As illustrated below, this dish was a beautiful, rich , creamy, stick-to-your-ribs mac n cheese that you must try yourselves.  The recipe makes a massive amount of food--we had to use an overflow pan becuse it wouldn't all fit in one 9x13.  So, you might consider halving the recipe, or freezing some (if you do this, let me know how it freezes--I've never tried freezing macaroni and cheese).  In summary:  yum. 

Macaroni and Cheese

slightly adapted from Martha Stewart's Perfect Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients:

6 T. unsalted butter, plus 2 T. for topping

5 1/2 c. milk

1/2 c. flour

2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

4 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 1/2 c. grated pecarino romano cheese

1 lb. whole wheat elbow macaroni

3/4 c. breadcrumbs

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9"x13" pan (or any 3 quart casserole dish you have).  Prepare macaroni according to package directions, but remove noodles 2-3 minutes early from water.  You want it slightly undercooked.  Rinse under cold water and set aside.

2.  In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the milk.  In a separate saucepan (I used a dutch oven), melt 6 T. of the butter.  When butter is boiling, whisk in the flour, adding a little bit at a time until all mixed in.  Cook for 1 minute.

3.  Slowly add the hot milk to the flour/butter mix, whisking constantly.    Continue whisking until the mixture is thick and bubbling.  Then, remove from heat and add salt, pepper, nutmeg, cayenne pepper, and cheese.  Stir until cheese has melted.

4.  Pour cheese mixture over macaroni noodles, stir to coat, and pour into prepared pan.

5.  Melt the remaining 2 T. of butter and mix with the breadcrumbs.  Sprinkle evenly over macaroni and cheese.  Bake about 30 minutes, uncovered, or until top is golden brown.

Let's try this again...

So, I attempted to return to this blog once before, and without success, but here goes another try...

First of all, one big announcement: our family has grown by one tiny member. Lincoln Danger is here! He was welcomed into the world on December 19th at 9:20 pm. We had a great, natural birth experience (notice I say great, despite the pain!) at a birth center. The only people present were myself, Lucas, our midwife, and her assistant. We had a very relaxed atmosphere and were back at home 5 hours after the birth! Lincoln is thriving and we can't imagine our lives without him!

And of course I have to share a picture of the cuteness:

Or two:


Or three:


Ok, four. But this one is food related! See, he's already helping me cook!


Since this is the first post in awhile, I'm going to keep it pretty simple. If you recall, we had planted a garden way back when. Well, unfortunately, most of it was lost in Hurricane Ike, but we did manage to eek out a couple items. Below is our largest watermelon. We actually harvested 2, but this one was our best hope. We were forced to harvest much earlier than planned due to a freak Houston snow this fall. So, the watermelon was only half-cooked. When we cut into it, the flesh was pale, pale pink. Lucas was brave enough to sample a piece, and declared it tasted like eating the rind. Yum, huh? So, our lesson learned was: plant earlier, so we can harvest earlier!



The combo below is kale and basil. The kale spent its time in the ground labeled as red leaf lettuce. It was from a seed packet of mesclun, and I had no idea how many leaf varities were in there. This one had red leaves, so I figured it must be red leaf lettuce,having had no previous experience with kale. When I harvested it, it looked and felt nothing like red leaf lettuce, so I was off to do some internet research. This led to my proclamation that we had ourselves some kale! I looked up recipes, had such great plans, washed it, dried it, lovingly placed it in a ziplock bag in the crisper...and promptly forgot about it. The next time I discovered it was much much too late (*shudders* to think about it...). So, another lesson learned: don't forget about your harvest!


Ok, I think that we are off to a good start! Let's hope I can stick with things this time around!

~Kelly