Macaroni & Cheese

Macaroni and cheese. Ever since I first tried homemade, I've been unable to consume Kraft. Bleck. This is a go-to recipe in our house when I've forgotten to start dinner prep and we're in a time-crunch. In fact, that's exactly what happened the other night.

Let's talk about cheeses. Cheeses naturally lose some of their kick when you cook them, so pairing cheeses helps accentuate the flavors of them. Sounds weird to mix cheeses to make the cheese taste more flavorful but that is, in fact, how it works. My favorites for mac & cheese are medium cheddar and a semi-soft chevre, or goat cheese. Goat cheese: some people are terrified of the idea of eating/drinking milk products from something other than a cow but let me tell you, you're missing out, friends. Chevre is one of my favorite things right now because it just tastes so cheesy and creamy. It melts well and blends into the flavors around it. Mmmm... Do yourself a favor and try some. I'll be featuring more recipes in the near future that use chevre for the cheese. Because it really is delicious and if you try it, I'm pretty sure you'll love it, too. But if you're going to buy it, try and buy locally produced cheeses, as imported cheese traditionally contain rennet, or enzymes from the boiled stomachs of baby calves. It gives me the heebie-jeebies to think about.

When we make mac & cheese, we use Barilla Plus elbow macaroni. These noodles are made with wheat flour and lentils, chickpeas, egg whites, spelt, barley, flaxseed, oat fiber, and oats. They add omega-3s and protein to traditional noodles and you can't actually tell they aren't white. Once they're baked in the macaroni they taste and look the same as regular noodles. I doubt your family will be able to tell but if you want to use regular noodles, that's fine, too. Do whatever you feel best about.

If you want to get extra healthy with your cheese sauce, feel free to steam or boil a head of cauliflower, puree it, and add as much as you'd like to the cheese sauce before stirring it into the noodles. It makes the cheese a little sweeter and gives it loads of nutrition and fiber. Without anyone knowing it's in there. Well, except you, of course.




Macaroni & Cheese

Makes: 6 servings
Prep: 2 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ready In: 30 minutes











Ingredients:

1/2 head of cauliflower - optional
4 tablespoons of butter
4 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
2 cups warmed milk (I normally use organic whole fat milk but skim is delicious, too.)
1 teaspoons of Italian Seasoning blend
Salt & pepper, to taste
1 cups grated cheddar
2 ounces chevre
8oz of Macaroni noodles
Paprika
Panko-style breadcrumbs
Additional cheese for sprinkling


Preheat oven to 450 degrees and set a large pot of water to boil.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Once it's melted and bubbly, add flour all at once and whisk/stir until the lumps are gone. Cook for roughly 3 minutes, stirring. Heat milk and set aside. Add garlic and cook for another minute and then add the milk all at once. Whisk until the roux (butter/flour/garlic mix) is incorporated into the milk. Add Italian Seasoning, garlic salt, and pepper. Let that continue to heat. Coat a large casserole dish with nonstick spray and set aside. Turn off burner and add cheeses, whisking till melted.

While that continues to cook, stir and add macaroni noodles to the boiling water with a tablespoon of salt. Boil for 1 minute less than recommended time on the box. It'll keep your noodles from getting super mushy in the oven. When those finish, drain and add to the nonstick sprayed pan.

By this time, the cheese sauce should be a bit thicker but still on the thinner side. Give the sauce a taste and see if it needs any additional seasoning. Once you're satisfied, add it to the macaroni noodles and stir till the noodles are coated. Sprinkle paprika over the top of the pan, sprinkle the additional cheese over the top, and sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top of that.

Put the pan in the oven and cook for roughly 15-20 minutes, until the cheese on top is melted and bubbly and the breadcrumbs are toasted and brown.

Remove from oven and set on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes so you don't burn your tongue out of your mouth when you eat. We serve ours with diced tomatoes, broccoli, and I put spinach in the baby's & mine (Husband, not so much).

Feel free to chuck some diced, roasted green chilies (canned or fresh, whatevs) and replace cheddar with colby jack for that South-of-the-Boarder-but-better-than-Taco-Bell-flare.

Chicken & Mushroom Risotto

This is seriously one of my favorite dishes to eat right now. It is the ultimate in comfort food. And really, who doesn't just love creamy, cheesy starches? For realz. Boxed rice dishes are easy grab-and-cook options, but they're filled with preservatives, additives, and loads of sodium. This version allows you to create something absolutely delectable and free of the junk you don't need or want in your body. It's an easily adapted recipe, meaning if you're without chicken or a certain veggie, you can always substitute it for whatever you do have on hand. Chicken stock, butter, rice, onion, and Parmesan are easy staples to keep on hand so this also makes for a great meal option when you haven't thought too far in advance about what you're going to make for dinner.

This recipe is my modified version of a risotto from Incredibly Easy Gluten-Free Recipes, which can be found here. Gluten-free can be super delicious. This is one of those instances. Seriously. I can eat the entire pot over the course of a day or two.




Chicken & Mushroom Risotto

Makes: 6 servings
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Ready In: 35 minutes






Ingredients:
5 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/8 tsp of salt
4 tablespoons of butter, divided
1/3 cup chopped vidalia onion (or any other sweet onion)
2 cups of arborio rice (arborio is different from other rices, in that it has a greater starch content. It's what gives risotto it's creamy consistency.)
2/3 cup chicken broth
4 ounces of cooked & shredded chicken (or a can if you're feeling extra fancy!)
2/3 cup frozen peas
2/3 cup diced white mushrooms
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Feel free to add chopped spinach, asparagus, and other veggies to this recipe.


In a medium stockpot, bring 5 1/2 cups chicken broth and salt to a simmer. In a large stockpot, melt 3 tablespoons butter and saute onions until soft, about 2-3 minutes. Add rice, cook 2 minutes while stirring. Add 2/3 cup chicken broth and cook until most of the broth is gone.

Add 1 1/2 cups broth to the rice mix and cook over medium low for 5-6 minutes with a lid covering about half the pot. Add 2 cups of broth and cook for another 5-6 minutes till most of moisture is gone. Add remaining broth, veggies and chicken, cook 5-6 minutes till most moisture is gone and the mixture is creamy. Taste the rice to ensure that it is chewy and soft, rather than crunchy. If it is crunchy, cook a little longer and feel free to add more broth to keep it from drying out.

Remove from heat, stir in additional tablespoon of butter and Parmesan cheese. Eat till you're sick and want to die, because it is that delicious.

Honey Oat & Flax Bread

I've recently decided that as long as I can make it, we are no longer going to purchase bread products. So you'll see in the coming posts that there will be a few bread recipes. Today's is my current favorite. It's sweet, soft, and light, unlike a lot of homemade breads, which can feel dense and potentially dangerous. This makes for great sandwich bread and is equally as tasty as french toast and even bread crumbs.



Honey Oat & Flax Bread
Makes: 3 loaves

Prep: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ready In: 3 hours







Ingredients:

3 cups warm water
4 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1/3 cup cane sugar or honey
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup oat flour (I couldn't find any in store so I made my own with about a half a cup of old-fashion oats.)
1/2 cup ground flax seed
3 tablespoons canola oil
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon kosher salt
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon butter


Mix warm water and sugar in a small bowl. Add yeast, let stand for 5 minutes till foamy. In a stand mixer bowl, add 5 cups of bread flour, oat flour, and flax. Mix in yeast mixture. Let stand for 30 minutes, till risen and bubbly.

Mix oil, honey, and salt in a bowl and mix into yeast/flour mixture. Grease a dough hook and with a stand mixer, knead the dough for about 5-8 minutes on the lowest setting, adding wheat mixture till incorporated. Dump on to a floured surface and knead to make sure the flour is well incorporated and roll into a ball. Grease the bowl, place dough inside and toss to coat. If the bowl isn't big enough to fit into one bowl, divide into three equal parts and place in greased bowls. Place towels over the dough and let stand in a warm area for 1 hour or until doubled.

Preheat oven to 350. Remove one ball of dough, wrap into a tight oblong roll and place in a greased bread pan and cover with greased plastic wrap. Allow to rise until dough is 1 inch higher than the pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes and rub butter over the top after about 10 minutes to keep top from crusting. Bread should be a dark golden brown. Remove from oven, flip from pan onto a wire cooling wrack and allow to sit for 10-15 minutes before slicing. It'll keep the bread from squishing.

Roll the additional dough into bread pan-shaped pieces, place on a greased cookie sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Stick in the freezer and freeze till firm. Then add to a Ziploc bag to preserve until ready to use. When you're ready to use, remove from freezer, microwave about 30 seconds, add to greased bread pan, and let rise. Bake 350 for 30-35 minutes.