Macaroni and Cheese

I've been naughty. I let a small craving turn into something of a full blown GIVE IT TO ME NOW AND NOBODY GETS HURT yesterday. Phew. Ok. I'm better now that I was able to fulfill the urge yesterday.

Homemade macaroni and cheese is much different from the stuff you get in a box. It takes a few more minutes to make than just ripping open the orange cheese packet and dumping it on the noodles with some milk and butter. I'm also not talking about the cut up some processed cheese log into chunks and melt with some milk and noodles and call that macaroni and cheese. (lots of "ands" being thrown around today!)

My version of mac n cheese is a base roux with milk, shredded cheese, salt, pepper, and noodles. I tend to use a Mexican cheese blend of cheeses that are found in the bagged cheese aisle of your store. Feel free to use cheddar or really, any type of cheese that melts well.

Note: as in all my recipes I use real butter. I have no clue how a margarine would hold up.


Macaroni and Cheese

2 tabl butter
1/4 cup of flour
2 cups shredded cheese
2 cups milk
1/2lb cooked noodles
salt, pepper


Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and whisk to a smooth paste. Cook for a minute or two over the heat. Whisking constantly with one hand, pour in the milk in a slow steady stream so that no lumps form. It will start to thicken pretty much immediately on the heat. If it gets really thick add more milk 1/4 cup at a time to thin it out a little. You want a nice thick mix. Think a little thinner than yogurt but not as thick as sour cream. Taste the sauce for seasoning. Turn off the heat and then stir in the cheese. Sitr well to melt.

Add in the noodles and you can either eat from here or if you choose to, bake at 425 till the tops is golden brown. Whatever way makes you happy.

Peppermint Mocha's

I bet ya'll thought I wasn't going to post today seeing as it's ohhhhh 8pm and everything. Oh what forgoing dishes in the sink, the mopping of the floors, and putting away the laundry that has been patiently waiting since yesterday night for sitting on the couch with the husband, a drink, and a cute sleeping baby will do to a person. Be lazy? What? Noooo not at all!

Anywho there are two ways to make these; the alcoholic way or the non alcoholic way. I suggest if you want to do it the alcoholic way you get a bottle of peppermint schnapps. If you want to go the non alcoholic way then I would buy a bottle of peppermint syrup. Which, ironically, can be easily found at Liquor Barn here in town. (ha!)

I can't give you recipe specifics as there are about 15 different size coffee mugs out there so I will tell you how to eyeball this.

1.) Brew some STRONG coffee. Like I'm talking 1.5 scoops to every cup. Don't use cheap coffee either, I mean you could if you wanted to.. but the end result is not going to be as delicious. I love Larry's Beans coffee, but I know it s a little pricey. Use what you want :)

2.) In a saucepan heat up some milk. This works with all but skim, skim doesn't have enough milk fat to foam correctly. With a whisk or a pair of beaters OR a whisk attachment for your beaters, beat the milk until it foams.

3.) In your coffee mug pour in enough chocolate syrup to coat the bottom of the cup.

4.) On top of this pour 1-1.5 oz of peppermint syrup of your choice

5.) Fill 3/4's of the way with coffee

6.) Pour in the milk

Now sip and enjoy this delicious treat.

Pumpkin Muffins

I have a goal to update this every day this week. Lofty and huge I know, but I will attempt and try to do my best.

I really wanted some pumpkin something for breakfast yesterday and started searching. I came across this recipe and decided that with all the good reviews it got that it might be worth a try. This recipe has been cross posted all over different blogs and here it is again on mine.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2012/09/07/pumpkin-doughnuts-baked-to-perfection/

1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée (canned pumpkin)
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, or 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus a heaping 1/4 teaspoon each ground nutmeg and ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Just mix it all up in a bowl and then since I made these into muffins, they fit into a standard 12 cup muffin pan. Baked for 30 minutes at 350F.

Once done, I made a glaze to go over them, figured, hell, its a donut kinda right?

2 cups powdered sugar
1 tabl butter
1/4 cup milk
1 teas vanilla

Just mix it all up in a bowl and make sure its thick and then spoon over warm muffins. Will set in about 15 minutes or so. 

Enjoy!

Sandwich Bread

I *sometimes* buy bread at a standard grocery store bread and I will admit that while pregnant and after my pregnancy up until now, I've taken advantage of the pre-made bread. Mainly it was due to time and trying to figure out what to do with a baby that every 2-3 hours had wanted food, always wanting attention, and demanded that drop what I was doing to fix whatever was wrong with her. Thankfully, she crawls now so I have it a little easier as I have been able to set her on the floor and let her play leaving me the opportunity to actually do something in the kitchen.

That all being said, I've finally had a chance to get back into the grove of doing what I love which is actual cooking in the kitchen. Granted, I have a 8 month old kiddo that is holding onto my pant leg and standing up while beating on a cabinet.. but she graciously allows me to work. Kinda.

I love this bread for sandwiches and it is awesome for at least a week out on the counter. The recipe will make 2 loaves of bread and I normally freeze one loaf  to allow us to have bread for about a week and a half.


Standard loaf of bread runs about 1.50-4 bucks a loaf. Depending on what type of bread you are buying. Making ones own bread will run about .90 cents a loaf. My recipe makes two loaves.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread:


4.5 cups white flour
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup milk
1 cup water
3 tabl coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
1 tabl salt
1.5 tabl yeast
1 egg


In a medium microwave safe bowl pour the honey, milk, water, and coconut oil. Place in the microwave and cook at 50% power for 1.5 minutes. It should be warm and the coconut oil does not need to melt if it was solid upon placing in the microwave.

Place half of the flour, all of yeast, and all of the salt in a large mixing bowl. (or in the stand mixer bowl) Mix well and then pour in the liquids. Mix well with a wooden spoon for 5 minutes or with a paddle attachment for 3 minutes with a stand mixer.

Add the rest of flour to make a stiff dough. If you are kneading by hand then turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 7 minutes or until the dough is pliable. Or! Put a dough hook on your mixer and let it go at a 2 or 3 power for 3-4 minutes adding flour if needed to make a soft dough that pulls away from the edges of the bowl and forms a solid mass that the hook kneads.

Either method cover with plastic wrap in the original bowl and allow to rise covered for 1-2 hours or until it has increased in size to double.

Punch down and then form into 2 loaves and place in greased loaf pans. Allow to rise covered for another 1-2 hours or until doubled.

Place in a pre heated 420F oven for 35-45 minutes or until tapped sounds hollow.

Put them on cooling racks and you are done!

I jumped on the homemade laundry soap wagon

Ok, so there are literally hundreds of websites touting homemade laundry soap. There is also about 4-5 different variations that I have seen posted all over the internet. I opted on the powder version of the soap rather than trying to store liquid in my already cramped house.

This is a rather short posting, but hopefully tonight or tomm I can get up the fish dinner I'm making tonight. Hopefully. I also started playing with jerk seasoning and my results from last night are not horrible but not stellar. I will keep adjusting and then post it once I get what I want out of it.

Laundry Soap:

1 cup Borax
1 cup Washing Soda
1 7oz bar Zote, grated
1.5 capful of scented crystals

Mix all in a jar and then use 1-2 tabl per load.

Enchiladas

How about we dive right in and start with the recipes?

This is my go to recipe whenever I'm in craving mood for mexican but don't want to go out to eat mexican. The sauce mixture makes a whole lot; like think 3 cups of sauce. It does keep in the fridge wonderfully for up to a month. (quit freaking out! It's awesome!)

Notes are included at the end including what I sub with. So lets hop right to this!

Enchilada Sauce

2 cups of water*
1 vegan bouillon cube*
1/3 cup chili powder
1/2 teas oregano
Salt to taste
1 15oz can of tomato sauce 
3 tabl oil
1/4 cup flour

Preheat a pan over med heat. You will need a medium sized saucepan. Add the oil and cook till its hot and then add in the flour. Stir the flour around till its about like a paste and let it cook for a minute or two to get rid of the flour taste. Add in the water and bouillon cube and stir until its smooth. (note that I usually pour in hot liquids with one hand while stirring with the other to avoid lumps) Pour in the tomato sauce and stir. If it is too thick add in some water 1/4 cup at a time. Finally, add in the chili powder, oregano, and salt if needed. Give this 20 minutes of light simmering.

Enchilada's themselves

Corn or flour tortilla's
Choice of meat filling (start with 1lb for 4 people)
1 8oz can of chopped green chilis per lb of meat
2 tabl taco seasoning per lb
1/4 cup of the enchilada sauce
Choice of cheese (cheddar, monteray jack, pepperjack, quesidilla cheese, or whatever)

Cook your meat how you normally would cook it. Chop up chicken fine, you can brown ground beef, and either chop pork or slow roast and shred it. However makes you happy. You could even do fish here if you are so inclined. Once it is cooked add the chili's, taco seasoning, and sauce to the mix. Let it bubble away for about 20-30 minutes stirring often to avoid it burning to the pan. Add water if needed to keep it from sticking.

I use the small taco size tortilla's and I generally use flour tortillas. I spoon a moderate amount in the middle of them and then roll them up putting the seam side down in a large roasting pan. At this point preheat your oven to 425 while you roll.

Cover the enchiladas in enchilada sauce and then lightly cover with your cheese of choice. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the cheese is melted. You are done! Enjoy!

Note:

I used a vegan bouillion cube because I have that instead of chicken stock. Feel free to use chicken stock if you have it.

Once all of the meat is used up, cover the enchilada's in sauce.

First things first

Let's start this off with my house staples. Figure this will be the reference post to all things that go on in my household that relate to food.

When I go shopping it is generally all food that is unprepared. I don't buy box foods that are premade add water and cook types of things. I will buy spice mixes such as grill seasoning, italian seasoning, or the like. But no potato mixes, cake mixes, canned mixes, or anything that can come in a box. This is why I love bulk food stores so much, because they sell more of the "pure form" of foods. Sure there is junk, but the majority of it you have to make up yourself.

So what do I buy? How do I eat? How do I survive?

I will break this down into Large Staples and Small Staples:

Large Staples:

These are generally all found on the outer parts of the stores, a few on the insides, and a few I buy online once a year. These are generally bought in bulk only. Composed of the following

• Raw meat like chicken, fish, beef, pork
• Flour (25lbs at a time)
• Sugar (10lbs at a time)
• Dried Beans (black, navy, and pinto are my favorites)
• Cornmeal (25lbs)
• Lentils 
• Pasta
• Olive Oil
• Butter

Small Staples: 

These are things that I have purchase once to multiple times a month but they are always in my house no matter what.

• Spinach or lettuce mixtures
• Fresh vegetables
• Fresh fruits
• Peanut Butter
• Milk of some sort 
• Cheese
• Deli Meat
• Dressings
• Plain yogurt

Now, there are other things that I'll purchase depending on what I've got going on for what meal. My home generally composes of these few items first before anything else. These are just the things off the top of my head that stand out when I think of what I need to buy.

As far as spices go, I'm a little embarrassed to admit that an entire cabinet is devoted to spices. Everything from large containers of them to small itty bitty amounts. Just depends on the spice at hand and how often I use it.

I'm also a little even more embarrassed to admit that the bottom half of my fridge is filled with almost all sauces and condiments....  Sigh. I've been working to get these gone and have been successful at it, I just need to work harder at it. Too much delicious food in this world.

So here is post one. I know there is not a lot of readers, if any yet, so asking for questions is a mute point. Besides, this is just a small snippit of what is to come. I have another blog that I also try to update on a regular basis so between both of these lets welcome the crazy.

Brand New Blog!

Here we are with another blog about food; just what the world needs!!! I need a place to post up food related posts separate from my horse/animal blog that I have. The two getting smooshed together is starting to make my head spin.

I'm just a down to earth kinda cooker and like to use a few shortcuts sometimes. Other times I like to spend a day in the kitchen just cooking away. I've been told I'm a good cook..... But that could also mean people just want to be nice! LOL!