Quick Macaroni & Cheese

Need a quick bite of pure comfort? Mac and cheese always fits the bill. If you have a little more time, you can mix in some diced ham or crumbled bacon and top with bread crumbs and brown in the oven. But this way is just fine.

Quick Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients:
Half a package Bowtie pasta (or whatever shape you have on hand)
2 T. butter
3 T. flour
About 3/4 c. milk (chicken broth will also work great)
3/4-1 c. shredded cheese (I used about 3/4 c of a mix of Swiss and medium cheddar)
1 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. cayenne
1/2 t. garlic powder
salt and pepper

Cook pasta according to package directions.

In a medium sauce pan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour and continue to whisk until flour/butter mix is golden brown. Whisk in milk until smooth. Add cheese and whisk until cheese is melted and incorporated. Add spices and salt and pepper to taste. Continue to whisk fairly often until pasta is al dente. Drain pasta, then stir in the cheese sauce until well incorporated. Serve immediately.

Baked Blueberry-Pecan French Toast wtih Blueberry Syrup

This is an old Food Network recipe (that's no longer available), which I got from my mother-in-law. It's delicious, ridiculously good. Like diabetes-on-a-platter good. My sister is doing a brunch with some friends tomorrow (no school) and this is for her.

Baked Blueberry-Pecan French Toast with Blueberry Syrup

Ingredients:
1 baguette (24")
6 eggs
3 c. milk
1/2 t. nutmeg
1 t. vanilla
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. pecans (about 3 oz)
1/2 stick plus 1 t. butter
1/4 t. salt
3 c. blueberries (mixed berries work awesome, too)
1/2 c. maple syrup (not Log Cabin!)
1 T. lemon juice

Grease a 13 x 9 baking dish. Cut 20 (1") slices from baguette and arrange in one layer in the baking dish.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk, nutmeg, vanilla, and 3/4 c. of the sugar. Pour evenly over the bread slices. Chill mixture, covered, until all liquid is absorbed by the bread (8 hours and up to 1 day).

Preheat oven to 350.

In a shallow baking pan, spread pecans evenly and toast in middle of oven until fragrant, about 8 minutes. Toss pecans in pan with 1 t. butter and salt.

Increase oven temperature to 400.

Sprinkle pecans and 2 c. berries evenly over bread mixture. Cut 1/2 stick of butter into pieces and in a small saucepan heat with remaining 1/4 c. sugar, stirring until butter is melted. Drizzle butter mixture over bread and bake for 20 minutes, or until any liquid from the berries is bubbling. If you are watching your waistline, you can reduce or omit the butter step, but it's really, really good with it.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, cook remaining cup of berries and maple syrup over medium heat until berries have burst, about 3 minutes. Pour syrup through a sieve into a heatproof pitcher (or Pyrex measuring cup), pressing on solids. Stir in lemon juice. Syrup can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered (reheat before serving).

Serve French toast with syrup.

Beach Day!

We're smack dab in the middle of another long, dark, snowy and cold winter around here. It's been a heck of a winter, too, and of course it's the one winter we decided to forgo the tropical thaw-out and just stay home.

To break things up a bit, we did Beach Day this afternoon. We cranked the thermostat to 80, changed into shorts and tshirts, played some games and made a picnic/BBQ lunch. It wasn't Hawaii, but it was pretty fun.

What do you like to do to keep yourself and kids busy during the winter?

Chicken (and Leek) and Dumplings

I love chicken and dumplings. Whenever I've made them though, they have turned out sort of ... meh. Nothing exceptional. Which would be ok, except whenever I've made them, I have spent way too much time in the kitchen for the lackluster result. 


Fast forward (do people still say that?) to tonight. I stumbled upon an easy, quick, and healthy approach to chicken and dumplings, based upon some of the randoms floating around in my fridge. The dumplings are half of a Mark Bittman recipe (again from the iPad app). My mom was over and said she really liked it (don't tell her there were leeks in there, she says she's not a fan). 

Chicken (and Leek) and Dumplings

Ingredients:

1-2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 T. butter
2-3 medium carrots, diced
1 leek, dark green removed and sliced thin
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper
1 qt chicken stock
4 allspice berries
1 bay leaf
1 t. dried thyme

1 c. flour
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
2 T. cold butter, chopped into little chunks
1/2 c. plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)

In a large dutch oven or pot, melt 2 T. butter. Add the carrots, leek, onion, and garlic, and saute over medium-low until veggies are soft. Deglaze with a bit of the stock, then stir in the rest of the stock, spices (with salt and pepper to taste). Bring to a boil and add the chicken. Reduce to a simmer and cover, cook 15 minutes. Remove chicken from pot, chop or shred, and return to pot.

When chicken is cooking, mix the flour, salt, baking powder and soda in a food processor until combined. Pulse in the butter until well combined. Add the yogurt and process just until the mixture balls up.

After re-adding the chicken to the pot, drop the biscuit dough into the pot. Try not to have the dough touch. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, and no peeking! The steam is what cooks the dumplings.

Gluten Free Brownies

I am personally not on the gluten-free train, as none of my little family are one of the 1 in 133 with celiac disease. My sister, however, has been trying to avoid gluten as of late. She and a friend were over this weekend and, among other awesome things, her friend freed my car from the seven thousand new inches of snow it was mired in. I am very grateful, you have no idea. To say thanks, my son and I wanted to bake a little treat for them. I dug around, and found this recipe for brownies (one of my personal favorite treats). I had to sub a bit in the flour category, but they turned out pretty tasty. I think you could play around quite a bit with this recipe, with different chocolate or flours, and come up with some pretty spectacular results. 

Gluten Free Brownies

Ingredients:
8 T. (1 stick) butter (I used salted butter)
4 oz dark/semi-sweet chocolate (I used most of a Ghirardelli Intense Dark 86% bar and some chocolate chips)
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. brown rice flour

Preheat oven to 400. Grease a square dark baking dish.

In a double boiler, whisk the butter (cut into small chunks) and chocolate (also cut into small chunks) until smooth.

In a stand mixer, beat the sugar and eggs until they have a silky consistency. Add the vanilla, stir. Add the rice flour, stir. Finally, add the chocolate/butter mix and stir.

Pour the mix into the prepared pan and bake 22-25 minutes. Remove from oven and place in a sink that has been prepared with cold water and ice (be careful not to get water onto the brownies). Let brownies cool completely in the sink. After several hours (if you can help it), cut brownies and serve.

Chicken and Pear Salad with Vinaigrette

Salad! I really enjoy a hearty salad for a meal. We had some pears and feta around, but I think some goat cheese would be even better here. You can sub whatever seasonings you prefer for the chicken, or even buy that pre-cooked stuff if you are really strapped for time. I used an old baby food jar to hold the vinaigrette until we were ready to serve it, as I made the salad ahead of time.

Chicken and Pear Salad with Vinaigrette

Ingredients:
1 large chicken breast
1 T. canola oil
herbs de provence
salt and pepper

lettuce leaves, washed and torn (you can use any salad greens you like, obviously)
carrots, chopped or baby
1/4 of an English cucumber, sliced
1/2 of a pear, skinned and sliced
about 1/4 c. crumbled feta

3 green onions, coarsely chopped
3 T. honey
1 T. soy sauce
1 t. red pepper flakes
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
about 1/4 c. olive oil

In a small fry pan, heat the canola oil over medium. When it's hot, add the chicken. Season the top side of the chicken with the herbs, salt, and pepper. When the bottom is browned, flip, then cook until opaque. Remove from pan and allow to rest. After you are finished with the rest of the salad, slice.

In a small food processor bowl (or blender), add the green onions, honey, soy sauce, pepper flakes and vinegar. Turn the processor on. When the mixture is blended and onions are pretty pulverized, drizzle the oil in slowly. Feel free to add more oil if you like, this recipe is pretty light on oil and also fairly strong in flavor.

In a large bowl, assemble the salads: add the veggies, pears, cheese, and chicken slices. Drizzle with dressing and serve. This is enough for two salads (and you should have enough vinaigrette left over for another salad or two later in the week).

Whole Wheat Bread, sweetened with molasses

Sweet sassy molassey! I just really wanted to type that and luckily for me, today I made up a loaf of sandwich bread sweetened with molasses. So I have an excuse (although perhaps there is no real reason to ever say that).


I have a nice, smaller Zojirushi bread machine and it does pretty good work. My only complaint is that my go-to recipe for it, a 100% whole wheat bread, is pretty dense. I had a bit of extra time this morning and found this recipe. It turned out awesome, there's no refined sugar or flour in it, and bonus--no kneading and only one rise! I used the dough hook on my stand mixer to do the kneading for me.

I used the molasses option to sweeten, which is just sweet enough and gave the loaf a pretty hue, almost a pumpkin bread color. I'm excited to try the other sweetener options.


Thanks to King Arthur flour for this awesome recipe!

Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients:
1 to 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water*
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey, molasses, or maple syrup
3 1/2 cups King Arthur Premium 100% Whole Wheat Flour
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast, or 1 packet active dry yeast, dissolved in 2 tablespoons of the water in the recipe
1/4 cup nonfat dried milk
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
*Use the greater amount in winter or in a dry climate; the lesser amount in summer or a humid climate.

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and stir till the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface, oil your hands, and knead it for 6 to 8 minutes, or until it begins to become smooth and supple. (You may also knead this dough in an electric mixer or food processor, or in a bread machine programmed for "dough" or "manual.") Note: This dough should be soft, yet still firm enough to knead. Adjust its consistency with additional water or flour, if necessary.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl or large measuring cup, cover it, and allow the dough to rise till puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 1 to 2 hours, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface, and shape it into an 8" log. Place the log in a lightly greased 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan, cover the pan loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the bread to rise for about 1 to 2 hours, or till the center has crowned about 1" above the rim of the pan. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bake the bread for 35 to 40 minutes, tenting it lightly with aluminum foil after 20 minutes to prevent over-browning. The finished loaf will register 190°F on an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center.

Remove the bread from the oven, and turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool. If desired, rub the crust with a stick of butter; this will yield a soft, flavorful crust. Cool completely before slicing. Store the bread in a plastic bag at room temperature.

Yield: 1 loaf.