Foodie Friday: Baked Mac and Cheese

The ultimate comfort food. Can I get a heck yeah!?

Andrea and I are both big fans of cheese. It is rare that we run out of cheese in our house. (When we do ... I panic!) Our first foodie Friday in our house, we made homemade mac and cheese. At the time, I had been wanting to make homemade macaroni and cheese for ages. And I mean ages. I love my Kraft mac and cheese but there is something to be said about that baked homemade taste. And I have a tendency to want to order mac and cheese at fancy restaurants (or any restaurant or eatery really) if I see it on the menu. I mean it's delicious so why not right?

Last Thursday, when I was contemplating dinner and I mentioned Mac and Cheese, Andie squealed and screamed, "Foodie Friday!" And so... Baked and Mac lives again!

Baked Macaroni and Cheese (Adapted from the Joy of Cooking)

Ingredients:
8 oz (rough estimate) of macaroni noodles
2 tbsp of butter
2 tbsp of flour
1 1/2 cups of skim milk
1 3/4 cups of heavy whipping cream
a dash of nutmeg
a dash of paprika
1 small shallot minced
about a teaspoon of spicy mustard
CHEESE:
Fontina
Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Garlic cheese by Beemmaster (I am seriously OBSESSED)

Topping: (Optional)
2 tbsp of butter
breadcrumbs (amount is your decision)

Directions to yumminess:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Warm water to a boil in a pot and then add noodles. Cook til almost completely cooked but still a bit al dente. Melt butter in saucepan on low heat. Add flour and whisk for about 3 minutes or until blended. Add shallots, coating them in butter/flour mixture. Then slowly add milk and cream while stirring. Add spices and simmer.


Dice or crumble up the cheese and after sauce has simmered for 5 minutes, add to sauce! Remember to save a little for later.

After cheese has melted and it feels cheesy enough for you, add the cheese to your pan of noodles and mix til all the noodles are coated. Add the cheese crumbles you saved.

Optional step:
If add breadcrumbs, melt butter via microwave or stove top. Then add breadcrumbs and mix. After you have add the cheesy sauce and extra cheese to your noodles, top with breadcrumbs. 


Bake for 30 minutes or until the top of the noodles/breadcrumbs are slightly brown.


Enjoy! We had ours with a delicious garlic kale salad Andie whipped up.


This is a wonderful stay-in Friday night meal perfect for watching a sweet romantic comedy... like "While You Were Sleeping." Which is what we did.

Happy Eating!
Deepika


P.S. Leftovers the next day are still delicious. Tip: Sprinkle some fresh cheese crumbles onto the noodles before you nuke them in the microwave. Trust me. 

Foodie Friday: What Fall Tastes Like

Now that it is fall and it's cold outside, (yes it's cold here in Texas!) I must share this recipe we found here.
Andrea and I had both been craving soup and the minute it got the slightest bit cold, it was time to make some. Also, I get a little obsessed with anything pumpkin in the fall. I blame Starbucks. 


Spicy Pumpkin Soup Recipe

Ingredients
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onions, chopped
1 teaspoons minced garlic
A dash of crushed red pepper
1 teaspoons curry powder
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1 1/2 (15 oz) cans 100 percent pumpkin 
2 1/2 cups of vegetable broth (or chicken broth but my roommate is a veggie)
1 cups of milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream

1) Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add spices and stir for a minute more.
2) Add pumpkin and broth; blend well. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
3) Transfer soup, in batches, to a blender or food processor. Cover tightly and blend until smooth. Return soup to saucepan.
4) With the soup on low heat, add brown sugar and mix. Slowly add milk while stirring to incorporate. Add cream. Adjust seasonings to taste. You might want to add a teaspoon of salt.

I also happened to have pumpkin pie spice in my cupboard, so we put a dash on top and it was delicious. A dash of pepper would also be good to give it a bit of a kick.

Happy Eating!

Deepika

Foodie Friday: Stuffed Bell Peppers

Before I delve into these delicious stuffed bell peppers (we made these in July and I STILL remember how great they tasted), let me give you a little background on Foodie Friday!

When Andrea and I decided to move in together (we have the sweetest little house), we came up with the idea for Foodie Friday. Neither of us are big fans of going out on Fridays. Dinner is about all I can  muster. So we thought, why not stay in and cook? Or maybe sometimes go try a new restaurant? Add to that a glass of wine and good conversation. Perfect Friday night solution!

Our very first Foodie Friday occurred before we even moved in together. We couldn't wait ... we were pretty excited about the idea!

Stuffed Bell Peppers (based on this recipe I found at this great blog --- We added and subtracted a few things so our version is listed below)

• Ingredients:
• 3 bell peppers halved and seeded 
• 1 bell peppers - diced into small pieces 
• 1 zucchini - diced into small pieces
• 1 onion - diced into small pieces
• 4 cloves garlic - minced 
• 1 c frozen corn 
• 1 small tomato - diced into small pieces
• 1 cup of mushrooms - diced into small pieces
• 2 tbs parsley 
• 3/4 c panko breadcrumbs  - we used garlic and herb flavored
• salt 
• pepper 
• 1 package of light cream cheese (3 oz.)
• 1 tbs essence 
• 3 tbs olive oil 
• 2 tbs butter 
• 1/4 c parmesan (to start - decide if you want more based on taste)  plus more for sprinkling 

I'm not sure how we managed to not eat all of this

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
After heating butter and olive oil in a pan on the stove, saute the onions over med high heat until translucent. 
Add garlic and cook til fragrant.  
Add the mushrooms and saute til soft. 
Add the rest of the vegetables. Saute until tender.
Then add salt, pepper and essence. 
Slowly add cream cheese until entire package is added to the vegetable mixture.
 Add parsley and breadcrumbs. Then add parmesan and take off heat.

Stuff the peppers with the vegetable-cream cheese mixture. Place in a baking dish coated with a little olive oil. Bake until peppers are softened (about 20-25 minutes).
A few minutes before the peppers are done - I recommend at about 5 minutes left - sprinkle parmesan on top of the peppers and finish baking.


Voila! Finished! And let me tell you, the leftovers are great as well. You can stick the peppers back in the oven for about five minutes or, if you are lazy like I am, just nuke them in the microwave for a few minutes!

Happy Eating!
Deepika