Mix and Match Macaroni and Cheese

This recipe for homemade mac and cheese is fantastic! 

The best part of this recipe from Fine Cooking magazine is you can customize it to fit your own tastes.  Click here for the interactive that will walk you through the choices and measurements for each ingredient.  When you're done dragging things into your bowl, your customized recipe will appear.  You can email, save, or print it.

This is what I chose:

Macroni: shells

Cheese:  extra sharp cheddar (plus I added some swiss)

Accent Cheese:  parmesean

Add Ins:  bacon and scallions

Herbs and Spices:  dry mustard, sage, nutmeg (about half what is suggested - it wants you to choose one, but a combination is better in my book!)

Have fun with different combinations!  I want to try something else, but the above combination was soooooooo good.....!

Quesadila Casserole

This comes from one of those pre-measured McCormick spice kits.  It is super yummy, but it is best the first night.  The second night the tortillas got very doughy.  I scraped the filling off and ate it with tortilla chips instead.  Next time I might make it with chips instead of tortillas.  Or just bake half of it with the filling only for leftovers!

Quesadilla Casserole

One package McCormick Recipe Inspirations Quesadilla Casserole OR:

2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)

Plus:

1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion (I used more than that)
2 cans (8 oz each) tomato sauce
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (8 3/4 oz) whole kernel corn, undrained
1 can (4 1/2 oz) chopped green chiles, undrained
6 8-inch flour tortillas
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Brown beef and onions in large skillet on medium-high heat; drain.  Add tomato sauce, beans, corn and chiles, mix well.  Stir in spices except red pepper.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes.  Add red pepper to taste, if desired.

Spread 1/2 cup of the beef mixture on bottom of 13 x 9 pan sprayed with no-stick cooking spray.  Top with 3 tortillas, overlapping as needed.  Layer with 1/2 remaining beef mixture and 1/2 the cheese.  Repeat with remaining tortillas, beef mixture, and cheese.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes or until heated through.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Ultimate Chocolate Pudding

This is simply THE BEST chocolate pudding I have ever tasted!  It is a cross between chocolate pudding and chocolate mousse.  It is thick and dense, but tastes like mousse.  Simply divine...

I found it in the February 2012 issue of Real Simple and asked Chris to make it for me (he is in charge of desserts around here!).  He said it was super easy.  But there is a lot of whisking.

Ultimate Chocolate Pudding

1/4 c sugar
1/4 c cornstarch
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch salt
2 c whole milk
4 large egg yolks
2 Tbsp unsalted butter cut into pieces
3 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 tsp vanilla
whipped cream for serving

Set a fine mesh sieve over a medium bowl.  In a medium saucepan, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, and salt.  Gradually whisk in the milk, then the egg yolks.

Cook the milk mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened to the consistency of mayonnaise, 7-8 minutes.  Continue to cook, whisking, for 1 minute more.  Remove from heat and pour through the sieve into the bowl, pushing the mixture through gently with a rubber spatula or spoon.  Add the butter and chocolate and stir until melted.  Mix in the vanilla.

Press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.  Before serving, gently stir the pudding to loosen it.  Serve with whipped cream.

Homemade Rotisserie Chicken

The second time I made it, I baked it in the oven.  It came out just like the ones you buy at the store!  But they are cheaper in the long run, because those chickens are always teeny.  We boiled this one for soup and it made a delicious chicken stock too.

This recipe smells and tastes just like a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store! 

The only thing missing is the crunchy skin, since you make it in the crock pot.  You could probably use the same spice blend and roast the chicken to get that skin though.  Next time I'll try it in the oven in a Reynolds bag.  (UPDATE:  I did -- see photo.  It was fabulous!!)

I didn't flip it like the recipe suggests -- I put it breast side down to begin with, to keep the white meat moist.  For the spice blend, I skipped the cayenne and I used dried minced onion because I didn't have any onion powder.

Make sure the chicken is REALLY dry.  And don't overpat the spices.  I ended up with more on my hands than on the chicken at one point!

This recipe comes from one of the Food Wrtiers at the Canton Repository.  (The first person comments are hers, not mine)

Slow-Cooker Roast Chicken

3 tablespoons spice blend*

1 (5-pound) chicken

Large onion

Remove packet from inside chicken, rinse. Rub spices over skin. Pull up skin over breast a bit and rub spices under it. Let sit, refrigerated, for one to 12 hours.

Slice onion and cover bottom of slow cooker. Set chicken on top; cook on low for five to seven hours, depending on how hot your slow cooker gets and how many times you lift the lid. Do not add water.
I turned the chicken breast-side-down halfway through the cooking time to ensure it didn’t get dry, but don’t do this if you want a crisp skin. Use thermometer to determine if chicken is done.

If desired, add a slurry of flour and water to the juices and onion, and bring to boil, stirring, to create gravy.

Variations: Add carrots to the onions on the bottom of slow cooker, or tuck half a lemon inside chicken.

* Spice blend: This recipe makes enough for three chickens. Measure out what you need and store the rest in a container with a tight lid.

Blend 3 tablespoons salt, 2 tablespoons paprika, 1 tablespoon onion powder, 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper, 1 tablespoon dried thyme, 1 tablespoon ground black pepper, 2 teaspoons garlic powder, 1 teaspoon ground rosemary. You can adapt this to fit your own tastes.  [I also add celery seeds]

Super Sausage Gravy

The boyfriend requested biscuits and gravy, so I went looking on yummly.com (my new favorite way to search for recipes - meta search type of thing!) and found this version from Bob Evans on allrecipes.com. We both thought the gravy could be a bit thinner, but overall, very tasty and satisfying. And I feel all southern now. And I cheated and used Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits.

Ingredients:
1 pound Bob Evans® Original Recipe
Sausage Roll
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups milk
Salt and black pepper to taste
8 prepared biscuits
Directions:
1. Crumble and cook sausage in large skillet over medium heat until browned. Stir in flour until dissolved. Gradually stir in milk. Cook gravy until thick and bubbly. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot over biscuits. Refrigerate leftovers.

Quesadilla Casserole

We first tried this about three months ago, and I thought it was time to have it again. I made it this time, and I used the spices we had on hand instead of buying the pre-measured McCormick Card. There's also some left-over shredded colby-jack cheese sprinkled on top of the cheddar. It is absolutely fabulous. Easy to make and delicious!

1 package McCormick® Recipe Inspirations Quesadilla Casserole or:
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp oregano leaves
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)


1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cans (8 ounces each) tomato sauce
1 can (15 ounces) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (8 3/4 ounces) whole kernel corn, undrained
1 can (4 1/2 ounces) chopped green chiles, undrained
6 flour tortillas (8-inch)
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Brown beef and onion in large skillet on medium-high heat; drain. Add tomato sauce, beans, corn and green chiles; mix well. Stir in all of the Spices except Red Pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer 5 minutes. Add Red Pepper to taste, if desired.

2. Spread 1/2 cup of the beef mixture on bottom of 13x9x2-inch baking dish sprayed with no stick cooking spray. Top with 3 of the tortillas, overlapping as needed. Layer with 1/2 of the remaining beef mixture and 1/2 of the cheese. Repeat with remaining tortillas, beef mixture and cheese.

3. Bake 15 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Ham 'n' Cheese Bow Ties

This is another recipe from my latest Taste of Home casseroles booklet (and can be found online). It was fairly simple to put together, and the cheese melted quickly! I used the Rachael Ray (where I've seen it anyway) trick of a microplane for the garlic so there aren't any chunks. The only pre-shredded Colby cheese I could find at the store was a Colby-Jack blend, so I went with that. It is *so* cheesy that I would say that you probably don't need to bother with the extra half cup of cheese (since the packages are labeled approximately 2 cups), although I haven't tried it to be sure. I now have 1 1/2 cups of shredded colby-jack to find a use for though. The only other thing I would do differently is to make the ham a bit more bite sized as my julienned strips were a bit longer than I liked in hindsight. We had green salad alongside to balance out all the cheese.

Ingredients

• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 2 cups 2% milk
• 1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard
• 2-1/2 cups (10 ounces) shredded Colby cheese
• 2 cups uncooked bow tie pasta, cooked and drained
• 6 to 8 ounces fully cooked ham, julienned
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

• In a large saucepan, saute garlic in butter for 1 minute. Stir in the flour, salt and pepper until blended. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Stir in mustard and Colby cheese; cook and stir until cheese is melted. Add pasta and ham; stir until coated.
• Transfer to a greased 2-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 4-6 servings.