A+ for this one. Went great with garlic and rosemary marinated chicken for Derek and filled me up as a meal! Will definitely have again, maybe add onions next time?
BAKED MACAR
ONI AND CHEESE
This recipe was a not a favorite.
Despite putting in sharp cheddar cheese and JALAPENOS, it still came out bland somehow. It took a lot of time to prepare and is not something I would make on just a normal dinner night (took me about 45 minutes to prep not including cooking time?)
Anywho, if brave enough to tamper with the recipe here it is:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baked-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe/index.html
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.
Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.
Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.
Remember to save leftovers for fried Macaroni and Cheese.
ALFREDO SAUCE
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Alfredo-Sauce-2/Detail.aspx
Here's the recipe for the alfredo sauce... this was the closest thing to Olive Garden alfredo I have EVER tasted. So much better than the canned sauce. A little rich, I will probably substitute lower fat milk for the heavy cream and low fat butter for the sweet butter next time. Usually parmesan cheese is hard to melt to be creamy, I thought it melted fine but I might use gruyere or asiago next time for a special treat? I am also learning to perfect my cooking of seafoodÜ The shrimp were coated with garlic butter and grilled with the salmon.
BANANA BREAD
I also had 6 bananas that had overripened and I didn't want to through them away so I tried a banana bread recipe from the same site: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Banana-Banana-Bread/Detail.aspx
The bread tastes really yummy but I would put less banana in it less time (maybe 1 3/4 cup instead of 2 1/3). It's pretty mushy in the center but the outsides are YUMMY!
This is one of Derek and my FAVORITES! It is a little modification of Mimi's tostada salad. It's a bit healthier but still yummy!!
Ingredients (enough for 2 servings):
2 tostada shells (or tortilla chips put together)
2 heads romaine lettuce
3 tomatoes
1/2 onion
3 pedals garlic
lime juice (squeezed from 1/2 lime)
lemon juice (squeezed from 1/2 lemon)
1 can black beans
1 can whole kernel corn
ranch (light or regular)
1 cup cheddar cheese (shredded)
1 avocado
2 chicken breasts (or 1 if one person is a vegetarian;-). Can also use ground beef.
Step 1: Grill chicken and warm black beans for 3 minutes on low heat. When black beans are warm, stir in corn. Keep bean/corn mixture on low heat.
Step 2: Cut lettuce (put aside). Make salsa mixture: chop tomatoes, onion, and garlic. Mix together and add lemon and lime juice. Add salt to taste. Put aside.
Step 3: Scoop corn/bean mixture on plate & top with tostada shell.
Step 4: Pile lettuce, top with chicken, a scoop of salsa mixture, cheese, and avocado.
Step 5: Drizzle with ranch and enjoy!!!
Today was mom's birthday so I also got to have some fun with my new piping bags!
Fun day today at Disneyland with all the brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews!
