Fontina Mac and Cheese

I got this recipe from annies-eats

It was good but I don't know that it is one I'll be making very often... I don't usually have fontina cheese (or heavy cream) on hand, and it isn't too cheap... but it is quite delicious!

Fontina Mac and Cheese

1 lb small or medium pasta shells

5 TBS butter, divided
1 c. heavy cream
8 oz fontina cheese, shredded
salt to taste
pinch of nutmeg
1/3 c. panko bread crumbs
1/4 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese

In a large pot of boiling salted water cook the pasta until it is just a few minutes shy of al dente.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut 4 TBS butter up into a bowl, set aside. Warm the heavy cream in a small saucepan or in the microwave and cover to keep warm. Once the pasta is done add it to the butter and stir until well coated. Stir in the warm cream and the fontina until the cheese starts to melt. Mix in salt to taste and the nutmeg. Pour mixture into a buttered 2 quart casserole dish.
In a small bowl melt the remaining 1 TBS of butter and mix with the panko bread crumbs and shredded parmesan, until it is all coated. Sprinkle bread crumbs evenly over the pasta.
Bake until the cheese is bubbling and the top is golden brown, about 20 minutes, serve immediately.

Chocolate Frosting

This is the recipe my mom usually uses for Texas sheet cake and also the red velvet bundt cake I'll tell you about in a minute. This frosting is SO good, I can eat it by the spoonful... not kidding... SOOO good!!

Chocolate Frosting

4 TBS butter
3 TBS cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
abt. 4 c. powdered sugar
3 TBS milk

Melt the butter in a small saucepan (or you can just melt it in the microwave, I just do it in a saucepan cuz that is how my mom does it... I think because back in the day they didn't have microwaves :) hehe just kidding mom... but really is that why?) Add the cocoa to the melted butter. Add the powdered sugar... it will get really dry and kinda clumpy just keep mixing together and try to smooth it out as much as you can. Add vanilla then add the milk 1 TBS at a time and whip it until it is glossy and the right consistency. You want it to be runny enough so that it will drizzle, but not too runny so that it'll drip all the way off your cake! (Look at picture below)

This recipe is just off of the side of the box of a cake mix (it is really called devil's food pound cake) and I like to make it with a red velvet mix instead of devil's food. I don't make cake from scratch cuz honestly I think the box kind tastes better, maybe I'll find a good recipe somewhere that I do like better, anyone have one that they'd like to share??

Red Velvet Bundt Cake

1 package red velvet cake mix

1 package instant chocolate pudding mix

4 eggs

1 1/4 c. water

1/2 c. vegetable oil

Grease and flour a bundt pan. Mix cake, pudding mix, eggs, oil, and water in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

Fruit Dip

This dip is SO good! (and really simple too!!) I didn't take a picture when I used it as fruit dip, but I had some of the leftover on my pancakes and OH MY it was so good!! Definitely using this for my crepe filling in the future! I also made "peaches and cream" for my husband to bring into work, they do a themed potluck on days when they grade tests and last weeks theme was southern foods... not really my area of expertise :) anyways so I made this fruit dip and cut up a bunch of peaches. This dip is SO good with any fruit!

My mom got this recipe from Maile Grover, who was one of my leaders in young women's... when I was a young woman FOREVER ago :)

The only thing I changed is that I put about half as much cream cheese, I like the subtle taste of it and not for it to be the flavor of the whole dip.

Fruit Dip

1 can sweetened condensed milk

4 oz softened cream cheese

8-12 oz cool whip (add it to taste, but I suggest at least 8 oz)

Put them all in a bowl and whip it with an electric mixer for a few minutes until it is all mixed in and is a thick consistency. Dip fruit in it, use it in your crepes, on waffles... whatever your little heart desires!! :)

Beef Stew

YUM, I love beef stew! Best part about this is how easy it was to make! As you've probably gathered from my previous posts I like to make my meat ahead then put it into the freezer for future use. It is so nice to not have to worry about cooking the meat for the meal the same day, maybe it's just me but cooking/shredding meat is not very fun and it is time consuming. And it saves so much time because I just cook a lot of it at once instead of cooking it each time a want to use it! This meat is leftover roast that I shredded and put into the freezer, so a little extra effort of shredding the beef after I've made the roast makes for a super fast meal when I need to throw something together! I guess I'm in rambling mode today... on to the recipe!

Beef Stew

4 Carrots

3 Potatoes

1 1/2 c. Shredded beef (YES shredded!!)

3 or 4 tsp Beef bouillon (add according to taste)

1 TBS corn starch

1/4 c. cold water

Salt and pepper to taste

Onion powder, just a little to give it more flavor

Peel carrots and potatoes and cut them into bite sized pieces and put into a medium/large saucepan. Cover with water so that the water is abt. an inch over the top of the vegetables. Boil for 8-10 minutes. Add the shredded beef, bouillon, salt, pepper, and onion powder. Mix the corn starch with the cold water and strain it into the stew, boil for one minute or until thickened.

Eat with a side of homemade rolls!

Calzones

Before my trip I made a few of these for my hubby to eat while I was away, someday I'll teach him how to cook for himself !:)

These turned out pretty good they were a little drier than I would've liked so I'll figure that out later. (Or you can just dip them in sauce, but you know me... too picky for my own good!)

For the dough I tweaked my mom's pizza dough recipe a little then just threw some yummy stuff together to make the filling!

Calzones

Dough:
1 c. warm water
1 TBS yeast
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp shortening
1/8 tsp garlic powder
flour (abt. 3/4 cups)

Soften the yeast in the water, add the sugar and salt. Add garlic powder and shortening. Add the flour until it is a smooth touchable dough.

Filling:
12 oz Ricotta cheese
3/4 c. Mozzarella cheese
1 TBS Italian seasoning
1 tsp Garlic salt
Salt and Pepper
20 Pepperoni, quartered
1 TBS Parmesan/Romano

I didn't measure it all out but I kinda guessed so if it isn't enough add more and just go by taste with the seasonings to make it how you like it.

With this recipe you can make 2 really big calzones (which is what I did... think half of a pizza big) or 4 smaller ones.

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Separate your dough into 2 equal parts (4 for making smaller ones) and roll it out into a circle. Put the filling in half of the circle away from the edges. Fold over the other side of the dough,covering the filling. starting from one corner pinch and pull the dough up and continue around the whole edge until it is sealed, next time I'll take more detailed pictures for this step cuz it is pretty simple but I didn't really get how to do it at first. My hubby learned this trick for sealing empanadas on his mission in Argentina and he showed me how. Or if you don't know how to do that just clamp down on the edges with a fork, like I used to do :) Hopefully one of those ways makes sense or your filling will spill out all over the pan and that is never fun! ANYWAYS... put a little cornmeal down on the pan so it wont stick, and bake for about 7-10 minutes, until it is starting to get brown. If it is still doughy leave it in a little longer (I'm really good at giving instructions huh?? sorry :P)

Tortellini Bake

I just threw this together the other night... I have not been doing good with my menus lately, my trip just really threw off my groove, but hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things soon! :)

This recipe was adapted from this one here from mykitchencafe (love her recipes!)

I halved mine and changed some things so I'll give you the halved version and if you have more people to feed double it :)

Tortellini Bake

8 oz tortellini

1 c. shredded chicken breast (or cubed)

1 TBS flour

(she calls for 3/4 c. sour cream but I was out, so...)

1/2 c. half and half

1/4 c. cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. chicken broth

1 1/2 c. triple cheddar shredded cheese (she calls for 2 cups for a whole recipe, but I like my cheese!!! )

Cook the tortellini for 2-3 minutes, drain and set aside. I used a bag of shredded chicken from my freezer, if you don't have that you can cook and shred some or put 1 TBS oil into a skillet and cook the chicken until it is fully done then cut it into bite size chunks. Put the chicken in to skillet and sprinkle with the flour then add the chicken broth, stir until thickened. Add the cream cheese and half and half, by the way it was SO good, really creamy (or just use sour cream if you have it). Spray a 9x9 pan with cooking spray Put tortellini into the bottom and sprinkle with half of the cheese. Pour chicken and sauce mixture over the top and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Cover with tin foil and cook it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for an additional 15 minutes, until it is slightly browned around the edges and the sauce is bubbling.

Madeleines

Holy Smokes! That was a long vacation! I went to visit my family for a few weeks and had a blast, but now down to business! I made two batches of these for the mother daughter activity for Activity Day Girls, the theme was under the sea and I thought these would fit in perfectly!

I found this recipe here

Madeleines

2 eggs, room temperature

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp lemon zest (I just added a little bit of lemon juice cuz I didn't have a lemon)

1 cup powdered sugar

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour 3 inch madeleine mold.

In a mixer beat the eggs, vanilla and lemon zest on high for 5 minutes. Gradually add powdered sugar and mix for 5-7 minutes, until smooth and satiny. Sift the flour and baking powder together, sift 1/4 of the flour onto the egg mixture and gently fold in. Repeat until all flour is folded in. Add melted butter. Spoon batter into prepared molds 3/4 full.

Bake for about 10 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the tops spring back up when pushed down. Cool for 1 minute in molds on racks, then if necessary, loosen with a knife (mine slid right out) and invert onto the rack. Roll in powdered sugar or dip the ends into melted chocolate. Store in an air tight container.