Baked Macaroni and Cheese- Perfect Comfort Food!

Everyone has their own version of Mac and Cheese. I loved my Mother's creamy Mac and Cheese as a kid. She would cook the macaroni and after it was drained, she added milk, butter, salt and pepper and then she would cube Velveeta and mix into the mac. It was then poured into a casserole dish and baked until golden, creamy and bubbly. Mmmmm, my brother and I were in heaven! When my kids were little, they loved this type of cheesy goodness, but not if baked. Nope, we went the stove top method, as they wouldn't eat it any other way. Talk about picky!

Finally, as they got older, I was able to start baking this wonderful comfort food again, only my cheese preference has changed with age. You know that old saying, "I'm not older, just better!" Well, this mac and cheese is better too! Now, Son Number 2, who is 25, and my daughter have proclaimed this recipe, The BOMB! Can't get much better than that! They do eventually grow up. So, here's my version of the old classic; mac and cheese will never go out of style!

Baked Macaroni and Cheese- Perfect Comfort Food!

2 cups of dry elbo macaroni, cooked and drained

2 T. butter

2 T. flour

1 1/2 tsp. dry mustard

2 cups milk (I use 2%)

1/2- 3/4 cup of half and half

4 ounces of Colby cheese, freshly shredded

4 ounces Monterrey jack cheese, freshly shredded

1/2- 1 tsp. salt

pepper to taste

Topping:

3/4 cup coarse bread crumbs, or Panko bread crumbs

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 T. melted butter

Mix topping ingredients together.

In a large, heavy bottomed sauce pan, melt the butter. Stir in the flour and stir, making a roux, and let it cook minute or so. Don't burn! Whisk in the dry mustard and then the milk. Whisk until smooth and cook on low heat until thickened, a couple of minutes. Stir in the cheeses and the half and half. Remove pan from the heat. Do not let the cheese come to a boil, as it tends to ruin the texture. Continue stirring until cheese is melted. Add the cooked, drained macaroni and salt and pepper to the sauce. Stir well and taste to adjust the seasonings. Pour into a 2 quart casserole dish, ( a 8x8 works well). Sprinkle the crumb topping over the top. Place in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes, until bubbly and topping is golden. Enjoy! Best served while hot.

Whole milk works great for this recipe, but as we have used 2% for years now, I rarely buy whole. The half and half adds creaminess to this dish. Also, I think freshly shredded cheese melts better than the preshredded. Of course, you can substitute your favorite cheeses in place of mine. What's your favorite cheese to use in Macaroni and Cheese?

Our Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

My family loves Chocolate Chip Cookies that are crisp around the edges yet soft in the middle. This recipe fits the bill perfectly. I found this awesome recipe in an old church cookbook that I bought more than 30 years ago from a friend. The poor book is falling apart and I have to be careful that I don't misplace any pages when I'm flipping through it. This wonderful cook book comes from a church in Grandview, Missouri, and it contains many treasured recipes that my family loves. I want to thank Geneva S. for this addictive cookie recipe.I have never met her, but my family has eaten her cookies for years now! When my kids were young, they used to steal

bits of dough from the bowl as I was trying to bake these chewy cookies. My kids always preferred these without nuts, even though my husband and I love them loaded with pecans. So, I used to add nuts to half of the cookie dough, so that we could indulge in them as we preferred. The things a mother has to do when she has picky kids! I am submitting this recipe

for our family's favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies to Laura of "The Spiced Life", and Shelby of "The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch", for this months "Family Recipes; Memories of Family, Food and Fun!" Here's the recipe for these super cookies!

Chocolate Chip Cookies- Our family's Favorite!

2/3 butter, softened to room temperature

2/3 shortening

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, beaten

2 tsp. vanilla

3 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda (originally called for 1 tsp. soda)

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup chopped nuts; I use pecans

12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, cream the butter, shortening, eggs, sugars and vanilla together until creamy. In another bow, mix the flour, soda and salt together. Add to the butter mixture and mix well. Add the nuts and chocolate chips and stir until well combined. I use a tablespoon to measure the dough so they will be similar in size. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes, or until light brown around the edges. Remove from oven and let cookies cool slightly before removing from the cookie sheet. Cool completely and store in air tight container. Makes about 5-6 dozen, depending on how big you make them. Best eaten straight out of the oven, of course! Enjoy these addictive cookies!

I know there are plenty of cookies on the Internet, especially chocolate chip, but these are wonderful. I've tried other recipes and I keep coming back to these so, I'm just sharing our favorite, so far. These cookies have made many wonderful memories in our family and we have shared them with friends and neighbors at Christmas time. Try them, you'll like them!

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

It seems that when fall arrives, so does my need for baking! Or rather not my need, but my desire. The air is cool and there's just nothing like turning on your oven and sticking a mouthwatering, sweet smelling dessert inside so that you can have a bit of fall deliciousness! I've been making this luscious Pumpkin Bread Pudding for a couple of years now and let me tell you, it is heavenly! The custard is silky smooth and delicious, with just the right amount of spices to make you savor each bite. It's a perfect marriage of pumpkin pie and bread pudding. Addictive!

Unfortunately, the days have been dark and dreary here lately, so my pictures are not as good as I hoped. But then, I always have trouble photographing brownish looking foods. This is one of our newer favorite desserts. Cubes of crusty bread and spicy pumpkin never tasted so good!

Pumpkin Bread Pudding (slightly adapted from Epicurious)

1 cup heavy cream ( half and half works well too)

3/4 cup canned solid pack pumpkin

1/2 cup whole milk (I use 2%)

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/8 tsp. allspice

pinch of ground cloves

5 cups cubed day old baguette or crusty bread ( I use 4 cups to get more custard)

3/4 cup melted butter (6 tablespoons)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the melted butter butter in a bowl with the cubed bread and toss. In another bow, mix the pumpkin, sugar, milk, cream, eggs and yolk, and spices. Beat well and toss in with the bread. Stir and pour into a 8x8x ungreased baking pan. Bake at 350 for about 25-35 minutes, until custard is set. Enjoy with homemade whipped cream, ice cream or my decadent Caramel Sauce, if desired.

Earlier, I said that I use less bread than called for. That is because I like to have a layer of silky custard, so I never use all the bread called for in bread pudding recipes. So this dessert turns out more scoopable (is that a word?), than one that is cut into squares. But it's delicious whichever way you make it. My husband will get up in the night for this addictive, comforting dessert. This Pumpkin Bread Pudding is perfect for the coming holiday gatherings! Hope you try it!

Swiss Steak ( slightly adapted from Alton Brown)

I used to make Swiss Steak quite often in my early married years, but after we had kids, they didn't like the tomato type sauce that makes this dish. My kids never did like anything with chunks of tomatoes in it, or chunks of anything, for that matter. So, I gradually quit making it. Not long ago, my husband remarked that it had been along time since I'd made this recipe. He has always loved Swiss Steak, so I thought I remembered seeing a recipe on Food Network that I wanted to try. This dish, by Alton Brown, is delicious and easy to make, but you need to plan for 1 1/2-2 hours of baking time in the oven. This recipe uses round steak. If you buy it not tenderized, then you will need to tenderize it with a meat mallet to break down the muscle fibers of the steak a little.

Brown the steak in hot oil in a dutch oven; just a couple of minutes per side. Remove meat and add the onions and celery to the pan to soften for a minute or two. This smells so good!

Add tomato paste, spices, broth and other seasonings to pot. Place browned meat in the pot, submerging in the savory liquid. Cover pot and place in oven. Bake until meat is fork tender.

Oh, this dish is delicious! I baked it for 2 hours and the meat easily fell apart when cut with a fork. The addition of beef broth and garlic in this recipe gave this Swiss Steak great flavor, not too overpowered with tomatoes. I'll be making this often as my husband loved it. Even my daughter thought it was really good. Here's my slightly adapted version of this delicious recipe.

SWISS STEAK (slightly adapted from Alton Brown)

2 pounds round steak, tenderized ( Alton used bottom round that he sliced into steaks)

2 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. black pepper

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup oil or bacon drippings ( I used a combination of both)

1 large onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 stalks of celery, chopped

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 ounce)

1 tsp. paprika (Alton used smoked paprika)

2 tsp. fresh Thyme (Alton used 1 tsp. dried oregano)

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 cups beef broth (I used low sodium, low fat)

Cut the steaks into serving size pieces, season both sides with salt and pepper and pound with a meat mallet. Dredge meat in the flour and set aside. Dice up the onion and celery. Mince the garlic.

Add enough oil to just cover the bottom of a dutch oven set over medium high heat. Brown the steaks in hot oil about 2 minutes on each side, until golden. Remove steaks to a plate and repeat with the remaining steaks. Don't crowd the meat in the pan while browning.

After removing the last of the steak to the plate, add the onion, celery and garlic to the pot and saute for 1-2 minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir well. Add the tomatoes, paprika, thyme, Worcestershire and beef broth and stir. Return the steak to pot and submerge into the sauce. Cover pot and place in a 325 degree preheated oven. Cook for 1 1/2 -2 hours or until the meat is tender and falling apart.

Enjoy! I served this delicious Swiss Steak with mashed potatoes smothered with the pan veggies and sauce. Delicious! In fact, after I took picture, I ladled on more yummy sauce until you really couldn't distinguish what I was eating! It was a flavorful and comforting meal, perfect on the cold rainy day that we had. I'll be making this often. Have a great day!

Cornmeal Crusted Tilapia Sandwiches

I love a good sandwich and this Cornmeal Crusted Tilapia Sandwich definitely fits into this category. Tilapia is a very mild tasting fish that is delicious used in lots of different styles of cooking. In this recipe, the fish is dredged in a spicy cornmeal mixture and cooked in a skillet with minimal oil. Topped with the last of my garden tomatoes, leaf lettuce and mashed avocado with onion and cilantro, this yummy sandwich is perfect for dinner on your busiest weeknights! Forget the drive-through at the fast food joints- make your own "fast food" at home! Serve this healthy, nutritious and delicious sandwich with oven roasted sweet potato fries, or with a steaming bowl of soup on a chilly evening. Try this tasty, easy sandwich on your next super busy day.

Cornmeal Crusted Tilapia Sandwiches

3 T. yellow cornmeal

1 T. chili powder

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. ground red pepper

4 tilapia fillets

1 T. canola oil

2 avocados

2 T. diced red onion

juice of 1/2 lime

1 T. chopped fresh cilantro

sliced tomatoes

leaf lettuce

4 french bread sandwich rolls

Peel and seed the avocados. In a bowl, mash the avocado with a fork. Stir in the diced onion, lime juice and cilantro. Set aside. Heat a large skillet and 1 T. canola oil over medium heat. Mix the cornmeal and spices together in a container large enough to be able to lay the fish. Dry the fish with paper towels, then dredge the tilapia in the cornmeal mixture. Shake off excess. Lay fish in the hot skillet and cook about 3 minutes, and then turn over. Cook about 3 more minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Remove fish from skillet to a platter. Toast the sandwich rolls under the broiler if desired.

To assemble the sandwiches;

Spread the avocado mixture over each roll half. On the bottom half, lay the fish fillet, then a couple of tomato slices and the leaf lettuce. Top with other half of roll. Open mouth and insert sandwich! Enjoy!

I was inspired by a recipe in Cooking Light's 2009 cookbook, that is similar to this, but used lime butter instead of the avocado mix that I used. The fish was also broiled, instead of browned in a skillet. My husband and I both loved these tilapia sandwiches, so I'll be adding this to our rotation. A meal that is ready in less than 30 minutes- can't beat that! Have a great weekend!

Easy Caramel Sauce

It has certainly taken me long enough to get this recipe for Caramel Sauce posted. The first batch I made mysteriously disappeared! And then, my pictures were so bad, that I couldn't bear to post such inferior shots! So, just for you all I made another batch of this sinfully rich and delicious sauce. Of course, the Apple Cake is gone, so I poured this amazing caramel over vanilla bean ice cream. It was still hard to get a good picture, but hopefully you can get an idea. Being a food blogger is a hard job; I had to eat this ice cream and Caramel Sauce so that it wouldn't go to waste! hehehe! Here's my recipe, finally. It's adapted from the 1997 Southern Living Cookbook.

EASY CARAMEL SAUCE

1/2 cup butter

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 tsp. vanilla

dash of salt

This sauce will rise fairly high when it boils, so it's best to use a large, heavy bottomed saucepan for this recipe. I used a 3 quart pan. Over medium heat, melt the butter and add the brown sugar, and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture come to a rolling boil. Slowly add the cream and whisk and stir constantly until cream is incorporated. Bring to a boil again, still stirring; add vanilla, stir and remove from the heat. Pour into clean glass jars and let cool before putting on a lid. Will keep for about 2 weeks in the fridge, so they say. It gets eaten at our house way before 2 weeks! Makes about 1 1/2 cups of smooth, creamy and addictive Caramel Sauce. It's luscious on cake ,ice cream or anything else that needs a spoonful of caramel! Enjoy!

The Best Apple Cake Ever! ( and a little American apple history)

On a cool, fall day last week, there was a heavenly aroma permeating my humble kitchen. The scent of apples and cinnamon hovered in the air for awhile even after the oven was turned off. I had just made my favorite Apple Cake, a recipe given to me by my Mother-in-law when my husband and I were first married. This moist, cinnamony cake is a favorite in our family (except for those who don't like nuts), and I always look forward to making it- and eating it! As I was eating my first piece of this luscious cake, I began wondering about the history of apples in America. Why? I don't know. I mean, I remember reading about Johnny Appleseed in school, but was there more? So I did a quick google search and found an interesting article at What's Cooking America, called, "History and Legends of Apples",written by Linda Stradley. She has done some research on this delicious fruit which was so interesting to read. Actually, the first apple seeds to arrive in America were in the 17th century! One of the first instances was when William Blackstone arrived in Massachusetts from Europe in 1623. He carried a bag of apple seeds with him and planted an orchard on Beacon hill in Boston, among other places. The early settlers even had to import honey bees! Anyway, by 1640 nearly all landowners had planted apple trees. According to her article, there are over 7000 varieties of apples in the U.S.! Amazing! If you like history, check out this site. Now, let's get to this delicious recipe so you can make it!

APPLE CAKE

4 cup of coarse, chopped apples (any baking apple works)

2 cups sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup oil

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup chopped nuts ( I always use pecans)

In a large bowl, mix the apples and sugar together. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nuts together. I know this sounds strange, but trust me. I've been making this for years and this is the easiest way. Stir the apples; the sugar will be liquefying by now. To the apples and sugar, add the eggs, oil and vanilla and mix well. This is a very thick dough that is loaded with apples. If you noticed, there isn't a lot of liquid in this cake. Most of the moistness comes from the apples. Spoon batter into a greased and floured 9x13 inch pan. Place in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for about 1 hour. Test with a toothpick for doneness. Cool completely before serving. This is best made early in the day you are planning on serving it. This cake needs a few hours to develop its moistness.

The original recipe called for 2 tablespoons of vanilla! As you noticed, I've cut it down to 2 tsp. which is enough. The day of baking, the cake will be crusty on top, but as the day wears on the cake develops its moistness from the apples. Each day, this Apple Cake gets more moist. This is more a snack cake, but I like to make Caramel Sauce to drizzle over the top to dress it up some. Now that is a decadent touch! I guess you can tell from the pictures that I got carried away with the caramel. But it was sooo good! I'll give you the Caramel Sauce recipe my next post. Have a great weekend!