Homemade Mac and Cheese

I've made my displeasure for blue box Mac and Cheese known on many occasions. I hate that stuff. I suppose I'd eat it if I was stranded in a desert and was trying to make it home to my husband and kids, but I would complain and gag the whole time. That being said, I do enjoy homemade Mac and Cheese...the kind you make with real cheese...not powder!! This is a pretty good recipe for Mac and Cheese. The kids love it, too.

1 package (8 oz) elbow macaroni
1/4c butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4c flour
2c milk
8 oz Swiss Cheese

Cook the macaroni as directed on package. In a frying pan, saute onion in butter. Add salt and pepper. Stir in flour and cook over low heat. Stir in milk. Cube cheese and stir into mixture. In a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish, mil the macaroni and cheese sauce. Bake at 375˚F for 30 minutes.

Pumpkin Pancakes

It's that time of year again...when the pumpkins are in season and all the trees are lovely shades of yellow, orange, and red. I love this time of year. It's the time of year that I start putting pumpkin in everything!!!

2 1/2c Bisquick
1c milk
2 eggs
1c pumpkin puree (or canned pumpkin)
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp cinnamno
1/2 tsp nutmeg

In a bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, and eggs. Mix in the spices. Add the bisquick. The consistence of your batter is going to vary depending on how "wet" your pumpkin puree is. Don't be afraid to add a bit more bisquick to get your batter to a good consistency for pancakes.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the pan, using about 1/8-1/4 of a cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides. Serve hot with syrup.

Goulash Soup

The Goulash we ate growing up was a concoction of macaroni noodles, tomato sauce, and hamburger. Kinda like Spaghetti, but all mixed together and made with a mysterious packet of powder Mom bought on the spice aisle. It was alright, but imagine my surprise when I ordered this while stationed in Germany. Hmmmmm....the beef, the peppers, and potatoes simmered in this yummy broth and served with crusty bread. This was not my mother's Goulash, but it was heavenly!

3T butter or oil
1 lb beef (cut into 1" cubes)
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 green peppers, chopped
2 red peppers, chopped
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp paprika
2 Bay leaves
1 Tbs lemon juice
4c beef stock
2c water
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
3T tomato paste

Brown meat in butter. Remove meat, leave the drippings. Saute onions in drippings until translucent. Add garlic, peppers, and tomato paste. Saute for 10 minutes. Add caraway seeds, paprika, and lemon juice. (The is where the original recipe tells you to run the soup through a blender and return it to the pot, but I like it better chunky so I skip this step.) Throw beef and all your sauted vegetables in a pot. Add beef stock, water, and bay leaves. Simmer for 45 minutes. Add potatoes. Simmer an additional 45 minutes. Serve with crusty bread.

Colorful Pasta Salad

We have some weird names for recipes at our house. We don't just call something Pasta salad. We'll call it "Your mother's pasta salad" or "That pasta salad I made for the company BBQ last month". This one, we call "my mom's colorful pasta salad" I'll call it "Colorful Pasta Salad" for short. It's good stuff. It's great for picnics because the ingredients won't spoil in the hot sun.

1 box penne pasta
5 green onions, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and grated with a large grater
1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of small black olives, drained and sliced in half
1 can of Jolly Green Giant corn niblets, drained
1/4c Parmesan cheese
Kraft Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette

Boil the penne pasta and rinse with cold water. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. Add about a cup of the Kraft Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette. Mix together and let it set. I like to make it up at least a few hours before I need it.

Cheesy Potato Soup

A complete stranger shared this recipe on Facebook a few weeks ago. I knew that I needed to try it when she said, "That potato soup recipe and my oldest daughter are the ONLY decent things I got out of my first marriage." With a recommendation like that...how can you NOT give it a try.

5c potatoes, peeled and diced
1 onion, diced
5c water
1 lb Mexican Mild Velveeta Cheese
2 cans cream of celery soup
2c ham, diced
salt and pepper

Combine the water, potatoes, and onion in a pot. Boil on medium high for about 20 minutes. Smash the potatoes with a potato masher until rough. Add cheese, soup, and ham. Mix together. Keep the soup on the heat to allow the cheese to melt. Salt and Pepper to taste.

Kebalsa Pie

I heard this recipe on the radio a few weeks ago. I wasn't too sure about it at first, but I wrote it down anyway because Roger loves Kielbasa. It sounded like it could either be really delicious...or really, really wrong. A couple of nights ago, I whipped this recipe together. It was really good. Roger liked it. The kids liked it. Even the little girl from next door who's a picky eater liked it. It's simple, it's hardy, and the sauerkraut gives it an unexpected tanginess that compliments the sausage.

Ingredients:

Sauerkraut, drained
Mashed Potatoes, portioned for 6
1 Kielbasa Sausage, sliced
Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded
Cheddar Cheese, shredded

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Drain a jar of sauerkraut and layer it in the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish. Place the kielbasa sausage over the sauerkraut somewhat evenly spaced. Smooth the mashed potatoes over the sauerkraut and sausage. I used the kind out of the box. I was feeling lazy, but it doesn't really matter for this recipe. Cook pie for 45 minutes. Sprinkle with shredded cheese and cook another 15 minutes.

Zucchini Bread

We recently bought our daughter a bunkbed that we found through a craigslist ad. We really enjoyed visiting with the couple selling the bed while we took it apart and loading it into the truck. As we were herding our children toward the truck, Brenda asked if we'd like a zucchini picked fresh from their garden that morning. Well, I have a personal policy against turning down home-grown produce. We took our zucchini home to make some bread

Ingredients:

3 1/4c flour
1 1/2tsp salt
1tsp ground nutmeg
2tsp baking soda
1tsp cinnamon
3c sugar
1c vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/3c water
2c zucchini, grated
1tsp lemon juice
1c pecans, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon, and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, water, zucchini, oil, and lemon juice. Mix the wet into the dry ingredients. Fold in nuts. Divide the dough between two bread pans. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.