Macaroni and Cheese

I first made this Macaroni and Cheese for a Super Bowl party. It is almost as easy as the blue box variety, even though C would question why one would go to the effort of homemade when there are blue boxes in the pantry. This opinion comes from a man who enjoys Hamburger Helper, so I take what he says with a grain of salt. C did enjoy it, proclaimed it no better or worse than the blue box, just "different". I'll take it!

Macaroni and Cheese
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For topping:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/3 cup coarse fresh bread crumbs
1/3 cup coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar

For macaroni and sauce:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup whole milk
1 2/3 cups coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar
3/4 pound macaroni

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter, then stir together with bread crumbs and topping cheeses in a bowl until combined well.

Melt remaining butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat and stir in flour. Cook roux, stirring, 3 minutes, then whisk in milk. Bring sauce to a boil, whisking constantly, then simmer, whisking occasionally, 3 minutes. Stir in cheeses, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper until smooth. Remove from heat.

Cook macaroni in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (2 tablespoons salt for 4 quarts water) until al dente. Stir together macaroni and sauce in a large bowl, adding the pasta cooking water as necessary to thin the cheese sauce to desired consistency. Transfer to a buttered 1 ½ -quart baking dish.

Sprinkle topping evenly over macaroni and bake until golden and bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes.

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Strawberry Waffles

Continuing with the strawberry theme, I finally needed to use up the last of our fresh strawberries this morning. I decided to try something new, since C requested waffles, I figured I could make the strawberries work in them rather than a regular old topping with whipped cream...not that there isn't anything wrong with that. These were good and I will be able to make them easily with my frozen strawberry stash, next time I will kick up the strawberry flavor with homemade strawberry syrup.

Strawberry Waffles
printable recipe

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt

2 teaspoons sugar
1 ¼ cups milk
1 cup strawberries
2 eggs (separated)
1 tablespoon melted butter

Preheat waffle iron.

In a mini prep food processor, puree the hulled strawberries.

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Mix milk, butter, egg yolks and sugar so that the sugar dissolves. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix until only some lumps remain in the batter. Do not overmix. Fold in the egg whites.

Pour in preheated waffle iron and cook for 4 minutes.

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Lemon Artichoke Chicken Orzo Pasta

I heavily adapted this recipe from a Martha Stewart one. And I mean heavily. The original called for feta and dill. I cannot stand feta cheese, so that was a no go, but I was attracted to the ease of baking the pasta in the oven. I heated the broth mixture in a glass measuring cup in the microwave, so this was truly a one pot meal. It is a really easy week night meal that can come together with a huge assortment of ingredients.

Lemon Artichoke Chicken Orzo Pasta
printable recipe

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
¼ cup white wine
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
¾ teaspoons coarse salt
¼ teaspoon ground pepper
½ pound chicken tenderloins, cut into 1-inch pieces
½ pound orzo
1 tomato, chopped
1 can artichokes, drained
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ cup grated Parmesan

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a saucepan, bring broth, ¼ cup water, wine, butter, salt, and pepper to a boil. In a 2-quart baking dish, combine chicken, orzo, tomato, artichokes, parsley, and lemon juice. Pour broth mixture over orzo and stir once to incorporate. Bake until orzo is tender and cooking liquid is creamy, 40 minutes. Sprinkle Parmesan on top and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

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