String [cheese] Theory

I love pasta. If I had to pick my favorite pasta dish it would be this one. It has all of my favorite things; creamy sauce, shrimp, tomatoes, onion, garlic…

Or it might be this one, creamy orzo. When I make it, I add smoked sausage. Oh yum! The peas put it over the top.

Maybe I should categorize my list of pasta favorites.

Lasagna: from Paula Deen. Although my version is from Shannon and we've both modified it.

Fresh Rollatini: I had this once at a restaurant (and had no idea what it was before that), came home and googled it. I found this recipe which was pretty close to what I remembered from the restaurant.

Alfredo: This one is so simple and pure. I have other alfredo recipes that are thick and filling and delicious.

Then there's this next one, also a pasta dish that I had no idea what it was until I saw it made on tv. Capellini al Forno. It's like a pasta pie. Don't make it for just two people though. Make it for a group of four or six.

Okay, so what do all of these pasta dishes have in common? If you're lactose intolerant, it's your enemy.

Cheese.

Cheesy Mozzarella, cheesy Parmesan, cheesy Romano, cheesy cheese.

Cheese which turns into a gooey mess the instant you put it into a sink full of hot, soapy water.

That's not actually my theory. It's fact.

But I love cheese, so I'm going to keep making pasta. And I'll keep washing dishes. And I'll keep having gooey messes.

better the second time around

Bill's home! He hasn't been home since March 16th. I saw him last weekend, but I picked him up in St. Joseph to drive to Indiana. It's on the way to my parents. Why would he drive to GR only to drive right back by the office?

Anyway, I celebrated his homecoming by making leftovers. I had some ham and bean soup in the freezer. When I made it the first time it wasn't as good as I had hoped. I decided when I pulled it out to reheat it that I would add actual chunks of ham (I had used a ham hock to make the soup, but no ham). That's what I did tonight. It made a huge difference and was very good.

While that was heating up, I decided I needed bread of some kind to go with the soup. But I didn't have any bread.

What's the next best thing?

Biscuits.

But not just any biscuits, cheesy garlic biscuits (think Red Lobster).

I quickly found the recipe and literally tossed the ingredients into a bowl. Then into the oven and ta-da! Ten minutes later the biscuits and the soup were ready.

I'm thankful for leftovers.

Obviously I'm thankful that Bill's home. That's a given.

I'm much more impressed that dinner was as good as it was.

a list of one thousand

I'm currently reading a book, "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp. It is deeply spiritual and intense. But it's also inspiring. So inspiring that I bought each of the ladies in the book club their own journal (me included) so we can make our own lists. A list of one thousand things that we're thankful for.

Remember when I blogged every day for two years? I think it's going to be like that.

Before I started reading the book, Bill and I had started making intentional date-nights. A little background, our friend has moved in with us. Bill and I have always continued dating, but with this change in our normal lives, we made it more intentional. And then the stars aligned and parties, weddings and movies all gave us more reason to have date-night.

That's one of the gifts. Awe, so sappy.

We could have had date-night last night, if Bill would have gone to Temple with me.

Yes, Temple. It's part of Confirmation, we'll take several field trips to other houses of worship (and a funeral home); we took the Jr. High youth to Temple last night. It was a wonderful service. The kids (from the synagogue) took part in the service. It was about an hour long. But for some reason, Bill didn't want to come along.

So date-night is tonight.

Unfortunately, I'm suffering from fall allergies and while I can still smell, I don't want to go sit in a restaurant and not fully enjoy it.

Instead, we're having date-night at home. The menu? Good ol' macaroni and cheese and a smoked sausage. Possibly a wedge salad for, you know, greens.

Here's to being thankful.

Fries with a side of meatloaf

I promised to write about our dinner tonight and it was not disappointing.

I made this meatloaf from PW's site. I don't know if I've ever talked about it before.

A quick check of my labels says that I don't have a "meatloaf" label. So if I did write about, I didn't label it as such.

If your standard meatloaf recipe is becoming a bit bland, try this one. It has quickly found its way to the top of our favorite meatloaf list (that list isn't too long, Paula Dean's bacon meatloaf is the only thing that tops it and coming in third is an Italian style meatloaf from Giada; all my favorite chefs + meatloaf = yummy).

The side dish tonight was pretty special. It was a recipe from Giada; sweet potato fries with caramelized onions and a garlic butter-fontina topping.

Bill, do you have our doctor's phone number on speed dial? We may need to get our cholesterol checked.

The fries made enough to feed ten people (don't worry, we didn't eat them all but I'm doubting they'll be as good reheated). The toppings sent them over the top (pun intended).

I used the fancy balsamic vinegar. The aroma was unbelievable. The caramelized onions were delicious. I forget how much I love caramelized onions.

And how can you go wrong with melted butter seasoned with minced garlic? I also added some thyme. Then the grated fontina...

I love cheese.

These fries were superb.

Next time, I won't cut up three sweet potatoes. Unless I'm feeding an army. Or the sweet potatoes are smaller.

Just remember; if anything I mention sounds good, when you come visit just remind me of what specifically you want me to make for you. The list goes on and on...

lost in time on a Saturday

Bill and I worked really hard yesterday. He worked on the Corvette and I worked on the hallway. Today, we shared the workload of cleaning the house.

But it has still allowed for a lazy Saturday. I have no idea what time it is, nor do I care. We are watching a multitude of specials on the Titanic. We are also waiting for our friend Heather W. to make her fourth appearance (third in the last month) for another comedy show here in our fair city.

I'm going to use a recipe that our other friend Heather E. (we know a lot of Heathers... but it's not like the movie) gave me. It's pasta, spinach, tomatoes, and northern beans. Oh, and there's some cheese in there too.

Since it's a lazy Saturday, I still haven't removed any photos from my camera.

I"m enjoying myself.

so cheesy

We like cheese.

In this post, I talked a little bit about cheese...

But it doesn't quite convey the true love we have for the dairy product.

Maybe this will...

Currently in our refrigerator we have seventeen (yup, you read that right, not seven, but seventeen) different kinds of cheese.

Surprisingly, only four kinds of cheddar.

And truthfully there were eighteen last week but I used the rest of the Mascarpone.

While I'm being truthful; the Gruyere is almost gone. And I have a small chunk of something, which I can only guess (hope) is Parmesan. I'm not sure.

Plus there is the popcorn cheese that I keep in the cupboard. That brings the number back up to eighteen.

I've been keeping goat cheese in stock too, but we're out of that right now.

Typically I keep all the cheese in it's original packaging so that I know which cheese is which. My dairy drawer is filled with ziploc bags of cheese. It's an abundance of cheese.

It's how we like it.

my competition

I'm watching Ellen and there have been several commercials for ready-to-eat foods.

I'm sure they're good.

If you like eating food that comes out of a cardboard box.

I am not a fan of those kinds of foods. In fact Bill had a craving for a jambalaya box mix, a few months ago, and I had a busy week. So I obliged and bought it for him. I had a forkful. On the flip side, I have a recipe for Sausage, Shrimp and Red Rice which is essentially the same dish. The boxed kind made me crave the homemade one. The box kind was super salty and had a weird flavor. I don't know how to describe it; but if you've had homemade food and then have a similar dish from a box and you've tasted the difference you know what I'm talking about.

We love to entertain. I love to bake goodies to share. I have received my fair share of compliments (I've come a long way from mac and cheese and hot dogs!), but if what our guests are used to eating is this boxed food, then I will win hands down.

I'm okay with that.

Speaking of mac and cheese, I've been on the hunt for a really good baked mac and cheese dish. I've had many friends share their recipes with me, swearing that it's the best they've ever had.

I'm picky. I'm looking for a specific smoothness.

For our anniversary, we went to a very nice restaurant. It was not our first choice, that place was unexpectedly closed, but we had been wanting to try the Chop House which is where we ended up. With my steak I ordered the side of three cheese baked macaroni. It was delicious. I asked our waitress what three cheese were in it and explained my search for a dish this good. She told me the three cheeses were Parmesan, white Cheddar and Gruyere. Then she told me to google it and I could find the recipe.

I made it the other night and I found it! This is the dish I've been looking for. Smooth, creamy, light, not oily and just plain delicious. I'm so happy. I love macaroni and cheese.

Macaroni & Cheese Incident of '06

This is what happened after I shook, what I thought was a little, paprika onto my mac & cheese. I guess the lid wasn't on tight. oops. I managed to scrape off the top "layer" and salvage what was underneath the pile o' paprika. I haven't had mac & cheese since.