For this recipe you will need:

1 box elbow macaroni
6T unsalted butter
6T flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups cream
(I used 3 cups of half-n-half, which I think is the same thing.)
3/4 tsp salt
ground pepper
3 cups shredded cheddar
3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Cook and drain the macaroni according to the package directions

Melt the butter in a large pot, large enough to fit all of the macaroni

Add the flour, salt and pepper and whisk until it is well blended.

Gradually pour in the milk and cream. Stirring constantly. CONSTANTLY. As in do not stop stirring. Bring to boil and allow it to boil for 2 minutes.

Reduce heat and stir for another 5 minutes or so. Then slowly add the cheese. SLOWLY. And keep on stirring. You could consider this your upper arm workout for the day.

Once all the cheese has melted in the pot, allow it to simmer for 5 minutes.

Turn off the stove and pour the macaroni into the pot. Did you use a big enough pot? You didn’t did you? You thought, ‘Oh this one will be fine. I’ll make do.’ Except now all the macaroni is spilling out of the top of pot while you are stirring and getting all over the stove top and into the burners. And you are cursing under your breath. What? That was just me? Oh, well carry on then.

Toss well so all the macaroni is coated.

Pour into a well buttered baking dish. (At this point you can set the baking dish aside until it is 30 minutes before dinner time. I love meals like this because I can pop it into the oven when we get home from practice and kids are showering.)

Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on the surface.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Then step back and let the compliments roll in.

Next time I make this I am planning on adding ham to it. I made a spiral ham last week and cut some up and froze it expressly for this purpose. I also saved the bone to make split pea soup. If you don’t have ham leftovers, you can also buy a ham steak and cut it up. I want to add broccoli, but the very idea made several children wail and rend their clothing, so I am going to pass on it. But I think it would be tasty.

Tap, tap, tap… this thing still on?

So, Chris, what have you been up to? Eating bon-bons while reclining on a tropical getaway?

I wish I could say that was what I have been up to, even though I know it would make all of you hate me just a little bit. The truth of the matter is that I have moved again. I have been sick twice or is it three times now– it is all just blending together. I transitioned my children to public school and have four kids playing on four different sports teams.

The organization of my household has all but disappeared. And cooking? Forget about it. I had been making quick things, the old stand-bys, and take out. How could I write about cooking quick nutritious meals when even I was failing to do it.

At the end of last week, I think I finally turned the corner on being sick, knocking furiously on wood here. And so begins the catch up, the delegating, and the letting go of perfectionism. Because at this point things don’t need to be perfect, they just need to be done. My clothes need to be hanging in the closet. I can color coordinate it all again LATER.

And so it is the same with writing back here. I have a great recipe I want to share for macaroni and cheese. It is so good that my children said it is BETTER than the stuff out of the blue box. I know! That is a compliment of the highest order.

Do you know what has been holding me back from sharing it the past couple weeks? I don’t have any photos of it. I kept telling myself that I would make it again and photograph it… but that never happened. (See above for mention of foods we have been eating lately)

Today I was cleaning up my house and unpacking some boxes when I thought, does it really matter if there are no photos. No, it probably only matters to me.

And so look for the baked Macaroni and Cheese recipe later today. And bring your imagination for visualizing photos of me cooking, stirring, and mixing. Why yes, I have lost weight and my hair is perfectly colored and styled. Thank you for noticing, um in your imagination. Sometimes it really is better than the real thing. And might I say, you look fabulous too.

It is now one of my favorite crockpot recipes and I plan on putting it into heavy rotation until my children beg for mercy.  We are now entering football season, which means many nights away from home, at the field practicing.  I will be embracing my crockpot once again, because after the neverending baseball season I do not think that I can eat anything from the snackbar for a long, long time.

You will need:

1lb chicken breast tenders
2 cups carrot nubs
1/2 cup chicken broth
4T soy sauce
8 oz snow peas (I left these out because I didn’t have them)
2 8oz cans of pineapple tidbits
1 sweet red pepper, sliced (I used a green pepper)
3T cornstarch
1/2 cashews

Cooked rice to serve with it.

Step One:
Mix the chicken, carrots, broth. and 2T of the soy sauce into the crockpot.

Cover and cook on low for at least 5 hours. Or until about an hour before dinnertime. This recipe requires you to add the rest of the ingredients at a later time. Prep it all in the morning so that when you walk in the door from work you can just toss it in the crockpot.

Step Two:
Go about you day in your usual manner. In my case it is to lounge poolside eating bons-bons and being fanned with palm fronds.

Step Three: One hour before you want to eat…

Stir in snow peas, pineapple and peppers. Cover and cook an additional 1/2 hour. Or if you are like me 2 hours because you saw something shiny and got distracted. And it was still fine.

Make your rice in a separate pot.

Step Four:

In a small bowl mix together the remaining 2T of soy sauce, 2T of pineapple juice, and cornstarch. Pour this into your crockpot and stir well. This will thicken the liquid. Add the cashews and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Step Five:

Serve over rice.

You would think that at this point of my parenting tenure I would be able to properly estimate the number of bananas that my children go through in a given week. But my children like to mix things up, just to keep this parenting thing challenging. Sometimes I buy a big bunch of bananas and NO ONE WANTS TO EAT THEM. Then the next time I buy only a few and all I hear is complaints because THEY WANT TO EAT BANANAS.

I remember my mother making this recipe when I was a child. It was one of my favorite desserts of all time, ranking right up there with icebox cake. Oh my, my knees went weak thinking about icebox cake. I am going to have to add that to list of things to make next. I’d love for my children to have the same comfort foods that I had as a child, alas I think I don’t make any of the same things as often as my mother made them.

I believe that this is the recipe that was on the box of Nilla wafers once upon a time. Back in the olden days when we embraced our fats and whole milk! Which, for the record, I believe that everything in moderation is perfectly fine.

Aside for the to-die-for taste, I like this recipe because there is no cooking involved.  It also is one of those recipes that tastes better the next day when the nilla wafers get soggy.  So you can make it the day before you have a barbeque or party.

You will need:

1 large pkg instant vanilla pudding, (6 ounces)
2 cups cold milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk, (14 ounces)
1 container whipped topping, (16 ounces)
sliced bananas
1 box vanilla wafer cookies

(Note: I doubled the recipe and put it in a tiramasu bowl. It served 14 with ease)

Mix the pudding and milk. Then add the sweetened condensed milk. Mix well.

Fold in the 1/2 the container of whipped topping.

Alternate layers of pudding, bananas, and vanilla wafers.

For the top layer use the rest of the whipped topping and decorate with vanilla wafers.

I have no other photos because my camera battery went dead. I had thought I would take a photo the next day of the banana pudding served, but my children inhaled it all before I had the chance.

You should make this. I know I say that about every recipe. But that is only because I never post any of the duds that I prepare. Trust me there are many of them. In fact, I could probably write a blog titled What NOT to Make for Your Family for Dinner.

One boy picked one up off of the platter and said, very seriously, “Everything is better with bacon.” If I had a teenage daughter I would have immediately proposed an arranged marriage.

These are great party appetizers and can be served hot or room temperature. I had meant to make them for the Fourth of July, but I never got around to it.

You will need:

jalepeno peppers
block of cream cheese
bacon

Yes, that is all you need. I know, it almost doesn’t count as a recipe! Except it does, because it is delicious.

Behold! The peppers.

Cut the top off of your peppers and remove the seeds. The seeds are where all of the hotness resides in the pepper. Once the seeds are removed the peppers really are not very hot at all.

Stuff the peppers with cream cheese.

Did you hear that? That was the sound of the heavenly angels singing.

That pepper in the middle? All mine.

Wrap your peppers in bacon and place them on a foil lined baking pan. You do want a pan with a lip since the bacon will make grease and could potentially catch your oven on fire. Not that I would know anything about that. Ahem.

Place in the oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Then turn your oven to broil and cook 5 additional minutes.

Enjoy.

You might want to eat some yourself before you offer them to any teenage boys in the area. Just sayin’

Even better than saying jahm-bah-LIE-yah over and over while you cook, is the fact that all the magic happens in one pan. YES, one pan! Don’t you love that? Doesn’t that make you want to cook jambalaya?

You will need*:

1 lb sausage sliced, I use mild Italian sausage
1 large onion, chopped
2 small red bell peppers, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 1/3 cups long-grain white rice
2 2/3 cups chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (adjust this according to your own taste)
1/4 tsp Cajun seasoning (adjust or omit according to your own taste)
4 scallions

Step One: Brown sliced sausage over medium high heat.

Step Two: Remove sausage from pan. Put onion, bell pepper and celery into the already hot pan. Stir until vegetables are cooked thoroughly and onions are soft.

Step Three: Add sausage back to pan. Stir in rice, broth and spices. Bring to a quick boil.

Step Four: Cover pan. Reduce heat to very low and allow to cook for twenty minutes or so until all the liquid is absorbed. The same way that you would cook plain rice.

Step Five: Once cooked add the thinly sliced scallions and fluff well with a fork.

Enjoy your one pan wonder.

* I triple this recipe for our family, except for the vegetables. I use 2 lg onions, 3 lg bell peppers, and 4-5 celery stalks. I share this just to encourage you that recipe are not written in stone. You can change them up a bit and it will be just fine. Really. I promise you that cooking is not an exact science.

And the best thing about pasta salad? You can make it early in the day, stick it in the refrigerator, and not think about it again until you are pulling the burgers off of the grill that evening.

You will need:

8 oz rotini pasta
1/2 c Italian dressing
1TB dijon mustard
1TB mayonaisse
1lb grilled chicken breast, cut into strips*
1 small can sliced olives
1 jar roasted red peppers, draned and chopped
1 can artichoke hearts, rinsed, drained and chopped

*I used the premade/precooked grilled chicken breast strips that come frozen at the grocery store to make the recipe that much easier. When I grill chicken breast for a meal I like to save a few breasts for using in recipes like this, but this time I didn’t have any.

Step 1: Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. Drain and rinse with cool water until the pasta is completely cool.

Step 2: Combine the salad dressing, mayonaisse, and mustard and pour onto the pasta. Stir to coat.

Step 3: Add remaining ingredients. Stir.

Step 4: Cover and refrigerate until dinner time.

Balloon tied to your chair optional, but why not. It makes meal time so much for festive. And by festive I mean cause your children to punch the ballon into each other constantly, and whine and cry until you threaten to spear the balloon with your fork. Not that I would know this from personal experience or anything. Ahem.

Shortcake is so easy to make that I afterward I always wonder why I don’t make it more often.

It might seem like there are a lot of steps, and maybe that is why I am usually put off also. But the entire process takes less than 1/2 hour. My family thinks I am a cooking rockstar when I make these. Or a cooking ninja!

Part One: The Strawberries

Cut up your strawberries.

I sprinkle some sugar on top of the cut strawberries and stir it up. Then I set them aside while I make the rest of the recipe.

Part Two: The Shortcake

Mix together:
1 3/4 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1 T sugar

Add 6 T chilled butter.
Cut it into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter, or my personal favorite, two knives. Once you have done that add:

1 cup milk

Stir until it is all just mixed together. Drop the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. The shortcakes won’t be perfectly round the way that they would be if you rolled the dough and cut the biscuits out. And you can do that if you want, but I am lazy and hate washing extra utensils if I don’t have to.

I made approximately a dozen.

Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until they are lightly browned.

Part Three: The Whipped Cream

Meanwhile, whip up your heavy cream into whipped cream. I used to have a stainless steel bowl just for this purpose. I would chill it in the refrigerator before hand. But I lost the bowl in our cross country move. And by lost I mean that it is in one of the eleventy million boxes that are still unpacked in my garage. If history is any indication I will be using that bowl again some time in 2018.

I just add sugar to taste and beat with the hand mixer until it becomes fluffy and can make soft peaks. It is important that you don’t over beat it, so stop every so often and stick your finger in to test it, or allow one of your helpers to do so. Watch out though because if your helpers are like a certain 4 yr old helper that lives in my house, their entire hand will be in the bowl.

The Finale

Allow your shortcakes to cool slightly once they come out of the oven. Or longer if you are patient.

Slice the shortcakes in half. Spoon on your strawberries and whipped cream. Put the top on. Spoon on more strawberries and whipped cream.

Enjoy!

You can make this early in the day and leave in the fridge until dinner time. Perfect for those days when you are going to be out of the house all day and just going to grill some hamburgers for dinner.

Also, it looks so pretty. Doesn’t it?

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

1/4 c Hellman’s Light Mayonnaise
2T lime juice
1/2tsp ground cumin
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 cup quartered cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 c chopped red onion
2T chopped fresh cilantro (I left this out because I could not find any at my grocery store)

Combine mayonnaise, lime juice, and cumin in a medium sized bowl.

Stir in remaining ingredients.

Serve chilled or at room temperature.

This was loved by all. Except for the child who insists he doesn’t like beans, though I doubt that a bean has ever crossed his lips. So really he doesn’t count. The rest of my children said it was wonderful and that it should be made again and again. My eldest son even ate some of the leftover with his lunch, which says something because his general feeling is that leftovers are garbage that I store in the fridge.

And do you also ever have stale bread?

Then this is the recipe for you. I have made this for people who have insisted that they hate bread pudding. Turns out they just hate dry bread pudding. Good bread pudding is just like French Toast on steroids.

You will need:

1/2 cup butter
loaf of stale French bread (or whatever) cut into cubes
6 eggs
1 cup sugar
4 cups half-n-half, (or milk if you want it to be lower fat, but really it is a dessert, a treat, and therefore should be high in calories and fat)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp vanilla
4-5 sliced bananas

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place your stick of butter in an 11″x13″ casserole pan. Stick it into the warming oven to melt the butter.

Once the butter is melted, remove baking dish from oven and stir in the cubed bread.

In a large bowl mix together all the other ingredients EXCEPT the bananas.

Pour the egg mixture over the bread and mix thoroughly. You want all the bread to be soaked. That is what makes it turn pudding-like. Then gently stir in the banana slices.

Place in the preheated oven and back for 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

You can eat it hot, right out of the oven, which is usually what happens with half of it,because my children do not have patience. Or you can put it in the refrigerator and let it chill, which is my personal favorite.

This entire pan was gobbled up in record time, with my children asking if I could buy rotten bananas again soon.