My Cooking Adventures

Source: Williams & Sonoma Catalog

3 cups coarse fresh bread crumbs (I use panko)
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley (I used dried, about a tablespoon)
Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
8 oz. pancetta, julienned
1 1/2 lb. cauliflower, cut into 1/2" florets
3-6 Tbs. unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp white wine
3 1/2 cups milk
2 cups shredded fontina cheese
3 cups shredded Gouda cheese
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 lb fresh macaroni, cooked until al dente

(all my ingredients came from Whole Foods - so delicious!)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a bowl, combine crumbs, melted butter, parsley, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp black pepper. In 4 qt pot over medium heat, cook pancetta 8 minutes. Transfer to small bowl, reserve fat. Cook cauliflower in batches 10-12 minutes, adding 1-3 tbsp butter if needed. Transfer to bowl. Deglaze pot with 2 tbsp water; add to cauliflower. Wash pot.

In same pot over medium heat, melt 3 tbsp butter. Cook flour 3 minutes. Whisk in wine and milk; cook 10 minutes. Stir in cheeses, 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper, cayenne, nutmeg and cream, then pasta, pancetta, and cauliflower. Top with bread crumbs. Bake 30 minutes; broil 4-5 minutes. Serves 10-12.

I finally got to cook last night! I have been moving around so much lately, that I haven't been able to cook like I used to. It felt so wonderful to be back in the kitchen!

Zippy Beef Casserole

adapted from allrecipes.com (search title above)

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
1 pound ground beef
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
3/4 cup milk
2/3 cup ketchup
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon Onion salt
1 cup crushed Ritz crackers

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bring a saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.

Cook ground beef in a skillet over medium heat, stirring until evenly browned; drain. Stir in cooked macaroni, condensed soup, milk, and ketchup until well blended. Mix in the Cheddar cheese. Season with onion salt, and pour into a 2 quart baking dish.

Cover, and bake for 40 minutes in the preheated oven. Uncover, sprinkle the top with crackers, and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, until crackers are toasted.

I'm finally back! I've been traveling so much, that I haven't had any time to cook. But finally, I have returned, and tonight I was lucky enough to have company to cook for. I decided to stick with an ole' favorite, Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops. They turned out so amazing, I couldn't have asked for a better result. For a side, I had just picked up some fresh green beans from Fresh Market on Saturday, so I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com. I tweaked it a bit (as always), and here's my result:

Green Bean & Bacon Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed and cut in halves
  
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 pound sliced Turkey bacon, cut into strips
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large pot, combine the green beans, onion and water. Bring to a boil, and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain, and transfer to a 2 quart casserole dish. While the beans cook, fry the Canadian bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Stir in with the beans along with the cream of mushroom soup, garlic salt, pepper, and milk. Sprinkle bread crumbs over the top.
3. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until heated through and sauce is bubbly. This recipe also works well to make ahead and refrigerate or freeze until needed. If baking cold, bake for 1 hour.

Last night I made my famous Chicken Casserole. I'm sure everyone has made this very same casserole, or at least some version of it. I got this recipe from my mother a few years ago, when I was in college and wanted to cook something, anything. She said, "This is easy; you can't mess this up!" Well, she was right! It is very easy, and very hard to mess up. Now that I've started advancing in my cooking skills, since those rowdy college days, I'd like to start seeing what kinds of spins I can put on this traditional casserole. I didn't get too crazy this time; just added a simple flavoring to it that, in my opinion, made it taste oh-so-good! :)

Chicken Casserole

1 (12.5 oz) can of Tyson Premuim White Meat Chicken breast; drained (you can cook and cut up your own chicken, but for time-saving purposes, I have found this chicken to be just as delicious)
8 0z sour cream
1 can of Cream of Chicken
Ritz Crackers, about half a sleeve, crushed
Poppy Seeds
3 tablespoons of butter, melted
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a square baking dish, place the chicken pieces along the bottom. In a separate small bowl, mix together the sour cream and the cream of chicken. Spread the mixture over the chicken in the baking dish. Top with the crushed Ritz crackers. Sprinkle poppy seeds over the casserole, lightly. Season the casserole with salt and pepper, about a teaspoon of each. Pour the melted butter over the top of the casserole, making sure to coat as much of the top as possible, without over-soaking. Bake in the oven at 325 degrees for 20-30 minutes (if using darker baking dish, cook longer), or until the casserole starts to bubble.

**Note: I realized when browsing through other blogs that I should be posting pictures of my dishes! Whoops! I'll start doing so asap! I promise! :)