My Cooking Adventures

It's been a long time since I've cooked anything from scratch.  The other night instead of pulling out the old go-to Bertolli Alfredo Sauce, I looked on All Recipes and found a basic white sauce recipe and tweaked it to my liking.

Homemade White Sauce for Pasta
adapted from: AllRecipes.com

Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Melt the butter with the flour on medium heat.  Add milk.  Add spices & cheese.  Continue to cook on medium heat (adding dash at a time of flour and/or cheese if necessary) until sauce reaches thickness.  Should take about 2 minutes.

Add your favorite pasta (cooked separately) and enjoy!

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.

Since I've moved into a new apartment, I haven't broken out many of my dishes to cook anything exciting. Last night I got about as fancy as I had in awhile...think of this like a Semi-Homemade recipe!

Four Cheese Tortellini
Spaghetti sauce, roasted garlic
Alfredo sauce
Pre-packaged four cheese tortellini from Buitoni

Boil enough water to cover pasta. Once boiling, add 1 Tbsp olive oil to prevent sticking. Add pasta to water. Cook until soft.

Drain pasta. Place pot back on stove and turn heat down to Low. Add about 1/3 cup spaghetti sauce to pot. Add about 1/4 cup Alfredo sauce, and stir. Once warm, add pasta back and cover with sauce. Stir for about 30-45 seconds, and then remove from heat. Serve!

Like I said, not fancy, but hey, being a vegetarian is tough! :)

I got this recipe from an old coworker about 2 years ago. I never had a chance to make it, and so for my friend's New Year's Eve party I thought this would be good. It was gone in less than an hour! I didn't get a picture because it went so fast, so sorry about that! But it was delicious and a definite crowd-pleaser!

Garlic & Artichoke Dip

1 Envelope Lipton Recipe Secrets “Savory herb with garlic” soup mix
1 can / jar (14 oz.) Artichoke hearts
1 cup mayo
8 oz. Sour cream
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2-4 Tbsp. finely chopped garlic

Preheat oven to 350°.
Drain artichoke hearts and dice into very fine pieces.
Combine all ingredients in one quart casserole dish and mix well.
Bake until top is brown (approx. 15 min.)

Serve with crusty bread, or Ritz crackers for dipping.

One weekend all three of my sisters (all younger) decided on a whim to come and stay with me, before they had to go back to school. I wanted to have something for us to snack on while we were all hanging out, watching TV and movies, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen preparing anything. I went to Kraft Foods' website for help, and found this awesome dip recipe. There's many variations, depending on what you have available in your fridge/pantry. The recipe is located here. I used the following ingredients:

Last Minute Hot Dip



8 oz Cream Cheese, soft
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 slices of turkey bacon, chopped
2 Tbsp chopped pecans



Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix shredded cheddar cheese, cream cheese, mayo, and bacon pieces together in a 9-inch pie plate or ovenproof 3-cup serving dish until well blended.

Bake 15 minutes, stirring after 8 minutes.

Top with toasted nuts. Serve warm with crackers, bread slices, or veggies.

Ritz Hot Cheese Snacks
Total Time: 15 minutes
Makes: approx. 1 1/2 dozen snacks

2 oz. (1/4 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Neufchatel Cheese, 1/3 Less Fat than Cream Cheese, softened
1/3 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Reduced Fat Cheddar Cheese
2 Tbsp. finely chopped green onions (I didn't use green onions, we're not fond of them)
18 RITZ Reduced Fat Crackers

PREHEAT oven to 325°F. Mix cheeses and onions.
SPREAD about 1 tsp. of the cheese mixture onto each cracker. Place on baking sheet.
BAKE 5 min. or until heated through.

I actually used regular cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and Ritz crackers. You won't find much if any "light" stuff in my house! But they turned out just the same, so no harm done! (Obviously just not as healthy!)


A great dessert that I made one night early this week that has lasted is Chocolate Pudding Pie. It's very refreshing, especially when it's as hot as it is right now. It's a fantastic dessert for family gatherings, also. Recipe is as follows (also on the side of the pudding box):

Chocolate Pudding Pie

1 box of Jello Chocolate Pudding
1 Pre-made Graham cracker pie crust
2 1/2 cups milk

Beat the pudding and the milk together in a bowl until there are no more lumps. Pour into the graham cracker crust. Refridgerate for at least one hour, until chilled.