Family Heirloom Macaroni and Cheese

As silly as it sounds, this macaroni and cheese is kind of a family heirloom in the Turner clan. My Dad's mom made it and then taught my mother to make it after my parents got married. I love it. Seriously. The day after Thanksgiving, we had pizza for dinner. I only had one slice so I could have some macaroni and cheese on the side. My dad makes fun of how much I love it.

Turner Macaroni and Cheese

- 1 box large elbow macaroni (yes, size does matter)

- 4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (buying the block and grating it yourself tastes better)

- Milk

- 1 egg

- Salt and Pepper 

1. Boil the box of macaroni in salted water until they are al dente. 

2. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray. 

3. Create layers of noodles and cheese (3 layers of noodles, 3 of cheese). 

4. Make sure the top layer of cheese completely covers the noodles.

5. Mix the egg, salt, pepper, and one cup of milk, then pour over the macaroni and cheese.

6. Pour more milk into the casserole dish until you can see milk when you move aside the cheese on top with a spoon.

7. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until the cheese browns and the noodles are not sitting in milk.

8. Let cool and serve*.

*You can serve the mac and cheese immediately. However, I prefer 1-day-old mac and cheese. This year my mom made it on Wednesday, and it was perfect reheated on Thursday. I think the extra 24 hours gives all of the ingredients time to mix and mingle and taste amazing.

Breakfast Phyllo Dough Experiment

Last week, I attended a women's brunch and wasn't really sure what to make. I looked in the freezer to see what we had to work with. I found, what I forgot we had, phyllo dough. Then I had to scour the internet for a good breakfast recipe using phyllo dough.

This Flaky Egg Bake seemed to fit the bill. I had almost everything for the recipe except the peppers and, of course, the meat. The recipe suggests freezing it before, but I wasn't really interested in doing that. However, know the prep time for the bake was more than I wanted to spend at 7 a.m., I made it the night before. Then I kept the bake in the fridge over night and cooked it just before my brunch.

When I went to make the filling, I found my mushrooms had gone bad, which was sad, but it tasted fine without them. I also used the cheese blends I already had, though I did pick up some havarti at Trader Joe's. I did use some basil from my herb garden, which has since died. I neglected to bring it in during our cold nights. I'll restart again.

The Filling

Layering up the phyllo dough with the butter and filling wasn't too difficult. I actually like working with phyllo dough because it's pretty forgiving. Even if the sheets rip in half, they will meld back together while baking. One of the interesting things the recipe suggested was cutting the bake into servings before baking. I hadn't thought of this before, but baked phyllo dough is not as forgiving, meaning it breaks into tiny pieces when cut or pushed on too hard. But, before baking, phyllo dough cuts nicely and looks good.

Flaky Egg Bake minus the mushrooms

This recipe worked out really well. Tyler gladly disposed of the leftovers and was thankful to have gotten some of it. He definitely was hoping for some after seeing me put it together. 

A slice of yum

Good for the Soul and Belly - White Bean Chili

It's finally starting to feel like soup weather! Hooray.

We celebrated soup weather this past week with a random rendition of white-bean chili. I doubled the recipe so Tyler and I had leftovers the next day for lunch, AND we had a whole extra container left for the freezer. On a tip from a friend, I'm doubling my recipes and freezing half for busy days later in the fall/winter. Great idea, Faith! 

Tyler loved this soup. He ate two bowls, had a stomach ache later (from eating too much, not the soup), but still wanted more the next day for lunch. I'm definitely making it again.

What you need:

- 1 tbsp EVOO

- 2 medium onions, diced

- 4 cloves garlic, pressed/chopped/mashed

- 1 small can diced tomatoes and chilis

- 4 tsp. cumin

- 3 tsp. oregano

- 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (I used a half, and it was too much - I'm cutting back next time)

- 2 tsp. salt

- 4 cans great northern beans

- 1 can refried beans (gives the soup multiple textures of beans)

- 8 cups. vegetable broth

- 5 corn tortillas

- Cheese (optional)

- Light Sour Cream (optional)

1. Cook the onion in the EVOO until onion is translucent.

2. Add seasonings and cook another minute.

3. Add everything else into soup.

4. Simmer 1.5 hours.

5. Preheat over to 350. Slice corn tortillas into strips.

6. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until browned.

7. Serve soup with tortilla strips, cheese, faux cheese, and sour cream.

White Bean Chili

Absolutely Delicious

Breakfast of Champions

One of the new things in my life is a good breakfast. I'm not a breakfast eater. I'd rather just fast breakfast, have a cup of coffee, and eat an early lunch. However, when trying to run six miles in the morning before lunch, breakfast is essential and coffee is bad news.

When my German friend was visiting, (see our fun times here) she introduced me to her typical breakfast. It's a greek yogurt or plain yogurt base with lots of additions, including oats, nuts, and fruits. I was really excited to try something new, though the thought of adding grapes to greek yogurt freaked me out a bit. However it proved to be one of the best, most filling breakfasts I've had in a while. And it's healthy and energy building for training.

Mixed Up Goodness

What you need:
- 1 cup greek yogurt (whatever flavor you like - I usually get vanilla)
- 1 handful of rolled oats
- Sliced fruit (I have tried apples, bananas, grapes, strawberries, blueberries so far)
- A handful of nuts or nut/seed trail mix
- flax seed, cinnamon, raisins or dried fruit, chia seed, peanut butter (optional)

What I love about this recipe is that I can add whatever I feel like eating or whatever we have in the pantry that morning. It's still going to taste great. I've added cinnamon a few times when I had plain yogurt and this morning I added a small spoonful of peanut butter. It was pretty delicious...inspired me to write this post at least.

Mushroom Pockets

An Apron

What is a mushroom pocket, you ask? Delicious goodness for dinner.
I got the idea from this dessert recipe. I fully intend on making the actual recipe one day. However, mushrooms did the trick.

- Heat oven to 400
- Thaw pastry sheet as directed
- Saute 1/2 diced onion in EVOO.
- Add 1/2 medium sized bell pepper, diced
- Cook until tender
- Add 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic
- Spice with Oregano, Chili Powder, Salt, and Pepper
- Add 1/4 c. graded fontina cheese
- Cut pastry sheets into 6 even pieces
- Create an egg wash of 2 tbsp. water and 1 egg white
- Brush egg wash on edges of pastry
- Spoon mixture onto pastry, fold sides down
- Close pastry with forks and cut slits in the top
- Brush egg wash on the tops
- Cook for about 15 minutes, or until brown

Delicious.

Spinach and Goat Cheese Stuffed Scallop Squash

The squash

Until recently, I didn't even know a scallop squash existed. This was another of my farmer's market mystery vegetable buys. Once again, Tyler wasn't sure exactly what it was. But I searched online and found this website, here, with recipes for scallop squash. However, most of them had meat as an ingredient. This doesn't fly in our family, so I made up my own recipe. I found the squash were easy to work with and Tyler and I both loved the end result, especially the filling.

Cut and Cleaned Out

Prep the Squash
- Cut off the tops - horizontally
- Scoop out the insides and seeds
(these can be thrown away, composted, or cooked into spaghetti sauce or some other food)

The Filling

 Make the Stuffing 

 - Sautee 1/2 c. chopped onion in EVOO over medium heat

 - When onion is translucent, add 2 c. chopped fresh spinach until wilted

 - Season with Salt and Pepper

 - Take off heat

 - Add 1/4 c. goat cheese

 - Add 1 tbsp. raw sliced almonds

 - Mix together

 - Preheat the oven to 350

 - Stuff the squash with the spinach filling

 - Cook covered with aluminum foil for 30 minutes

 - Take off the foil, and cook for 15 minutes

Finished Product - Spinach and Goat Cheese Stuffed Squash

What to Do With Figs

Layering the Sandwich

Recently I went to the farmer's market and bought produce I've never used. One of my buys was a little pint of figs. Tyler's response was, "What are those?" I was vindicated in my purchase. I decided it was time to try something new. I found a great recipe from Martha Stewart for Fresh-Fig Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. Of course, I altered it a bit, and Tyler loved his first fig experience. Here is my version:

Ingredients:
1 loaf ciabatta bread
Trader Joe's Fig Butter
1/2 pound Fontina Cheese, sliced
1/4 cup Goat Cheese
Sliced Uncured Black Forest Ham
5 Fresh figs, washed and sliced
Rosemary
Olive Oil

Directions:
1. Heat a griddle to 350 or heat up a large pan on medium heat.
2. Trim ciabatta loaf (snack on the ends) and slice it horizontally. To make things easier, I also cut it in half.

3. Spread fig butter on all sides of the ciabatta and sprinkle with goat cheese. 

4. Layer fontina cheese, ham(optional), and figs on top.

5. Season with rosemary.

6. Top the sandwich and brush olive oil on the griddle, place the sandwich on, and brush the top with olive oil.

7. Cook about 5-7 minutes on each side until cheese starts melting.

8. Plate it up. I cut the loaf into four sandwiches.

Cooking on the Griddle

A plate of yummy food