My Fav Mac

This recipe for a version of white cheddar mac n' cheese was morphed from one the HyVee Grocery chain uses. Once you taste this one, you will throw out all your yellow cheese. This is great on its own or as a side dish. It makes a lasagne-size pan full or you can mix and split in half. The guys in my life love love love this one.

INGREDIENTS

Pkg large elbow macaroni
4 cups sharp White Cheddar cheese, shredded (16 oz.)
8 oz shredded Gruyere cheese
8 oz shredded Asiago or Fontina cheese (both are great)
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
4 1/2 cups 2% milk at room temp
1 cup low fat chicken broth
5 TBSP unsalted butter
5 TBSP Wondra
Kosher salt
Ground pepper

Boil pasta according to package, drain and set aside. Preheat oven to 425. In large saucepan over medium-high heat, melt butter and stir in Wondra to make a paste. Boil briefly. Slowly whisk in milk and broth. Add salt and pepper to taste (be generous) and heat until mixture thickens, about 5 min. Stir frequently. Add 3 cups White Cheddar cheese, 1 cup Gruyere, all the Fontina/Asiago and 1/2 cup Parmesan. Add more salt and pepper now. Whisk well and stir in the pasta.

Pour the mixture into one large baking pan or two smaller pans. Top with remaining cheeses and cover with Panko. Set pan on top of baking sheet to catch any drippings. Bake 30-35 min or til golden. You can also turn off the oven while you finish the rest of the dinner, it will keep nice n warm for 10 minutes at least.

Spot gives this 4 paws because she loves what a sloppy shredder I am. Yum yum for the pieces that land on the floor. I ask you, how many dogs do you know that like Gruyere cheese?

My First Beef Tenderloin

Oh. My. Gosh. After mentioning to a cooking friend that I had never attempted beef tenderloin, she emailed me her recipe. I tweaked it just a bit and have to say this is so moist and tasty you will want to make it more often than is affordable. It's not as expensive as prime rib, but it is right up there. I made this for our anniversary last week.

Serves 4-6 depending on portions.

A day ahead, kosher salt and pepper both sides of 3 lbs beef tenderloin and marinade in a ziplock bag with lite soy sauce

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
Fresh thyme sprigs
3 TBSP unsalted butter
3 shallots, thinly sliced
6 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups merlot wine
2 TBSP red wine vinegar
4 cups low sodium beef broth

DIRECTIONS:
Let beef sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Heat oven to 250. Re-salt and pepper both sides, lay meat on top of fresh thyme in roast pan (let marinate liquid sit in bottom of pan), cover top with more thyme sprigs. Bake for one hour and check meat temperture. Using instant read thermometer, place in thickest part of meat. Continue to bake until temp rea
ds 130 for medium rare, approximately 30 more minutes.

RED WINE SAUCE:
Melt 3 TBSP butter in large skillet over medium-low heat. Stir in garlic and shallots until translucent, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. Heat turned to high, add the wine and vinegar and boil til syrupy consistency, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add broth and heat another 20 minutes. (My friend's recipe called for the sauce to be strained, we didn't do that. It also called for more thyme to go in the sauce. We didn't do that, either.)

We sliced this thin and served it with garlic mashed potatoes, lemony green beens and red-tip lettuce with a vinegrette. I am salivating as I write this.

One of Spot's new fav's! 4 paws for sure.

Gourmet Mac N Cheese

This is a recipe I morphed off a cable talk show recipe that my son really digs. My hubby has even come to like it. A variation of mac n' cheese (using blue cheese) and sliced tenderloin or steak.

While your choice of meat is on the grill, prepare your mac:

Kosher salt and ground pepper to taste

2 TBSP unsalted butter

3 cups heavy cream

1 TBSP minced garlic

1 lb hollow pasta (I use Ditalini or mini shells)

3/4 cup blue cheese (at least)

2 TBSP fresh chopped parsley

Melt butter with garlic, briefly cook. Add cream, heat and then simmer 20 minutes, covered. Stir in blue cheese, whisk til blended and season with salt and pepper. Keep warm until ready to use.

Cook pasta al dente. Toss with sauce and serve with slices of steak or meat. Sprinkle with fresh parsley. Serve immediately.

This also makes a great party dish - serve it in martini glasses for fun. Of course Spot loves this one, meat is involved and no onions sizzled.

Swedish Meatball-iscious!

Here's the best recipe for Swedish meatballs I've ever seen and morphed into our own. We served it with mashed potatoes and steamed green beans that were drizzled with some unsweetened butter and fresh lemon juice. The meatball gravy is delish! One of the best things about this recipe is that it's a 2-for. You make half the mixture into meatballs and freeze the other half for next time.

I have made it four times in as many weeks with some alterations, too. You can add some warmed, frozen spinach to the mixture and replace bread crumbs with Panko. You can also use entirely ground beef and prepared garlic. Very forgiving (my kind of recipe) and delish every time!

Start 2 hours before you want to serve.

MEATBALLS:
1.5 lb ground beef
1.5 lb ground turkey
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 cup diced onion
6 cloves minced garlic
4 tsp Kosher Salt
3 tsp ground pepper
5 TBSP Wondra
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 tsp Worshestershire Sauce
Up to 3 cups Italian bread crumbs
2 eggs
2 egg whites

In large skillet over medium heat, cook onion and garlic in EVOO until tender (about 6 minutes). Add salt and pepper, whisk in Wondra and beat til smooth.  Stir in cream and Worchestershire Sauce, mix all. Pour contents into large mixing bowl and set aside to cool. (About 12 minutes). When cool, mix eggs together and add meat and eggs to bowl (use hands). Add in enough bread crumbs to make meat mixture firm but not over-breaded. I use at least 2 3/4 cups.

Form half of the meat mixture into 1 1/2" meat balls. Place them on parchment-lined jelly roll pan about an inch apart. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for one hour. Place the remaining meat in a freezer container and freeze up to 6 weeks for another night.

Bake meatballs in preheated oven at 400 for 35 minutes.  Rotate during last ten minutes. Start your side dishes and gravy.

GRAVY:
Use the same large skillet you did for the onions - great seasoning! Whisk together:
4 TBSP unsalted butter
4 tsp Worchestershire Sauce
1 cup heavy cream
3 cups beef broth
salt
pepper

Bring to simmer, add cooked meatballs and let simmer and thicken for 15 minutes. Stir occaisionally so gravy covers meatballs. Serve with your side dishes, smack yer lips and rub yer belly.

4 Paws from Spot once those onions were done cooking! Why didn't I make this one for 2 years??

Forget Pizza Delivery

I've been on a basil kick lately. That's what makes this bake-yourself at home pizza so delish... and super easy on a busy night! Not only that, with a nice salad you've covered all the health basics. Variations include adding cooked chicken pieces. Yum!

Ingredients:
1 roll refrigerated thin crust pizza dough
1 grocery package of fresh organic  basil leaves
1 jar Alfredo with cheese sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 3/4 cups shredded parmesan cheese
2 Roma tomatoes, sliced thin
Fresh ground pepper

Steps:
1. Bake dough in preheated oven at 400 on jelly roll pan til golden brown, about 9 minutes
2. Slightly cool dough and reduce oven heat to 390
3. Cover dough in this order: Alfredo sauce, mozzarella, basil leaves, tomato slices and then the parmesan and ground pepper
4. Finish baking until cheese has melted to your liking, approx 10 more minutes. Don't let crust burn.

Spot loves this meal cuz there's no onions to frighten her. 

World's Best Onion Rings

Why pay big bucks in a restaurant when you can make these at home for fresh!? I've played around with recipes and here's one that is a great side dish every time.

INGREDIENTS:
1 large white onion, (sliced and seperated into rings) per eater
2 cups flour
2 TBSP Wondra
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 - 1 1/2 good pale ale at room temp
Mediterranean salt to taste
Vegetable oil for deep frying

DIRECTIONS:
Slice onions, set aside. Using large bowl, mix all ingredients except beer. Add one beer slowly and stir til lump-free. Add more Wondra if needed to thicken, or more beer to thin out. You want the batter to cling to the rings, not run off.

Using a fondue pot or deep fat fryer, heat vegetable oil to 350. Drop rings into batter to coat. Shake off excess and cook in hot oil til golden brown on both sides, about 4 minutes total. Turn only once. Drain on layers of paper towels and lightly salt.

You can make this batter several hours ahead and it will keep overnight if you want to do a re-run the next day since you already made your house "smell". That's what we do!

Spot gives this FLEEING PAWS because her number one fear in life is the sound of onions cooking. Forgetting Spot, these are delish!!

Yummy Chicken Tenders

Ingredients

Boneless skinless chicken tenders
Sea salt and ground pepper
Whisked egg
Italian bread crumbs

Instructions

Sprinkle small plate generously with salt and pepper, place egg in pie plate, bread crumbs in large zip-lock bag. Take each tender and coat with s & p, dredge in egg, shake and cover with crumbs. Press crumbs into tender. Return to s& p plate one more time. Place on a separate dinner plate and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. This is the key to the recipe.

In medium high skillet, fry each tender til golden on each side. This will take just a couple of minutes.

For fun, you could add flat leaf parsley or even Parmesan. We like to serve with spinach angel hair pasta nests. Except our teenage son eats the tenders as they come off the skillet so I make 10 tenders for just 3 of us.

Spot heard the sizzling and ran for the hills. Once all was quiet, she slithered back in and waited at our feet. That is about a 3-paw rating.