Homemade Mac -N- Cheese

 Mac -N- Cheese...it's synonymous with 'comfort food'. After a long day or a long week, you're not thinkin' about carrot sticks. You know what I'm talkin' about. It's pasta and a lot of dairy products.  But wait, isn't "comfort food" just another way to say "emotional eating"?  So why is comfort food so good and emotional eating so bad? Let's pretend I didn't just type that and eat this homemade mac-n-cheese anyway. We could make ourselves feel less guilty by serving it with a gigantic salad.

When I am making this for just our family, I cut the recipe in half. This recipe makes a great side dish at a party or bbq too. 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper or more to taste(optional)
• fresh ground black pepper to taste--I like a lot 
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups half and half   
• 1 lb. Cavatappi pasta cooked--or whatever tube pasta you have in the pantry (pictured with Penne)
• 16 oz shredded super sharp cheese* (4 cups) reserve 1/2 to 1 cup for the top
• 2 cups supre sharp cheese
• 1 1/2 cup parmesan
• 1/2 cup asiago

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 
2. Cook pasta according to package directions and drain well
3. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt butter.
4. Stir in flour whisking until smooth. add salt, pepper, cayenne (if using), half and half and milk.
5. Stir over medium heat until smooth and very warm.
6. add cheese. stir until melted and smooth and thickened. 
7. Pour over cooked Cavatappi pasta and toss to coat
8. put in a buttered 9x13 casserole dish and top with reserved 1/2 to 1 cup cheese
9. bake for 30 minutes at 350
10. serve immediately. 

*I like to use sharp cheese imported from Ireland
It's so good to mix in a couple different kinds of cheese too like parmesan and asiago, but you can just use whatever combination of whatever you have on hand. be creative!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip

I got the idea for this recipe from Southern Living. This is so much fun to serve at a party in the fall and it's always a huge hit.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup  powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• dash allspice
• dash nutmeg
• dash ground cloves
• chopped pecans and brown sugar (optional)

Directions:

1. beat cream cheese till creamy 
2. gradually add sugars, beating well.

3. stir in pumpkin, and spices.
4. cover and chill.
5. garnish with a little brown sugar and chopped pecans just before serving

I love to serve this with my homemade gingersnaps and gingerbread cookies cut out in fun pumpkin and leaf shapes and little hearts. I also have a turkey shaped cookie cutter that's really cute. Apple and pear slices are a nice complement and they look pretty on the plate. This dip is good with a salty companion too like pretzel crisps.

B's Chili (Traditional)

This is my own chili recipe. After years and years of makin' chili and lovin' it and quite frankly, wingin' it... I was going to teach it at my cooking class in Poland.  I realized I didn't have anything really written down so I needed to gather my thoughts and decide once and for all "if I were going to make [and teach] the perfect pot of chili... what would I want in it? and what would the measurements be? What am I gonna tell these people?!!" ...and this is what I came up with...and they loved it! ...and now I don't have to 'wing it' anymore.


Ingredients and Directions:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 lbs. ground beef
• 1 ½ cups chopped onion
• 6-8 cloves garlic

1. heat vegetable oil in a large soup pot over medium high heat.

2. add garlic and onions. cook until tender.

3. add ground beef and cook until meat is no longer pink 

• 2 large(28 oz each) cans diced/or crushed tomatoes (do not drain)
• 2-3 cans spicy chili beans in chili sauce
• 2 cans kidney beans drained
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons pepper
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 jalapenos seeded and chopped (or more to taste)
• 2 + cups tomato juice(like V8 or Campbell's)if you like your chili nice and spicy this is another ingredient you can use to heat it up by getting the hot and spicy tomato juice 

4. Reduce heat. Stir in tomatoes, chili beans, and kidney beans.
5. Season with salt, sugar, chili powder, pepper, cumin and cayenne pepper. Stir and simmer.

6. Add chili peppers and tomato juice(more or less depending on how thick or thin you like your chili). Simmer for 1 ½ hours stirring often. Be sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.

Serve with:

• shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• sour cream
• chopped green onions
• beer bread or Dawnie's cornbread, and
• tortilla chips or Fritos scoops for dipping

Sloppy Joes

I got the basis for this recipe from my friend Sue. Who will never admit it, but she's an AMAZING cook.

When I realized I usually made this for parties and large groups, I just decided to two-and-a-half it on the recipe so it would be easier. This will make 25 -30 sandwiches.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 large onions chopped fine (I like to use the food processer for this step)
• 6-8 cloves garlic minced
• 5 lbs ground beef or pork or a combination of the two 
• 1 44 oz. bottle of Heinz ketchup
• 1/4 cup mustard (I like to use spicy mustard)
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 4 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

In a large pot, heat a little bit of vegetable oil over medium high , add the onions and garlic and cook until tender. Add the ground beef. Drain any liquid from the pan if there is any. Add remaining ingredients and cook for at least 1-2 hours before serving. You can transfer this to a crock pot for the party!

• Buns

Serve on round buns like sesame seed hamburger buns*

I love to serve this with my homemade coleslaw and kettle cooked salt and vinegar potato chips

*I originally used this recipe to teach to my cooking class for adults when we were living in Poland. I loved teaching them these all-American types of foods and I think they loved learning them even more. They would often ask me to teach a recipe for foods that they saw on "Friends" or a Hollywood movie and they were curious about it. I loved this little instruction on the buns (something so obvious to us Americans). It reminds me of all the friends we made doing that class in Krakow.