Pumpkin Bacon Mac & Cheese

More bacon, I know.  But I made half recipes of this awesome pumpkin bacon mac and cheese as well as the tasty pea and bacon risotto... two half recipes = one package of bacon.

Anywho, this dish turned out pretty great (despite the terrible photos, sorry).  I combined two recipes I found online to make my final product.  I basically followed the sauce instructions from this recipe (minus the honey and all-spice), combined with the onion, bacon and buttered breadcrumb topping from this recipe.  Plus my own addition: some minced garlic with the onion.  

Healthier than your average mac and cheese, but still cheesy enough to satisfy your craving.  

Crisp Cheddar Cheese Crackers

Also known as fancy homemade Cheez-its!  

I saw this recipe on Joy the Baker a few weeks ago and had a hankering that would not subside until I made them.  Cheez-its: another one of those things that I rarely bought in the U.S., but since I can't get them in Jakarta, I inexplicably crave them regularly.  I could probably get some sort of cheezy cracker here, but a lot of the crunchy cheese snacks made around here are just... not quite right.  And they have MSG in them, which gives them a weird after taste.

Flakey, cheesy, a little bit buttery... these rule.  They would be awesome with beers for happy hour.

And easy!  They literally have 5 ingredients: cheese, butter, flour, salt and pepper.  Mix, chill, roll, cut, bake, snack.

Cheddar and Veggie Pinwheels

Tim and I had some trouble with our propane range today- we were sitting around watching the Olympics and suddenly smelled gas (and I realized why I had such a bad headache).  The tank seemed to be leaking- we think maybe rubber ring that seals the tank to the tubing was worn.  We'll be looking into that tomorrow, for certain, but in the meantime we just turned it off and opened all the windows (thus letting in mosquitoes since we don't have any screens...sigh).

In the interim, I tried to figure out something for dinner that didn't require the stovetop... I settled on a recipe loosely based on these broccoli and cheddar pinwheels.  I had pizza dough in the freezer and a ton of veggies and cheddar in the fridge, but I wanted to add more flavor to the recipe by roasting the veggies with garlic and red pepper flakes instead of steaming it.  

Here's what I did:

- Mince 2 cloves of garlic 

- Finely chop about 3 cups of veggies (in my case I used broccoli, cauliflower and carrot)

- Mix veggies and garlic with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, some salt and pepper, and a couple shakes of red pepper flakes.

- Spread it out onto a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or so at high heat (about 400F), until starting to brown on the edges; cool

- Shred 1.5-2 cups of cheddar cheese

- Mix cheddar, veggies, 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard and 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise

- Roll out 1 lb of pizza dough (I used this recipe from Martha Stewart) into a large thin rectangle

- Spread veggie and cheese mixture onto 3/4 of the dough, then tightly roll into a long tube

- Cut the tube into pinwheels

- Put the pinwheels on a parchment covered baking sheet and bake at 425F for 15-20 minutes

Pretty tasty!  

Cheesy Toasted Corn Grits with Sauteed Okra, Bacon and Tomatoes

Take freshy fresh veggies from the CSA (crisp okra, super sweet orange cherry tomatoes, creamy sweet corn on the cob) and add these to more indulgent pantry staples (grits, bacon, sharp cheddar) and you get a pretty tasty meal of cheesy grits (with my addition of toasted corn kernels) topped with sauteed veggies and crispy bacon. I think I would add a dash or two of hot sauce to the saute, but otherwise it was pretty nice!

Stacked Veggie Quesadilla

I saw this stacked veggie quesadilla recipe, labeled as a "last minute Super Bowl supper," in the most recent issue of Bon Appetit magazine... we made it tonight while watching the AFC championship game. It's pretty good, but I don't think I'll be serving it at Super Bowl, mostly because it's really hard to eat!!
The flavors were good and it really wasn't very hard (especially since they advocate microwaving pre-cut butternut squash- I cut up my own from the CSA, but did do the microwave thing). However, the stack of tortillas with all of the fillings is super tall and difficult to maneuver. You can't exactly pick it up without it totally falling apart. Part of this difficulty may be due to the fact that we got a little bit overzealous when crisping up our tortillas at the beginning, but I'm not convinced that floppier tortillas would make it any easier to handle.

Just a warning... don't be scared, but definitely bring a fork and knife if you make this!

New Year's Nibbles

We had an awesome New Year's Eve: lots of delicious food, champagne and playing board games and Wii (Just Dance 2 = super fun!).
At Tim's request and to Meghan's delight, I made old-school cheese balls, one just cheddar, one blue cheese and cheddar, both rolled in walnuts, both pretty tasty. I used a recipe from my ancient Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Better Homes and Gardens is not responsible for the suggestive knife placement, however.I also made 2 types of cute puff pastry swirly things: one with prosciutto, Dijon and Romano, a riff off of Joy the Baker's recipe, and one with feta and spinach. Both tasted great (although the Romano may have been a tad salty, but it's what I had in the house), can be served hot or at room temperature, and the leftovers also reheated well in the oven the next day. Plus, as I said, they were pretty cute.Liz made these awesome mini-roast beef sandwiches with melty Havarti, peach preserves, and chopped walnuts- so good! Plus, they sounded fairly easy to put together, which is always a bonus.Chuck successfully remade a couple of the deviled egg recipes we tried a few months ago... the Sriracha eggs still kick ass, and the herbed deviled eggs are a step up from the usual eggs (although the recipe makes waaaay too much filling). We also had some cute mini-quiches, corn and bead salad, excellent pumpkin bread and other tasty delights...

Hot Cheesy Broccoli Dip

This hot, cheesy broccoli dip recipe was super easy- thrown together with randoms odds and ends from my fridge. I microwaved the dip, as instructed, but then threw it under the broiler for a few minutes at the end to get a crusty top. Pretty good! Basically a cheddar broccoli soup in dip form. Fine by me!

Butternut Squash, Kale and Cheddar Bread Pudding

The flavor of this bread pudding was really great... very appropriate for fall! I liked this, as did Tim, although Chuck was not enamored. I've taken note of her dislikes over the past couple years and, by my calculations, it appears she doesn't like custards... oh well!I switched out the baguette for the heels of a couple loaves of whole grain sandwich bread, which I think gave the bread pudding some heft, and definitely some healthy. Also, for extra flavor, I threw a couple cloves of garlic in when I sauteed the kale.

Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Chuck is addicted to Panera's broccoli cheddar soup, which is a super cheesy, thick, delicious soup that is only nominally broccoli. It's usually served in a bread bowl. There aren't currently any Paneras that are easy for us to access from Columbia Heights on any sort of regular basis, so we decided to use one of the internet's copy cat recipes to recreate it.

I've made cheesy broccoli soups before, but I've tried to err on the side more broccoli than cheese, to keep it healthy. The Panera recipe doesn't even attempt that. It was cheese-a-licious.

Okra and Tomatos with Skillet Cornbread

Tonight's meal perfectly captures the transition from summer to fall we're experiencing here in DC... summer ingredients from the CSA (okra, tomatoes, corn on the cob, jalapeno) and a warming, earthy, autumnal hint from the red wine reduction compliment our warm, but not sweaty days and breezy, maybe-I-should-have-brought-a-sweater nights.

Okra and tomatoes are quick-stewed with red wine, onions, garlic, thyme and bay leaves, while the crispy skillet corn bread is kicked up a notch by fresh toasted corn and jalapeno, plus some grated cheddar cheese.

Roasted Jalapeno Popper Dip

I am a sucker for pretty much any and all bar food: saucy and messy hot wings, crispy and bacony potato skins, and spicy and creamy jalapeno poppers. When we had an influx of jalapenos last summer, I made creamy corn and bacon stuffed jalapenos. They were tasty, but stuffing them was time-consuming, and for those who aren't enamored of jalapeno, maybe not the best thing. This jalapeno popper dip, which incorporates all the deliciousness of the bar staple, is much easier and more manageable for heatphobes. Doesn't look like much, but it disappeared in about 2.5 minutes, so that says a lot.I messed with the recipe a little bit... instead of pickled jalapenos and canned green chilies, I halved, seeded, and roasted 3 fresh jalapenos (stuck them under the broiler for 7-8 minutes until soft and charred), then minced them. Added the roasted jalapenos to the food processor with some cream cheese, a dab of mayo, a handful of shredded cheddar and mozzarella, salt and pepper. Poured into a lightly greased baking dish and topped with panko and Parmesan. Baked at 350 for 25 minutes.

Awesome! Served with tortilla chips and veggies.

Family-style Rolled Spinach and Cheddar Omelet

Wow, this little rolled omelet trick from the other Martha is a potential brunch revolutionizer!

No more slaving over the stove to make individual omelets (that inevitably break or spill their filling) for your brunch guests! Instead, make one giant, flat, open-faced omelet on a lipped cookie sheet in the oven, roll it (as pictured below) into a fancy-looking spiral , and cut off however much each guest wants....Super simple to make, serves 4, looks cool and could easily be done with any of your typical omelet ingredients. Ours was CSA spinach and cheddar cheese, but if the guests want different fillings, you could just lay the fillings out over the eggs in lengthwise stripes and cut the servings along the stripes after you roll. Awesome.

This will definitely be thrown into my easy, no-brainer dinner rotation.

Egg and Mushroom in Ham Cups

I saw these cute little eggs in ham cups and knew I had to try them... unfortunately they didn't work out exactly like they did in the photo.The ham I bought was a little too small and didn't quite form a full cup. The egg runneth over. Thus I couldn't remove them from the cups so they could stand on their own. Oh well. They tasted good anyway.

I added a little bit of shredded cheddar and some chives to go with my biscuits... mmm. Served with roasted potatoes.

Cheddar and Chive Buttermilk Biscuits

Mmmmm... now that I've discovered that I can successfully make homemade flaky, buttery, delicious biscuits, I want to make them all the time. But I restraint myself and try to limit it to once a month, max.I hosted a brunch for my new "TV Club" (like a book club, but more fun and less pretentious) this morning and made these cheddar and chive buttermilk biscuits, which were a big hit. Super easy and really fabulous.

Cheddar and Black Pepper Biscuits

Just about everything Joy the Baker makes causes me to drool... but this cheddar/black pepper biscuit recipe particularly caught my eye because she used the biscuits as the basis of an egg sandwich. I love egg sandwiches. I think my dying meal would be a bacon, egg and cheddar sandwich on a biscuit.

Anywho: biscuits.

I used to be intimidated by biscuits, but turns out they're really easy to make. I had great luck with Smitten Kitchen's cheddar and jalapeno scones, which were very biscuit-like (what is the difference between scones and biscuits?). These were equally awesome... peppery and cheesy with a ton of flaky layers. Yum.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas

These tasty enchilada-esque things were a recipe-less creation from pantry items we had laying around. Laziness and unwillingness to go to the store are the mother of invention, I guess.

I roasted some cubed sweet potatoes in olive oil, sprinkled with some chili powder and cumin (and salt and pepper, of course). The black beans were heated with some minced garlic and onion that I briefly sauteed. Threw it together, topped it with some grated cheddar, wrapped it in a tortilla and put it in a baking dish that I had coated with some salsa verde. Topped the whole thing with some more salsa verde and cheese. Baked at 350 for about 10-15 minutes.

Chuck made some homemade guacamole - mashed an avocado with some grated onion and garlic, minced tomato, lime juice, hot sauce, and cilantro.

Pretty great for a made-up meal!

Superbowl Snacks

We were basically snowed in for Superbowl due to the Snowpocalypse here in DC, but we were able to turn out these fun homemade soft pretzel bites with a cheddar cheese dipping sauce.

The pretzel bites are really good- definitely best served warm. The recipe makes a million bites- we made all the dough, but only cooked half of them. We are freezing the other dough (already shaped into the bites), so we'll see how that turns out next time we have a soft pretzel craving.

We upped the ante on the cheese sauce by sprinkling in some smoked paprika- yum. However, I should warn you not to make the cheese sauce until right at the end- it cooks very quickly and doesn't keep its consistency very well. I got a little excited and made the cheese sauce before the pretzel bites were done cooking: bad plan.

Crispy Stuffed Potato Skins!

Crispy, cheesy, bacony... fantastic. I'm bringing these to a football party tonight.

This method from Simply Recipes is a little bit labor intensive, but not difficult. It involves 3 separate baking times: first to cook the whole potatos, then to crisp the scooped out skins, then to melt the cheese. Totally worth it, though.

I used chives instead of green onions, but otherwise followed the directions. Mmmm.

Potato, Leek and Cheddar Soup

We had a ton of potatoes from the CSA that have been accumulating, and I just got some leeks in this week, so potato leek soup it was! I combined several recipes to make my own...

Cooked 4 slices of chopped bacon in my stock pot, took out the bacon pieces, then cooked 2 sliced leeks, 5 cloves of garlic, and a bunch of diced potatoes in the bacon grease. Then I added 2.5 cups of chicken stock and some salt and pepper and let it simmer until the potatoes were soft. Pureed with the stick blender, then added 1/2 C milk, 1/2 C sour cream, a cup of shredded sharp cheddar, and some smoked paprika and stirred until combined. Served with extra cheese, bacon bits and a ton of chives. Mmmm.

Mac and Cheese with Cauliflower

After my last, painfully terrible attempt at mac & cheese, I felt that I needed to make amends. Thus, I turned back to Ina, who is generally reliable and delicious. Her baked mac & cheese is particularly awesome. I made it for Tim's 30th birthday and it was a hit.

This time, I shook things up a wee bit. I got some cauliflower in my CSA share, and decided to incorporate it into the mac and cheese, inspired by all those "fool-your-kids-and-force-them-to-unknowingly-eat-vegetables-under-the-guise-of-deliciously-decadent/low-brow-foods" books out there, as well as the last Ina recipe I cooked.

This was awesome: crispy, cheesy, creamy!

I followed Ina's recipe except for the topping (skipped the tomatoes, used panko instead of fresh breadcrumbs), but added a head of cauliflower, cut into mini-florets and boiled in the leftover pasta water for about 4-5 minutes.