Hopefully I'll be back soon...

I'm still without a computer... But hopefully it will be arriving this week. I have so many great things to post about including apple picking, Halloween, and fall crafting! So look forward to lots of that once I finally get a computer.

Blog Hiatus

Sorry for not posting for the past few days, but my computer died... So I am without a way to post new stuff. Hopefully I'll get the computer back soon and I can get back to posting (I've been cooking up a storm lately!!)

Mac and Cheese for the Hubby!

My husband… yes husband!  I can now say that! (I've already messed up on an earlier post with that one)  … ok, back on topic.  My husband does not like mac and cheese.  And this is a problem, because it is one of my favorite foods and has been since I was little.  I keep attempting to change his mind and I think I might have done it!  Instead of making a regular mac and cheese with lots of cheddar, I did a combination of cheddar, asiago, blue cheese, and parmesan.  

Here’s my recipe and feel free to change up the cheeses to whatever you prefer for a completely different taste!

Makes: 4-5 servings
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp + 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 lb medium pasta shells (whatever style you want!)
• 1/8 cup plain flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1 ½ - 2 cups grated of cheeses of your choice
• ½ tbsp each Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cups coarse bread crumbs
• salt and pepper, to taste

Heat a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta, according to package instructions. Drain once almost cooked and pour into a lightly greased baking dish.
Meanwhile as your pasta is cooking, in a separate saucepan, melt 4 tbsp of the butter until liquid. Add the flour and whisk so it forms a paste, cook for 2-3 minutes but do not brown. Slowly add the milk, adding about 1/2 cup at a time and whisking each time until no lumps can be seen and the sauce thickens. Add a pinch of salt and a few generous grinds of pepper, the Dijon and the Worcestershire, and stir well.
Grate or roughly chop all of the cheese and stir it into the white sauce. Continue stirring the white sauce on medium-low heat until no (or very few) cheese lumps can be seen. Taste and adjust as necessary—add more Dijon or Worcestershire, salt, or pepper. Pour over the mostly cooked pasta in the pan, and stir carefully so that pasta is coated with cheese sauce.
Melt remaining tablespoon of butter and drizzle over the bread crumbs, toss to coat slightly. Sprinkle evenly over the pasta in the dish. Bake at 400 F for 15-20 minutes until topping is golden and sauce is bubbling.

Roasted Red Peppers... Yum!

First off I have to say how much I love using roasted red peppers.  They are so good!  I have a bunch of recipes that I’ve wanted to use them for but haven’t had a food processor so they got put on a back burner.  But this isn’t one of them!  This one comes out of my Italian cookbook (though it’s BH&G so I’m not sure how true it is).  I don’t feel like copying the recipe now, but if you want it let me know!

Honeymoon Food

 Here’s my first post about the honeymoon!  I’m mad that I didn’t take more photos of the food… I kept eating it too fast.  My husband and I love food.  When we go on vacation we don’t usually buy souvenirs, we instead spend all of our money on really good food that we can’t/don’t get at home.  Our honeymoon was of course no different. 
 

On our first day in San Francisco we walked past a bread shop that was selling sourdough bread in the shapes of animals!  Here were their turtles and crocodiles!

 Later that day we had lunch at Luce.  They have received a Michelin star for two years consecutively.  “The globally inspired New American menu reflects the bounties from the surrounding farms of San Francisco and changes according to freshness and seasonality. Each dish is artistically created and highlights an inventive flair for marrying diverse flavors with natural organic ingredients into a gastronomic delight (OpenTable).”  I had a fantastic braised pork belly sandwich with cilantro, mint, and jalapeño.  I was so sad that I could only eat half of the sandwich.  It was so rich and amazing.  I still wish I could have taken the leftovers with me.
 

That night we ate at Trattoria Corso in Berkeley with one of my husbands friends.  The big meal here was my fiance’s.  It was essentially chicken sautéed in butter.  Lots and lots of butter.  So fantastic.  I wish I had ordered it.  Not to say that my meal wasn’t amazing, it’s just how can you turn down butter?

Later on during the week we headed up to wine country.  While there we ate at a Market in St. Helena.  I had mac and cheese with bacon.  I feel that bacon should be added to everything.  Especially mac and cheese.  I don’t think I’m ever going to make mac and cheese at home again without adding bacon to it.  I loved the bar here.  That’s why I took a photo of it… and forgot to take a photo of my food.

Also while in Napa, we ate at a food warehouse?  I guess that’s the best way to put it.  It’s in this big place that looks like it once was a warehouse/factory and it is filled with amazing looking food.  We ate at the Mexican restaurant there.  Their tacos were inventive and tasted glorious.  I was pretty simple and I just got a chicken taco and steak taco.  My husband was the creative one.  He got a steak taco and one with buffalo!!!  You can see how good they look yourself. 

Later that day we walked through the historic area of Sacramento and it just felt like the place to get a funnel cake. 

Oh and one night when we tried to get Kobe beef steaks… I ended up with a hamburger.  I’m not sure how that happened and I am too much of a Midwesterner to say anything.  The hamburger was good, but it wasn’t a steak… But we got a free dessert for being on our honeymoon!

And lastly, nothing to do with food, I'm claiming that the Doctor was with us while in San Francisco...

Back...

Ok, now that my life is getting back to normal I can get back to writing the blog.  Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working on getting into the schools to start subbing (I have another 2 interviews this week!), planning the wedding and the following honeymoon.  So I have crafting, sewing, and cooking to catch up on, possibly including some posts about the wedding and honeymoon.  Sorry again for the long break in posts!!!