Baked mac and cheese!

I heart broccoli. And chicken. And baked mac and cheese in the fall is yummo! So I decided to spice up the normal mac and cheese and add a bit of a twist. My bro and sis are cheese fanatics and got some good cheese advice from them.


The hardest part was making the cheese sauce. I used Jarlsberg cheese and it does not melt as well as cheddar so I had to stir it constantly for about 30 min. Other than that, it was a pretty simple and delish dish! Makes the house smell awesome too! 

Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli and Chicken

1 lb pasta (elbows work well and can use whole wheat pasta too!)

2 chicken breasts (cut into small pieces)

1/2 onion (diced)

2 crowns broccoli 

2 - 3 cups Jarlsberg cheese (cut into small pieces)

1/2 - 1 cup cheddar cheese (cut into small pieces)

2 1/2 cups milk

3 tablespoons butter (you can use less)

3 tablespoons flour

grated Parmesan cheese (to sprinkle on top)

-cook the pasta about 75% of the way. while the pasta is cooking, sauté the onion and chicken in a separate pan. also, steam the broccoli and cut into bite size pieces. 

-melt the butter in a sauce pan on low-med heat. add the flour and stir for another minute. slowly add in the milk and continue to stir until it is thick enough to coat the spoon. add in the Jarlsberg and cheddar stirring until smooth. 

-evenly mix the pasta with the broccoli and chicken and place into baking dish. pour the cheese sauce over the top. place in the oven at 400 degrees. bake for about 20-25 minutes. 

-add Parmesan cheese on the top and bake for another 5-10 minutes until golden brown.

Pumpkin Time!

Pumpkin is def growing on me. I've never liked pumpkin pie, but realized it's more because of the texture, not so much the taste. This week I got to pumpkin carve with some sweet peeps! It was a great din din date and fun fall night! Now I have more pumpkin than I know what to do with and tasty, roasted seeds to enjoy!

me with mine. sis with Duke chapel. Jon with batman. Michelle with her elephant!

I cooked down the pumpkin insides after we got done carving and just substituted my pumpkin for puree in recipes. The pumpkin was a bit more watery than canned puree, but I altered the recipes a bit as I was baking to account for the extra liquid. The bread is a bit more (ok maybe way more) healthy than the cinn rolls, but both made my house smell awesome and my belly happy!!

Cranberry Pumpkin Flaxseed Bread

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour

1 cup ground flaxseed

1 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

4 large eggs

2 cups pumpkin (1 large can)

1/2 cup oil

1 cup applesauce

1/2 cup juice (apple or orange)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups cranberries (1 bag of fresh add an awesome flavor, but dried work fine if fresh are not available)

1 cup walnuts (optional)

mix dry ingredients into wet. bake at 350 for 30 if using muffin pans. about 45-50 minutes if doing a bigger loaf.

my little mini muffins. some with cranberries. some without!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

For the dough:
1 cup milk
2.5 tsp yeast (2 envelopes)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup pureed pumpkin
2 eggs
4-1/4 cups flour (can use half whole wheat, half white)


Filling:
1/2 stick butter

1/2 cup brown sugar
1-1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

-heat milk in a microwave for 30 seconds. Add the yeast and a pinch of sugar. Stir and allow the yeast to proof for 5 minutes. Combine the pumpkin puree with the remaining granulated sugar. Beat in the eggs. Add 2 cups of flour and beat until combined. Beat in the milk mixture and slowly work in the remaining flour. Let the flour rise until double in size (about an hour or so).

-split the dough into four balls and roll out into rectangle shape. you can transfer the rolled dough to a cookie sheet and place it in the freezer or fridge until you are ready to use it. combine the 1/2 stick butter, brown sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. spread into a thin layer on top of rolled out dough. starting from the long edge, roll the dough up into a log. cut the dough log into about 12 slices (1-inch thick). place in a non-stick baking dish (can butter your dish or use Pam spray to help) leaving some room in between the rolls. cover the rolls and let it rise a bit before baking.

-bake at 350 for about 30 min.

Optional Cream Cheese Frosting:
4 oz low-fat cream cheese

1/4 stick butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 drop of vanilla extract

splash milk

combine the cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla extract. you can thin it out with some milk.

pumpkin cinnamon rolls!

I have some awesome pumpkin beer to enjoy this week to get me fully prepared for Halloween this weekend!

A Birthday Celebration!

I know I have been MIA for quite a while, but excuse me as I was celebrating the big birthday...I had a great time exploring the big city with the besties and enjoyed a bake off with friends in town! Peanut butter, apples, and pretzels were the theme for the birthday potluck/bake off. I got lots of great snacks and it was hard for me to chose the winner, but an apple, Brie and prosciutto panini got the cake for the "real food" category and a peanut butter, pretzel amazingness ball got the baked good prize. I did enjoy baked apples, fresh ground PB, PB cookies, chicken with PB sauce, salad...lots of tasty things involving three of my fav things in life! :)

I also was spoiled with a peanut butter crumble cupcake and apple cake on my actual birthday! SO TASTY!! Went great with milk! :) My friends came over and joined in on the homemade pretzel and caramel apple making festivities! We had fun experimenting with chocolate infused pretzels and chocolate dripped caramel apples! Made some pretty nice designs! HA. I'll get better in the future. We did try to boil to the apples for a few minutes before coating them in the caramel to help it stick to the apple. While it did help the caramel stick, I would not do it again because it changed the texture of the apple and I was not a fan. Maybe we boiled them too long...not sure?! But be careful if you do boil them to watch and not do it for more than 1-2 minutes!

My contribution to the bday potluck was a rosemary, garlic, apple and chicken crock pot dish. We served it on top of couscous. It was super tasty and moist and def loved the flavors together! Made the house smell like fall! :)

2 chicken breasts (whole)
2 apples (sliced)
2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
2 small onions (diced)
2 TBSP fresh rosemary (chopped)
1 pint apple cider
1 pint water
pepper (salt if you must)

add all the ingredients and put the liquid on top to cover the food. let it cook on med heat for 6 hours. feel free to experiment with different types of apples...

Recently, I made almond and chickpea (garbanzo bean) burgers. I got the idea from my Women's Health magazine. Super easy and quick to make. Def a good change up from traditional burger. I did not add spices or anything to them, but it needs a bit more flavor. Instead of frying it in the pan with extra oil, I baked it for about 10-15 minutes (until golden brown) to make it a bit healthier/less fatty. There was a chipotle mayo that was supposed to go with it, but I despise mayo and all things related...I served mine with fresh avocado, spinach and tomato!! delish!!

1 can chickpeas
1/2 cup almonds
1 egg
fresh parsley
pepper
add whatever spices you enjoy maybe coriander, cumin, paprika....

grind beans and almonds in food processor. do not over grind the nuts (stop before it becomes a powder) you want it kind of chunky. add the egg, parsley and the ground mixture into a bowl. mix with hands until you can form into a patty. place on baking sheet and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.

Being in NY did put me in the fall mood. I had a GREAT pumpkin beer and enjoyed the fall leaves!! Cannot wait to make some pumpkin treats along with other fall tasties! :)

My First Attempt

So I've decided to start documenting the things I make, maybe to motivate me to change it up a bit or maybe to work on my presentation skills. My friend told me I have to include "normal" foods as well as baked goods, so we will see how this goes. My mom is the one that inspired me to bake. I can remember her in the kitchen baking tasty treats for our family as a kid and I look forward to my favorite home-cooked meals when I go home. I guess moving out and being on my own, I realized I have to work on my domestication skills. I kinda got hooked on baking...Now, I call Mom and ask her to share her secret recipes and figure out what ingredients she uses. Little did I know that most of what she does is on the fly and she RARELY follows a recipe. At times, it is hard for me to duplicate what she makes, but it made me realize that baking is an art and you gotta figure it out for yourself. Hence, I have started reading, experimenting, and learning on my own.

I'm not a big cake eater (literally or figuratively), but I do bake cakes for friends' birthday celebrations. My sister is helping me come up with 5 flavors for them to chose from. This week, I did a yellow layered cake with strawberries and a buttercream frosting. Although I did not use as much sugar as the recipe called for, I got some feedback that it was a bit too sweet. I think it was the combo of strawberry preserves in between the layers, fresh strawberries, and rich frosting. Now I know...

In addition to the cake, I made my big bro some cranberry pistachio granola. Made with oats, flax seed, honey, maple syrup, dried cranberries and roasted pistachios. He's not a big nut fan, so it was hard for me to come up with something that doesn't have nuts (or that I could resist adding nuts to). He does like pistachios however. I like this recipe because the granola is salty, crunchy and a little sweet. Once again, I did not add the extra sugar. The honey and maple syrup combo is plenty.

I also experimented with a peanut butter banana bread and apple cake. I HEART PEANUT BUTTER. and APPLES! Bananas...welp let's just say the texture and smell sound be hidden at ALL TIMES. Got these ideas from a Cooking Light mag and altered them just a bit to make it a little more figure friendly: less butter and sugar, whole wheat flower, oats and flax seed. Cakes are difficult to mess with and still get a decent texture, but I managed to sneak in a few changes. Caramelizing the apples was a task and def need to get better at doing that...it was a first time making a sugar syrup and hopefully next time it will look a bit better/more caramel colored. Still tasted good (I think)

Off to plan next week's treats! :)