Recipes Archives - Page 2 of 6

24Apr 2013

{Recipe} Super Cheesy Homemade Mac & Cheese

Last week I was totally craving homemade mac & cheese. I am not really sure what triggered the need for this dish given I haven’t had it in ages. In any event mac & cheese was going to happen in my belly! This super cheese homemade mac & cheese is a serious comfort food dish. According to the husband and a friend who joined us for dinner they said this mac & cheese recipe is a winner! Just looking at the picture makes me want to eat some. YUMMY!!

Recipe inspired from A Cup of Jo and The Pioneer Woman.

Ingredients:

1 box pasta
2 cups milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground/dry mustard
12 oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated parmesan
1/4 cup bread crumbs

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350*

Cook pasta until al dente and drain. Remember to salt the water before adding the pasta!

In a sauce pan, melt butter and add in the flour. Whisk together over medium-low heat. Cook mixture for five minutes, whisking constantly.

Slowly add the milk and continuing whisking. Add mustard and reduce the heat to low. Add in cheddar cheese a handful at a time and only add more once the cheese is completely melted. Add the grated parmesan last. Pour cheese/milk mixture over the pasta and stir to combine. Pour pasta into a baking pan.

In a separate bowl combine the bread crumbs and 2 tablespoons of parmesan and then pour over the pasta as evenly as possible. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly and the top is golden.

Serve and most important enjoy! This dish is a great main meal, side dish and makes wonderful lunches.

Happy Cooking!

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17Apr 2013

{Recipe} Raspberry-Peanut Butter Chocolate Truffles

by Nicole ⋅ 2 Comments

I’ve recently become somewhat obsessed with making truffles. Right before Easter my friend came over to hang out and was interested in learning how to make truffles. I had been dying to try out this new truffle recipe and decided it was the perfect time. I told her we had to document the process as this was a recipe I had been planning to blog about. So …. we collected all the ingredients, got the camera ready and the truffle making began!

Although I do really enjoy cooking by myself, having someone to chit chat with and lend that extra hand makes the process that much more fun! I’ve been trying to think of a clever/fun name for these truffles, but haven’t come up with anything good yet. I was considering PB&R, but that reminded me too much of the beer PBR … pout. Any good name suggestions out there?

If you decide to go for the larger portion of peanut butter these truffles kind of become a fancier and more decedent version of Reese’s Peanut Butter cups with a hint of Raspberry. Either way the feedback on this little dessert was very positive so it will definitely be staying in the make again (and again hahaha) pile of recipes.

Here we go … it’s truffle yummilious time!!

Ingredients
10 oz semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon raspberry extract
1/4 cup peanut butter (if you are peanut butter LOVER do 1/2 a cup)
10 oz of chocolate for coating like melting chocolate

Directions
Chop the chocolate and put in a heatproof bowl.

Bring the heavy cream and butter to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat.

Pour cream/butter mixture over the chocolate and let sit until melted, about 10 minutes. Stir with a rubber spatula or whisk until smooth. (If necessary, microwave in 20-second intervals until the chocolate melts.)

Stir in the vanilla and raspberry extracts.

Then stir in the peanut butter. Stir until the ganache is smooth and shiny.

Pour into a shallow baking dish (or leave in the glass bowl as I did) and refrigerate until firm, 1-2 hours or overnight.

Roll tablespoonfuls of the ganache into 24 balls, then return to the refrigerator for at least an hour. Heat your melting chocolate in a double broiler or in a chocolate melting pot. Drop each truffle into the melted chocolate and cover completely. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place in the refrigerate until firm. Store is airtight container until ready to serve. I like to let them sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving to ensure the center is nice and gooey!!

I hope you like this new tidbit!!! I’ve created an easy print recipe card for this recipe.

Click here for a 3×5 index card recipe card.

Recipe adapted from Food Network Magazine.

Happy Cooking!

If you enjoyed this post, please add your tidbit by commenting below. Don’t forget you can follow us on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

06Feb 2013

{Recipe} Dropped Cracked Sugar Cookies

by Nicole ⋅ 3 Comments

It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time to share another Tasty Tuesday recipe! Ever since I ate a sugar cookie at Potbelly’s I’ve been on the look out for a killer homemade sugar cookie recipe. Have you ever had a Potbelly sugar cookie? They are A-MAZING! You should seriously try one. It is a little crunchy on the outside and complete heaven in the middle. Yes, I know, I am completely obsessed.

During my quest to replicate this recipe I found a post on HWTM blog that resulted in a pretty good cookie. In all honesty though it didn’t rival the Potbelly cookie, so the search continued. Last week a friend shared a recipe from Savory Sweet Life with me. With rave reviews I hoped these sugar cookies would meet my expectations … and boy did they ever! Yummolious!

Not only is my quest for an amazing homemade sugar cookie over, but I can also check off cooking one new recipe each month from my new years resolution list, for the month of January!

One thing to note about this recipe is finding the sugar crystals in the grocery store is tough. Neither Safeway nor Harris Teeter carry the sugar crystals, so planning ahead is important. I was able to locate sugar crystals at Michael’s and Amazon.com. Since the sugar crystals wouldn’t be delivered until Friday and I needed the cookies for girls night on Thursday I went ahead used left over blue sugar sprinkles.

Ingredients

white sugar
salted butter
egg yolks
vanilla extract
all-purpose flour
baking soda
cream of tartar
salt
coarse sugar crystals {can substitute regular granulated sugar}

Get full recipe here

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream the butter and sugar together until it is nice and creamy. Mix in 1 egg yolk at a time and then the vanilla extract.

In a bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, cream of tarter, and salt. Slowly add to the mixer until the cookie dough is completely mixed. Scrape down the bowl to be sure everything is mixed. Using a medium scoop, form dough balls.

Roll the cookie ball in sugar crystals and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper about 2 inches apart from one another. Or you can use a baking mat if you don’t have parchment paper. I suggest flattening them out just a little so the center doesn’t get too puffy (the original recipe said not to flatten them).

This recipe makes about 30 medium sized cookies. Bake for 12-14 minutes. Make sure not to over cook them. They will harden as the cool. I made the mistake with one batch of leaving them in too long cause they didn’t look golden brown to me. Remove from oven and allow cookies to remain on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Enjoy and Happy Cooking!

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30Jan 2013

{Recipe} Sparkle White Chocolate Lemon Truffles

by Nicole ⋅ 2 Comments

I have become a big fan of citrus, specifically lemon, in my desserts as of late. Maybe it started when we were on our honeymoon in Italy … the lemon gelto, limoncello and other lemon stuff was to die for. Around the holiday season I found this recipe on How Sweet It Is and immediately put in on my must make list. White chocolate plus lemon = YUM!

Even the husband who isn’t a huge fan of chocolate in general, thought the lemon truffles came out great and is looking forward to me making them again. Just a thought, but if you are making a fancy dinner for Valentine’s Day and looking for a special dessert, I do believe your search is over!!!

Ingredients:

10 ounces white chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon corn syrup
2 drops lemon extract
the zest of 1/2 a lemon
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
white sanding sugar for coating

Recipe slightly changed from How Sweet it Is to include more lemon!

Directions:

Place the white chocolate and butter to a bowl, then microwave on medium power for 30 seconds. Stir a few times, then microwave for 20 more seconds.

Add heavy cream and corn syrup to a small saucepan and heat over medium heat just until bubbles appear on the edges. Immediately pour the cream over the melted chocolate and butter, stir for a few minutes until combined. Add in the lemon extract and lemon zest, mixing to combine. Place in the fridge for 2 hours.

Remove from fridge and scoop out teaspoon-size balls of chocolate with a melon scoop or teaspoon and roll into balls. You should have enough for about 30 truffles.

Then roll them in the sanding sugar and coat completely. Put them back in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. They will get a little bit soft when you create the balls so putting them back in the refrigerator helps. Then serve and enjoy!

These little truffles are SUPER decedent and D-E-LISIOUS.

Happy Cooking!!

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15Jan 2013

Tasty Tuesday – The Perfect Roast Chicken

by Nicole ⋅ 1 Comment

I have a little bit of an obsession with Food Network. If there isn’t a show recorded on DVR that I want to watch, Food Network is my next go-to channel, followed by HGTV. Food and home improvement … you can clearly see where my passions lie. One day while blogging and watching Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten was cooking her “Perfect Roast Chicken“. I quickly made a mental note that I must make this dish. An opportunity quickly presented itself and I adapted the recipe just a little. This dish is well … absolutely DELISH!!!

Not only is this recipe super yummy, but totally falls within the healthy cooking/eating category. WIN WIN!!! And just to add one more log to this amazing fire (yeah I’m horrible with analogies, but I try!) it is also a pretty cheap dinner menu item that will impress!! So I hope you enjoy the Tasty Tuesday recipe this week.

Ingredients:

1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme (and/or rosemary)
1 lemon, quartered
1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted (can be substituted with olive oil)
2 large yellow onions, thickly sliced
4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
4 Yukon Gold Potatoes cut into quarters

When you get the chicken home remove the chicken giblets and pat the outside dry, salt it inside and out, wrap it and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Preheat the over to 425*. Place the onions, carrots, potatoes and some thyme in a roasting pan.

Pat the chicken dry and liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, lemon, and all the garlic.

Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper.

Tie the legs together with kitchen string. Place the chicken on top and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken.

Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken cover with aluminum foil for about 15 minutes. I suggest putting this in a bowl, because the juices will seep out of the chicken as it rests. I did this on a cutting board the first time and literally juice all over the floor and my dog, Sophi, was seriously pleased about this!!!

Allow the vegetable to continue cooking. Slice the chicken and place it on a platter with the vegetables. I like to pour some of the juices over the chicken/veggies. The rest of the juice/gravy put in a gravy boat … I promise your guests will appreciate it! This serves about 4 people.

Happy Cooking!

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Category Archives: Recipes

{Recipe} Super Cheesy Homemade Mac & Cheese

{Recipe} Raspberry-Peanut Butter Chocolate Truffles

{Recipe} Sparkle White Chocolate Lemon Truffles

Tasty Tuesday – The Perfect Roast Chicken

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