{Recipe} Super Cheesy Homemade Mac & Cheese

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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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Quick Tip – Defrosting Meat

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More often than not I am rushing around the house in the morning getting ready for work.  The morning routine includes all the normal things one normally does plus walking the dog and making lunches for me and the hubby.  Despite being in the kitchen doing the lunches I often forget to take meat out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator.  Does that ever happen to you?  Forget to take the chicken, beef, pork or fish out of the freezer to properly prepare for dinner that evening?  Since I make this mistake often I will sometimes go to the store on the way home from work and purchase what I need.  Other times I get home and slap the meat on the counter and pray it defrosts quickly so I won’t have to nuke it.  For some reason defrosting in the microwave seems to always “pre”cook the meat, which I don’t find appealing.

Recently my mother-in-law taught me a great tip for defrosting meat quickly …. place the meat on a metal cookie sheet.

Source

I’m not really sure why this works, but it does so I’m not going to fight it!  Next time you forget to take dinner out of the freezer in the morning to thaw go ahead and slap it on a metal sheet pan.  Wait a little while and flip the meat.  The quick defrosting time will definitely not disappoint.  What’s your tip for defrosting meat quickly?

Happy Cooking!

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“Little Man” Baby Shower Brunch

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After getting the DIY baby shower invites out the next thing to tackle was the menu and the decorations.  The mom-to-be and I have always joked that she is never lacking black and white outfits.  I figured a black and white color scheme would be perfect and wouldn’t you know it my friend wore a black and white outfit to her shower without even knowing the color scheme!!!  I guess I know my friend pretty well. =)

The brunch menu came together quickly.  Although there was definitely too many sweets in the end with a good amount of left over, but who doesn’t like left over Oreo truffles?!?!  I was pretty pleased with the variety of options for the brunch.  Everyone came hungry so there wasn’t a crazy amount of left overs.

Little Man Brunch menu included:

  • Egg Soufflé
  • Pumpkin Bread
  • Fruit Platter
  • Cheese Plate
  • French Toast Casserole
  • Turkey Meatballs in red sauce
  • Oreo Truffles
  • Cigars (aka chocolate covered pretzels)
  • Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

We kept the party decorations pretty simple.  A bunch of black and white balloons, two flower vases, onesies and then a few little mustache details to bring everything together.

Unless otherwise noted all pictures were taken by Sara from Photos from the Harty.

Initially I bought some 3-6 month onsies and quickly realized they are SO tiny the iron-ons wouldn’t look so great on them.  I used one 3-6 month onsie for the bow tie (middle) the other two are 12 month onsies.

To supplement the balloons, onsies and mustache details there were two hydrangea flower arrangements.  I feel like I somehow involuntarily collect vases so it was easy to find two that were pretty much the same.  Put some white and black decorative stones in the bottom, add water and the flowers … voila a “DIY” center pieces!

The paper straws and mustache cups were a big hit.  These were probably my favorite detail.  I’ve become slightly obsessed with the paper straws.  There were purple barbershop straws at our wedding and yellow ones for the husband’s 30th birthday party.  The truth is I might never throw another party without them hahaha.  Seriously all parties will have barbershop straws!

We played two shower games.  The first was “How big is mommy’s tummy?”.  I look awfully serious measuring how many toilet paper squares Rebecca’s belly is.  I love the picture to the right as she counts the square … all smiles!!!

Next up was the poppy diaper game.  I was surprised at how stumped everyone was trying to figure out what type of candy bars were in the diapers.  The hardest one was the dark chocolate milky way … apparently the dark chocolate really threw everyone off.  And let me just say that the butterfinger game me a run for my money.  That candy bar was HARD to melt!

Thanks to all the beautiful ladies who came to shower the mom-to-be and her little man!

I put the party favors (with the DIY tags) on a platter and placed them by the front door.  I had to remind people to take them as I didn’t want 14 lollipops for myself!  I think they were a big hit and displaying them during the party added to the decorations.

A big thank you to Sara from Photos from the Harty for taking pictures at party!!

Thanks for combing on over for this Little Man baby shower.  What’s your favorite detail?

Happy Party Planning!

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{Recipe} Dropped Cracked Sugar Cookies

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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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Chocolate Mustaches

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A while back I found this blog post about chocolate mustaches.  I had been wanting to make them for a while.  After purchasing the chocolate molds on Amazon along with the lollipop sticks they sat in my cuboid waiting to be used.  I considered making some for a friend’s bachelorette weekend, but ending up making a cake instead.

Then one of my besties got pregnant AND she found out she was having a BOY!!! Finally, I offered to through her a baby shower and after a bit of research decided to do a “little man” themed shower.  Check out the DIY invitations for the baby shower.  FINALLY these mustache molds were going to come in handy!

I considered making the mustache chocolates as cupcake toppers, but decided they would be perfection as a thank you gift for the guests.  I bought the chocolate molds and lollipop sticks on Amazon.com, however I also found molds at Michael’s made by Wilton.

Here are the directions on how to create these adorable lollipops.

What you need:

Melt your chocolate as usual.  I melted the chocolate with my new Wilton Chocolate Pro that my parents-in-law got me this holiday season.  It works great and is a lot easier than trying to melt the chocolate in the microwave!  Anyways, about 1/4 LB of chocolate, makes 4 pops.

Fill the mold with chocolate using a teaspoon. Make sure it’s filed to the top, but don’t overfill the mold.  The chocolate should reach the outer corners. If you have any overflow or extra, wipe it clean.

Tap the mold gently on the counter to release air bubbles.  Push the sticks into the mold and carefully roll them until they are covered in chocolate.  Tap the mold gently on the counter again to smooth the surface.

Put mold in the freezer for about 10 minutes or until the chocolate releases from the mold when turned over.  If if the lollipops don’t come out easily put them back int he freezer for a few more minutes.

I ended up with 1/2 white chocolate and 1/2 milk chocolate.  I hope people like both types of chocolate or I am going to have A LOT of left over mustaches. :)  I’m pretty please with the final product!!

Happy Party Planning!

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