Mac and Cheese with 3 Ingredients!

 

Mac and Cheese with 3 ingredients? YES. I see this recipe pop up all over the internet every few years and I want y'all to know, it works! And it's great! If you want to go one step faster buy the cheese already shredded. 

My son Ezra (8 years old) is the pickiest eater in our house and he PREFERS this over the bright yellow shells and cheese in the box. Do you know the one with "almost melted" American cheese in the foil packet? To be clear, we always bought the one that has no artificial preservatives. Good source of calcium. No certified synthetic colors...

Pasta, evaporated milk, cheddar cheese (or Monterrey Jack, anything melty)...water and salt. << Those don't count. Added BONUS it only takes about 12 minutes. 

Grilled Chicken and Pasta Alfredo

This past Monday our lunch was grilled chicken, pasta Alfredo, vegetables, (because it can change I am not very specific) and a roll. 

Little Valley Academy (infant to K4) gets chicken tenders instead of grilled chicken. You might ask why? Because there is an increase of orders  from 25% to 35% MORE with tenders versus grilled chicken. Parents know what their children will eat. At least while their young. Most of the time. Hahahaha!

Valley Fellowship Christian Academy K5 - 12TH

We  make from scratch AND sometimes use a mix for the Alfredo sauce. Chicken is grilled outside and finished in the oven (to guarantee its cooked to the proper temperature with no doubt). Here we have a purchased roll like a Hawaiian bread roll, but we often make the bread/roll ourselves. And of course the green beans which I usually season to taste. Yes, those are Land-O-Lakes REAL BUTTER pats, I don't use margarine in my kitchen, only butter and olive oil. Occasionally I use canola/vegetable oil for certain things like baking.

Calamari Pasta / Gragnano Italy

A few nights ago I wanted to throw something simple together and reached way back into the bottom cupboard because I knew there was a bag of 'gourmet' pasta back there somewhere. I say 'gourmet' very lightly because it seems everything nowadays is 'gourmet' or 'artisanal'. Humph. Whatever.

I just wanted to cook it up and use it. The one I found is called calamari because the pasta rings look thick cut and big like rings of real calamari that are usually fried and eaten as an appetizer at most restaurants.

Starting by pan searing some Italian sausage then throwing the pan in the oven to continue to cook while I put together a quick marinara sauce with roasted garlic. Pasta water just started to boil so I salted it heavily then threw the pasta in...meanwhile the sausage came out of the oven and I put them in the pan with the sauce and let simmer till the pasta was done. Because of the size of the pasta I used a spider (instead of using a colander) to fetch all the pasta out of the water and dump it in the pan with the sauce and sausages.

Even when the whole dish was done the pasta still had a bit of a chew and great taste. I was surprised. So today I looked up the name of the pasta and where it was from because it seems like any knucklehead company is making any pasta shape they want and pass it off as being 'gourmet'. Well, there is an actual pasta called calamari that comes from Gragnano Italy where the company there still uses bronze cutting die  and they still air dry the pasta.

My wife and I loved it even before I checked for the origin of it, and like most dishes of this nature my wife said it tasted even better the second time around. She took it to work and shared it.

We usually buy bits of food things here and there 'on sale' and throw them in the cupboard or fridge to try later...sometimes disappointing, sometimes surprisingly good.

Favorites This Week

Below are a few things I found this week I like. Each picture was borrowed from, and has a link to the original post so hopefully I am not breaking online etiquette. Merely trying to bring attention to some cool ideas and a few new things.[click pics for link back to articles]

Tomato Soup w/Poblano Chiles - Chef Steve, although he would probably call himself  'Camp Cook' over at 'Round the Chuckbox (one of the blogs I read, its on my sidebar) always comes up with, and/or has some great recipes on his site. This one looks like a sure add-in for this Fall.

Yes, even I want to save some money and use coupons. This site starts the first page with -
Top Forty Stores with Awesome Coupons - then on the right in the sidebar it breaks down the coupons by popular categories. Very helpful and quick (smart phone app available too). On The Frugals page it lists helpful sites that can save you more money.

5 Tips for Freezing Pasta - Probably good general knowledge for those of you who want to do that dish ahead of time (like lasagna) and freeze it for later, or freezing leftover pasta dishes.

"Saturated fats have gotten a bad rap over the past few decades, but are they really as dangerous as we have been led to believe?" - Great article on Benefits of Saturated Fats! Detoxinista says "...I have a hard time believing that eating a fresh coconut can possibly lead to heart disease or cancer, even if it is brimming with saturated fat!"