HOMEMADE MAC AND CHEESE!!!

This is such an easy recipe and I haven't found one person who doesn't love it.

Ingredients

• 1 2/3 cups dry, small elbow macaroni, cooked and drained ( I also think I use more pasta than this.  Usually close to a bag.)
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can NESTLE® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, divided (I usually do a little bit more I think)
• 
  
• Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 2-quart casserole dish.
2. Combine cornstarch, salt, and pepper in medium saucepan. Stir in evaporated milk, water, and butter. Cook over medium-heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 1/2 cups cheese until melted. Add macaroni; mix well. Pour into prepared casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and light brown. 

For a good little mix up, you can add breadcrumbs on top.  It is good!  ALSO this is a good time to use your frozen peas for a side dish :) 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups plus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

6 Tbsp. Dutch Process Cocoa ( I only had Hershey's Natural Unsweetened Cocoa so I used that)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter at room temperature

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 Tbsp. milk

2 cups chopped peanut butter cups, divided

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. In a medium bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the butter peanut butter and sugars. Beat on med. high speed until light and fluffy. Add in the egg, vanilla, and milk. Blend until smooth. With the mixer on low speed blend in the dry ingredients. Add in 1 1/2 cups of the chopped peanut butter cups and fold in with a spatula. 

Roll dough into about 1 inch balls. Gently press some of the reserved peanut butter cups into the tops of the dough balls. Bake for about 8 minutes. 

Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes

Made these AMAZING pancakes for breakfast today. I love anything with lemon and poppy seed and these were so good! Really you need to make, and since regular maple syrup probably wouldn't go so well with the pancakes I made some homemade strawberry syrup to go with it...Seriously, I could drink this stuff all by itself! 

Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes (recipe from pickycook.com)


2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt 
1/3 cup poppy seeds
Zest of 4 lemons
2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs slightly beaten
2 Tbsp. butter melted 


In a large bowl mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Set aside. In another bowl mix poppy seeds, lemon zest, buttermilk, eggs and butter. Then add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. Whisk together. Lightly grease skillet on med. low heat. Pour about 1/3 cup batter onto skillet. Cook until lightly golden brown on both sides.


*Makes about 12 large Pancakes*


Brooklyn's Strawberry Syrup


2 cups strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp. corn starch 
1/4 cup water


Slice and mash strawberries to desired likeness. (I like my syrup with chunks of strawberries, but if you like your syrup more runny you can use a blender to blend the strawberries) Place strawberries, sugar and water in a pot on med. low heat, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes. Add corn starch to cold water and then add it to the mixture. Bring to a boil for about 2 minutes then remove from heat. (Obviously you don't have to add the corn starch, but it thickens up the sauce a bit). I made the syrup the previous night and put it in the fridge, but if you want your syrup hot you can make it the same time you make the pancakes. 


*Makes about 1 cup of syrup* You might want to double the recipe to have enough for all the pancakes*


The batter makes A LOT of pancakes especially for just the two of us, so after getting tired of making the pancakes on the skillet I decided to pull out my favorite muffin top pan and use the rest of the batter for muffins. I baked them at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes and they came out so cute and yummy. ENJOY!

Chicken Taco Bowls

Ingredients: 
Taco Bowls (Got mine at Macey's)
Cilantro Lime Rice (see recipe below)
Shredded lettuce
Shredded chicken seasoned with taco seasoning
Diced tomatoes 
Avocado
Chopped green onion
Olives
Shredded cheese
Ranch for the dressing 


Directions:
Fill bottom of taco bowl with Cilantro Lime Rice. Then top with lettuce, shredded chicken and the rest of your toppings. Super easy!

Cilantro Lime Rice

• 1 cup extra long grain rice or basmati rice
• 1/2 lime, juice of
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
• 3 tsp vegetable oil

In a small heavy pot, add rice, water, 1 tsp oil and salt. Boil on high until most of the water evaporates. When the water just skims the top of the rice, reduce to low and cover about 15 minutes. Shut off flame and keep covered an additional 5 minute.

In a medium bowl, combine chopped cilantro, lime juice, rice and remaining oil and toss until completely mixed.

White bean chicken chili

This was taken from Mels Kitchen Cafe.

It is delicious. I suggest to double the recipe because this recipe is made for half of my husbands stomach. (PS again, sorry for no picture.)

INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
2 (14.5 ounce) cans Great Northern Beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups cooked, diced chicken (or turkey)
2 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup salsa (I use Pace Chunky Medium)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS:
In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the remainder of the ingredients, except the mozzarella cheese. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the soup comes to a simmer. Add the mozzarella cheese one handful at a time, stirring to let each addition melt before adding the next. Stir to combine and make sure all the cheese has melted and serve.

***I did not use onions, just onion seasoning. I also used a cheap medium brand of salsa. This seriously is so good and again super easy and cheap!!!!!!!! TRY IT :) Don't forget to double it :) ha ha

ATTENTION EASY MEAL!!!

FRENCH BREAD EGG PIZZAS

This I learned from my aunt in Israel. Hits the pregnancy cravings and SUPER easy and cheap!!!

• French bread
• pizza sauce (I used Prego)
• Mozzarella cheese
• Boiled eggs

SOOO to boil eggs. Put eggs in boiling pot of water for 10 minutes. Quickly remove from heat and add cold water and ice. cut french bread in slices. You can either eat open face (I prefer) or you can do sandwich style and put in a sandwich maker thing. Top french bread with pizza sauce and cheese. Add slices of boiled eggs. MMMMMMMMMMM

Sorry there is no picture. I know this is way lame for my first post in FOREVER!!!!! PS.. I know it sounds weird but it really is good.

Zucchini Boats

Made these yummy zucchini boats for part of our dinner tonight. Found the recipe on prouditaliancook.blogspot.com

Just cut a zucchini in half lengthwise and trim a little off the bottom so it sit still in a baking dish*** Scoop out the center where the seeds are with a spoon*** Brush the surface with a mixture of crushed garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper*** Arrange halved grape tomatoes into the grooves, sprinkle with bread crumbs and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes*** Remove and place diced fontina or mozzarella in between the tomatoes, place them back in, but now under the broiler til golden and bubbling***Remove and drizzle with olive oil and a sprinkling of grated parmesan. You will love this as a side dish!

No-bake Energy Bites

I found this yummy recipe on Pinterest from http://gimmesomeoven.com/no-bake-energy-bites/ I only made two changes from the original recipe I added dark chocolate chips instead of regular and I didn't toast the coconut flakes. Super easy and so good!

No-Bake Energy Bites Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (dry) oatmeal (I used old-fashioned oats)
• 1 cup coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup ground flaxseed
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Method:

Stir all ingredients together in a medium bowl until thoroughly mixed. Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls of whatever size you would like. (Mine were about 1″ in diameter.) Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.

Makes about 20-25 balls.

Margherita Pizza

Pizza Dough - Makes 2-12 inch pizzas

1 cup warm water

1 small packet instant dry yeast

1 Tbsp. honey (or sugar if you prefer)

2 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. olive oil

3 cups flour

Toppings (split toppings between the two pizzas)

Cornmeal for dusting pizza stone

1 Tbsp. olive oil

14 oz. jar pizza sauce

16 oz. ball fresh mozzarella ( sliced 1/8 of an inch thick)

3 fresh basil leaves chopped

oregano

Directions: First off if you don't have a pizza stone get one! Pizzas turn out SO much better with them. I bought mine at Ross for only $8.99! Dust pizza stone with cornmeal. Place stone in oven and heat stone at 500 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes. While pizza stone is heating up roll out dough. Lightly brush pizza with olive oil. Top with pizza sauce, mozzarella slices, and chopped basil. Sprinkle with oregano. Transfer pizza to pizza stone. Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes or until crust is golden brown and top is bubbling.