Experimenting with Food: Mac and Cheese

Experimenting with Food: Mac and Cheese: I'll admit it - I've never made mac and cheese from scratch. I have recipes that have gotten rave reviews, so I know I will make it from sc...

Mac and Cheese

I'll admit it - I've never made mac and cheese from scratch. I have recipes that have gotten rave reviews, so I know I will make it from scratch sometime in the future. But, until then, I do like Kraft Mac & Cheese. A few weeks ago, my hubby smoked some food (probably sausage and chicken). I decided to make a package of Mac. But, same old same old gets kinda boring. So, hubby suggested adding a little liquid mesquite to it. Ken (hubby) and I both like the taste of smoked foods (we have 3 smokers, for goodness sakes). We have a gallon of liquid mesquite. So, I took and added about a teaspoon to the finished product. OMG. Talk about an amazing transformation. It is so good. I bet some bacon would have also been good, but I didn't think about it until afterwards. What else do you put into your Mac & Cheese to transform it? I would love to know.

Grilled Cheese. Mac and Cheese. Discuss...

I'll post more in a bit. However, I would love to know how you like your grilled cheese sandwiches. What type of bread? What type of cheese(s). How do you "grill" them? Then, I want to know about Mac and Cheese. Yes, I'll admit that I love the stuff in the box (by Kraft). Love it. But, it gets boring. Do you do anything to spice it up? I will say, last time I had Mac and Cheese, I put some mesquite liquid in it and OMG was it good!!!!

Coconut and Curry - what could be better?

I have been craving coconut and curry. Just didn't know with what. And, to get Ken to agree to it. He doesn't love curry as much as I do, so I usually have to make dinner if I want curry. And, we all know that I am not wonderful in the kitchen. I definately need his input. So, I decided that I had some ground beef in the fridge, so I would use that. And, I ended up makeing coconut rice. Both recipes were totally made up by me. I took 1 onion, diced and 1 garlic clove, diced. Cooked those in some coconut oil (see a theme here?). I then took about 2 pounds of ground beef and cooked those in with the onions and garlic. Drained as much fat off as possible. I added 3/4 cup of coconut milk and 1/2 can of water. In addition, I used 3 tablespoons of curry. Use whatever you want - little or a lot. We then added some white wine vinegar, worchestershire sauce, salt, pepper and a few tablespoons of yogurt (yogurt added at the very end). When all of this was cooked (about 25 minutes), it still needed something. I opened a can of French style beans, drained them and added. Cooked to heat. That did it. Serve over coconut rice (3 cups of rice, 2 cups of water and 1 cup of coconut milk - cooked in a rice cooker. If you don't have a rice cooker, please think about getting one). I also added a little bit of shredded coconut as well.

Sambal Oelek - ever try it?

For those who don't know what it is, here is a site I found that describes it (and gives some recipes): http://www.cookthink.com/reference/118/What_is_sambal I first tried this amazing concoction years ago. Is it spicy? OMG, yes! If you have a hard time with spicy foods, you might either want to pass on this, or go really easy using it. And by easy, I mean the tip of a teaspoon will be more than enough for you. But, I really think you should try it. When I first tried it, that was as much as I could handle. Now, I can go just slightly more than that, lol. The taste is amazing. And, trying it in different foods will make such a difference. I love it when I get Beef Chow Fun from the local Chinese restaurant. Adds a different depth in Beef Stew. My all time favorite way of eating this product: mixed in some mayo and dip my French fries in it. I literally cannot stop eating it this way. Try a litte (or a lot). Enjoy. Let me know what you think of it, and how you like to use it.

Haven't been around

Due to lots of different circumstances, I haven't been around for awhile.   And for that I appologize.  Ken and I have been doing lots of cooking lately, and will be posting all kinds of goodies soon. 

Also, I have gotten better at taking pictures, so I will be posting pictures now as well.

Cookbook

What draws you into looking at a cookbook? What recipes would you love to see that just are not in cookbooks now-a-days? Do you like multi-themed cookbooks (section on appetizers, soups, entrees, etc), or all one subject?