Food In Many Forms

After a late night watching Food Network, I was inspired to try one of Ellie Krieger's Meal Makeovers! Check out this Video, and Get Inspired! First on the list was her "Macaroni and 4 Cheeses" - made with more than a pound of pureed butternut squash and low-fat milk. I stepped it up a notch by using whole wheat pasta, and using half the amount of bread crumb topping.  After reading the reviews, I was concerned that the squash would overpower it, but after trying it, I thought there was a really great balance between subtle squash flavor and cheesy goodness.  I served it with a sprinkle of Old Bay Seasoning for an extra kick, instead of the Cayenne Pepper that Ellie recommends. On the side, I had some fresh asparagus from the University Farmer's Market yesterday. It was absolutely delicious after I brushed it with olive oil, sprinkled on some parmesan cheese and roasted it under the broiler until soft. Ingredients Cooking spray 1 pound whole wheat elbow m...

This November has been a month a white sauces... and I never make white sauces. Last week I made an attempt at cheese fondue, and it didn't turn out, so I made macaroni and cheese from the melted cheese/milk/butter mixture. Last night I made cheesy potatoes because the potatoes were sprouting and I needed to use them up. Both of them required a white sauce and both of the white sauces were kind of funky. The macaroni cheese sauce was grainy, and the potato cheese sauce wouldn't thicken!! Clearly I need to learn how to make white sauces!                         

12:30 PM, Thursday May 25th Overall the experiment was a success! I did get some dirty looks, some grunts, some embittered mumblings and  some under-the-breath complaints from my brother - but nothing the sound of running water couldn't muffle! On a scale from 1 to 5. this recipe was a 2 on the complaining family scale.  So what did I make? Well, I'm going to call it "Macaroni Lorraine". According to Wikipedia, it would be more accurate to call it "Macaroni Alsacienne", but that's too hard to say: The original ‘quiche Lorraine’ was an open pie with a filling consisting of an egg and cream custard with smoked bacon or lardons. It was only later that cheese was added to the quiche Lorraine[3]. The addition of Gruyère cheese makes a quiche au gruyère or a quiche vosgienne. The 'quiche alsacienne' is similar to the 'quiche Lorraine', though onions are added to the recipe.  - "Quiche", Wikipedia Ingredients: 1 ...