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October 24, 2009

Original Sweet Potato Fries and Grilled Cheese

So although you already know the recipe for our delicious sweet potato fries, I had to post them again as they're always such a treat!! This particular occasion we made them because Caitlin came to visit for the weekend and we had to have her try them. We all made it a team effort to skin and dice the yams and by the end we had more sweet potato fries than we knew what to do with. As an added flair, we added some shredded cheese on top of the fries. YUM!

In addition to the fries, Greg concocted some hands-on grilled cheese slices for us to eat. These are fun shareable, warm snacks. We certainly enjoyed them!

Thanks to Caitlin for being a trooper and cutting like a pro and creating a whole new shape of yam fry. Come visit us again soon please! I'm thinking this month or next :)

October 27, 2009

Homemade Mac & Cheese topped with Bread Crumbs

Mac and Cheese is another delicious dish we all crave at one point or another but feel guilty indulging in. However, just like I discuss in my post on nachos, it is a dish which can easily be made at home and made just for your taste preferences (and calorie count!) instead of paying a high price for it at a restaurant. By changing a few of the ingredients usually included in mac and cheese, it can become a dish that you can enjoy with far less guilt. By using low-fat or part skim cheese and using milk (even 1% or 2% works!) instead of heavy cream or half-and-half, you already cut a significant amount of calories. Obviously, when having mac and cheese you know you're not digging into a healthy meal per se but adding vegetables can never hurt. In this specific case, I added fresh chopped tomatoes but any number of veggies could be added to mac and cheese. Some ideas could be tomatoes, zucchini, asparagus, peppers, onion, broccoli, peas, and cauliflower. As I keep repeating, since it has been so long since we made these recipes my descriptions and ingredient lists are going to be somewhat less extensive and I will try to replicate the recipe as closely as I can.

Ingredients:

- Pasta, any type you prefer

- Extra Virgin Olive Oil

- Garlic

- Spanish onion, diced

- Fresh tomato, diced

- Flour, a small amount

- Milk (probably 2%)

- Low fat sour cream

- Juice from jarred capers

- Shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

- Shredded Italian Cheese Mix (such as this one from Sargento)

- Basil leaves

- Crushed red pepper flakes

- Garlic Powder

- Salt, to taste

- Black pepper

Now, this is a loose re-interpretation of the above meal. I have made this recipe again more recently and always just wing it depending on the ingredient's I've got on hand. If I have ricotta cheese, I add some of that. If I have some heavy cream, I might add some. For a creamier, richer mac and cheese, you definitely want to use half-and-half or heavy cream as opposed to milk but it can definitely be done without (a little flour is the magic trick!).

Start your pan off with olive oil, garlic, and onion. Let those ingredients heat up until the oil is beginning to bubble, the garlic is browning and the onion is becoming translucent. While that's happening, put your pot of water on to boil. When the olive oil, garlic, and onion mixture is ready, mix in the milk. Put about as much milk as you think you want sauce. This is going to be the main base of your sauce. If you are using half-and-half or heavy cream, do not use the same method. In that case, use some olive oil, some butter, a little heavy cream/half-and-half, a little water, and some sour cream or ricotta cheese if you have it.

Continuing to the next step, add your basil leaves, garlic powder (not too much), crushed red pepper, salt and pepper. Add these all to taste. Turn the sauce down to a medium heat at this point and let the mixture simmer. Mix in about a tablespoon or two of sour cream. At this point, your sauce is probably not thick enough or cheesy enough yet. Don't worry! Start remedying this by turning the heat down to a medium-low heat and sprinkling a thin layer of your shredded cheese on to the top of your sauce mixture. You can sprinkle in some of each kind of cheese you plan to use, if using more than one type as we did here. Let the cheese melt a little and then slowly mix into the sauce so that it does not simply melt onto your pan and also does not turn into solid globs of semi-melted cheese (a problem we've often had when trying to make queso). Continue to do this until you've added a reasonable amount of cheese (not too much, not too little). At that point, your sauce will start to resemble your final product. Now add two large pinches of the flour to the sauce and slowly mix in. You will see your sauce

thicken immediately! Flour is a great thickening agent in sauces but use sparingly because it can become gloopy and nasty tasting if too much is added. If your water is boiling now or was before, the pasta should be in the water. Taste your sauce and make any alterations you need or want to (add more salt or spices, more cheese, more sour cream, a little more flour etc.) Cover the sauce letting it simmer on a low heat until the pasta is ready. When the pasta finishes, strain and put back into pot. Turn the heat off on the burner your sauce was cooking on and pour your sauce on top of the pasta and mix thoroughly until all the pasta is covered in sauce. If you are adding vegetables, add the fresh chopped vegetables now and mix well. The dish could be eaten just like this, as is, but we chose to bake it in the oven with bread crumbs and more shredded cheese on top. 15 minutes later, a warm, cheesy, crunchy heap of goodness was all ready for us to devour!

M