pretty much as before but with slight adjusting for fresh berries… (also a bigger batch to feed the extra people)
Blueberries and Cream Oatmeal
3 c ea: oats, milk, water
1/2 c sugar
2 c fresh blueberries
Bring all but berries to a slow boil. Stir in berries and shut off heat but leave on hot eye to stand 5-10 mins until cooked and creamy…
So my aunt Vicki gave this recipe to my G-ma years ago (and I think it’s even been printed in one of the t-town cookbooks), and she frequently makes it when I’m around this time I made it while there and added beans which worked out well–plus I made some other minor changes, simply out of not remembering how it was done… most importantly, I realized how much I love this and need to tinker a non-cream of version to become a more frequently present meal… For the weekend, we just used the healthy request low sodium version and had at it…
Smoked Pork Chop and Wild Rice Casserole
8 smoked pork chops
2 pkg wild rice/long grain blends
2 cans cream of mushroom
1 c milk
2 c hot water (was supposed to be 3, but there wasn’t room after the beans and this actually was enough)
1 pkg frozen wide, flat italian style green beans (not sure the skinnier string beans would fair as well with the length of cooking)
Put the frozen green beans in the bottom of the dish (this time a long rectangular pyrex)… Mix rice, cream of, and milk and spread over top of beans… Lay the pork chops along the top of the rice (I had to sort of overlap them a bit to make them fit, and did so with the bones on top so more meat was against the rice if that makes sense) poured over as much of the hot water as would fit in the dish, which ended up being 2 c… Loosely lay a sheet of foil over the top and bake at 350 until bubbly and rice is done (about 1-1.5 hrs)…
PS. This is assuredly in own of the t-town cookbooks, but I didn’t mark it down…
Ok so I make tetrazzini plenty and while I know how to cook plenty well I’ve always favored a little something about g-ma’s sauce to any I’ve found or come up with (technically, I liked the Millsaps sauce a littlebetter but have long since forgotten what the staff told me about it as I never I cooked back then so never cemented a connection to that info capable of surviving the reboot so I dunno maybe I should look up Chef David again and re-ask…) and I’m now the proud bearer of the not-so-secret secret to her success so in homage here is her entire recipe and it was previously published in one of the T-town cookbooks, but I didn’t take note of the page…
Grandma’s Chicken Tetrazzini (my g-ma, Tylertown UMW’s “A Book of Favorite Recipes” 1986)
7 oz-box thin spaghetti
8 oz canned mushrooms, drained
1/2 c margarine
4-6 chicken breasts (cooked, skinned, boned and cut up)
sm jar chopped pimentos
2 cans cream of chicken
2 c sour cream
1.5 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
top w/grated parm
Cook spaghetti in chicken broth. Saute mushrooms in margarine. Mix soup, sour cream, s/p and add chicken and spaghetti. Turn into a buttered casserole and sprinkle with cheese, bake 40 min at 350. (Can be prepared ahead)
This is a huge favorite here… and was even a hit with the not-so veggie interested in-laws one Thanksgiving. Family, guests, the kidlets everyone who’s eaten them seems to like them… of course maybe it’s just shock that there’s squash in there, I dunno.
Silence those puppies...with squash! LOL
At any rate, I love them and figured as long as we are frying and he’s home I’d get the Hubs the help me make these. I premixed them and let him have at it after the meeting, while I sat with the homework king… This is the orginal recipe, as again it’d be hard to get your hands on… I tend to add salt and onion/garlic powder, and pre-cook the diced onions–but mainly do it pretty close to as is, so there’s no need for both versions… (oh and the italics are mine to make sure you don’t overlook this as it is commonly overlooked, and it does matter so add leavening if yours is plain)
Squash Hushpuppies (by D. Holmes, from the Tylertown Cooking with Friends cookbook, p 93)
2 c cooked squash, drained and mashed
3/4 c self-rising cornmeal
1 egg
1 med onion, finely chopped
1/2 c buttermilk
Mix well an drop in hot oil. Keeps well. May be frozen and reheated in the microwave.
So, I’m not really a baker… I cheat on all my bread (and particularly favor biscuits and quick breads) but today I decided to make the bread from bought yeast dough rather than just a pop can… so this is a step up for me. Lots of shaping involved though, so I did a bunch of pics. Sorry if this is slow to load… I promise not to do it often, I just thought it’d be less confusing than trying to describe the shaping…
Hoagie Rolls
2 1-lb frozen logs of yeast bread dough
some butter or oil from greasing/handling
grease pan and dough and let thaw and rise, simultaneously, until fills a loaf pan (about 2 hrs)… split each loaf in half lengthwise and shape, then let rise 1 hr… punch down and split in half again and let rise another hr… preheat oven to 350… then (w/o punching) tighten up surface of dough by pinching and tucking under the bottom until it looks taut on top and sort of oval shaped… (I then spread out on two trays for more baking space betwixt and between) brush tops of the dough with melted butter (or oil) and bake for around 15-20 mins or until golden brown and done… [NB: during all the risings I covered the dough with a warm damp towel]
the visuals for the first few steps...
the visuals for the wrapping up...
So confession time, this was meant to intro my cooking phobic friend into the world of easy but impressive dishes but it was a big time flop. (Note to self: Do NOT try to beat egg whites in the blender–even if you think that’s what a recipe is suggesting–it is painfully frustrating… I say “think” because upon closer more careful examination I realized blenderness aside they were saying blend, blend, blend, beat and thus with more attentiveness it is clear that they are not suggesting you attempt to whip these whites into shape via blender blade and it was some what a**inine of me to assume so as logic would alert you to the lack of air potential but alas no I was have a completely blonde night–as despite physically outgrowing the more evident symptoms I am still very much afflicted.) And while I got it from the cookbook in theory, I cut out the veg because of the kids and the onion for my friend, changed amts on things to fit with my supplies and taste preferences and threw up a little in the back of my throat at the idea of pureeing the pasta (as they so wonderfully suggested) so umm, yeah I didn’t dare do that… and when as was said and done this not really the recipe any more either. But as you know that’s in keeping with how I operate… and I won’t take it personally if you make it faithfully to the original (I mean I might have blended the pasta to if I was making it for the pitty pat, but as is I was cooking the pasta past my desired for the goonies anyway so that was a concession I didn’t have in me)
Blender Puffy Mac and Cheese (inspired from “Macaroni Puff Soufflé” p 39 of Better Homes and Gardens Blender Cook Book 1971)
12 oz elbows
2.5 c milk
5 eggs, seperated
2.5 c shredded cheddar
2 wedges laughing cow spreadable swiss (you can sub butter, that’s what a normal person would use)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
So I boiled the pasta in very salty water. Threw the whites in the blender with the cream of tartar (but will just use the electric beater next time) poured out in a bowl and nearly cried, and began feebly trying to save them and never got them where they needed to be (hence the non puffiness, but this is still a salvagable recipe and I’ll come make it with you the proper way if you’d like). Added the milk, yolks and cheeses to the blender and blitzed smooth. Fold everything together and put in dish to bake in and ungreased dish preheated 350 oven until set, I think it was around 45 min.
As a special note, you’d actually want to put this in an dish with tall sides but as I was planning to use that dish in chicago and didn’t have any faith this would rise much I went with the big glass casserole, aka my brownie pan (did you catch that diane? but I swear there was no such reason why he liked the mac… I’m a good girl unlike the other three adults at the table *smirks* at least in that respect), instead so I wouldn’t need to hand wash it before we left town (but of course a certain sweet fairy cleaned all the dinner dishes before my sojourn home)…
[NB. It needed a little something IMO, so I think I’d add some roasted yellow or orange bell pepper next time to discreetly replace the pimentos as that’d puree into something that could easily hide under the guise of the cheese and would lend a little more roundness I think.]
Beer Cheese Risotto
1.5 T butter
1.5 c ea: onions, aborio rice, beer **
1/2 tsp ea: dry mustard, salt, onion pwd
4 c hot water/broth (may not use all, but need it warm and ready in case)
1/4 c parm
1.5 c sharp cheddar
Saute the onions. Stir in rice and coat well and get mostly translucent. Add beer and seasonings and simmer, stirring. When absorbed add remaining liquid in 1/2-1 c increments, stirring until absorbed. On last batch of liquid when it’s getting to be just about done end with about 1/2 c unabsorbed liquid and turn off heat, but leave on hot eye. Add the cheeses, and stir until melted and rice appears creamy and remove from hot eye.
** You can sub hard cider, wine, or even vinegar/lemon juice spiked water for an alcoholess version…though obviously subbing anything will make it not beer cheese. And IMO the best beer for this is an amber one… too dark is overpowering here (just put it in a stew you’re not gonna want to bother finding it a cheese mate trust me I’ve tried many and it’s not an appealing combo even when you have a cheese that doen’t get lost) and too light is not going to stand up to the strong cheeses (does ok with a swiss or kind of a white cheddar–but that one’s still pushing it a tiny bit); but feel free to use what you like to drink I tend to tweak the cheeses according to what stray beer is hanging around (as I always have a good selection of cheeses on hand).
NB: Sometimes I finish this off with a bit of butter (or a wedge of laughing cow if I have it), but not always. It’s often a where shall I spend the calories deal here, and therefore decided meal by meal. And you can add garlic, Hubby likes adding garlic… but I just don’t care for the garlic, cheese, beer trio.
So Saturday I got up and made breakfast. Yes that bears rereading, but I truly did and it was a good decent breakfast hour and everything. (No one starved waiting for me to wake up and this wasn’t a late brunch or even 10 am deal… but a real deal 7:30 meal.) The problem is it was such a feat for me to be up, I was not going to make a grand production of the food… but the kids are deeply accustomed to the Hubs making something special so I had to find something middle of the road to work for both sides. Hence was born berries and cream oatmeal, only I felt I’d rather save the richness/heaviness for dessert rather than breakfast so I improvised…
Berries and ‘Cream’ Oatmeal
2.5 c oatmeal
2 c ea: water and milk
2/3-3/4 c ea: dried blueberries and dried raspberries (w/o corn syrup)
1 T sugar
pinch salt
Dump all in a pot, bring to a boil while stirring. Reduce to simmer for 5 min. Shutoff heat and let stand 5 min on hot eye. Serve drizzled with real maple syrup.
In the pot, sans the fresh basil (because a girl has to blog it already)
So the Hubs of course bemoaned the fact that I wouldn’t eat shellfish a bit (ok, more than a bit… enough that I actually said if he really felt he just had to use shellfish I could live with scallops), trying to explain to me about how the sweetness of the meat in shrimp, lobster, etc complimented the sauce so well…balancing the heat, etc. And I didn’t really care as I won’t eat shrimp (I could be staving next to a mountain of shrimp that overfloweth from the water and I would still die of hunger, unless the good Lord freed me of my tastebuds first) and I really wasn’t interested in going to shop for any other shellfish… So in some fabulous swoop of fate, we ended up getting a killer deal on some Mahi-Mahi (guess what I’m having tomorrow) and swinging by to pick up chicken instead after all. *gloat, gloat, gloat…beam, beam, beam* So on with the recipe (one of the handful of joys to fall out of marrying an italian)…
Pureeing the sauce some... (done prior to cooking down)
Chicken Fra Diavolo
6 tomatoes, chopped (or about 3 c drained canned ones)
1/2 can tomato paste
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 head of garlic, chopped
seeds from one bell pepper
1 T red pepper flakes
salt to taste
1 c white wine
2 chicken breasts, cut in pieces
1 lb fettuccine
1/4-1/3 c chopped fresh basil
Hubby did stuff…it tasted yummy. I’ll have him add the what and when of it all here real soon. Plus any extra ingredients if I missed ’em, but I think I was pretty good at note taking…From Hubby: Chop the garlic and saute in the olive oil over medium heat. Chop onions and add to garlic and saute until translucent approximately 5 minutes stirring often, (don’t want to burn the garlic). Chop the the tomatos into cubes and add to garlic and onions. (if you have time, you can boil and peel the skins off of the tomatoes.) Add the salt, tomato paste and white wine, bring to a boil and simmer about 10 minutes. Blend together until smooth, (I used a hand blender). Add Red pepper flakes and bell pepper seeds. In another pan, cook the chicken (seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder), until done. Add the chicken to the sauce and simmer about 10 more minutes. While the sauce and chicken is simmering make the fettuccine, (This also work well with other pasta’s especially linguini and farfalle). When pasta is done, drain and add to the sauce. mix together until the sauce coats the pasta and serve with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.
PS. Oh and I’m rushing to pop it up for Joelen and the Tomato Spotlight so check out the Round up for more yummies.
For some reason the hubs has an affection for buting boxed mac and cheeses… all sorts of varieties. Most recently he chose to buy target’s brand. So I used it to make life easier and changed it to make it umm dinner. And sure it’s not glamourous but neither was the rest of dinner tonight… but scouts night is about kid friendly so everyone is done eating when it’s time to go so it works out.
Finagled Box Mac and Cheese
2 boxes of target mac
1/2 c sour cream
1/4 c butter
1 c shredded sharp cheddar
s/p, onion pwd
Cover the pasta with about 1 qt of water and 1 tsp salt and simmer. Microwave sour cream and butter at 1/2 power until butter is melted and stir together add powdered cheese packets and shedded cheese and season to taste. Blend cheese mixture into cooked pasta until well blended.
I guess this is really an adaptation to the lazy lady mac (I don’t usually make it with boxed though, I threw that in to be helpful for the girls, but this tasted a little better so this will probably be my boxed version of Lady Lady if I need it again–but I’ll probably tweak the seasonings some more, and not by target’s again) because it’s another no drain. But I didn’t put it all in the pot at once so it is still a bit different…
Ok, big secret confession. Hubs requested Red Beans and Rice the other night but I didn’t really want it, plus I didn’t have any dried beans and I really like making my own for Red Beans and Rice so I can use the bean juice. So Red Beans and Rice (in this house) would normally be some saucy beans (with or without sausage) and then I’d make some white rice seperately with a bit of cilantro scattered thru (mostly for color), and either serve the bean mixture ladelled over the rice or serve a bowl of the beans with a scoop of the rice in the middle (one of the kids favors it this way). So what I made was really more of a Beany Jambalya, but it had red beans and it had rice and he was happy… so we let him believe it was the meal he’d requested.
Beany Jambalya
2 links Nathan’s sausage (about 1/3 lb worth), cut up
maybe 1 c chicken (pulled from the roasted one, I used breast meat to balance the cheesy sausage)
1 bell pepper, diced
1/2 onion, diced
2 cans red beans, drained and rinsed (yep you read that right, I used canned and I didn’t make any of the kids open them either)
1.5 c rice
about 1/4 c worth of assorted seasonings done to taste (celery seed, onion/garlic pwd, s/p, smoked paprika, sage, and I can’t remember what else but those were probably the dominants)
Brown the sausage, remove from pot and use the run off to saute the onions. Add everything and cover with a scant qt of water (broth is fine if you have it), and simmer until mostly absorbed and rice is done.
Here’s the basic recipe the Hubs added the nuts and chips to this weekend. But also, we use it for a lot of things… I do like using a sour cream/yogurt one as a base for things with berries but otherwise this is pretty much our slow morning go to. Sometimes the hubster thins it with more milk (I think he said up to 2 c) and sometimes I sub Bisquick for the flour because I’m a dork like that and because sometimes I crave it (and yes, if you are thinking what the Hubs often snarks, I do realize you don’t have to add all that to bisquick but it’s good that way and I don’t care!! LOL)
Basic Pancake
2 c unbleached ap flour (we’ve subbed this with ww pastry flour and even barley flour with success if you snub the ap)
2 T sugar **
1 T plus 1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 c milk
1 egg, beaten
2 T butter, melted
Mix dry ingredients, and mix milk with egg. Mix milk mix into dry mix stirring slowly. Add melted butter and mix well. Gently stir in whatever add-in you wish. (Then I let the batter set but hubby rarely does–ok almost never–works either way, but I think they are better if you let the batter rest and it’s room temp… plus my daddy did/does it that way so umm that’s a completely valid reason, right?)
Then we use about 1/4 c – 1/3 c of the batter per pancake as long as you cook it on a hot pregreased griddle or skillet they’ll work fine. I guess once it’s hot I like to idle it at MED while I make them. (Then if we are making a big batch or are exceptionally not lazy we’ll throw them in about a 200 degree oven while we finish making them all, but this is really to keep them warm and is really self serving as we have enough eaters for it not to matter.)
** I sometimes add more like 1/4 c, or add a splash of syrup or something, because I don’t like putting syrup on my pancakes… Now waffles on the other hand, I will drench in syrup and must obsessively fill each individual square, go figure.
Wild Rice Blend
2 T butter
1/3 c hulled barley
2/3 c brown basmati
1/4 c wild rice
3 c water
1/2 tsp ea: s/p
1 tsp ea: garlic pwd, onion pwd, grated parm
Rinse barley and toast in the butter, add the wild rice and brown rice and stir to coat in the butter. Add the water and seasonings and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer at lowest heat until absorbed.
Shrek Ogre Mac and Cheese
florets from 2 crowns broccoli
2 c milk
1/2 tsp s/p, garlic pwd
1 c hot tap water
2 c ea: elbows and sharp cheddar
1 c sour cream or plain yogurt
1/2 c parm, romano, or asiago
additional seasonings to taste (like powdered mustard)
Cook broccoli, milk and seasonings slowly, at MED or lower, until well softened (this may seem a little gross and counter to your cooking instincts but if you don’t overcook it a bit past fork tender, it will retain too much texture and not have as pleasant a mouth feel once pureed I’ve done this a time or two so you can trust me or you can dig your heels in and see for yourself if you like–just be aware that the odd gritty-ish bits were your own doing not my recipe–but either way you’ve been forewarned, LOL) and puree in blender. Pour back in pot and put water in blender, blitz and swish to get all broccoli flower buds out and add to pot with pasta and cheddar, simmer to cook the pasta. Take out sour cream and mix with cheese and let stand at room temp while pasta cooks. When all or most of the liquid is absorbed, stir in sour cream mixture.
***Part of the key to this being ‘incognito’ is the use of the stonger cheeses, you are welcome to use milder cheeses if you wish but the broccoli will be more prevalent (still good if you like broccoli though especially with swiss). But the important truth is that even in the more incognito version the broccoli will be still present in the background. That said it has, however, been happily consumed by avowed broccoli haters even after being armed with the knowledge that it is in there…you see for me it is more about getting them to take the first bite that lead to the somewhat misleading name (because even adults will think they won’t want to eat pureed broccoli before they’ve had it, LOL). This is more about helping people to appreciate broccoli (while listening to and trying to overcome what they said they don’t like about the taste of it) than it is about completely hiding it. If you are trying to pull the wool over someone’s eyes, then look elsewhere as this won’t cut it…but if you are trying to introduce new flavors in a palatable way then you should be fine. I mean, the food is green and the broccoli can be tasted–this is not incogonito in the newfangled sense of hiding 2T of brussel sprouts in a batch of brownies… So just be aware of that. Otherwise, enjoy as it is a yummy side dish that offers some variety from the same ol’ mac and cheese! (We make tons of different versions of mac and cheese since we eat it all the time..and while I can’t say this is my favorite, it is good and we do crave it from time to time and I do get quite a few requests for it–not to mention the recipe–sometimes more often than I am willing to make it, LOL)
So a friend got me obsessing about muffins when she complained about the orange poppy seed one she bought. I’m probably gonna get things together and work on a recipe of one for her with a tangy glaze and everything to be what she thought she was getting with the other. But as I have no oranges and wasn’t sure how fab a muffin I could make with just store bought oj and poppy seeds, so I rummage what I do have and while it’s entirely no longer related to the inspiration, I make these little babies… So if you enjoy these, you can thank the lovely Sarah.
Oh and technically, these are probably not really muffins as I didn’t make them with the standard muffin method or the biscuit method or any other quick bread method–I used rather more of a cake method with the creaming and such–but come on who calls it a cupcake when you’re eating it for breakfast…
Chocolate Chip and Goji Berry Yogurt Muffins
1 c dried Goji Berries (soaked overnight in 1 c sparking apple juice, regular works great but this is what I had)
1 c vanilla yogurt (plain works; let sit at room temp 30 mins–before or after mixing batter, I did before but the Pops often do after so I know it’s great that way too)
1/2 c dark chocolate chips (a little over powering, nearly eclipsed the gogi berries might want to cut back/out or use a strong flavored berry–like raspberry maybe)
1 tsp vanilla ex
1 stick (1/2 c) butter, room temp (for fluffier muffins use half butter, half margarine–but use a bigger bowl as the creaming stage will create a lot of volume)
1/2-3/4 c sugar
2 eggs, room temp
1.5-1.75 c flour
2 tsp bkg pwd
1 tsp bkg soda
1/8 tsp-ish salt
Drain the berries, I let them drain for the 30 mins the yogurt was standing so they’d get drier but that clearly isn’t necessary. Then mix berries, yogurt, vanilla and chocolate chips in one bowl…while you set to work on the rest. Preheat the oven to 350. Cream the butter and sugar together. When fluffy and no longer grainy, add the eggs 1 at a time beating well. Then stir in the yogurt mixture and sift in the dry ingredients in 3 batches, stirring just until well incorporated. Fill your muffin cups (we used those silicone liners on a jelly roll pan so as to not have to fuss with filling any empty cups with water, and to be able to make all in one batch-woohoo. Now I made 21, because of my multiples of seven obsession, but you can adjust your filling to make an even number.) about 2/3 to 3/4 full and bake about 20 min or until the tops are springy to the touch. Cool on a rack, so as not to burn oneself with molten chocolate, and take a moment to appreciate the muffin.
While this batch will never see the inside of the freezer (I personally ate four for breakfast, and there are 4 other people to help eat them) I definitely think the Hubs and I need to start making some muffins for the freezer to prep for the coming school morning breakfasts.
Garlic Mushy Pea Panzanella
1/2 head of garlic (normally I’d roast it, but I didn’t have time or the inclination)
1 lb frozen peas
bread cubes (not sure how much, I used the top halves of an entire batch of pop can biscuits, maybe 10 I think, that we burned to death over the weekend…and I precut them days before to let them dry out)
Boil the cloves in about 1 c salted water for around 5 min. Remove and add peas for a few minutes. Toss peeled garlic, peas and (Here’s where I’d normally have added some olive oil, if the fat content of the ziti hadn’t been so insane) some of the liquid in the blender. Blitz and add s/p to taste if needed and pour over and toss with the bread or croutons. And again if I weren’t chintzing on fat, I’d have garnished with a fair amount of parm.
Michael Chiarello makes a more involved pea panzanella if you want something more exciting and it’s good…but this night I wanted easy and needed to cut out all the good stuff to accomodate for the truckload of calories in the entree. I think he has another one as I thought I remembered eating two of his, but maybe not…as I’m not easily finding it.
The kids thought these looked like cookie dough, and once they said it I did too.
This was my first ever Deb Mele flop, normally she rockas my socks, I so wanted to cry over the meatballs. They were a bit of extra work and ingredients and yet I found them a bit bland and dissappointing, turns out I should have just used hubby standard meatball recipe but I will toy with this (Had I not been baking them I would have made one and tasted it and known to adjust the seasoning and not had such a huge problem so I fell down on the job too) as the kids were very excited to see them looking like cookie dough before I cooked them, see pic.
Futhermore, they were way too soft for this application–even with the extra egg white–and some fell apart as I was stirring in the cheese…but that’s kinda what I was expecting anyway. So next time I make these, hopefully modified into deliciousness worthy of the labor, they will be appearing as Spaghetti and Meatballs or Meatball Sandwiches. But on to the recipe:
Meatball and Marscapone Baked Ziti
Deb Mele’s meatballs (I added the extra egg white from the prev alfredo, since I thought this sounded like it might be too soft)
1.5 qts red sauce (I used 2 jars of Classico Spicy Tomato Basil instead)
1 lb ziti
1 tub marscapone, seasoned generously but to taste with s/p, garlic, parm
8 oz shredded mozzarella
Shape into meatballs and brown on all sides (I shaped into 62 meatballs about 1T size and I actually baked mine, flipping part way, but I couldn’t tell you how long as I didn’t pay attention). Simmer meatballs in sauce. Simmer pasta in salted water, but pull a bit before it’s al dente while still a little chewy and add to meatballs with marscapone. Put in baking dishes (I made an 8×8 and two loaf pans) and top with mozz, bake until cheese is melty and a little golden.
Oh and for the record this wasn’t considered a flop by everyone else, as Bill and the kids just love having baked ziti…so they probably wouldn’t have complained if the whole thing had been bad since it’s one of their favorite meals. But I felt it was a lot of extra work for not much pay off, sometimes simple really is best.
Lazy Lady Mac and Cheese
Ok, well this should probably be teen friendly and I’m even throwing in a from the box version for a real bare minimum effort.
From the box
1 7-8 oz box
1/2 stick of butter (or marg, I guess)
1.5-2 c hot tap water
1/2 c milk
1/2 tsp salt
any other desired seasonings to taste
From scratch
2 c elbows
2 T butter (or marg, I guess)
2 c hot tap water
2/3 c milk
1/2 tsp salt
any other desired seasonings to taste (I usually used pepper and dry mustard)
1/2 c grated parm (or romano, or blend of the like)
1-1.5 c shredded cheddar (the sharper the better, but use what you like)
From the box
Put the butter in the pan and melt it (melts quicker if you cut it up), add the dry cheese pouch and stir to coat all the powder with butter. Add the hot water slowly and whisk out any cheese clumps. Add pasta, milk, salt and any other seasonings and bring to a boil (boils faster covered) on HIGH. Once boiling, stir to make sure pasta is distributed well cover (or recover) and turn off the heat but leave on the hot burner. That’s it just leave it alone while you make the rest or dinner and it will absorb the liquid (if you leave it too long it will absorb the milk too and not be creamy nd the pasta might be oversoft but otherwise it can’t burn or anything if you get sidetracked and forget it…hence, it is perfect for this lazy lady.
From scratch
Add pasta, water, butter, milk, salt and seasonings, and parm and bring to a boil on HIGH. Then stir in the cheddar until well scattered (it will finish melting later), cover and cut off the heat but leave on the hot eye. Leave it to absorb most of the liquid usually 30 or less.
Eat Something 