Five Cheese Macaroni and Cheese

Five Cheese Mac -N -Cheese

This recipe is a stepped-up version of my old favorite Baked Velveeta Macaroni and Cheese.  While I still use some Velveeta I have added four other smooth melting cheeses of a richer taste.  Here I am using Gruyere, Gouda, Fontina, Cheddar, and Velveeta.   Other good cheeses would be Asiago, Colby, Monterey Jack, or Havarti. I wanted a little crunch on the top so I topped it with toasted Panko bread crumbs, crisp fried bacon, and sliced green onions. For a smoky flavor you can use a smoked cheese here I am using a smoked Gouda, but you could also use smoked Fontina or Smoked Gruyere.

As a general rule when creating a good Mac-n-Cheese keep these proportions in mind.
For each pound of uncooked macaroni use, 2 cups of cream, 1/4 cup of unsalted butter, and 1 to 1.25 lbs of cheese.  

The Ingredients 

1/4 lb of bacon

2 cups Heavy Cream 

1/4 cup unsalted Butter (1/2 of a stick)

4 oz Fontina

4 oz Gruyere

4 oz Gouda (for this recipe I found a Smoked Gouda with Bacon)

4 oz Velveeta

4 oz Cheddar cheese

1 lb Pasta (here I used Penne and large Elbow Macaroni)

1 cup Panko 

3 Green onions

Mixing and Preparation 

Fry the bacon until crisp, save the bacon fat.

Grate or cube the Fontina, Gruyere, Gouda and Velveeta cheeses and combine. 

Heat the butter and milk in a large saucepan over medium heat. In small batches add the first four cheeses to the milk and butter mix until thoroughly melted.

Cook the pasta according to the package directions.

Grate the Cheddar Cheese.

Combine the pasta and cheese sauce, pour the Cheese sauce into a baking dish approximately 9X12 inches.

Top with the grated cheddar cheese.

Toast the panko bread crumbs in a frying pan with 2 tablespoons of bacon fat until lightly brown.

Slice the green onions.

Combine the Panko, Bacon.  The evenly sprinkle on top of the Mac-N-Cheese.
Top with Sliced Green Onions

Bake in a 350° oven  for 30 minutes. 

   

Teriyaki Sauce

Teriyaki Sauce

For years I have searched for a great and easy homemade teriyaki sauce.  Now, there are a lot wonderful bottled commercial teriyaki sauces, but I only need teriyaki a few times a year. Therefore I either never have enough or it has been around for way too long. Shirley use to make a fantastic teriyaki sauce from memory, but she is now suffering from dementia and is unable remember. This recipe is quick and easy, and uses staples from the pantry, and I do not have to buy anything special.

The Ingredients 

1 cup  Soy Sauce (I prefer the low sodium soy sauce)

1/2 cup Water

4 Tablespoons Sweet Rice Wine 

1/2 cup Honey

1 Tablespoon Molasses

4 cloves Garlic

1 Tablespoon Ginger

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Vanilla Almond Granola

Vanilla Almond Granola

A chunky, crunchy, snacking granola.  I created this granola to help satisfy those cravings for something crunchy to snack on.  

Ingredients

4 cups Rolled Oats
1 1/2 cups Slivered Almonds **
1 1/2 cups Peanuts **
2 cup Shredded Sweet Coconut **
2 teaspoon Kosher Salt

3/4 cup Wheat Germ*

1/3 cup Brown Sugar

2/3 cup Water

2 tablespoons Vanilla Extract

1 tablespoon Almond Extract

1/2 cup Maple Syrup
1/4 cup Coconut oil ***

1 cup Peanut Butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut, salt, wheat germ, and brown sugar.  Mix thoroughly.

In separate bowl combine and stir in the water, vanilla and almond extract.  Slowly add while stirring to the oat and nut mixture. 

In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and peanut butter.  Heat until coconut oil is melted and the peanut butter is soft.  Stir to thoroughly combine syrup, oil and peanut butter. Slowly pour the liquid into the dry ingredients, while stirring. 

Divide into two equal batches spread each batch into a 9 x 12 cake pan and bake for 1 1/2 hours at 250° stirring every 30 minutes. 

Here I have formed he granola into chunks before baking.

*The Wheat Germ totally optional I have included it to make a chunkier granola.  Others options are flour, oat flour, coconut flour or almond flour.  I have been experimenting with different ingredients to bind the granola for the ideal chunky granola.  As I make improvements I will update this blog.

**The peanuts are optional you can substitute your favorite nut or omit the peanuts. For a breakfast granola I leave out the peanuts and increase the almonds and coconut.

***While I have only used coconut oil in this recipe, any good cooking oil should work.

Peach Salsa

Peach Salsa

The Ingredients 

2-3 Fresh Ripe Peaches

1/2 Cup Grapes

1/2 Red Onion

1 Medium Fresh Tomato 

1/4 Cup Chopped Cilantro

1-2 Jalapenos, seeded

1/4 Teaspoon Sea Salt

Preparation

Dice the peaches, onions, and tomatoes into approximately 1/4 inch cubes.  Slice the grapes in half or quarters. Finely chop the cilantro. Finley dice the jalapenos into approximately 1/8 inch or smaller pieces 

Mixing

Combine all of the ingredients in a medium sized bowl and thoroughly mix, refrigerate for 1/2 to 1 hour before serving.

Enjoy

Clifton

Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

This is a recipe for a blueberry streusel coffee cake, often called Blueberry Buckle, or just Blueberry Streusel. For this recipe I used cake flour and fresh blueberries. This recipe is loaded with blueberries with twice the blueberries that you may find in some other recipes. You can substitute all purpose flour for the cake flour and frozen blueberries for the fresh blueberries. See the notes at the end of the recipe about substituting 

The Ingredients

The Cake Ingredients
2 oz   unsalted butter - room temperature (1/2 stick or 4 tablespoons)

5.5 oz   granulated sugar or 3/4 cups

1 large egg - room temperature

9 oz   cake flour or 2 cups

1 teaspoon   baking powder

1/2 teaspoon   kosher salt (if you use table salt reduce to 1/3 teaspoon)

1/2 teaspoon   cinnamon 

1/2  cup milk - room temperature
3 Cups Fresh Blueberries
The Streusel Ingredients
1.5 oz granulated sugar or 1/4 cup
1.5 oz brown sugar or 1/4 cup
1.5 flour cake or all purpose flour
2 oz cold unsalted butter (1/2 stick or 4 tablespoons)

The Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°.

The Wet Ingredients
On medium speed whip the butter  with a mixer until light a fluffy, about 1 1/2 minutes.  Add the sugar to the whipped butter and continue to mix on a medium speed for another 1 1/2 minutes. Next add the egg and mix for 1 minute.  The mixture should be smooth and all of the ingredients well incorporated.

The Dry Ingredients
In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.  Lightly stir the dry ingredients.

With the mixer on a medium speed add the 1/3 of dry ingredients and 1/3 of the milk to the wet ingredients. Continue alternating adding the ingredients until they are all combined.  Do not over mix.

Add the blueberries and stir in with a spatula or a large spoon.

Spray the inside of a 9x9 baking dish with a non stick spray, or lightly butter the interior.  Pour and level the mixture into the baking dish.

The Streusel Topping
Cube the cold butter into small cubes approximately 1/4" squares. Combine the sugar, brown sugar, flour, and butter into a medium size bowl.  With a fork, or pastry cutter break the butter into smaller chunks and coat the the sugar and flour.  Sprinkle the topping onto the top of the cake.

Bake at 350° for 50 minutes.  To check for doneness insert a toothpick or a cake tester into the thickest part of the cake, if it comes out clean it is done, if it has cake dough on it bake for another 1 or 2 minutes.

Allow to cool for 15 minutes before cutting.

Enjoy, Clifton


   

Spicy Honey Dressing

Spicy Honey Dressing

This is a recipe for a spicy honey salad dressing.  It only uses a few ingredients, which should be staples in your pantry.    

The Ingredients

2 tablespoons honey

1 1/2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar

1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon (or less) crushed red pepper

Place all of the ingredients in a small jar screw on the lid and shake.

Margarita on the Rocks

Margarita on the Rocks with Agave

This is recipe for Margarita on the Rocks made with Agave. Agave nectar is the natural sweetener from the agave cactus which is also used to make mezcal and tequila.  

photo by:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/theogeo/  Under:  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Who comes up with all of these 'days' for this and for that? It seems like we have a day for everything, well February 22 is National Margarita Day.  Here is my version of the margarita.

In another life I consumed way too much tequila.  In every way imaginable and it has been known to make me do the unimaginable.  I tended to prefer it on the rocks rather than frozen.  

As with most drinks the finished quality is dependent on the quality of the ingredients, so use a good tequila and agave.   

Kosher salt
2 limes
4 oz tequila
2 tablespoons agave syrup
2-4 ice cubes

Pour some salt in a saucer or small flat dish, rub one of the slices on the rim of an old-fashioned glass. Turn the glass over into the kosher salt to coat the rim with salt.

Put two cubes of ice into the glass.

Combine the tequila, juice from 1 1/2 limes, and agave.  Mix well and pour into salt rimmed glass.  Place the remaining slice of lime on the rim of the glass.  Add additional ice cubes if there is room in the glass. 

Prep time: 5 min

Enjoy

Clifton

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