Southwest Mac & Cheese

A while back Serious Eats posted a recipe for Southwest Mac & Cheese with a Cornbread Crust. A light bulb went off in my head when I saw it because I had been trying to find a way to use one of my Christmas presents. My parents brought me some pasta from Pappardelle’s Pasta at Pike Place Market in Seattle.

They got me the Southwestern Blend and I thought it would be perfect in that recipe. The pasta was amazing. The green jalapeno pieces had a really nice kick!

This was a fun cooking experience with JC, so you will see her in some of the photos. I also forgot to take my normal lineup photo. So here is a photo of the yummy pasta:

Grilled Cheese Academy

You probably read the title and the thought of the standard American cheese on white bread maybe served with tomato soup. I know that is what I thought of when I ran across a link to the Grilled Cheese Academy but I decided to check out their recipes.

I was thinking to myself about recipes with a tomato slice (yummy) or maybe some avocado. What I found once the site loaded was much much more.

Now, today the site has been REALLY slow BUT its worth it. Once you can see it hover over where it says “Sandwich Directory” and check out the different creations featuring Wisconsin Cheese. There are some really delicious looking sandwiches and I hope to try one or two out soon.

Maybe the Cheshire? The Buffalo Bill? The Carnegie? MMMMMmmmmmm…

Enjoy recipe grazing and if you try any of these recipes let me know!

Amazing Chicken and Rice with Veggies a la Jenny Cate

So my girlfriend has been in Houston since the 23rd and I’m really REALLY missing her. Luckily she will be returning home TOMORROW! YAY! One thing I decided to do to trick myself into thinking she was still around was by cooking her amazing chicken, rice and veggies. Ok, so it really only tricked my stomach, but you know what they say about a man’s stomach!

Now, this recipe was developed by Jenny Cate and is kind of one of those cook by feel things. I tried to measure what I was putting in tonight so you could follow, but everything is approximate!

What you will need:

1. Chicken (however much you want to make)
2. Marinade (I used KC Masterpiece’s Roasted Garlic Balsamic)
3. Rice (you can use instant or whatever you like – I used some Texmati Brown Rice)
4. vegetables: Squash, Zucchini, bell pepper (red ones I like the best but I had green ones)
5. Diced onions and tomatoes (I was out of tomatoes, so I didn’t use them)
6. Garlic and garlic powder
7. Onion powder, ground coriander
8. Soy Sauce

The veggie ingredients

Art imitates Art?

If you can call a Food Network show art that is…

NSFW language in the following video:

That song is from the movie “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.”

Now, 10 years later Brian Boitano is making a comeback. He is going to star in his own Food Network TV show, “What Would Briant Boitano Make.”

I’m not kidding. I can’t make this shit up it is so funny! The show’s logo even has the “DO” just crossed off.

Brian Boitano has skated in the past to the song from South Park, so I’m assuming he is a fan. But A.) Why is he doing a cooking show? and B.) Why would Food Network want to reference a rather raunchy song on their network?

I’ll be DVR-ing it…just for the name!

Baked Pork Chops with Apple Stuffing

Swine flu has made me crave pork chops like you wouldn’t believe…so I made some! Publix had packages of “assorted chops” for only $.75 a pound! I found this new (to me) recipe on FoodFit.com. This site is full of healthy and tasty recipes. You can view the recipe here along with full nutritional information!

Since certain people are always bugging me for cooking posts, lets get to it!

What you need...

Paula Deen is Trying to Kill Us…

Just listen to this text to speech video about it:

Yes, fried mac and cheese wrapped in bacon…….Also check out Serious Eats’ special series Paula Deen is Trying to Kill Us Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6! #6 is my favorite! Ham and banana casserole!

Blue Cheese Meat Loaves with Buffalo Sauce

Yes! A cooking post! I found this in one of those grocery store checkout line cookbooks. It is from the ground beef side of Pillsbury budget recipes. This recipe makes large meatballs and uses the popular wing sauce/blue cheese flavor profile. The recipe only has 4 steps!

I love cookbook pictures!

Spiced Pork Chops with Sweet Potatoes

Cookbook

This is the second recipe that I have made from Gordon Ramsay’s Healthy Appetite cookbook. This one is a bit more substantial than the Mango, Avacado, and Smoked Chicken Salad I did a while back. This time I decided while flipping through the beautiful pages to make Ramsay’s Spiced Pork Chops with Sweet Potatoes.

This recipe was still relatively simple and I was able to throw it together after getting home from work, but before going out to karaoke at Big Daddy’s! I love me some karaoke with DJ Di! This meal helped power me to an amazing rendition of “You Outta Know” by Alanis Morrisette.

S’meeps?!

Oh, My, Lord! Doing my normal blog reading I ran along this Serious Eats post. A recipe on how to make S’meeps, yes S’meeps.

I’m sure you can figure it out, but it is S’mores made with PEEPS!

If you missed it, check out my past post with a link to a behind the scenes pictorial on how Peeps are made!

Archer Farms Morrocan Inspired Apricot Currant

Tonight I made Moroccan Inspired Apricot Currant Whole Wheat Couscous & Chicken Entree. I picked this up at Target and decided to try it out for my readers. It is a “meal in a box” from Archer Farms (Target’s brand).

Last week Target had a 15% clearance on all of their Archer Farms items, so I thought to give it a go. It was marked at $5.99 plus had 15% off! Definitely worth a try for what gave me dinner plus lunch the next day. So how was it?