Easy Peasy

Okay, how come no one told me making homemade macaroni and cheese is super duper easy? I've always tried fancy cheese/oven/casserole recipes when all I really wanted was the Kraft simplicity but authentic taste. Want to know the secret?

Cook & drain the pasta.

add some butter, 

add some milk, 

and add (instead of the package powdery stuff)

 grated cheese and enough flour so it's not runny.

Pepper & salt to taste.

Voila!

I know, it's not very specific. But that's why I love cooking vs. baking. And PS, I'm eating what's leftover this very minute and it still tastes delicious.

Want to know what other cooking adventures I've undergone this week? 

Can you see the basketball and MM's in celebration of March Madness??

recipe found here

These cabbage rolls would have been a perfect St. Patty's day food if I had thought that far ahead!

recipe found here minus the raisins - gross!!

Both of them were surprisingly easy! But not as easy as the mac 'n cheese.

Recipe help!!

Hey all you awesome homemakers who make delicious, healthy food for every meal, I need help. My dilemma is that I'm not a huge fan of dark green leafy vegetables which I lovingly call "leafies." I would like to eat more of them but I can't really  don't really want to stomach eating them outright. 

This just isn't too appetizing: 

source

Nor this:

source

Do you have any recipes which incorporate leafies into "regular" food? 


Oh, and I'm horrible at making salads, probably because the lettuce goes bad before I use it. Or is it because I don't know how to make good ones. Or that Doug doesn't eat salad. I get the feeling its a combination of the three and that they compound each other... Any ideas?


My mom gave me a great suggestion, which might give you a better idea of what I'm looking for: cooked spinach in scrambled eggs. That sounds okay, right? Can you help me??

Comfort Food

Okay, don't laugh. My all time nostalgic comfort food is a thick cream of chicken soup over rice. Except, it's not really a soup, I only add in a few TBSP of milk instead of a whole can.

Anyway, within the first six months of experimental-dinner-making on my husband, I tried this one out. I thought I was being sweet - a super easy, comfort food dinner. Perfect. I'm sure Doug was nice about it and ate a bowl, but most likely filled up on pizza and/or cereal afterwards! What I do remember is him saying, "you like this??" I had not even considered that other people wouldn't like my comfort food. It's not a particularly tasty dish, I guess my mom made it when I was sick or something.

What's your comfort food? Have you ever made it for other people hoping they would like it as much as you do and were consequently heartbroken? Okay, I wasn't heartbroken. Well, maybe a little...

I should have TRIPLED this recipe

Yesterday I decided to try Doug's Aunt Heather's Carrot and Barley Soup recipe. Mostly because I already had most of the ingredients and I hadn't tried it yet. Little did I know that vegetables could taste so good! Okay, maybe I did know, but this soup was super delicious. Doug even liked it :). So much so that this small tupperware was all that was left for my lunch today:

ohhh so tasty!

 You want to try it, right? Below is the recipe, with my changes

Heather's Carrot and Barley Soup
2 large carrots, peeled and grated
1 TBSP butter
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
some chopped green onions
1/2 tsp caraway seeds (I didn't have any, so I just ignored the caraway seeds)
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp pepper
1 TBSP flour
3 cups chicken stock
3 TBSP barley (I added 1/3 cup - it gave more substance to the soup)

Saute carrots in butter for 5 minutes. Add onion(s) and continue to saute for 3 more minutes. Add flour and spices and continue to cook for 3 minutes. Add chicken stock and barley. Stir well, bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Mine turned out super thick - which I liked, but if you want it thinner, don't let it simmer for so long.

I'll definitely make this again, and soon!