beef stew

I've been craving beef stew for quite some time, but was forbidden to have Campbell's Beef & Barley because of all the preservatives... this left me with no option but to make my own. This was my first attempt and I was quite pleased with the result, now to figure out how to add barley.

Beef Stew
(adapted from For the Love of Cooking)
ingredients

• 1 lb stew meat (I used round cut into small chunks)
• 1 yellow onion chopped into large pieces
• 3 cloves of garlic chopped
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 can stew tomatoes
• 1-2 tsp dried thyme
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 cups of beef stock
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1 cup diced celery
• 2 cups diced baby red potatoes (skin on)

directions

1. Preheat oven to 250F.
2. Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add stew meat and onion then cook for about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds before adding tomatoes, seasonings and stock. Cover and cook in the oven for at least 4 hours. (I actually only cooked it for 2 hours)
3. Remove pot from oven place on stove top over medium low heat.
4. Add vegetables to the stew and add more beef broth if low. Taste and re-season if needed. Cover and cook for 1 - 1 1/ 2 hours. If you want the stew to be thick, add a slurry of cornstarch and cold beef broth (mixing thoroughly) then pour into stew while it's boiling, stir then reduce heat to low.

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mac and cheese

The Husband loves his Mac and Cheese.  I've attempted this recipe many times, each time tweaking it a little, but I think I finally perfected it. The sauce is made from scratch which is a little time consuming, but I think completely worth it.  I just need to figure out how to use less pots!

Mac and Cheese
(adapted from Ina Garten)
ingredients

• Vegetable oil
• Kosher salt
• 4 cups cavatappi
• 3 cups milk
• 4 Tbs. unsalted butter
• 4 Tbs. all-purpose flour
• 8 oz Gruyere cheese, grated
• 6 oz extra-sharp Cheddar, grated
• 4 oz mozerella, parmesan
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• Pinch nutmeg
• Panko flakes
• Freshly chopped basil leaves
• 1 cup ham, cubed
• 1 cup sweet corn

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the macaroni and cook according to the directions on the package, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain well.
3. Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it. Melt the butter in a medium pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or 2 more, until thickened and smooth. Off the heat, add the cheeses, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and crumbled bacon and stir well. Pour into a 9x12 pan.
4. Sprinkle the panko and basil leaves on top of the pasta. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.

 Note: You can add almost anything in, I liked it the most with ham & corn, but I've made this dish with broccoli and chicken too.

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spaghetti alla carbonara

Ever since I got the pasta attachment for my kitchenaid I've been having a hard time buying dry pasta.  Why buy pasta when I can make it myself?  I learned a tough lesson in pasta making this time. Our house was just too cold for the pasta to form correctly so the Husband had to put his muscles to work and knead the dough to the right consistency.  The result was still delicious whole wheat pasta, but it definitely took a lot of work.  So this is one of my favorite sauces to make with pasta.  It taste a little like alfredo sauce, but without the cream.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara
(adapted from foodnetwork.com)
ingredients

• 1 pound dry spaghetti
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 ounces pancetta, cubed
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for serving
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

directions

1. Prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking to ensure that the spaghetti will be hot and ready when the sauce is finished; it is very important that the pasta is hot when adding the egg mixture, so that the heat of the pasta cooks the raw eggs in the sauce.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes until al dente. Drain the pasta well, reserving 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water to use in the sauce.
3. Heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium flame. Add the pancetta and saute for about 3 minutes, until the bacon is crisp and the fat is rendered. Toss the garlic into the fat and saute for less than 1 minute to soften.
4. Add the hot, drained spaghetti to the pan and toss for 2 minutes to coat the strands in the bacon fat. Beat the eggs and Parmesan together in a mixing bowl, stirring well to prevent lumps. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, whisking quickly until the eggs thicken. 
5. Thin out the sauce with a bit of the reserved pasta water, until it reaches desired consistency. Season the carbonara with several turns of freshly ground black pepper and taste for salt. Mound the spaghetti carbonara into warm serving bowls and garnish with chopped parsley.

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chocolate bundt cake

My friend Tiffany has been attempting to coerce me into making bundt cakes. I've always liked the pans, but never thought much about making a cake with no center.  Eventually the pans won and I found myself walking out of the store with a pan in hand, this of course meant I needed to bake a cake, good thing Tiff gave me an arsenal of recipes to try.

This is a super simple, but extremely moist cake.  I decided to make this for The Husband for his birthday with a little french vanilla ice cream on the side.  It was delicious!


chocolate bundt cake
ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
• 1 package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased bundt pan.
3. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. 
4. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar.

 ....

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