For those of us with a certain craving: "Tastes Like a Burgerville Cheeseburger Mac N Cheese"

For those of us who are ancy for the the Burgerville Nomad to announce its first Tacoma stop, here is a made-up-in-my-head mac n cheese recipe that makes my daughter smile and say ...

"Tastes Like a Burgerville Cheeseburger!"

This has been a big hit with the kids, and was even requested by the Diva for lunch on her birthday. I make it a little diff every time, and you can adjust to taste ... but basically, I add the following to a big pot in the below order (some prep work - cheese shredding and meat browning) required.

1 lb macaroni noodles - boiled 6-7 min

Drain, return to pot and then return to hot burner, but turn heat down to low ... just enough to help melt the cheese)

Stir in butter (1/2 to 1 stick, depending on your preferred taste)

Some milk as needed to keep it stirrable and from burning (prob a 1/4-1/2 cup depending)

1-4 scoops of mayo (to taste) -- scoop = a heaping scoop with a normal or large table spoon (not a serving spoon) ...

3-4 scoops of Grey Poupon (to taste) -- this one is more important than you might think!!!!

****If you are cautious on the mayo or Grey Poupon, you can always add more to taste while you're stirring in the cheese. They add extra "zing" ... especially the mustard!

Stir

A mixture of ideally 3 different cheeses, ideally one being swiss (I use Swiss -- jarslburg or even cheap stuff, Tillamook cheddar, and low-moisture or cheap mozzerella ... and whatever leftover cheese is around) ... add by the handful to taste (I usually prep a small mixing bowl full ... if you don't use it all, that's what Tupperware is for!)

Keep stirring - this is really where you must start tasting if you haven't already ... you may need more mustard, more cheese ... once it starts getting cheese webs while stirring you're probably good ... all depends on how you like it. And you an always add milk if it's getting a little stiff.

OPTIONAL: stir in 1 pound of browned ground beef (I like to season mine with Greek seasoning)

Eat!!! :)

Barefoot (and not pregnant) in the kitchen, part 1: Homemade spaghetti sauce

I had a bonus day at home today since Diva Daughter was not feeling well and needed to stay home from school. So I watered the garden (it was pretty dry since I was gone the week it actually got hot), straightened up a bit, and then decided to partake in some kitchen chemistry.

Since I'd been gone for a week, several of my tomatoes had ripened, and I was on the verge of being overtaken by ripe tomatoes. I've been giving them away like crazy, but between the vines and my weekly box from Terra Organics, my cup had runneth over. But before he left in the morning, the hubby made a good suggestion: We can always make tomato sauce.

Why yes, yes we can. And yes I did. I'd never made tomato sauce from scratch. I've made my own spaghetti sauce, but from canned tomatoes. Never actually started with tomatoes. But today I did, and it was yummy scrumptious. Even the Boy enjoyed it. Here's the approximate recipe:

TC's Homemade Spaghetti Sauce -- with BACON
Approx. 3 quarts of diced tomatoes, several varieties Several leaves of fresh basil, chopped A couple branches of fresh rosemary A couple branches of fresh oregano Red wine, approx. 1/2 cup Several cloves of garlic, chopped 1 onion, chopped A couple pinches of kosher salt 1 pound bacon, cooked and chopped

I know, I know ... real exact. But, basically, put all the tomatoes in a large pan on the stove and cook over medium heat at a low boil for about 1-1/2 to 2 hours. As it simmers, add in the above ingredients as they're ready. It ends up to be a lovely and chunky and very, very fresh (esp. if you have the herbs in your garden) tomato sauce. Serve over your favorite noodles. Smile a lot more.*

*To some, cooking is an art or a means to feed. To me, cooking is one of the best kinds of therapy.

The boy's making up recipes again ...

Yesterday the boy wanted to make pineapple cake. So I said, sure, let me go find a recipe. "No!" he responded vehemently. "The recipe's in my mind!" Well, while I have no problem letting him test out his I've-watched-too-much-Food-Channel philosophies, yesterday I did not have the patience. I tried to distract him by saying "why don't you get the ingredients ... get out the pineapple." Again, "NO!" was the response. Why? Because, he said, that would be icky. Mind you, the boy LOVES pineapple. Will eat a whole can of pineapple on his own. Will beg for pineapple pizza. And, dude, he ASKED TO MAKE PINEAPPLE CAKE. But apparently pineapple cake does not include pineapple.

Today I have more patience. Perhaps I'll let him show me what this pineapple cake without pineapple recipe that's in his mind is all about ...

In the meantime, yesterday, we comprimised on chocolate chip cake. Mind you, it couldn't be chocolate chip cookies, or chocolate chip brownies, it had to be chocolate chip CAKE! And after he dumped in half a bag of chips, I asked if he wanted to put more in, and he said NO! This boy has opinions. Especially when it comes to cooking. Do I have a future chef on my hands? We shall see ... the closest the eldest ever got to this was being obsessed with sandwich making. BIG sandwich making.

Oh, and if we make pineapple-less pineapple cake today, I'll make sure to take pictures.