No More Blue Box Blues

I love boxed mac and cheese as much as the next gal - despite the supremely fake orange color, the powder cheese mix, and 12 months shelf life there's something nostalgic and tasty about it. That said, this is a childhood treat due for an upgrade and is worth the effort to elevate!

This month Bon Appetit agrees and featured several baked pasta dishes with a mac & cheese cover story. I LOVE home made mac & cheese, and while I have a great recipe, I decided to indulge in the cover recipe as a Sunday evening treat...

cover recipe: Pimento Mac & Cheese

Tasty tasty - my Pimento Mac & Cheese was delightful. Bell pepper, garlic and peppadews give it a kick. Cheddar adds the flavor while mozzarella makes it feel really cheesy.

I think the thing I enjoyed the most about this recipe was the use of peppadew peppers. I discovered these gems in Germany, where they sell them packaged with cream cheese in the middle, and again in South Africa where it's common to put them on pizza. You can easily find them here at the 'olive bar' at Safeway - these mild little peppers usually come in an oil/brine, which makes them a little indulgent, but they're almost sweet and oh so good. They're a great addition to a salad, or an easy appetizer and I highly recommend giving them a go!

Peppadew Peppers

While I liked this mac & cheese - I do have one major complaint... It's not SUPER creamy. That's one of the best parts of mac & cheese! I want it to be cheesy, creamy and saucy. There was loads of flavor here, but less cheesy-ness than I like. There is no cream or bechamel sauce, which I noted before actually making it, but after eating it I definitely think starting with the milk/flour base would add that missing substance... Something to try next time as I continue to think outside the blue box!

Let Nature Inspire

Dinner club was Sunday and it was my turn for salad again... May not sound too exciting, but with a dish that's mainly all veggies, I thought it a great opportunity to utilize the farmer's market.

Off to to the market I went and found some fresh greens and blood oranges. I was really excited about the oranges because that's what I wanted to put in my first dinner club salad. I settled for regular oranges then, but voila blood oranges this go around. Always wanting to mix up textures and flavors, I added goat cheese, toasted walnuts (from the pantry reserves) and home made croutons - it was a GREAT combination.

Being the carb lover I am, a good crouton can be my favorite part of the salad, which they definitely were in this case. Broiled ciabatta with some olive oil, garlic salt, thyme and oregano they were crunchy on the outside, still kind of soft in the middle, added bursts of herbs and were great to soak up the dressing.

The key to this is experiment! See something that looks good? Just use your imagination... Salad is one thing that really has no right/wrong, over/under cooked - it's all about being inspired and making what you think would taste good. Keep it simple and see what happens! Here are some simple combinations to think of:

Salad = greens + seasonal fruit + cheese + nut + croutons

Dressing = vinegar + dijon mustard + oil

Croutons = bread cubes + oil + herbs

simple sweet treat

Here's the tart - finally! It's more of a crisp, really, but a winning combination no matter what you call it.

I learned this quick and easy recipe from a friend in Canada. We had gone apple picking in Quebec and she put this together with the fresh apples. While she cooked hers in a loaf type pan, I make mine in a tart dish and think it is the perfect ratio of apples to topping.

It's soooo simple. Peel and slice the apples, place them in the cooking vessel and cover with the topping. The topping is just 2 parts oats, 2 parts brown sugar, 1 part butter and 1 part flour (I find that 1/4 cup as 1 part yields just the right amount). Cube the butter and use your fingers to work it into the dry ingredients. Bake at 350 for 20-30 min until the apples are as cooked as you want them. And that's it!

I have made this on many a week night just for a sweet treat. I love how it gets crisp when the butter melts into the sugar and the oats really make it special by adding a different depth of flavor. It could be doctored up with a little cinnamon on the apples, mixing multiple kinds of apples or even using a different fruit all together. This topping would be amazing on just about anything

So go, be creative and make this recipe your own!