Three Cheese Macaroni and Bacon

I've been wanting to make homemade macaroni and cheese for a long time, but could never find a recipe my family liked.  Even my husband, who loves cheese, found that many recipes were too rich, and made it difficult for us to eat.  I came up with this creamy version with 3 different cheeses, Cheddar Cheese, Mozzarella Cheese and Cream Cheese.  The mozzarella and cream cheese lighten the cheddar up some to make this delicious dish.  The addition of bacon bits gives it a great twist.  Now if only my kids would eat macaroni and cheese that didn't come out of a blue box.

This recipe is a stove top one.  If you preferred it baked, it will be at the end.  I don't like to bake mine, I find mine always comes out kind of dry if it is baked and I like mine creamy.

Three Cheese Macaroni and Bacon

1 lb Elbow Macaroni

1/2 Cup Butter

3 Tbsp Flour

1 3/4 Cup Milk

1/4 Cup Heavy Cream

4 oz Cream Cheese

1 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Pepper

1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

1/4 tsp Onion Powder

2 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1 Cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

2.5 oz Bag of Bacon Bits

For Baked:

1 Cup Panko Bread Crumbs

2 Tbsp Butter, Melted

In a large pot boil water and cook macaroni as directed on box.  Meanwhile, in a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and stir in flour.  Cook for about 1 minute, until smooth and bubbly; stirring occasionally.  Mix in milk, heavy cream, cream cheese, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.  Continue cooking until cream cheese is melted and mixture thickens. Add in remaining cheese.  Stirring until melted.  Mix in bacon bits.  

Drain macaroni and return to pot.  Pour sauce over macaroni and mix until noodles are well coated.  Serve and Enjoy!

To Bake, Pour pasta into a 2 qt casserole dish.  In a small bowl combine bread crumbs and melted butter.  Pour over the top of macaroni and spread.  Bake for 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees F until golden brown and heated through.

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Butter Dill New Potatoes

I made these the other night with the chicken shortcake.  These were amazingly yummy and quick to throw together.  I found these over at Southernplate.com.  If you haven't visited Christy's site, you really should.  She has some great southern food, thats really easy to make and tastes great.  Her cookbook has even more yummies in it and the stories in it make you feel like family.

Butter Dill New Potatoes     

adapted from Southern Plate.com

3 lbs New Potatoes, about 5-6 Cups cubed

1 Stick of Butter or Margarine, Melted

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Dill Weed

Wash and quarter potatoes, place in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until fork tender. Drain.

In microwave safe dish, place butter, salt, and dill. Microwave just until butter is melted. Stir. Pour over drained potatoes. Stir to coat well. Serve warm.

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Company Carrots

My husband comes from a very Irish family and they really enjoy their potatoes. Fried potatoes, hash-browns, French fries, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, etc. Perhaps stereotypical, but that's what he claim is the reason for his potato obsession..."I'm Irish". While I throughly enjoy potatoes as much as the next, I like some variety and would like for my family to eat more vegetables and fruits. One of my New Year's Resolutions was to find and make more veggie and fruit side dishes that weren't plain Jane, were easy to make, and something everyone would enjoy.

I came across the recipe in some of my grandmother's old magazine clippings. This was extremely easy to make.  It smelt amazing while it was cooking and was soft and tasted great.

Company Carrots

1 lb bag of baby carrots

1/4 Cup Water

1/4 Cup Butter or Margarine, quartered

1 tsp Oregano

1/2 tsp Salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Place carrots in an un-greased baking dish.  Add water and dot with butter.  Sprinkle with oregano and salt.  Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour and 15 minute, until tender.

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Corn Casserole

Over the holidays I had a hankering for corn casserole.  I love this stuff.  I didn't have any creamed corn or corn bread mix on hand so I went on a search for an easy recipe I could make from scratch.  I came across this recipe and thought I would give it a whirl.  This was amazing and so easy to make.  The original recipe called for a 9x13 in pan but I halved it to fit into this nifty ceramic pie plate I got from my momma.

These plates were actually a 4 set that my grandma and momma bought years ago.  Over the years my mom's 2 plates had broke and my grandma gave her the plates she had.  These are the 2 remaining plates.  Watkins Chicken Pot Pie, and Cherry Pie

(the name of my old blog is still in these pictures)

Corn Casserole

adapted from Lizzygoesdutch

1 egg whisked

1/2 Cup Sour Cream

1/2 Cup Heavy Cream

1/4 Cup Butter or Margarine, Melted

1 Tbsp Oil

1 15 oz Can Whole Kernel Sweet Corn

1/3 Cup All Purpose Flour

1/4 Cup Corn Meal

1 1/2 Tbsp Sugar

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/8 tsp Salt

Mix together the egg, sour cream, butter, oil, heavy cream and corn.  In a separate bowl, mix together flour, corn meal, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Combine the two.  Pour into a greased pie plate and  top with small dabs of butter, about 2-3 Tbsp.  Bake at 350 degrees F.  for 50-55 minutes or until golden brown and middle is set.

Can be doubled and baked in a 9x13 inch pan.

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Garlic Butter Rice

Another rice dish, that is so easy and very yummy.  I wrote before about my little monsters not liking most foods.  My almost 4 year old is at that stage where everything is "ewww" and "yucky" and "gross".  My 2 year old is a little more forgiving, she will at least try food.  This dish is the only thing other than pasta and pizza that my girls will eat.  My soon to be 4 year old who is in early childhood for speech delays says "It's delicious!", which just makes my heart melt when I hear that, knowing we've come along way in just a few months.  This recipe has to be a winner to get such praise from a picky eater.

This is another very simple dish.  Being a mother of 3 children under the age 4, I don't have the time to be making anything fancy.  I always turn to something that can be made quickly and easily while I tend to a crying baby and 2 preschoolers terrorizing each other.  Such is the life of children, I wouldn't have it any other way.

1/2 Cup Butter or Margarine

1 Cup Long Grain Rice

3 Cups Water

2 tsp Chicken Bouillon

1 Tbsp garlic Powder

Melt the butter or margarine in a pot over medium heat.  I usually use margarine.  Add the rice and stir.  Add in the chicken bouillon and stir to dissolve, making sure no clumps are left behind.  If the rice starts to brown, reduce the heat.  Add in the water, stir and cover, letting cook for 10-15 minutes until most of the rice has been absorbed.  Add in the garlic powder and stir.  Once again make sure no clumps have been left behind.  Cover and cook for another 5-10 minutes or so until water has been completely absorbed and rice is tender.

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Spanish Rice

Growing up, I never much cared for Spanish Rice.  We always had it from the box and I thought it was too spicy (I'm a wuss).  So I would always skip over it.  Recently while visiting my mother-in-law, she was making nachos for dinner and made a side of Spanish rice.  I never thought to make the rice myself, so I continued watching.  It was so easy and and very tasty.  While I throughly enjoyed it I thought it was missing something.  So I went on a mission tweaking the recipe till I came up with this.  It adds a little more flavor with no spice to it.  If you enjoy your Spanish Rice spicy, this probably isn't for you.  Ilene's addition of bacon was absolutely wonderful.  Bacon makes everything better.

1/2 lb Bacon, diced and fried

3 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Whole Onion, diced

1 Cup diced bell peppers, I use a little of both green and red

2 Cups Long Grain Rice

4 Cups Chicken Broth

1 11.5 oz can Tomato Juice

1 11.5 oz can V8 Juice

In a medium sized pot heat up the oil.  Add in onions, bell peppers and rice.  Cook until onions are translucent and rice is a light golden brown.  Add in the chicken broth, tomato juice, v8 and bacon.  Stir until combined and cover, cooking for about 20 minutes, till the rice is tender and almost all the liquid has been absorbed.  Some liquid will be slightly left on the top, just stir it up.


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Onion Roasted Potatoes and Making Your Own Onion Soup Mix

Onion roasted potatoes was my absolute favorite potato dish growing up.  I would always ask Grandma Jorene (Isn't that a pretty name?) and my mom to make this dish with whatever it was they were making for dinner.  The recipe can often be found on the box of onion soup mix.  I however find it easier and cheaper to just make my own. Since I only use it for this recipe, I have no idea how it tastes with making other recipes.  It's extremely easy and chances are you already have most, if not all the ingredients on hand.

Here I used the beef bouillon, but I think I prefer using chicken, just tastes better to me.

3/4 Cup Minced Dried Onions, which ends up to be about a 3oz container

1/3 Cup Beef or Chicken Bouillon Granules, Both taste very good 

4 Tbsp Onion Powder

1/4 tsp Celery Salt

1/4 tsp Sugar

Mix all ingredients together and store in an air tight container.  5 Tbsp = 1 package of soup mix.

These babies go great with just about anything, or just eat the entire pan like I do.  I altered the original recipe a bit to include both olive oil and butter,  I think it tastes better that way.

5 Tbsp of your homemade onion soup mix or 1 packet if you by the store bought kind.

5-6 potatoes

1/2 Cup olive oil

1/4 Cup margarine, melted

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Peel and dice the potatoes.  Lay in a 9 x13 pan.  Mix together your soup mix, olive oil and butter.  Drizzle over your potatoes, stir and coat them well.  Bake for 35-40 minutes until potatoes are tender.

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