I HAVE MOVED!!!

HI Everyone---I have moved this blog to:

happyvalleylearntocook.wordpress.com

I felt that with all that I wanted to do with this blog in the future, I needed a different format.  It is still a work in progress!  I have lots of ideas and news of the area, and hopefully cooking classes that will start soon.

Come and check me out!  Thanks!

Another Macaroni and Cheese

I have discovered another way to make mac and cheese.  This recipe, Emeril's Three-Cheese Baked Macaroni, comes from Emeril Lagasse, featured in Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine of October 2010--although I heard about this recipe on the Sirius Satellite Radio program "Everyday Food" last week. 

 

This mac and cheese does not use a white sauce.  Instead of being creamy, it is more custard-y since you use eggs to bind the ingredients together. The great thing about this recipe is that it is easy and needs only about 15 minutes in a hot oven to cook!

I loved the recipe, but made a few changes to the original:

--I used medium shell macaroni instead of elbow macaroni, still using 1/2 pound

--I used a 4 ounce package of pancetta instead of the 3 pieces of bacon

--also, in my oven it took a bit longer than12 minutes.  The sauce WAS bubbling around the edges, as the recipe said, but I thought the middle was still to liquid-y ( I am using a lot of "y's" today), so I cooked it until a knife test in the middle came out almost free of sauce.  Make sure you give it the 10 minutes out of the oven to set up before digging in.

The best part, everyone in my family loved it and ate every last bite!

Learn to Cook with a Classic

Starting a new year can remind people that going back to basics is a good idea.  That is especially true when learning to cook.  Deciding to learn the skill of cooking for yourself or your family is the first step.  Beginning with a recipe that is simple and basic is the next.

SO.......the simple, basic and tasty American classic.....mac and cheese!

There are MANY macaroni and cheese recipes out there.  This recipe uses a simple white sauce, so you need only a few ingredients to make it for dinner.

Classic Mac and Cheese

1 box pasta shells, medium size

  4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

2 cups milk

1 cup panko bread crumbs

1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese

Fill a saucepan with about 4 quarts of water, season with a bit of salt and put on the stove to boil.

Follow the instructions on the box of pasta for boiling time.  In this recipe, I used Barilla medium shells.

While the pasta is boiling, start making the white sauce:

 In another saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter on medium heat, but watch carefully so it will not burn (don't let it turn brown).

Once the butter is melted, stir in 4 tablespoons flour and keep stirring until all the flour is incorporated.

If you are in doubt, or the pasta is starting to boil over, or something is distracting you, take the pan off the heat; it will wait until you are ready to finish.

Let the flour mixture "boil" just a bit to let the flour completely melt into the butter and the mixture is smooth.

Slowly pour in two cups of milk and continue stirring.  If there are lumps, use a whisk to stir and bring the mixture to an easy, slow boil for about 1 minute.  You will see the sauce getting thicker.

Take off the heat and add 1 cup (or more if you like) grated cheddar cheese to the sauce.  Season with salt and pepper.

By now the pasta should be done.  Drain the pasta and pour it into a bowl.  Pour the cheese sauce on top of the pasta and stir to mix together.  If you are in a hurry, you can eat the mac and cheese like this.

If you want BAKED mac and cheese (much more the comfort food we love), add bread crumbs on the top and bake it in the oven until the mac and cheese is bubbly.

To do this, put the mac and cheese mixture into a greased dish.  Put 1 cup Panko bread crumbs and 1/2 cup cheddar cheese into a small bowl and mix together with you hands.  

Sprinkle on top of the mac and cheese.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until the mac and cheese is bubbling around the edges and the bread crumbs are getting a bit browned.

VS.

Which would you rather eat tonight?

Cookie and/or Gift in a Jiff

OK, you need a cookie or a gift fast---I mean really fast.......here it is.....SEVEN LAYER COOKIES...7 ingredients

 

and 7 minutes to assemble!

Bake for 30 minutes and let cool completely

then cut into small squares and just try to eat only one!!!

SEVEN LAYER COOKIES

1 stick butter (1/2 cup)

1 cup crushe crushed graham crackers

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup flaked coconut

1cup chopped walnuts

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place the butter in a 9 x 13 pan and let melt in the oven.  Once the butter is melted, take it out of the oven and sprinkle evenly over the butter in this order:  crushed graham crackers, butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, coconut, and walnuts.  Slowly drizzle the sweetened condensed milk over the layers,  the corners and edges of the pan too.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until the edges are nice and brown and the center is not to jiggly when you move the pan.

Food Gifts

A Tasty Gift for Giving

It's that time of the month to start thinking about gift giving.  Since I knew that today I wanted a small gift to give a friend, I decided to make toffee.  Years ago, when my son was a cub scout, the pack put out a recipe book that contained this recipe.  It's great, it's easy and you don't need a candy thermometer, something I don't even know how to use.  You do need a bit of time to make it, since after assembly, the toffee needs to "dry" before you can break it up and package it, so, it is best to make it the night before you give it away, if you can keep yourself and snooping family members from eating all of it!!!

ENGLISH TOFFEE

1 bag of milk or dark chocolate chips (I prefer Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate chips)

2 sticks butter

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

About 2 cups chopped pecans (yes, they are expensive but other nuts won't do and THIS IS A GIFT)

Spray a 13 x 9 glass pan with Pam.  Chop the pecans,  

spread them on the bottom of the pan.

 

Cook the butter, sugar and vanilla over medium high heat, stirring constantly.  The mixture will go from a beige color and very bubbly and frothy

to a caramel color that is less frothy.  Take the mixture off the heat just when the butter starts to separate from the sugar.  Pour over the pecans.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the hot toffee.  Let them set for a few minutes to melt

then spread the chocolate with a knife (an off-set knife works well for this).

The chocolate will have a very shiny look to it.

When the chocolate is dry, it will have a dull color to it.

Break up the toffee in the pan with a knife into chunks. 

Place in festive packaging and watch the smiles as you give a homemade gift to friends!

Restaurant Time

Get to THE GREEK

The Greek is a restaurant on Clinton Ave. that opened two months ago.  Run by the owners of State College's famous Waffle Shop, the Greek is a great addition to all the wonderful food options that State College has to offer.

For date night last week, the hubby and I finally got into the place.  You see, it is so popular, one night a few weeks ago we tried to get in and there was a 30 minute wait -- that was just to order your food!  It was not a football weekend either.  I heard a person in the line say "Now I wish that I had not told so many people how great this place was."

This is an "order at the counter" type place, but don't let that make you think this is a "Greek McDonald's!"  You order, you find a table in one of the two lovely seating areas (ground floor or upstairs), enjoy the Greek music and decor, under the Mediterranean blue sea color of the ceiling, and a waitress brings your order to you.  On real plates, not plastic.  With real silverware.

Enjoy the fantastic Moussaka, a Souvlaki Platter, the tasty Traditional Gyro (which we brought home as take-out for our stay at home daughter), the yummy Village Salad and don't forget the Baklava!  All at reasonable prices.

The owners say that many of their recipes are from an uncle who lives in Greece.  We are really glad that those who make the delicious breakfast food at the Waffle Shop decided to give dinner at try at The Greek.

PIZZA!

While walking into Cartridge World in the Northland Shopping Center for new printer ink, since I used all of our ink printing out Martha Stewart Thanksgiving recipes a couple of weeks ago, I had a thought for dinner---get pizza dough at Brothers Pizza and make a veggie pizza tonight!  It was a new thought, since usually we only make pizza in the summer on our grill.  But a veggie pizza sounded very good at the moment and very easy too.  Since I had been wrestling with Christmas decorations all day while trying to clean out my basement, easy was key!

Did you know that Brothers sells great pizza dough?  This is something I stumbled on to a few years ago, I can't remember how.  Just go in, ask for a ball of dough, pay $1.50 plus tax and walk out with an amazing glob of wonder.

WHITE VEGGIE PIZZA

 Let the dough rise in your kitchen for awhile (it comes cold, out of their refrigerator), then roll it out.  If you have one, put a pizza stone in the oven to warm up at 450 degrees.

Slice mushrooms, peppers, onions and saute them in about 1 - 2 tablespoons of olive oil for no longer than 5 minutes on medium heat.

Drizzle olive oil on the pizza dough (this is a "white" pizza).  Top with the sauteed veggies.  Put in the oven for 15 minutes.

Slice tomatoes and wash baby spinach.  Dry spinach.  Grate mozzarella cheese, as much or little as you want.

At the 15 minute mark, top the pizza with the cheese.

Let the pizza continue cooking for about 8 to 10 minutes.  If the crust has started to brown and the cheese is bubbling, turn off the oven and top the pizza with the tomatoes and spinach.  Let it stand in the oven about 5 more minutes.

Serve with a lettuce salad and you have dinner!  And much better than delivery pizza!