Mediterranean mac & cheese

The Chicago Tribune published a couple of mac & cheese recipes about two months ago, and I am just now getting to cooking them.  (Yes, I know the weather is warm, who cares, the mac & cheese was delicious.)

First up, Mediterranean mac & cheese.

The link contains the full recipe, which I followed exactly.  As you can see it is pretty complicated.  You are basically doing several things at once, at every step of the way:

1. Heat the milk in a sauce pan to prepare for the roux, and also bake the garlic...
2. Start on the roux (butter and flour) while you get the water boiling for the spinach...
3. Remove the spinach and add the pasta, and also add the milk to the roux...
4. Cook the roux and add the spinach, and cook the pasta, and remove the garlic.
5. Throw everything into the roux.  Bake.

It turned out awesome - Dave had two helpings!  Yay for tasty pasta, veggies, and cheese!

Chocolate peanut butter mug cake

I went for another mug cake tonight as a "for one" dessert while the hubby was at class:  chocolate peanut butter mug cake.  And it was good.

I didn't do the peanut butter mousse or the fudge sauce, because I was running a little low on calories that night, but it was still really good and really chocolatey.  (You can see from the recipe in the link that it has more chocolate than flour!)  The only thing I would change for next time is that I might under-microwave it a little bit next time, or serve it with a big swath of peanut butter on top.

Mmm.  Mug cake.

Turnip & bacon quiche

Made this crustless turnip bacon quiche for a gluten- and dairy-free friend for brunch!

Shred the turnips, chop the onions.  Sauté the bacon in a pan, then add the onions, then add the turnips.  Get it all nice and soft and flavorful.  At this point you add some eggs, cook in the oven until firm, and voila!  Turnip quiche tart thing.

I hate turnips, but this recipe turned out awesome and I would definitely make it again, especially since I have about eight turnips left in the fridge from my spring CSA that just started.  Now what to do with those beets...

Celeriac carrot slaw

Celeriac.  WTF.

I made this tasty salad / slaw as a side for dinner on Sunday (with a main dish of potato pancakes - how's that for a dinner based entirely on grated roots?), but I forgot to take any photos.  Darnit.  But I made it again for lunch today, so I will share the recipe with you now.  I will tell you a secret:  this was much better than expected, even not taking into account the lowered expectations for a salad of grated vegetable roots.

Celeriac is basically the root of the celery plant.  It is a funny little bulb that looks like a really F-ed up potato, but tastes like celery. 

First off, I need to apologize to all the celeriac that went bad in my fridge last winter.  I didn't know what to do with it, and after a few weeks, it became even more shriveled and scary than usual, and I threw it out.  I now see the error of my ways.  (But I'm not entirely alone, there is a whole NPR article on how ugly celeriac is.)

For this recipe, you must first peel the celeriac until all that nasty crap is gone.  Then grate it, which is not very easy.  You also grate two carrots, which is much easier.  (And yes, the bunny got all the extra trimmings this morning.)

For the dressing, you mix mayo (I use olive oil mayo), lemon juice, red pepper flakes, and salt.  Pour over the slaw and devour.

Dave and I both had second helpings of this on Sunday night.  We were both really surprised how much we liked the spicy, savory crunch of the slaw.  I hope it is as good after sitting in the fridge until lunch; something tells me that the flavor will be as good, but the texture of the vegetables will not be as crisp.  Ahh well - what a healthy delicious lunch!  Make it, you won't be sorry.

Sunday brunch with family

My mom and grandma came up for brunch / lunch today before we visited an exhibit on historic quilts in the Arlington Heights History Museum.  I wanted to make something from my amazing breakfast book, and I also happened to have everything to make the arugula pesto salad from the Chicago Homegrown Cookbook.  Giddyup.

For a sweet item, I chose to make the French toast bake from The Art of Breakfast, with some modifications.  First, I didn't read the recipe, so I didn't soak the bread in the milk-egg mixture overnight.  Whoops.  (It still turned out fine.)  Second, I halved the recipe, because good god.  Third, I used dollops of homemade raspberry jam instead of blueberries, because all of my blueberries are frozen, not fresh, and I thought that would affect the cooking time.  Lastly, I did not make the maple rum glaze, because my family is trying to watch their waistlines just as I am, and I thought this was rich enough without a cream sauce.   (Instead, I served with extra jam on the side.)

Basically you cut up some bread into 1-inch chunks, then soak it in a mixture of milk, eggs, etc.  (This is the French toast part.)  Then you make a streusel topping and sprinkle some blueberries (or raspberry jam), along with some toasted pecans.  It turned out very lovely (and delicious!) and my mom and grandma were very impressed.  Not to mention Dave, he was impressed, too.

Next up was the pasta salad, which was actually much easier than I expected.  You make the arugula pesto while the pasta is cooking, so it is very fast also.  Cook some noodles - I used 8 oz. of cavatappi - and meanwhile throw everything else in the food processor.  Arugula, garlic, salt, pepper.  Pulse a few times until it is nice and smooth, then add the olive oil.  Mix together with onions, green beans (they said steamed, I roasted), carrots, and cherry tomatoes (I left these out).

This made for a very peppery, spicy dish.  I hope all the raw garlic in there will help me ward off the cold that seems to be going around...

Blueberry mug muffin

You may recall me posting about microwave cakes and snacks.  Yesterday I made blueberry muffins in a mug.

I actually did not like this recipe.  Maybe I was supposed to use fake maple syrup instead of the crappy corn syrup kind, but I didn't, and they were bitter and needed some sugar.  But I would still try other mug muffin recipes.

(BTW, doesn't "mug muffin" sound like the name of a convict or something?  Maybe that's just me thinking that because I do so much volunteering in jail...)

More things in mugs

This weekend I experimented with more mug cakes, as well as some delicious polenta and spinach for lunch.  It was a perfect way to use up spring vegetables, but keeping that warm comfort food feeling.

For lunch on Saturday, we had parmesan polenta, which is a recipe I cut out of the Trib a few weeks ago.  You heat milk, cream, and butter, then add in the polenta and cook until it is creamy and firm-ish.  I served them in adorable little cocottes.

The side is sauteed spinach.  I heat some garlic in sesame oil, then throw in bunches of spinach and cook down until they are nice and wilted.  I got some beautiful spinach from Fresh Picks, although it was pretty sandy and I had to wash it carefully!  It was worth it.

Next was another mug cake, this one the cinnamon roll in a mug.  Just look at this:

It was truly a transcendant experience.  I substituted apple butter for applesauce, which I figure is pretty much the same thing.  I think that the recipe made way too much frosting, but other than that I wouldn't change the recipe at all.  This is definitely going to be one that I make at work again and again.  

I also made up little baggies of the dry ingredients as Easter gifts for my mom and sister so that they could enjoy some, too!