Macaroni and Colby Jack Cheese Recipe

My daughter Ashley is allergic to FD&C yellow 5 and 6 dye. Yellow dye is a pervasive ingredient in packaged food. Ashley can not eat any of the macaroni and cheese brands sold at the store. And, that pesky dye is in all the processed cheeses.
Natural cheese tends to be colored orange with natural colorants like annatto or beta carotene. However, I still check the ingredients list carefully. Once in awhile, even a natural cheese will have that darn dye in it.

You know where I'm going with this don't you? Yep, I make pantry style mac and cheese. Milk, butter, flour, and Colby Jack cheese. The tangy, richness of this mac and cheese will cause an intense food moment. Your eyes will close as you savor every flavor note from your taste buds. Bill has only eaten boxed mac and cheese. After eating my version, he told me I had ruined boxed mac and cheese forever. He is looking forward to eating this meatless main dish at least once a month.

Macaroni and Colby Jack Cheese  

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni                                
• 1/4 cup salted butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt                                                                        
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour                                                           
• 1 3/4 cup warm milk
• 8 ounces Colby Jack cheese, shredded                                     
• Optional: 1/4 cup chopped onion

Directions

• Cook macaroni as directed on the package.
• Drain macaroni and place into a lightly buttered 1.5 quart casserole.
• Melt butter in a skillet over low heat. If using chopped onion, add it to the skillet and cook over medium heat until onion is slightly tender.
• Add salt, pepper, and flour. Blend in with a whisk.
• Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a whisk until mixture is smooth and bubbly; remove from heat.
• Stir in warm milk.
• Heat to boiling, stirring constantly with a whisk. Boil and stir one minute; remove from heat.
• Stir in shredded cheese until melted.
• Stir cheese sauce into the cooked macaroni.
• Cook uncovered in 375 degree oven for metal pans or 350 degree oven for glass pan for 30 minutes.
• Remove from oven and let cool until the bubbling stops.

Yield: about 5 servings

Marvelous Mini Corn Dogs - A Classic Recipe

Golden, crispy mini-corndogs fried in canola oil. Mmmmmm... Sometimes dinner just has to be something fried. Bill and I occasionally develop a yearning for corn dogs. My vintage, 1978 Betty Crocker cookbook contains the recipe that I use for this family favorite.

Mini Corn Dogs

 

Ingredients

1 pound of hotdogs, about ten                                                 Canola oil

1 cup all-purpose flour                                                               2 tablespoons cornmeal

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder                                               1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons shortening                                                          3/4 cup of milk

1 egg, beaten                                                                               1/4 teaspoon onion powder, optional

 

Directions

• Cut hotdogs into thirds. Pat dry with paper towels.

• Heat oil, two to three inches, to 365 degrees. I used about two inches in a skillet.

• Mix flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.

• Cut in shortening. I use my hand.

• Stir in remaining ingredients.

• Dip hot dog chunks into batter, allowing excess batter to drip into bowl.

 

 













I like to skewer the piece with a toothpick, dip the piece into the batter, then use a second toothpick to slide the coated chunk off the skewer and into the oil.

Fry, turning once, until brown, about six minutes; drain on paper towels.

Yield:  3-4 servings.

Note:  This recipe was intended for a sixteen ounce package of hot dogs. Today, most packages are twelve ounces. You will have left over batter unless you use ten hotdogs. The twelve ounces packages usually have eight hotdogs in them.  

 

 

 

Bulletproof Coffee and What Your Coffee Choice Says About You.

I am a coffee purist

I love coffee. Hot, dark, steamy, full-flavored, robust coffee.My automatic brew coffee pot has a fresh pot of coffee ready for me ten minutes before my alarm goes off. The aroma of the fresh brewed pot is the first thing I smell in the morning. That's my idea of a great morning!

 My daily coffee is Maxwell House French Roast. Black. No cream or sugar.

I have coffee that I prefer to drink, such as Folger's Gourmet Blend, but that isn't what I usually drink. Why not the Folger's you ask? The Maxwell House French Roast is consistently a dollar or two cheaper, that's why it isn't coming home with me. Budget, budget, budget.

Bulletproof Coffee Recipe

One of my Facebook friends drinks "Bullerproof Coffee". The recipe is interesting and my cousin, Sarah wants to try drinking it. Me? I don't think so. I just want pure, unadulterated, dark roast coffee in my cup. Call me a purist.

• I drink Bulletproof Coffee from The Bulletproof Executive. I grind my beans and use a french press. I drink it black or with butter and oil during the week. (bold type added by me)

September 13 at 5:25pm

• Sallee Bonham I have learned something new. Never heard of this before. Why butter or oil?

September 13 at 5:27pm via mobile ·

•  I use both in the same cup of coffee. 2 tbsp butter (grass-fed, organic, unsalted) and 2 tbsp MCT oil, or Medium Chain Triglycerides oil.  I drink it for energy and because it's usually hours before I get a chance to eat. This fills me up and gives me plenty of energy to get through the morning. It's called "Bulletproof Coffee". created by the same guy I buy my beans from.

 

From Psychcentral - What Does Your Coffee Reveal About You?

Drink	Personality Traits	The Light Side	The Dark Side
Black coffee	Old school Purist	Keep things simple Patient Efficient	Can be quiet and moody Abrupt and dismissive Sort of set in their ways Resistant to making changes
Latte drinkers (folks who add milk/cream and sugar)	Comfort seekers People pleasers Open book Like to soften the bitterness of life (like they soften the bitterness of coffee)	Generous with time Will go out of their way to help others	Can get over-extended Don’t always take great care of themselves
Frozen/ blended coffee drinks	Try lots of new things Socially bold Trendsetters	Childlike Spontaneous Imaginative	Fall for quick fixes Don’t always make healthy choices Can be reckless
Decaf/ soy milk/ Very specifically ordered coffee	Like being in control May be labeled selfish Obsessive Perfectionist Very aware of their health and bodies	Monitor their health Tend to make healthy choices	Overfocus on rules, control and order Overly sensitive Tend to be worriers
Instant coffee	Traditional in some ways Laid back Procrastinate	Take life as it comes Don’t get too lost in details	Too laid back Put things off and may neglect basic health issues Poor planners

Do You Recognize Yourself ?

The black coffee drinker does seem to be fairly accurate in describing some of my character traits. Leave a comment and tell me if you think the table accurately describes you. This is for fun, so don't take it too heart.

Fractured into Faithful, my Poetry Ebook

Whoopee! Yahoo! Fractured into Faithful by Sallee Bonham (me),  is now a Kindle ebook at Amazon.com. Hours of writing, revising, organizing, and editing are finally over and the end product is for sale world wide! Poetry and short stories taken from the peaks and valleys of my journey through life. Click on the link and sample Chapter 1.

 

Cake Mix Waffle Cookies

Cake mix was on sale this week for $1.19. I bought two boxes of chocolate fudge cake mix because I want to make cake mix waffle cookies to compare with my "made from scratch" chocolate waffle cookies. Bill is my official taste tester because he has eaten my homemade version several times this summer. After supper, I put my experiment into action.

• I turned on the electric waffle iron to preheat and sprayed it with canola oil.
• Then, following the cake mix directions I prepared a bowl full of chocolate fudge batter.
• Carefully, I dipped about two thirds of a cup of batter into the center of the hot waffle iron and closed it.
• Three minutes later, the waffle was ready to remove.
• Using a fork, I had to carefully peel the baked waffle out of the iron.
• It was a little bit tricky getting the soft, somewhat thin, flexible disc from the hot iron to the nearby cooling rack.
• Then I lightly sprayed the waffle iron, dipped two thirds of a cup of batter into the center of the waffle iron, closed the lid, and cooked for three minutes before removing the waffle to a cooling rack. I repeated this procedure until all the batter was gone.

Each cooled waffle was sprinkled with powdered sugar and divided into four quarters, or wedges, before I put the wedges into my cookie jar.

The most noticeable difference between cake mix waffles and my homemade chocolate waffles is texture. The cake mix waffles were very soft and difficult to remove from the waffle iron. Next time I try this, I am not going to use the full amount of liquid called for by the cake mix. An update will be coming soon. 

Baking Batter Rolls for Thanksgiving

My bread making bible

Looking for a Yeast Roll Recipe

I have been looking for a yeast roll recipe I can use for Thanksgiving dinner. I have tried several recipes, but the end result of each recipe was just a little bit off. Too heavy or not tender enough topped the list of each test result.In July, I'd found a recipe for yeast batter rolls that I wanted to try out.

An Opportunity to Test a New Recipe

My brother Rick's, August Birthday Bash was just the opportunity that I had been waiting for. Out came my 1973 Better Homes and Gardens, Homemade Bread Cookbook, and I started reading through the recipe.(If you read my July post, Celebrating My Momma's Birthday, you know this is my bread making bible.)

 

A Lesson Learned 

The directions say to use an electric mixer to beat the ingredients together. I had some doubt about using my small stand mixer, but I went ahead and used it. I won't do that again! It will be easier to beat the batter by hand than to try and use a small electric mixer. However, if you have a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, you can use it to make this recipe. Sadly, I don't have my dream mixer, yet. Except for the electric mixer beater experience, the recipe directions worked as written.

 

Equipment

• sauce pan, one quart
• electric mixer
• cupcake pans or muffin tins
• wooden spoon
• liquid measuring cup
• dry measuring cup set
• measuring spoon set

Ingredients

• 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 egg

Directions

In large mixer bowl combine 2 cups of the flour and the yeast. Heat milk, shortening, sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt til warm, 115-120 degrees F, stirring constantly to melt shortening. Add to dry mixture in mixer bowl; add egg. Beat at low speed with electric mixer for 30 seconds, scrapping bowl. Beat 3 minutes at high speed. At low speed, beat in remaining flour til batter is smooth, about 2 minutes.

Cover; let rise in warm place til double, about one hour. (Turn on your oven before you stir down the batter. It needs to preheat.)Stir down and beat thoroughly with wooden spoon. (I used my Teflon serving spoon) Let dough rest 5 minutes. Drop batter by tablespoons into greased muffin pans or cupcake pans, filling half full. (about two tablespoons) Cover, let rise til double, about 30 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 12 to 15 minutes. Remove pans from oven and cover with clean kitchen towels until cool. (covering the hot rolls with the towels will help the crust to stay softer. My great grandmother, Ella Tucker, taught me to do this)
Makes 18-20 rolls.

 

An Exciting $5 Purchase - A Turkey Cake Pan

Window Shoppping on Ebay

I just couldn't wait to share my latest baking purchase with you. Earlier today I was "window shopping" on Ebay. Probably not a good idea, but what the heck I just wanted to look at figural cake pans. Also, I select the filter for "free shipping" anytime I look through Ebay auctions because then I might really find a bargain.

Scanning the Shaped Cake Pans

Thumbnail pic after thumbnail pic scrolled up my tablet screen. Superheros, cartoon characters, and figural cake pans of all shapes and sizes rolled up the screen as I skimmed the pictures and checked the prices. I skipped over the expensive pans quickly and continued to skim through the auction pictures until I saw the one.

$5 and Free Shipping

It was a turkey gobbler cake pan for $5. Yes, $5 and free shipping! An honest to goodness bargain had made an appearance. The auction was due to end in 90 minutes and there were not any bids on the pan. I could not pass this up. I have christmas tree pans, a snowman minipan, an Easter lamb pan, heart pans that can double as shamrock leaves, but I do not have a turkey cake pan. So, I put in a bid. Ninety minutes later, the turkey pan was mine.

November Baking Plans

November is two months away, but I already have plans for the new cake pan. Decisions will have to be made - fondant or frosting decorations, marbled or chocolate cake, star tip for a border or fondant beads...Holiday baking begins in November, but my head is already filled with plans.