Mom, How Do You Make Your Mac n Cheese?

Food allergies are tough to deal with. 
My daughter Ashley is allergic to yellow dyes: FDC 5, FDC 6, and FDC 10. These three dyes are found in an incredible number of food and nonfood products. Packaged macaroni and cheese always has one or more of these items in the cheese portion AND all types of cheese food products also contain these three dyes. Hence, Ashley grew up eating healthy. 

I made homemade mac and cheese for her entire childhood with white American cheese, Colby Jack, or mild Cheddar cheese colored with annatto. 

Now this daughter did not want to learn to cook from her mom.
No, she was too busy running track, cheering, or participating in band concerts. However, now that she has children and is cooking more meals. I am regularly receiving phone calls that begin with, "Mom, how do you cook..."

Last week, she wanted to know the secret to making my mac and cheese. 
Unbeknownst to me, she had tried and tried to make it on her own and couldn't get it to turn out correctly. 

The "secret" to my mac and cheese is homemade cheese sauce.
When I told Ashley how to make the cheese sauce she exclaimed, " That's IT!"
I valiantly managed to smother my snickering. 
About two hours later I read this post on her social media page:

Yep, this a a proud momma moment and a moment to smile from ear to ear. 

Now you too, can make my homemade Mac n cheese.                         Click Here  for the recipe.

Six Ingredient Corn Casserole

I am bored with my usual side dishes.

Seriously, I am tired, tired, tired of potatoes and pasta.

The solution to my problem? Time to get out an old cookbook. Old, as in 1969. 

Sorry if this is the year you were born. I'm even older if it makes you feel any better.

Anyway, I decided it was time to try out a new-to-me recipe for corn casserole since whole kernel corn is the star of the pantry this week. 

Star as in -  I have more cans of whole kernel corn than anything else! 

Yield: 6-8 servings                                                          
Cooking Time: 30 minutes    

Six Ingredients

1. 3 eggs, well beaten
2. 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
3. 1-2 Tbsp. white sugar I use 2 Tbsp. because we love sweet corn. 
4. 2 cups shredded, Colby Jack cheese
5. 2 - 15.25 oz cans whole kernel corn, drained
6. 4 slices of cooked bacon, drained and crumbled

Directions

• Combine eggs, flour, and sugar in a medium size bowl and beat well.

• Stir in Colby Jack cheese, corn, and bacon

• Put the mixture into an ungreased 10 inch by 6 inch x 1.5 inch baking dish.

• Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes, or until a a butter knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

• Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before cutting into six or eight pieces. 

Homemade Soft Tortillas

A pancake meets a tortilla and they get married. From this union is born, a tortilla that is as quick and easy to make as a pancake.

 No dough here, just whip together a batter and you are ready to make your own tortillas!

I love putting a teaspoon of mild taco sauce  and shredded Colby Jack cheese on a tortilla, folding it in half, and grilling it until the cheese just begins to melt and get gooey.

Seriously good food that is simple to make. One taste of a homemade tortilla and you will never grab a bag of prepackaged ones again

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups cold water
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup yellow cornmeal
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 large egg

Directions

• Combine the flour, cornmeal, and salt.
• Stir briefly to blend
• Add water and egg.
• Beat until smooth.
• Heat an eight-inch skillet over medium low heat until hot.
• Grease lightly with canola oil, or spray with pan coat.
• Pour not quite ½ cup of batter into the skillet and immediately tilt the skillet until the batter forms a thin tortilla.

• Cook the tortilla until dry around the edge, about two minutes.
• Turn the tortilla over and cook the other side until it bubbles and browns.

Yield: five eight-inch tortillas

Crock pot BBQ Baby Back Ribs in January

Tangy parsley potato salad and crockpot BBQ Baby Back Ribs. 

Saturday was a gorgeous day! Fifty-five degrees and sunshine is almost unheard of  in Missouri,during January. It was a perfect day to get some yard work done, get some sun, and eat barbecue. 

The unseasonably warm weather kicked in my desire to eat BBQ. 

Of course, it doesn't take much for me to start craving barbecued baby back ribs. My love of pork ribs slathered in honey hickory BBQ sauce has been well known for years, but I didn't discover crock pot BBQ ribs until last year when I saw a recipe over at The Country Cook. Now I can get my BBQ fix and get the yard work done at the same time. Sound good? I am happy to share my "secret recipe" with all of you.

The Country Cook's Crock pot BBQ Ribs                Click here for the recipe 

For marvelous, oven baked ribs that are finished in the broiler, try the recipe below.

Sallee's Simply Terrific BBQ Ribs                           Click here for the recipe

Parsley Potato Salad

Ingredients

• 4  medium white potatoes
• 1 cup of mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp. sweet pickle juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon fresh ground pepper, or black pepper
• 2-3 teaspoons of dried parsley. I usually use 3 teaspoons.
• 1/4 tsp. celery seed
• 1/4 cup minced white, or yellow, onion

Directions

• Peel and cut potatoes into bite size squares.
• Place potatoes into a pot of water with water that just covers the potatoes.
• Simmer potatoes until just fork tender, about 15-20 minutes. 
• Drain the water off of the potatoes and set aside.
• Mix mayonnaise, lemon juice, sweet pickle juice, salt, pepper, and parsley in a medium bowl. 
• Add potatoes and minced onion. Gently stir until well mixed. (A minute or two)
• Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of three hours. The flavors develop and blend in a wonderful way if you chill the potato salad for four to six hours.

Note: 

1. After chilling, your potato salad may be too thick because the potatoes soaked up all the moisture. Add a tablespoon,or two of milk, and gently stir it into your potato salad to regain a creamy consistency. 

2. Another option is to use chicken broth.

Twenty Minute Crab Delight Salad

Warning: this can be highly addictive!
This is food porn at its best. Plus, six ingredients and twenty minutes to prepare makes this a quick and easy recipe to prepare. 

I do not have any pictures at this time because Bill and I cleaned the bowl out before I could take any. lol...lol 


Yield: 4-5 servings as a salad

Ingredients

• 12 oz. imitation crab meat
• 2 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise Do not use salad dressing, it just won't taste the same.
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced celery  My mandoline makes this a 30 second job.
• 1-2 scallions or green onions, thinly sliced 

Directions

• Place cream cheese, mayonnaise, and lemon juice into a small bowl. 
• Whisk until well blended.
• Set aside.
• Place crab meat into a 1 quart bowl and break it apart with your hands.
• Add the celery, onions, and reserved dressing.
• Stir until the mixture is well coated with the dressing.
• Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator until serving time.
• An appetizer that you can serve with crackers or you can place a scoop on a bed of salad greens for lunch, dinner, or a snack.

Coconut Cream Tropical Fruit Salad

My oldest daughter arrived for Thanksgiving dinner carrying a shopping bag. Her contribution to dinner was a four ingredient, fruit salad that was ready to eat in fifteen minutes. I love the ease and speed of this recipe!

Coconut Cream Tropical Fruit Salad can be served as a side dish, or as a light dessert.

Yield: about 1 quart, or 4 cups

Ingredients

• 2-15 oz. cans of tropical fruit salad packed in fruit juice
• 1-3.4 oz. package coconut cream instant pudding
• milk
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows I like to use a cup and a half.
• Optional - 1/2 cup of chopped pecans

Directions

• Drain juice from tropical fruit salad into a two cup liquid measuring cup.
• Add enough milk to the fruit juice to make 1 1/2 cups of liquid.
• In a one quart serving bowl, combine fruit juice mixture with the package of pudding.
• Whisk for two minutes.
• Stir in the miniature marshmallows and the drained, tropical fruit salad. 
• Chill until ready to serve.

Variations

Try different combinations of fruit and pudding flavors.

1. Vanilla pudding , canned fruit cocktail in juice
2. Lemon pudding, pineapple chunks in juice, small can of mandarin oranges in juice
3. Add 1 large banana, sliced to any of the fruit and pudding combinations.

Sallee's Six: The Apple Edition

Cinnamon Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cake.

Apples make me think of apple pie and bobbing for apples. Today, we do not bob for apples at fall festivals or harvest gatherings. Too unhygienic. Apple bobbing may be a curiosity now, but everyone has a favorite apple pie recipe or apple laden dessert. Listed below are six links to kitchen tested, amazing apple recipes for every meal and event.

Sallee's Six: The Apple Edition              

1. Food Network has an amazing list of fifty, yes fifty, food items that you can make with apples. The list includes main dishes, desserts, and side dishes. 50 Things to Make With Apples
2. Allrecipes.com has over a thousand apple recipes that have been reviewed and rated by home cooks. Apple Recipes
3. Mr. Food Test Kitchen has 34 quick and easy recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Mr. Food
4. My favorite place for recipes is BettyCrocker.com! Betty's list of Newest Apple Recipes includes Apple Crisp Crepes, Streusel Topped Apple Cheesecake Bars, and six more delicious apple offerings.
5. A healthy alternative for apple recipes, Cooking Light has 31 Apple Recipes for every meal and every occasion. 
6. Last, but not least is a Top 10 Apple Desserts recipe list from Taste of Home. How about making some Caramel Apple Bread Pudding? 

Apple Wisdom from Mom

My mother was taught many lessons with country proverbs. Mom then felt obligate to teach those same lessons to my siblings and I. Listed below are six of her favorite apple sayings. (idiom or proverbs)

1. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
2. You are the apple of my eye.
3. The apple does not fall far from the tree.
4. Don't be a crab apple.
5. One bad apple spoils the bunch.
6. As American as apple pie.

Browned Sage and Onion Rice

Okay friends, this is my answer to boxed rice products. For years I used prepackaged rice side dishes to accompany my home cooked poultry. Then I discovered the trick of browning regular, raw, white rice in butter.

Browned rice does not stick together in clumps and lumps. Instead, the rice is fluffy and golden brown. The butter browns the rice, but it also adds a buttery richness to every bite.

The amount of sage in the recipe can be adjusted from a "barely there" 1/4 teaspoon. to an "okay I taste sage" 1/2 teaspoon (or more if you want).

Ingredients

3 Tbsp. salted butter
1 cup white rice
2 chicken bouillon cubes, or 2 tsp. instant chicken bouillon
1 tsp. dried minced onion
1/4 tsp. celery seed
1/4 tsp.to 1/2 tsp. ground sage  I use the lesser amount.
Salt as desired

Directions

First

• Heat 2 cups of water in a microwave to boiling
• Add the 2 bouillon cubes
• Stir until the cubes dissolve
• Set aside

Second

• Melt butter in a 4 to 6 cup saucepan. 
  
• Add 1 cup of rice
• Saute the rice in the butter until the rice turns golden brown. 
  
• Remove the pan from the heat
• Carefully add the 2 cups of chicken bouillon water
• Add the remaining ingredients
• Stir until the spices are blended into the broth, once or twice
• Place the pan of rice back on the burner
• Bring the mixture back to a boil
• Cover with a tight fitting lid
• Reduce heat to low.
• Simmer for about 20 minutes. 
• At 15 minutes, if the pan isn't steaming, or you can't hear it simmering, shut the heat off and leave it on the hot burner for 5 minutes. No peeking! Then, follow the next step.
• Remove the pan from heat, but do not remove the lid. No peeking!
• Let the pan of rice sit for 5 minutes
• Remove the lid and stir with a fork to fluff the rice up.
• Taste and add desired amount of salt. The salt in the bouillon and butter are enough salt for me, but Bill always adds salt to his. He's a salt-aholic. 

Yields 3 cups of rice

A Quick Dinner Menu: Seasoned Oven Fries, Craisin Coleslaw, and Salisbury Steak

If you arrive home from work tired and frazzled, read on.

Do you open up the freezer and ask yourself, "What am I going to cook for supper? Do I cook a frozen dinner or do I order take out?"

It's decision time and I want to help you make that choice.

I'm going to share one of the meals that I rely on when the hubby is hungry and I'm dragging from a long day of commuting and work.

Seasoned oven fries cooked in your toaster over, a mixed green salad or craisin coleslaw, and a microwaved main dish.

AND it will be ready in about an hour.

 

 

 

 

The Menu

• Seasoned Oven Fries ala Toaster Oven
• Craisin Coleslaw or mixed salad greens
• Salisbury Steak with Gravy, family size package (28 ounces)

To feed a hungry husband, you need to cook the whole package of Salisbury Steak. Two patties weigh 4 ozs. and make a skinny gal portion. Three patties weigh 6 ozs. and make a he-man portion. Plus, the 28 ounce package includes two cups of gravy which can be poured over the oven fries or used for another meal.

 The Meal

1. Put mixed salad greens or coleslaw mix in a bowl and add desired toppings. I love Craisin Coleslaw. It is quick and easy to assemble. Coleslaw is best if it can sit in the frig for 30 minutes (or more) before serving it.
2. Prepare the potatoes for Seasoned Fries Ala Toaster Oven and begin baking.
3. Follow the package directions for microwaving ( about 20 minutes total time) or baking the Salisbury Steak with Gravy (about 50 minutes). I microwave mine.

The Seasoned Fries Ala Toaster Oven

Ingredients

2 medium sized potatoes, peeled

canola oil

garlic powder

black pepper I like to use fresh ground black pepper.

paprika

Directions

• Slice each potato in half
• Slice each half once, then stack and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• Put in a one quart bowl
• Add 1 TBSP canola oil, sprinkle with about 1/8 tsp. each garlic powder, fresh ground black pepper, and paprika. Add more if you wish.
• Stir potatoes cubes until they are well coated with the oil and seasoning
• Remove toaster oven tray from your toaster oven. Put 1 tsp. of canola oil on the tray and spread it out to coat the tray. 
• Place potatoes in a single layer on your toaster oven tray
• Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.
• Carefully remove hot tray, turn cubes over with a spatula, and replace hot tray back into toaster oven.
• Bake for about 20 minutes more (until potatoes are golden and tender.) 

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

Cravin' Craisin Coleslaw

Bill is not a vegetable eater.

However, he loves this coleslaw! The brown sugar, vinegar, and mayonnaise blends into a tangy, sweet dressing that is enhanced by the tart craisins, or dried cranberries.

Personally, I like to eat a bowlful of craisin coleslaw for lunch. Just the coleslaw, with no sides. That's how good this coleslaw is.

You Will Crave More!

Eat one spoonful of this sweet, creamy, fruity coleslaw and you will crave more. Partner this amazing craisin coleslaw with all types of barbecued meat,  spaghetti, or eat it for a quick snack.

The creamy, fruity goodness of this dish is great at 30 minutes, but it zooms to fabulous when the coleslaw ingredients can spend several hours getting better acquainted with each other in the refrigerator.

Equipment

Measuring spoon set
1 cup liquid measuring cup
1 cup dry measuring cup
Knife, optional if not using an apple
Whisk
Large bowl
Large spoon

Ingredients

1. 1 cup mayonnaise                                
2. 1/4 cup 2% milk                                
3.  2 Tbsps. vinegar, white or cider
4. 2 1/2 Tbsps. packed brown sugar                   
5.  1 16 oz. package cabbage and carrot coleslaw blend
6. 1/2 cup craisins (dried cranberries)

Add one or both of these additional fruit options:

·         one medium apple, cored and diced

·         1/4 cup pineapple tidbits, well drained

 Directions

·         Place the first four ingredients in a large bowl, then whisk until the dressing is smooth and creamy.

·          Add the package of coleslaw blend, craisins, and desired fruit. Mix well with a large spoon     until the dressing evenly coats the coleslaw mix.

·         Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

·          Place in the refrigerator and chill for at least 30 minutes.