Baked Macaroni & Cheese

I've been looking for a good, simple, easy recipe for Mac & Cheese and this is it. I'm reviewing Jessica Seinfeld's book where you sneak vegetables into kid-friendly recipes... Once I get throuh that I'll have another, more healthy, Mac & Cheese, I hope! :)


Preheat: 400*
Category: Cheese, Pasta

1 lb. Shell macaroni
3/4 t. Salt
Pepper
4 c. Sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (4c. is about 1 lb.)
2 T. Butter, melted
4 c. Milk

1. Cook shells until al dente and drain well.


2. Grease a 9x13 baking dish and layer ingredients three times each:

Layer 1: Shells
Layer 2: Mix: Cheese, Salt & Pepper, Milk, Butter

Baked Ziti

We had this when we had the missionaries over for dinner--and they loved it!  Yea for another successful dish! :)  I like this one especially because it makes a 9x13 pan... we ate half of it for one sitting and had it for even yummier leftovers the next day!  Plus, it's so easy to make that your KID can make it.  :)

Preheat: 350*
Category: Italian, Pasta, Freezeable, Casserole

1 lb. Ziti pasts, cooked al dente
1 lb. Italian sausage, cooked & chopped I used ground beef cooked with a little garlic/onion/basil/oregano stirred in and that worked great.
15 oz. Ricotta cheese Another substitution! 15 oz. Cottage cheese!  We use full-fat cottage cheese...
2 T. Fresh parsley Oops, I left this out altogether. But you can use 1 T. dry parsley.
1 Egg
1 1/2 c. Mozzarella cheese
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese I buy mine at Sam's Club in the huge tubs so it's super-inexpensive!
22 oz. Pasta sauce

1/2 c. Mozzarella cheese
3/4 c. (6 oz.) Pasta sauce

1.  In a large mixing bowl, mix ricotta, egg, parsley, 1 1/2 c. mozzarella and parmesan.

2.  Add and mix in cooked sausage, cooked pasta and 22 oz. pasta sauce.

3.  Put mixture in a 2-quart casserole dish.  Like I said before, I used a 9x13 pan. It fit great!

4.  Top with 3/4 c. sauce and 1/2 c. mozzarella. You can see I tucked mine in the refrigerator for tonight... It sure is nice to have dinner "made," and it only takes 30 minutes in the oven. :) :)

5.  At 350*, bake covered for 15 minutes, then bake for another 30 minutes uncovered. If you're like me, you'll want to broil on high for another five minutes. :)

TO FREEZE
Cover the unbaked casserole with foil and freeze IN THE PAN.  When it's completely frozen, pop it out and into a freezer bag.

TO HEAT AFTER FREEZING
Place frozen casserole into dish and thaw.  Preheat to 350*.  Cover and bake for 20 minutes; uncover and bake for 10-15 minutes more.

Jana Glass' Marinara Sauce

I got this from my friend's blog--the marinara she made looked so fabulous, we all demanded the recipe!

2 Tablespoons Oil
3/4 Cup Onion, minced (1 med. onion)
1 Tablespoon Parsley
1 Large Clove Garlic, minced
4 Cups Tomato Purée, fresh
1-2 Tablespoons Basil
1 teaspoon Salt

1. Sauté onions until transluscent over medium heat.

2. Add parsley, garlic and cook about one minute.

3. Add tomatoes, basil and salt

4. Simmer until you have a sauce-like consistency. Stir occasionally so it doesn't stick.

Tips from Jana:

• 20 Roma tomatoes is about 8 Cups Tomato Purée
• Adding celery is good
• Experiment to your own taste with levels of onion, garlic & sugar
• Romas make for a good sauce because they're not as runny as other tomatoes.

Wonderful Fettucine Alfredo

This is sooooooo easy and good. Watch out for the calories though.....

Preheat: --
Group: Pasta

16 ounces Fettucine noodles
2 Tablespoons Butter
3/4 Cup Parmesan cheese, fresh
1/4 Cup Heavy cream

1. Cook fettucine noodles and set aside.

2. Combine butter, cheese and cream on a medium heat until thoroughly hot. I sometimes will do a variation of this based on what is in my pantry. Instead of heavy cream, I'll do milk and thicken it a little with flour... then I add the cheese and butter. It's not as good, but it's a decent substitute. OR, if you don't have fresh Parmesan, use the stuff you put on your spaghetti!

3. Toss noodles and sauce; serve hot.

Allie's Delicious Mac'n'Cheese

You need to start early--here's the breakdown of the time I spent on this dish!
* 20 multitasking minutes: Boiling water, macaroni noodles, greasing 8x13 pan, measuring & shredding cheeses and dicing ham.

* 2 minutes accepting a care package from my mom (from the post man!)

* about 5 minutes chasing my kids away from the cheese

* about 15 minutes thickening up the milk, flour and butter mixture

* about 5 minutes answering the phone.

So... the prep time is 35 uninterrupted minutes... :)  Don't forget to add in BAKE time, which is at least one hour (that should be plenty to get the mixture hot, bubbly and thickened) AND 20 minutes set time after baking.  That's a grand total of just shy of two hours.  The hour baking time is what I'm using to update this recipe, and it'll be used to get a salad ready, dishes washed and put away. ;)

Preheat: 350*
Group: Pasta

1 8-ounce package Macaroni noodles

5 Tablespoons Butter
5 Tablespoons Flour

1 Quart (4 Cups) Milk, warmed  (warming is important to keep your sauce from clumping!)
Salt & Pepper, to taste
1 Pinch Cayenne pepper

1/4 pound Ham, cooked & cubed
5 ounces Cheddar cheese, cubed
5 ounces Mozzarella, cubed
5 ounces Monterrey jack, cubed

Paprika, to taste, for garnish

1. Cook pasta to al dente and drain. It's important not to get it too cooked because it'll spend more yummy, sauce-absorbing time in the oven.


2. Melt butter and add flour. Whisk in the warm milk. Simmer until thick (5 minutes on low, gentle boil), then add salt, pepper and cayenne pepper seasonings.


3. Remove from heat and add the cheeses, ham.  If you want it meatless, leave out the ham.  I actually doubled the ham to a full half-pound.


4. Mix in the noodles


5. Pour into a greased baking dish, topping with paprika.


6. Bake at 350* for 45-60 minutes. I think I ended up leaving mine in for the full hour. But I got all of my dishes done, so what do you do. :)

7. Let dish rest for 20 minutes before serving.