Butternut and Cauliflower Mac and Cheese

 

 OK, I have a question for you.

Do you have the same menu every year for your Thanksgiving dinner? Or do you switch things up from time to time? I've asked this question many times, and it seems people like to have the tradition of the same menu from year to year. My family is the same! We have all of our favorite Thanksgiving dishes, and it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without them.

 For many families, there's one dish that falls squarely into that category, and that's mac and cheese. It just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it, right? Um... well... not for everyone. Full disclosure... as much as I LOVE a fabulous mac and cheese and all its variations, it has never been part of my family's traditional menu. I guess my Mom always figured we have mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and stuffing.. why would we need another starch? But hey, who am I to judge??? So that's why I decided to come up with a new "Thanksgiving" version of mac and cheese. 

 I added some roasted vegetables and some fresh herbs, but still kept it ooey and gooey, just the way mac and cheese should be. It turned out to be absolutely delicious! And it's definitely good enough to be included in one's holiday menu. It goes perfectly with your roast turkey or ham. Maybe this will be your NEW traditional holiday mac and cheese! who knows? It could happen!! Hope you like it!

 

 

1 lb diced butternut squash

1 small head cauliflower, broken into florets

1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into chunks

olive oil

salt and pepper

1 lb cavatappi pasta

 4 tbs butter

1/4 cup flour 

4 cups milk 

8 oz Velveeta cheese or American cheese

8 oz Sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded

8 oz Swiss cheese, shredded

1 tbs brown mustard

1/2 tsp thyme leaves

1/2 tsp finely chopped rosemary leaves

2-3 scallions, sliced 

1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 

 

 

Heat oven to 400ºF.

Place diced squash, cauliflower, and peppers on a sheet tray. Drizzle generously with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Toss well to coat. Spread out to a single layer. Roast in oven for about 30 minutes. After they've finished roasting, remove from oven, and reduce oven to 350ºF.

Meanwhile in a large pot of heavily salted water, boil your pasta until al dente. Drain, set aside. 

In a sauce pan, melt butter. Add flour, and whisk to combine. Continue to whisk and cook the flour for about a minute or two, then add the milk, whisking to break up any lumps. Add cheeses, mustard, and herbs, continuing to stir until thickened. 

Now it's time to assemble. 

Place roasted vegetables in a large greased casserole dish along with drained pasta. Stir in cheese sauce and sliced scallions until well combined. Sprinkle bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese over all. Sprinkle some dried parsley over the top, for a little color, if desired. 

Place casserole dish in the oven for 30-45 minutes or until bubbly. Remove from oven and let stand for about 15 minutes. 

 

 

Tips:

You can butter your bread crumbs, if you like, but I had some olive oil left on the roasting pan, so I just used that. Or just sprinkle them dry. It'll all work!

Adding 4 cups of milk may seem like too much, but just trust the process! Your final dish will be the perfect texture. No one wants a dry mac and cheese!

When using shredded cheese in a dish, it's always best to buy the block and then shred it yourself. The pre-shredded cheese has a coating on it so it won't clump, but then it doesn't melt as well. Just FYI! 

Not a fan of butternut squash? Add whichever roasted veggies you like! Any kind of root vegetables would work well here. Could even do broccoli or sauteed spinach. All good! 

 

Joey's White Chicken Goulash

 

 
   Very often, when I’m planning a party menu, I like to give options to my guests. I like the idea of a “choose your own adventure” kind of a dinner. I once hosted a dinner with 3 different kinds of pasta and 3 different kinds of sauce, so my guests could mix and match. Last year, I hosted a bonfire with 3 kinds of soup, and 3 kinds of bread to go with them. See what I mean? You get the idea. For another party, I made a crock pot full of home made mashed potatoes as a base, and then offered a choice of 3 different kinds of stew to pour over them. HUGE hit! Not only does it offer a variety, but I must say, I do love it when everyone goes back to try the other flavors. 
 So then I was thinking of Fall and Halloween, and some good hearty “stick to your ribs” kind of comfort foods, and I remembered making my Ghoulish Goulash. If you’re not familiar, it’s a tomato based beef stew with lots of paprika and spices that you serve over egg noodles. And of course there’s the favorite classic American Goulash, which is ground beef and elbow macaroni in a tomato sauce. And I thought, wait… what if I do a white chicken version? That’s gotta be delicious, right? So I started  googling. Oddly enough, just about every version of chicken goulash that I could find still had a tomato based sauce, instead of the creamy version that I was looking for. So, (you know what I’m gonna say, right?), I made my own! 
  I started with ground chicken and elbow macaroni, and since goulash typically includes a lot of paprika (which is made from ground dried peppers), I opted to add chopped red bell peppers. Then I rounded everything out with a few other aromatics and herbs and tied it all together in a creamy sauce. YUM! It turned out exactly as I had pictured in my head and it was just the hearty comfort food I was looking for. It just happens to be the perfect thing to serve on Halloween or any other crisp fall night when you want something warm and comforting. Come to think of it, now I can serve two kinds of goulash at my next bonfire party! Boom. 

 

 

 

 A few glugs olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper
1 tsp fennel seeds or caraway seeds
1 tsp dried oregano
1 lb ground chicken
2 (10oz) cans condensed cream of chicken with herbs soup
1 cup milk
4 oz cream cheese
1 lb elbow macaroni
Sweet paprika for garnish


  In a large pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onions and peppers. Saute until they begin to soften. Now add the garlic, fennel seeds, and dried oregano. After they become fragrant, (just a minute or two), add the ground chicken. Continue to stir and sauté to break up the chicken. When the chicken is just about cooked through, add remaining sauce ingredients. (The cream cheese will melt through). Reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, boil the elbow macaroni according to package directions. Drain the pasta, reserving a cup of the cooking water. Toss the cooked macaroni with the chicken mixture. If it’s too thick, add a little of the pasta water to desired consistency. Adjust seasoning, if needed. Top with a sprinkle of paprika and serve. 




Tips:
If you don’t have elbow macaroni, you can easily swap out any other kind of cut pasta. You could even just make the chicken and sauce and then pour the whole thing over wide egg noodles. Then you could choose your own sauce to noodle ratio. 
Be careful with the oregano. I find it to be a very strong herb, which can sometimes overpower a dish. Dried marjoram would be good substitution!
I like to bash the fennel seeds around a little with a mortar and pestle, just to get them going, but you can just throw them in.  They add a subtle but distinctive anise flavor, which I think is key. But if you’re not a fan, just leave 'em out. It won’t be exactly the same, but it’ll still be awesome!

Crockpot Herbed Dinner Rolls

 

 I recently discovered this recipe from a short video by a Youtuber named Chef Robyn Q. Frankly, I love everything she makes, and when I saw this technique, I thought "Why have we not done this before?" So I immediately tried it, posted a quick pic on FB, and everyone had LOTS of interest. Usually, when you think of a crock pot, you're not thinking of BAKING, but this recipe works perfectly! And when you have limited oven space around the holidays, this allows you to have freshly baked warm dinner rolls on the table with your fabulous holiday feast. How perfect is that? This one is definitely a keeper!

 

 

 

 

Frozen unbaked dinner rolls

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 tsp garlic powder 

Choice of fresh or dried herbs- thyme, rosemary, oregano, etc

 

 

 

Line a crockpot with a piece of parchment paper.

Arrange the frozen dinner rolls in the bottom of the crockpot, leaving space between them.

Cover and set on warm for 1 1/2-2 hours or until double in size.

Drizzle with melted butter. Sprinkle herbs and garlic powder.

Cover the top with a paper towel and put the lid over it. 

Cook on high for 1 1/2 hours. Then, turn the crockpot OFF, and let stand covered for 30 minutes.

Remove the herbed dinner rolls from the crockpot and serve with butter.

Tips:

The amount of rolls you bake depends on the size of your crock pot. In the original video by Chef Robyn, she used an oval shaped crock pot, and was able to fit 14 rolls. I used a 9x13 rectangular crock pot, which has more space for more rolls, so I was able to do 24. You just want them to be close to each other, but not touching. That will give them space to rise.  

Easy Tortellini Pesto Alfredo

                             

 

  This is just about the easiest midweek cheat meal I can think of. Now, you may be thinking "what's a cheat meal?" Well, usually when people use that term, they mean that they're cheating on their diet. But in this case, I'm calling it a cheat meal because you just use store bought ingredients instead of making everything home made from scratch. I mean, it probably fits the other category too, but I digress.
 With school back in session and schedules getting crazier with each extracurricular activity, as far as I'm concerned, any way you can get dinner on the table is a good one. Even if you have to "cheat" and use all store bought ingredients. Dinner is dinner, right?
 So keep this one in your back pocket. It's as easy as can be, your family will thank you for it, and you'll feel better knowing that everyone has a full belly. 
No one needs to know that you didn't make everything from scratch!  

32 oz cheese tortellini
1 (14.5 oz) jar purchased Alfredo sauce
1/2 cup jarred basil pesto sauce
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp sugar
16oz shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat oven to 350ºF.
Boil tortellini 2-3 minutes. Strain and place in a casserole dish.
Meanwhile, stir together Alfredo sauce, pesto, sugar, and cream.
Pour over tortellini. 
Top with half of the mozzarella. Gently stir the tortellini so the cheese gets mixed into the sauce a bit. Top with the other half of the cheese. Bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbly.
 

Tips:
This sauce is great on ravioli or any other kind of pasta. Just sayin'!
For some extra fun, stir in few sliced sun dried tomatoes. 
If you want to make home made pesto or home made Alfredo sauce, who am I to stop you??
The sugar is only included because sometimes the basil in the pesto can have a slight bitterness to it, especially if it's home made. Just omit it if it doesn't need it! 
I didn't add Parmesan cheese because there is already plenty in the Alfredo sauce and in the pesto as well. But if you want more, you do you!
For a little extra zing, add a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes! 

Joey’s Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Casserole

 

 

 

So, I have a slight confession to make. 
With all the cooking I do, I’m not really very fond of cooking things that are too fiddly. You know, like, filling dumplings, or rolling wontons, or making small individual appetizers. All those fiddly little things just seem to take forever. And who has the patience for that? Definitely not me. There. I said it. 
 So I was recently watching an old video of Martha Stewart and her mother cooking stuffed cabbage rolls. They were blanching and pulling apart the cabbage leaves, then filling them, then rolling them up like mini burritos. I thought “Looks delicious! Too fiddly. Don’t wanna make it.” 
And then I saw a few other videos where they took all the same ingredients, and then chopped them up together into a casserole, and I thought Yes! THAT’s the one I’m gonna make!” I mean, it’s gonna get chopped up anyway, right? 
 So I started looking at recipes for inspiration. I knew I wanted to add rice, and I knew I wanted to use condensed tomato soup instead of tomato puree because in my mind it’s supposed to have tomato soup. (I have no idea why this lives in my mind, or where I’ve ever had it like that, but I’m running with it.) Everything else just sort of fell into place, and of course there has to be cheese on top because.. well… it’s a casserole for crying out loud. (What kind of casserole doesn’t have cheese?)
 So there we have it. A delicious, hearty, fill you up kind of Sunday Dinner recipe that’ll feed a crowd, without all that fiddly stuff. 
Just exactly what I had in mind! Hope you give it a try!

 

 

 

 2 tbs olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 lbs ground beef
1 tsp sweet paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
1 small head of cabbage, chopped (about 6 cups)
2 cans condensed tomato soup
1 medium fresh tomato, diced
2 tbs brown sugar
1 cup beef stock
1 cup uncooked rice
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

Heat oven to 350ºF.
Heat olive oil in a very large skillet. Saute onions and garlic for a few minutes, then add the ground beef. Break up the ground beef as it cooks, until the meat has browned. Season with paprika, salt, and pepper. Now add the cabbage. Toss slightly, then cover so the cabbage will wilt a bit. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, stir together all remaining ingredients except the cheese. Pour meat mixture and tomato mixture into a large casserole dish, gently tossing to combine. Cover with foil. Bake for about an hour. Remove from oven, remove foil, top with mozzarella cheese. Bake in oven for an additional 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Remove from oven. Let site for 10-15 minutes before serving. 




Tips:
This recipe makes a GIANT casserole. If you don’t have so many mouths to feed, you can easily cut this recipe in half. 
The amounts are just guidelines. If you like a lot of something, add a lot! Want it to be sweeter? Add more brown sugar. Want it to be more savory? Add more paprika. You could even add a splash of soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce for an extra savory note. 
Yes, of course, you can easily use canned tomato sauce or puree instead of the soup. I just like the nostalgia of the slightly sweeter tomato soup in a cabbage roll recipe. You can also use any other kind of cheese instead of mozzarella. You do you!
Don’t have beef broth? Use any other kind you have. You could also do water and a bouillon cube or Better Than Bouillon. If you have nothing else, water is just fine. I just prefer to use broth or stock because it’s an opportunity to add more flavor!
If you want to make this ahead, just go as far as pouring everything into the casserole dish and covering with foil. Then just keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to bake. Easy!

One Pan Dumpling Dinner

 

 

  I'm always browsing recipes and scrolling through the tick tocks to find new easy recipes. Most of the time it's for a party or for an occasion. But this one shouldn't wait for a special occasion. It shouldn't wait for anything! It's so good and so easy, you should just make this for dinner! Like, TONIGHT. 

 If you know me, you know I love to fiddle with a recipe and tweak it to make it the way I like it (which is how I think everyone should cook, tbh.) But this time, it's already perfect as it is and I'm not changing anything! In fact, I liked it so much the first time I made it, I literally made it again the next day. It hits every single note, and it's simple and easy enough for a mid week dinner. Also it's a one pan dinner, and it comes together in a snap! Dinner on the table in a half hour? um, YES. Easy clean up? DOUBLE YES. 

 Now, don't get me wrong.. it's ABSOLUTELY elevated enough to serve to guests for a special dinner, but they don't have to know how simple it was to make. You can tell everyone you fussed about it all day. 

I promise I won't tell!! Enjoy!

 

 

 

2 tsp minced fresh garlic


1 tsp minced fresh ginger


3 tbs soy sauce


1 tbs rice vinegar


2 tsp toasted sesame oil


2 tbs red curry paste


1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk 


1/2 cup water


5 cups chopped bok choy


20 frozen chicken and vegetable or pork and vegetable dumplings


3 tbs chopped fresh parsley


1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion


2 tsp toasted sesame seeds


chili crunch oil (optional)




 

Preheat the oven to 375ºF.


Stir together garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, curry paste, coconut milk, and water in a casserole dish until well combined. 
Add bok choy and dumplings. (No need to defrost dumplings). Toss lightly and cover casserole with foil.
 

Bake until dumplings are heated through at the center, about 25 minutes. 


To serve, drizzle with sauce from the pan. 

Garnish with sliced green onions, sesame seeds, and a drizzle of chili crunch, if desired.

 

 

Tips:

This is usually the part where I would give recipe tips and tweaks, but like I said, this recipe is perfect as is! Wouldn't change a thing! 

The only thing I would advise is to keep the ingredients on hand so you'll have everything at the ready for when you need to make dinner in a hurry! 

Can't find fresh bok choy? Try Napa cabbage or another leafy green like Swiss chard or even just fresh spinach leaves! 

Btw, usually I'll give credit where credit is due, but I have no idea whose recipe this is. I've seen it on several websites and blogs and reels, so who knows? But since I first saw it on Allrecipes.com, I'll give them the credit! Great then. 

Peanut Butter and Jelly Krispie Treats

 

  We all know and love the classic Rice Krispie Treats. Always good, always a hit. But what if we add a little spin to them? NOW we're elevating them to a new level of delicious! 

 I recently hosted a party for some of my dearest and most cherished friends, and I was trying to think of dessert ideas. I kind of like the idea of doing an adult dinner menu, but then choosing something whimsical for dessert. I thought of doing ice cream sundaes. Or S'mores. But then I thought oooo how 'bout rice krispie treats?! But lets have some fun and do them in an elevated way. So in this case, I kept the childhood whimsy and made them with peanut butter and jelly, but instead of doing store bought grape jelly or strawberry jam, I made my own bumbleberry jam. (that's a mixture of strawberry, blueberry, blackberry and raspberry). I also wanted the treats to be nice and chewy, so I added the secret ingredient... sweetened condensed milk. It makes them absolutely pull-apart chewy and it's the perfect thing to keep them from becoming hard and stale. That was all it needed! One bite and it was childhood nostalgia all over the place. Everyone loved it! Who knew? And come to think of it, why haven't I done this before??

 So if you love a good PB&J, give this one try. There's a reason a classic is a classic. Classic flavors, classic treats. And putting them together is the fun twist! Enjoy! 

 

 

 Non stick cooking spray

 1/2 cup butter
1 (10oz) bag mini marshmallows
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tbs vanilla extract
1 tsp kosher salt
6 cups rice cereal
1 cup jam or jelly, any flavor, home made or store bought

Spray a 9x13 pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line with a long piece of parchment paper that extends up and over two opposite sides of the pan.
In a large pot set over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the marshmallows and stir with a flexible spatula until melted and smooth, about 5 minutes. Stir in the sweetened condensed milk, peanut butter, vanilla, and salt until combined.
Remove the pan from the heat and fold in the rice cereal until combined. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and press down lightly to create an even layer. Use an offset spatula to spread the jelly over the treats. Let the treats set up on the counter for at least 1 hour. To remove them from the pan, grip the parchment overhang and lift. Slice into squares and serve.

 

 

Tips:

The original recipe (which is actually from The Today Show, btw) directed you to press half of the mixture into an 8x8 square pan, spread with jelly, then press the other half on top, to make a literal PB&J sandwich. I think that makes too thick of a bite and decided to do the 9x13 pan instead, with the jelly on top. But if you'd like to do the sandwich, go for it! You'll only need about 1/2 cup of the jelly. 

Like I said, the key to making chewy treats is the sweetened condensed milk. And there's also one other key ingredient, which is, believe it or not.. SALT!  Don't omit it! It really makes the peanut butter taste like peanut butter. And if you really want to pump up the peanut flavor, add some chopped peanuts! Because why not???