Mac and Cheese Recipe

I had a few people ask for the mac and cheese recipe so here it is.

Creamy Macaroni and Cheese

2 1/2 c. uncooked elbow macaroni
1/2 c. butter, cubed
1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 c. milk
1 c. (8 oz) sour cream
8 oz. Velveeta, cubed
1/4 c. Parmesean cheese, grated
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
2 c. (8oz.) grated Cheddar cheese

1. Cook macaroni till tender. Meanwhile, in a large ssaucepan, melt butter. Sgtri in the flour until smooth. Gradually add the milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stri for 2 minutes or until thickened.

2. Reduce heat; stri in sour cream, Velveeta, Parmesean, salt, mustard, and pepper until smooth and cheese ios melted.
3. Drain macaroni; toss with cheddar cheese. Transfer to greased 3 qt. baking dish. Stir in cream sauce.
4. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

Enjoy!!!

Tonights Recipes:
Herb Pork Loin with Tangy Sauce
Zuchinni Gratin
Potatoes with Rosemary

I'm very excited about the Zuchinni Gratin recipe!

Bountiful Baskets

I don't know how we didn't find out about this earlier? I'd heard through a few friends about this thing called Bountiful Baskets where you get a ton of produce for a very reasonable price. Some is local depending on the season. We thought we would take a chance and were very pleasantly surprised. We put in our order on Tuesday to pick up on Saturday at a local park. We ordered the regular basket which was fruits and veggies (apples, bananas, tomatos, brocolli, red peppers, strawberries, lettuce, zuchinni, cucumber, pears, oranges, grapefruit) and added a Mexican pack (green chilis, limes, jalapenos, tortillas, cilantro, onion, tomatillos, avacado, green onion) and a 5# bag of granola. All for $35. The basic fruit/veggie basket was only $15. It was like Christmas when I brought it home and the produce was beautiful. Easton and Larry were in heaven as Larry is a huge veggie eater and those of you who know, Easton takes after his daddy in the eating department.

I just kept thinking to myself......What am I going to do with 8 red bell peppers? 9 tomatoes? 8 green chilis? Here is what I've done so far.

*Roasted Red Bell Pepper Soup......yum! took care of 5 peppers. The other went into egg scrambles and Larry's lunches.
*I'm getting a canner today so that I can can the green chilis and jalapenos.
*Zuchinni Gratin
*Green Tomatillo Salsa with Jalapeno

I was concerned that we may not be able to finish it all in a week before it went bad but we are well on our way and think we should be able to go through all that produce in a week! It feels great to be eating so many fresh veggies and helping the community at the same time.

Steamboat Springs

We spent this past weekend in beautiful Colorado with our good friends Jason and Kelli. We flew into Denver on Thursday evening and due to delays didn't get to their house until 10pm. Easton had only napped 1 hour that day and was just fighting sleep from about 7pm on. Friday we packed up the civic with 4 adults, 1 baby and a maltipooh and headed for Steamboat Springs.
A friend of Kelli's let us stay in their condo that overlooked the ski hill. The weather was just beautiful! We hit a local pizza place for dinner that evening called BeauJo's.
Saturday morning the boys woke up bright and early to be the first ones on the ski lifts. Kelli, Easton and I stayed back due to Kelli's little bun in the oven. We went to downtown Steamboat and went into the fun shops.
Sunday brought an enjoyable afternoon of snowshoeing. I have never been before and we all just had a blast. We made it about 5 miles and EAston was just in heaven! We didn't hear a peep from him the whole time. He was just as cute as can be all bundled up with his new shades!
Monday we packed the car up and headed back to Denver. But not before a stop to a great little locally owned bike shop called "Orange Peel". Yes, the rumors are true, Easton got his first bike! It should be here today. He just loved it and kept going back to it so we broke down and got him a Strider. We were so sad to have to go back home :( We caught an early flight back to Phoenix on Tuesday morning. Easton slept the whole flight!
We always have such a wonderful time when we visit with the Ericksons and this trip really set in our minds that we would love to make the move to Denver someday. Oh, the ski school at Steamboat starts their ski classes at age 2 1/2! Watch out.......next year Easton will be hitting the slopes.

3 Little Words

Oh So Sleepy!

Date Night

Larry and I spent a nice evening out tonight. Just the two of us, it has been so long! We went for a nice dinner at The Keg where we both got prime rib. It was really good! I haven't had prime rib since working at The Mustard Seed. I'm always afraid I'll be disappointed because theirs was so good. We then walked over through Tempe Marketplace where we got to get some MOjo Yogurt, sit by the fire and listen to a little band play old Johnny Cash tunes.

Easton made a visit to our friends Erin and Matt's house. He spent the evening with his favorite girl, Charlotte. They just love one another it is so cute to watch. When we went to pick him up Erin had managed to get both of them in the tub. What a cute sight that was! We are so blessed to have wonderful friends that we know Easton will be well taken care of. Thanks Whitmers! Erin, you are going to do amazingly with twins!

Martha Moment #2.....Mmmm Mac and Cheese

I just made the most AMAZING macaroni and cheese. For those of you that have ever tried mac and cheese you know how often it separates.......yuck. Let's just say butter, flour, milk, 3 types of cheese and sour cream. Heaven!

If you really want the recipe I'll share but it's definitely not for those who made a New Year's resolution to loose weight. I'll be hitting the streets running with E tomorrow morning. I think I need to do my 3 mi. loop a few times just to burn off the mac and cheese.

Martha Moment #1....Minestrone Soup in Bread Boules

So one of my new goals for the new year is to try at least one new recipe per week. I've really started to love cooking the more I do it and am venturing into it more and more. Last night I was pretty impressed with myself. I made french bread boules and tortellini minestrone soup. Oh, and to top it off was trying to make homemade blue cheese dressing when I realized I bought Gorgonzola cheese......it's gorgonzola cheese dressing. Very tasty!

here are the recipes

Minestrone Soup- makes a ton!

*1lb. hot pork sausage-out of casing
*1 yellow onion-finely chopped
*2 cloves garlic-chopped
*2 sticks celery-chopped
*1 can kidney beans-drained and rinsed
*1 14oz can diced tomatoes
*2 large carrots- cut in half length wise then diced
*32 oz. beef broth
*1 14oz. can tomato sauce
*4 cups water
*1 zuchinni-cut length wise then diced
*1/2 green bell pepper-diced
*1T. Italian Seasoning
*salt and pepper to taste
*1/4 cup Italian parsley-chopped
*2c. cheese tortellini or just cylinder shaped noodles work too....pene or rigatony
Grated Parmesean to top

In a dutch oven or large soup pot....brown the pork with the onion and garlic.
Add broth, tomato sauce, tomatoes, water, carrots, celery, beans, seasoning, salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil then lower heat to a simmer until veggies are tender......20-30 min.
Add zuchinni, peppers, and parsely let simmer for 5-7 more minutes
Add pasta and simmer until pasta is cooked thoroughly.

Serve with grated parmesean on top! YUm YUM

French Bread Boules-
*3 cups warm water
*1 1/2 T. active yeast dry
*1 1/2 T. coarse Kosher salt
*6 1/2 c. all purpose flour
*corn meal

-IN a large bowl add water, salt and yeast. Let set for a couple of minutes to activate yeast.
-Add flour and mix until dough is wet. No need to kneed!
-Let set in the bowl loosly covered with a lid or kitchen towel (allow to breathe) for 2 hours
-Sprinkle cornmeal on the back side of a cookie sheet. This will let you slide the boules off the baking sheet easier.
-After the dough has risen (about 2 hours) cut off grapefruit size chunks and work into nice smooth balls. You will need to add some flour because it will be sticky! Pull the sides of the dough under the ball so that it is nice and smooth on top. Place on the cornmeal spread cookie sheet.
-Let dough sit uncovered on the sheet for 40 min. They will rise a little bit more.
-Preheat oven to 450 degrees! 20 minutes before baking place another cookie sheet (you will place the dough on this one) plus a large roasting pan in the oven. The roasting pan should be on the lowest rack and there should not be any racks above the cookie sheet for the bread.
-Sprinkle each boule with flour and Using a seraded knife, slice a V or tic-tac-toe board shape in the top of each boule.
-Slide the dough boules onto the hot cookie sheet and place back in the oven. Quickly and carefully pour 1 cup hot water into the roasting pan and close the oven to cook.
-Bake until golden brown. Aprox. 20 min. depending on your oven and size of boules.

Okay so it may sound a little complicated but I will be making these often as they are so delicious! They were great with the soup inside but I'd probably do them with a creamy soup next time as the bread got a little mushy after a while.

Let me know if you try it and what you think! Until my next cooking adventure..............

Christmas In Oregon

We had a wonderful, but busy trip to Oregon for Christmas. I feel like I have been running mad since returning on Wednesday. Everybody has these beautiful blog posts about their 2009 reviews and I can hardly manage to get Christmas pictures off the camera! I need more hours in the day.

Here are a few of the many photos that I took while visiting. We got to see lots of family and friends that we have not seen in years which was fantastic. Easton just loved the snow! He is such an outdoorsman like his daddy!!! As soon as we would come in from playing outside he would be standing at the window pointing to go back out. I think he would love to live in a cooler climate someday!

See the web album to the side for all the photos.

Easton reading with Grandpa.