Our first Thanksgiving in the 'new' house

Our MENU 2010
a 16lb oven-roasted TURKEY (first one)
jellied cranberries
green beans
gourmet mac and cheese (recipe below)
mashed potatoes and gravy
baked sweet potatoes and marshmallows
homemade stuffing casserole
yeast rolls and Irish butter
Joybeth's pumpkin bread
pumpkin pie and whipped cream

My daughter, Jb was looking through the November Food Network Magazine and she came across "Bobby Flay's Macaroni & Cheese Carbonara." We decided to make the recipe for Thanksgiving 2010 and I wanted to share the recipe with you!

Unsalted Butter, for the baking dish
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1-inch thick slice pancettam cut into small dice (or fatty part of bacon)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 cups whole milk, hot
4 large egg yolks, lightly whisked
2 teaspoons thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cups grated asiago cheese, plus more for top
1 1/2 cups grated Irish white cheddar cheese, plus more for top
1 1/2 cups grated American Cheddar cheese, plus more for top
1 cup aged fontina cheese, plus more for top
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus more for top
Kosher salt & ground black pepper
1 pound elbow macaroni, cooked just under al dente
1/2 cup coarsley chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves.

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Butter the bottowm and sides of a 10-by-10-by-2-inch baking dish and set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook until golden brown on all sides, about 8 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towels.
3. Add the garlic to the fat in the pan & cook until lightly golden brown, 1 minute. Whisk in the flower & cook for 1-2 minutes. Whisk in the hot milk, raise the heat to high & cook, whisking constantly, until thickened, 3 to about 5 minutes. Whisk in the eggs until incorporated & let cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat & whisk in the thyme, cayenne & all the different cheeses until completely melted. Season with salt & pepper. If the mixture appears to thick, add additional warm milk, 1/4 cup at a time.
4. Put the cooked macaroni in a large bowl, add the cheese sauce, reserved pancetta, and the parsley. Stir until combined. Transfer to the prepared baking dish.
5. Combine an addition 1/4 cup each asiago, cheddars, fontina, & parmesan in a bowl & sprinkle evenly over the top. Bake until the dish is heated through and the top is a light golden brown, 12-15 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Hot sauce recipes

I have been over at Melinda's website checking out recipes and products. I bought a bottle of their chipotle sauce at Ingles and am ready to spice up dinner time around here.

My food resolution...

... that I wrote about in January...is hard to keep up. I cooked us up a good Sunday supper today. Last week, I was the "casserole queen." I made two casserole recipes out of my new Loretta Lynn cookbook that my in-laws gave me. This week, I'd like to try three new recipes (I printed them off the Internet and will try to go back and find the links.).

Hamburger/lentil soup, blueberry/banana bread and this chicken pot pie recipe.

A link to soaking whole grains before cooking or baking...

This recipe for "muffin bread" looks easy and appealing.

I am headed down to our parish, now a half hour drive south of us, to see our middle school youth group act out The Stations of the Cross. I think I overheard JB say that she is enacting Pontius Pilate. Should be good.

New cooking blog and basil muffins -- YUM!

I just posted this blog on my sidebar, as I am really looking forward to continuing to push harder to: 1.) meal plan and shop ahead 2.) get the kiddos, including "number-one son" involved in food planning and preparation.

These zucchini-basil muffins look so good!

Some recipes I'd like to try....

I have never made pork ribs and just found this Portuguese recipe.

Also, over here are two meatless recipes:

***a bow-tie lasagna made with yellow squash -- looks so good and easy!

***a broccoli-cheese soup that looks easier than the 2 recipes that I've tried

I am cutting and pasting the bow-tie lasagna:

Bow-Tie Lasagna
4 cups spaghetti sauce (more or less to taste)
1 lb bow-tie pasta, cooked and drained
1 container ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 t basil
1/4 t garlic powder salt and pepper, to taste
8 oz mozzarella cheese
2 sml yellow squash, finely shredded

Heat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine ricotta, parmesan, egg and spices. Lightly toss bow-ties with squash and ricotta mixture, Layer in a lasagna dish with sauce and mozzarella. Bake for about 1 hour.

Yummy new meatloaf recipe for Sunday supper...

I just found this blog today and, as I am very visual, I love her step-by-step pictures. One of my husband's resolutions, for the new year 2010, was for us to EAT OUT LESS (I really don't mean to "scream" this -- if you could see my face, you'd know that I am smiling, as I love to eat homemade food, shop for food and cook, ummmm, in that order!).

So, check out this beautiful meatloaf with mushroom sauce.

I'd really make Jerry happy if I were to whip up some braised (fresh) brussel sprouts and some creamed potatoes to accompany the meatloaf. Happy Cooking!

Warm nutritious cookies to fight winter bugs....

I was over at this blog and found this yummy-looking cookie recipe:


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Whisk together
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (ground finely)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cream together
1 cup packed light brown sugar (can take less actually)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup butter, softened

To butter mixture, add
1 mashed very ripe banana
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mix in flour mixture until well combined, then add
2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup sweetened cranberries
1/2 cup walnuts

Using a large ice cream scoop, drop mounds onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake 11 minutes or until just golden. Let cool a bit on baking sheet, about 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool a bit more.

We like our cookies warm so we eat them right away, but you can store these in airtight containers (to preserve chewiness, though they are also DELICIOUS when the outsides have crisped up.

Variation: Sub 1/2 cup butterscotch chips for half of the chocolate chips. All kinds of awesome.

A recipe for January from Catholic Cuisine

I copied this recipe from Catholic Cuisine. Doesn't it sound delicious and nutritious?

Saturday, January 24, 2009
Saint Francis de Sales Honey Goodness Breakfast Bars
Today is the Feast of St. Francis de Sales. St. Francis de Sales is well known for his books: Treatise on the Love of God and Introduction to the Devout Life. In addition he wrote many pamphlets and letters. The Church has named him patron of the Catholic Press.

Amy Heyd, author of Saints at the Dinner Table, shares the following recipe for Saint Francis de Sales Honey Goodness Breakfast Bars on her website. She says, "These bars remind me of the goodness that radiated from Saint Francis de Sales, as well as the way he remained "sweet" to get people to listen to him."


Saint Francis de Sales Honey Goodness Breakfast Bars
Source: Amy Heyd's Website


1 stick butter, softened
1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup honey
1 large egg
4 ounces applesauce (1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup dried apples (get the soft kind you find by raisins, don't get the crispy apples)
1/4 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and honey using a mixer on low for about 2 minutes. Add the egg, applesauce and vanilla and mix for another minute. Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon into the butter mixture. Mix on low for 1 - 2 minutes until the flour is fully incorporated into the mixture. Add the oatmeal and mix on medium until the oatmeal is fully incorporated. Chop the dried apples into 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch cubes and add to the batter. Stir the raisins in with the apples and batter.

Spread the batter evenly into a greased two quart baking pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the bars. To prevent the bars from burning, lightly cover the bars with foil for the last 10 minutes of baking.


“It is an error, or rather a heresy, to say devotion is incompatible with the life of a soldier, a tradesman, a prince, or a married woman.... It has happened that many have lost perfection in the desert who had preserved it in the world. ” ~ St. Francis de Sales


St. Francis de Sales, pray for us!

Memories of Southern food and new(to me) Novena...

I love Thanksgiving, and while, as usual I could be more prepared for the upcoming "holiday onslaught," I just relish this time of year. The woods behind our house are home to a pack of coyotes that we are able to see since much of the foliage has fallen to the ground. I hope they will not be dining with us or on us any time soon! The other evening we heard a ruckus unlike anything I've heard in my life. I wonder if they weren't taking down a deer, poor dear! I am a bit loopy with a cold and congestion, so praddling on about coyotes in my seasonal post is part of this crazy day. I am going to surf around and look for some good seasonal inspiration. Hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving!

I would like to visit this local market with lots of yummy meats and sauces.

A new friend told me about the Efficacious Novena to the Sacred Heart of Jesus which just may be what the Divine Physician ordered for my struggling prayer life.

I really enjoyed our visit this past weekend with my hubby's parents. They stopped at one of their favorite bookstores in Chattanooga on the way down and Mimi bought a cookbook written by Loretta Lynn. I copied several of her recipes and enjoyed reading the book. I am particularly interested in becoming a proficient biscuit maker and passing this on to my kiddos.

I can make a moist buttermilk cornbread in my iron skillet that my mom taught me to make. She also showed me how to make smooth, white sausage gravy.....but, my problem is that I have to throw frozen biscuits in the oven -- or, eeeh gads -- settle for toast!

My friend Sara posted some yummy looking pumpkin biscuits. I'd better get on it because they sure look good. Here is foodie celeb Alton Brown's recipe for that heavenly breadstuff.

So, speaking of southern food, I spent much of last Thanksgiving typing some of our Mimi's favorite recipes in to my laptop....I'd like to post them soon and maybe figure some nice, more permanent presentation for our kitchen items as we love to cook and love to eat well. I'd say the gift of southern cuisine is its simplicity. It should be an agrarian cuisine. My grandmother, Sara Evelyn Gott Cohron, was a dedicated and talented, old-school southern "cookin' mama". She and my grandfather, Pernie, yes Pernie was his name, rose every morning at 5 am because my grandfather was a butcher and had to get in to Mr. Cook's Grocery early. Even when he retired, they were early birds. She began every day making biscuits from scratch. Well, as I write this my husband is slaving over a hot stove making his famous chili. I got JB in to the dentist this afternoon, and we got soaked as it is raining in torrents here all day long. Nothing a good pan of hot-out-of-the-oven-iron-skillet cornbread won't cure!