Mac N' Cheese

As a disclosure I would like to point out that I am for the most part blind, have been since a baby.  Contacts help, but I've been having some problems with my current pair and the eye dr. is taking forever to get me new ones.  So I can see but just not as well as normal so if you see more than normal typos I'm blaming it on my eyes.  I know I normally have typos (I sometimes re-read after posted and is too lazy to fix it) so for arguments sake, I'm blaming those on my eyes too.  =)  I would like to start with an update on Bella Bella (Not sure why or how but she has adopted a nick name that is longer than the original, we barely call her Bella in this house, it's always Bella Bella.  Not that y'all needed an explanation).  She seems to be liking her food.  She doesn't gorge on it and make herself so full that her stomach is as hard as a rock but I think that's a good thing.  She is definitely eating it, so far so good! 

The day before yesterday I tried making some veggie stir fry with ginger sauce but it was not good at all!  I couldn't even eat it.  You know how I am with throwing away food.  So I usually don't throw something out unless I have to.  I tried eating it, but it just wasn't happening.  It called for 2 tablespoons of ground ginger, and I'm thinking it was a typo.  I kept re-reading it thinking I was seeing it wrong.  It was WAYYY too much.  I only put 1 Tablespoon because after I dumped it in the bowl I thought...that's a lot.  But it was too late, it was ruined.  =/ 

Yesterday I was invited to my co-workers super bowl party.  I decided to bring bruschetta and a cabbage salad.  They are both really quick and easy.  I'm totally lame and didn't take any pictures of the food.  I did get some pre-photos which don't really help.  I did manage to remember to take a photo of the salad, after it was mostly eaten.  LoL.  Everyone loved them, so mission accomplished.  I had a few recipes that I roughly used as a guidance.  I didn't really follow one very closely, and I wasn't the best at measuring what I was doing, so these really are just a guideline, don't follow to closely, and adjust to your taste. 

All my ingredients ready to cook!

Le Cuisinier

Bruschetta:

Baguette sliced and toasted in the oven for a few minutes (Feel free to try different things with the bread.  You can drizzle oil and sea salt, or rosemary, or your favorite italian spice.  The bread I got at the store already had sea salt so I didn't make any adjustments)
About 2 fresh tomatoes (I used about 1 can of diced tomatoes, drained.  I highliy recommend using fresh.  I wasn't a fan of the canned tomato taste, but I was in a bind.  Everyone still liked it so feel free to substitute if you wish)
Sea salt (I'm not sure how much I used 1/2 teaspoon?)
Few shakes of black pepper
Olive oil (about 3 tablespoons)
Balsamic Vinagrette (about 1/4 a cup, but I started with less and had to keep adding because it needed more, so honestly I'm not sure, I would start with a few splashes and gradually increase to your liking)
Chopped garlic (I used about 3 large cloves)
Fresh torn basil (I didn't really measure this either, I just kept adding until there was enough to well incorporate all of the other ingredients)

1.  Combine all ingredients (except bread), and mix to combine, top on toasted bread.  Easy as pie! 

Cabbage-Ramen Sald (I'm not really sure what to name this one, I've heard it called asian sald, but that's kind of vague, so I'll go with this)

1 head of cabbage (I used napa, but you can use whatever you'd like) chopped
2 bags of ramen noodles (flavor doesn't matter, you don't use the seasoning) crumbled (not into powder, you still want some big chunks so you get a good "bite" of the salad
1/4 cup of butter
A few green onions sliced
A few tablespoons of sesame seeds

Dressing:  (I can't find my recipe with the measurements. I'll find it and edit the post, sorry!!)
Oil (I used olive)
White vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
Sugar (I used agave nectar)
Soy sauce

1.  The recipe I found you heat the oil, vinegar and sugar over the stove, bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute.  You let cool and stir in soy sauce.  When my mom use to make this we never heated the dressing.  I'm not sure if it's because they wanted to dissolve the sugar?  Since I used agave I wasn't worried about that anyway.  I would skip this step next time because I thought it was just time consuming. 
2.  The recipe I found also suggesting melting the butter then adding the ramen and sesame seeds and brown.  I think this is pointles too.  We always added them in raw.  I would again skip this step next time because I didn't feel it was necessary.  Again my mom never did this and I didn't taste much of a difference.  If you do decide to do this, cool the ramen after cooking
3.  In a large bowl mix the cabbage, green onions, ramen and sesame seeds together.  Mix the dressing ingredients together and stir to mix.  Add to the salad and combine to coat.  This is meant to be served room temperature, or cold.  However you prefer.  Room temperature is typically how I enjoy this. 

Pre-baked

Tonight I had the pleasure of cooking in my mom's kitchen!!  Oh how I enjoy that!  I get to use the huge space, with a gas stove and BONUS my dad's vita mixer!  Oh how I need one of those.  This is the third mac n' cheese recipe I've made.  I've been trying a bunch to find my favorite.  So far my favorite is the "cheese" sauce I used for the broccoli, rice and cheese casserole.  Probably because it uses Daiya.  All of my other mac n' cheese recipes didn't use store bought cheese.  I think that sauce would be easy to top over pasta, or anything really that calls for a cheese sauce.  With that said this recipe was pretty tasty.  I don't have any complaints really.  I found the recipe here.  It was definitely didn't have as much of a "cheesy" flavor as say Daiya would.  But it was very creamy and thick like a cheese.  My niece and sister ate it and they liked it.  My mom passed.   I have to say it was super easy to make.  I love that the sauce incorporates a bunch of veggies.  I also loved how yellow the cheese got.  I was suprised by the color, I guess the little mustard goes a long way.  The last mac n cheese I made for christmas I think tasted a lot better after it sat in the fridge for a day, so I'll let you know if the left overs taste any better.  I also topped my bowl with some hot sauce which is a must.  If I was at home I would have added some parma.  They will definitely be topping my left overs.

I meant to add some broccoli to the dish before baking but forgot.  So I just steamed some broccoli on the stove, added a little salt and pepper and added it after.

Sorry not the best lighting

That is the extent of my cooking the past few days.  Although I did have some left over rice and green onions for lunch.  I took this thai sweet n spicy sauce and mixed it with some soy sauce and topped it on the rice.  It was nice and spicy.  If I had the time I would have added some veggies but I was in a rush and that is what was in the fridge.  As always more to come.  See y'all next time!

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!