Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese

Haven't blogged in awhile, no good excuse as to why I haven't either :)  I have been making this mac and cheese for a few years and I love it because it allows me to use up whatever hunks of cheese I have laying around in my fridge.  We had Thanksgiving last week, so I had a hunk of sharp cheddar, some gruyere, and big hunk of some type of white cheese that I bought at Coscto and took the label off of, oops!  You can mix whatever types of cheese you want, as long as it equals 6 cups.  If your family likes blue cheese, trying using some on top of the chicken and the casserole.  The hubby can't stand it, so I just used a cheddar blend.  This makes a big 9x13 deep dish pan of pasta; enough to feed at least 10-12 people.  I made it for my husband and I and will portion out the rest for freezer lunches.

For a lower carb version of this use Dreamfields lower carb pasta on its own or mix in steamed cauliflower with the pasta (use half of the amount of pasta) and of course don't top it with potato chips. 

Ingredients

2 boxes of penne pasta (or any tube shape of your choice) cooked and drained

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup flour (use whatever kind you have, I used white whole wheat) 

3 cups milk (any type)

3 cups chicken broth (or veggie broth)

6 cups shredded cheese of your choice (I like gruyere, sharp cheddar, and a mild cheddar).  Separate cheese into a 4 cup portion and a 2 cup.

2 tsp. dried mustard (or 1 tbsp. dijon)

2 tbsp. Onion Onion (dried onion or 2 tsp. onion powder)

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. pepper

4 cups shredded chicken 

1 cup Frank's Hot sauce (change the amount according to your taste)

Crushed potato chips (optional)

Directions 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

In a medium bowl toss the chicken with the hot sauce and season with salt and pepper.

In a large saucepan melt the butter.  Whisk in the flour and cook until it slightly darkens and smells a little toasty.  Pour in the milk, whisking to incorporate.  Whisk in the chicken broth and bring to a light boil.  Once it has started to thicken add in the dried mustard, salt, pepper, and Onion Onion.  Once the mixture has slightly thickened, start adding the 4 cups of cheese slowly, whisking until it is melted in.  Toss the pasta in the sauce.  

Grease a deep 9x13 pan. 

 Ladle in 1/2 of the mac and cheese mixture.  Top with chicken and 1 cup of shredded cheese. 

Cover it with the other 1/2 of the mixture.  Top with shredded cheese and crushed potato chips.  Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until is is browned and bubbly.  Remove for the oven and let sit for 20 minutes.  

Freezer Cooking with Friends

I love to cook, but find weeknight cooking tedious.  Having to come up with what we are going to eat after a long day is annoying.  I like having time to cook and being creative with it.  After realizing this about myself I experimented with once a week cooking using Rachel Ray's recipes and it was awesome, but time consuming.  I lost a whole day 4x a month and just didn't have the time to do it that often.  Then I found Once a Month Mom's website that had monthly menu options depending on your diet needs and I knew that I had to try it.  We are trying to follow a whole foods diet and that was one of the options, so it was perfect!  The first time I did it I did 4 of the dinners and it was awesome.  Then I did it again with my sisters and it went well.  This last cooking day I did it with 2 friends, 6 meals, 8 hrs, and $110 investment for each of us.  Here are the tips that I have for freezer cooking with friends:

1.  Meet together ahead of time to pick the menu, come up with the grocery list, split the list, and choose your date/time frame. Customize the menus to your diet needs.  We didn't like mushrooms, so we omitted them from one recipe.  Another recipe called for Orzo, but we decided to use a low carb spaghetti instead. The stuffed zucchini recipe called for no meat, we added some.

2.  Split up the grocery list by stores/friends.  One of us went to Costco and bought the bulk items, one went to the grocery store, and the third has a young baby and got to sit out the shopping :)  Plan on having ziploc bags and aluminum pans.

3.  Chop everything FIRST! This will save you time and help keep things clean and organized.

48 cups of chopped tomatoes were needed for our day. 

Your food processor is your friend, use it!

All of our ingredients chopped

4.  Finish one recipe before you start another.  With three or more people in the kitchen things can keep crazy and you might try and get ahead by having one person work on one recipe while another does a different one, but I promise things will get left out or missed.  It is much better to focus on one at a time.

5.  Label every dish with not only the name, but cooking directions too.

6.  Pick simple recipes that have a limited number of ingredients.

7.  Have each person bring a cooler to store their food in until they head home.  We were lucking enough that the house we cooked at had an extra freezer and we were able to put our dinners in the freezer and then take them home.

8.  Use some convenience items.  We used prechopped garlic because we needed such a HUGE amount.  If you aren't a fan of prechopped then buy the cloves already peeled and chop them in the food processor.

This one day will be tough.  Your back will hurt and you will exhausted.  However, the laughter and memories made are totally worth it.  Not to mention knowing that after a tough day all you have to do is come home and put something in the oven is totally worth all of the effort.

Menu 

Cheesy Artichoke Chicken
Shrimp and Feta Bake
Asian Meatballs
Peachy BBQ Pork
Stuffed Zucchini
Citrus grilled chicken

Click on each of these recipes to see the complete ingredients/directions.

If you decided to do a freezer cooking with friends day, please come back and let me know how it went!

Asian Meatballs

This was one of the recipes that I was MOST excited about, but it ended up being a little lackluster and needed some oomph.  The original is here and my spins are down below.  I chose to serve mine with sautéed peppers and onions, but you could use any veggies.  The final product was delicious and I can't wait to have them again.

Ingredients: (makes 2 freezer meals of 4 servings each)

Meatballs:

• 0.5 cup panko bread crumbs
• 2.5 pounds extra lean ground beef
• 2 Tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
• 4 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 0.50 cups fresh cilantro, chopped
• 6 medium green onions, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 4 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 tsp. red chile flake 
• 1 tbsp. dark brown sugar

Sauce:

• 8Tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 4 teaspoons sesame oil
• 4 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 4 Tablespoons water
• 1 cup medium green onions, chopped
• 1 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 2 tsps. grated ginger 
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 500. Mix together all ingredients listed for meatballs in a large bowl. Mix well with hands until combined. Shape 1/4 cup meat mixture into balls.  Place rolled meatballs in baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, mix all sauce ingredients in small bowl.  Serve meatballs with sauce for dipping.

Freezing Directions:

Prepare meatballs as directed above, but do not bake. Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flash freeze. Once frozen, place in gallon freezer bag. Place sauce in pint freezer bag. Label and freeze. TO SERVE: Thaw. Preheat oven to 500. Place meatballs in baking dish. Bake 15 minutes. Meanwhile, sauté two cups of mixed peppers and one large onion in a large frying pan.  Once soft, add the sauce.  Remove the meatballs from the oven and toss in the sauce and veggies.  Serve over rice. 

Low Carb Shrimp with Feta Pasta Bake

I love Mediterranean flavors because they are usually light and delicious.  This recipe definitely falls into both categories.  The original recipe can be found here and uses orzo.  I am trying to do the lower-carb thing so we decided to use broken Dreamfield's spaghetti instead.  You can find this pasta at Winco, Ralphs, and Von's grocery stores.  I have also ordered it on Amazon.com! We did switch up the recipe a little because our cooking group likes a little spice and we had extra basil.

Assembled and ready to go into the freezer.

Ingredients:

• 2 cup cooked pasta 
  
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 medium onion, chopped
• 12 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 cup white wine
• 4 cups tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tsp. oregano
• 2 Tbsp chopped green onion
• 1.5 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 8 ounces feta cheese
• 4 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Directions:

Cook the pastaaccording to the directions on the package.  Drain.  Heat olive oil in a large pan.  Cook onion for 5 minutes.  Add garlic and red pepper flakes, cook 30 seconds.  Add wine, tomatoes, chives and oregano.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer, cooking for five minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.   Combine shrimp, cooked orzo and tomato mixture.  Divide among baking dishes.  Sprinkle feta and lemon juice over top.  Proceed to freezing directions or bake immediately at 425 for 15-20 minutes until shrimp are thoroughly cooked.   

Freezing Directions:

Prepare baking dishes as listed above and freeze.  To serve, thaw and bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes until shrimp are thoroughly cooked.

Cheesy Artichoke Chicken

This is probably my favorite recipe from our Freezer Cooking with Friends menu.  It was DELICIOUS.  The original recipe can be found here.  My friend Heather cooked her's first so she gave us the tip that it needed to be served with pasta to catch the yummy sauce.  I used a low-carb spaghetti from Dreamfields that I tossed with butter, parmesan, and parsley.  I am still thinking about this and know that I will have to make it soon!  Word of caution, the freezer recipe has you put the cheese topping in a bag and then freeze it on top of the casserole.  Make sure you remove the baggy of cheese before you put the casserole in the oven.  This was learned the hard way by one of our group ;)

Ingredients: (makes 2 freezer meals, of 4 portions each)

• 8 cups diced roma tomatoes
• 4 tablespoons minced garlic
• 30 ounces artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 4 cups chopped baby spinach
• 4 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons whole wheat flour
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

Serving day:  Cooked pasta of your choice 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine tomatoes, garlic, artichoke, basil, spinach, olive oil, flour, salt, and pepper to taste. Divide mixture evenly among 8 x 8 baking pan or pour all into one 13 x 9 pan. Season chicken with salt and pepper to taste and Italian seasoning. Place on top of vegetable mixture. (If freezing, proceed to freezing directions at this point.) Bake chicken and vegetables at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until almost done. Top with cheese and place under the broiler for 1-3 minutes (watch closely) until cheese and veggies are just browned. Remove and sprinkle hot dish with fresh basil. Serve alone or over pasta if desired.

Freezer Directions 

Layer vegetables in the bottom of an 8x8 pan.  Top with chicken, sprinkled with seasonings.  Place parchment paper over the top.  Mix cheeses and put into a quart sized ziploc bag.  Place ziploc bag on top of the parchment, cover with foil and freeze. 

Chocolate Truffle Brownies

The Best Brownie EVER 

(or so I have been told)

Every cook as their "go to" recipe.  The one that you always keep the ingredients on hand for and can bring to any gathering and it is a hit.  For me that recipe is this one.  You will always find a box of brownie mix and a bag of Lindt truffles in my pantry, so that I can throw these togethers when I needed something to give as a "Thank you" or bring to a party.  I am embarrassed when people as for my secret recipe.  Secret?  They come from boxed mix and a bag of candy, but for some reason these two things together along with a cupcake liner make a whole lot of deliciousness.

 My Mommalove and I came up with this when we were experimenting with brownies.   These use my absolutely favorite candy in the world, Lindt Truffles!  My favorite and the super dark ones, but I make them with all kinds.  The cheapest place to buy them is at Costco.  You can get a large bag for what you would pay for two small ones at the grocery store.  We tried just about every kind of chocolate candy in the middle, but the Lindt just blew the rest out of the water.

Hope you enjoy them and make them to give as a gift.  Who doesn't love a box of home baked amazingness? 

Ingredients 

1 box of brownie mix (family sized box meant to make a 9x13 in pan)

ingredients that the box calls for (usually 2 eggs, 1/2 cup oil, 1/4 cup water)

12 Lindt Lindor Truffles 

12 cupcake liners

Cupcake tin

small cookie scoop

Directions 

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

2.  Mix the brownie mix according to directions 

3.  Place liners in cupcake tin

4.  Place one small scoop of batter into each liner 

5.  Place a truffle into the center of each cup

You can use whatever flavor truffle  you want.
Here I used a mix. 

6.  Top each cup with another scoop of batter. 

7.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until puffed in the center.  

remove from the oven and let cool.  They will sink in the center. 

Lower Carb, Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Eating cookies is never healthy and these are not necessarily "low cal", but they are easy and delicious. I used MomFoodie's recipe, check out the original here: http://blommi.com/flourless-peanut-butter-cookies-with-chocolate-chunks/.  Her recipe uses regular sugar, but I wanted to see if the carb count could be dropped by using a sugar replacement baking blend and it worked!  Each cookie has only 12 carbs :)  If you don't want to use Truvia baking blend, just use 1 cup of regular sugar.  

I apologize the the picture.  I forgot take one and had to snap one at work as I was giving the last cookie away. 

Peanut butter and Chocolate chip cookies (yields 20 cookies)

15oz jar of peanut butter (creamy or chunky) 

1/2 cup Truvia baking blend 

1 large egg

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Blend all of the ingredients together.  Scoop out with a small cookie scoop and flatten slightly.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Make sure you let these cool for 10 minutes on the cookie sheet otherwise they will fall apart. 

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie!

I guess I should preface this recipe with a note that for the first 5 years of my cooking life I could not make a chocolate chip cookie to save my LIFE.  Seriously, they are supposed to be simple, right?  At 10 I could make dinner for my family (it was edible, most of the time), but I could not make a stupid cookie.  I practiced and practiced until I had an "aha" moment and realized that when you bake you HAVE to follow directions.  I am not so great at following directions, crazy since I am a teacher :)  I love this recipe because you melt and brown the butter.  I do not have to remember to set butter out to make them, that annoys me with other recipes.  I also love it because you can mix it by hand and do not have to dirty your mixer.  It is the the perfect combo of sweet, salty, and chocolate.  Hope you love them as much as my family does.

Each recipe yields 16 large cookies.  Do not make them smaller because the texture will not be quite right. All of the pictures below are from a double batch (one is never enough).  I have also started making this with "white" whole wheat flour, so that I can bump the fiber.  They are just as delicious, but a smidge healthier.

On another note, this recipe is based off a "Cooks Illustrated" recipe with some variations to my tastes.