Mac and cheese, peanut butter cookies and little animals

We went to the gas station on Friday night with a very modest request. We both wanted macaroni and cheese. Kraft, fluorescent orange mac and cheese. We didn't feel like going all the way to the grocery store, so if it wasn't at the gas station, we were out of luck.

Gas station didn't have it. BUT!!! They did have macaroni noodles, with a recipe on the box. Hmm...after I quick gander, I discerned we had enough of the ingredients to make do, and we set off to have a very nutritious dinner of Mac and Cheese.
We halved the below recipe, because we barely had a cup of cheese. It still worked well, and between four of us, it was gone before it even cooled down.

8 oz elbow macaroni

1/4 cup butter

3 T. flour

1/8 t. dry mustard

1/8 t. pepper

2 cups milk

2 cups cheddar (or a mix)

panko for the topping

**we also added a good 1/4 cup chopped jalapeños
-cook noodles until barely al dente, drain

-melt butter in saucepan, add flour, mustard and pepper

-cook mixture until bubbly and smooth, gradually add milk

-gradually mix in cheese

-add pasta, mix and pour into casserole

-top with panko and bake for 25 minutes at 350.


What goes with macaroni cheese? Peanut butter cookies :) So much bad-for-you food, but so delicious! We only ate a couple of these, sent the rest home with friends.

1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. peanut butter

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/4 c. flour

1/2 t. baking powder

3/4 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

375 for 10-12 minutes

Do you guys remember Sculpey? (Or Fimo?) Its the clay that you can bake in the oven. It was on sale at the local art store, so we grabbed a couple packs to play around with. I forgot how fun this is!!

Frog!
Scale shot--I'm no hand model.
Reindeer!


We made an army of critters to protect us.

Hooray for Tavo!!

Celebrating :)

Like many, the recession had hit us hard. After some years in the business, Tavo was laid off from his position with a small GPS / Laser company in late summer. In the last few months, he has diligently applied, interviewed, and studied for every available position in his field. His hard work has paid off.

Tavo accepted an offer today as a technician for an international company. His fluency in Spanish, technical know-how, and overall work ethic has landed him an excellent position in a growing company. Bravo, babe! You deserve this.

Cheers to Tavo and his new job!

In other good news, we will be puppy-sitting for Tavo's parents this weekend. Say hello to Sombra :)

(he's not really keen on holding still...)

a beautiful autumn..and azaleas (!!)

It has been ridiculously gorgeous here! We had such a cold and rainy October--I definitely wasn't expecting hot and sunny weekends in November. To celebrate, I ran another race on Saturday. This was was the "Run for Justice" to support the Atlanta Legal Aid Society. A few of my friends are attorneys at Atlanta Legal Aid (and they also both won their age group!) I came in about 5 minutes behind them ;) Here are some photos, I didn't include my friends because you know how gorgeous running photos are..

(notice the AWESOME paint steez)
beauty queen :)


Look at the dog!!

We aren't the only ones surprised by the sudden warm weather--everyone's azaleas are blooming!! I have never seen them bloom in the fall before...have you?
The can man makes a cameo ;)

Butternut Squash Curry...a work in progress

I haven't quite decided if I like this curry or not...I'm waiting to see how it is tomorrow. Hope I like it because there is a veritable vat of it.

So, here is the creation of the mystery curry. Tavo found an enormous butternut at the market, and brought it home.

I puzzled with the whole peeling aspect...

Tavo's assistance was required, as always, to split the squash. He is the official squash halver.

Witness the master at his trade...

There was so much squash that we cubed and froze about half!
Lima beans, cooking.

Squash, onion, curry spices, tomato...
Mix together now. Hmmm...that looks suspiciously like frozen mixed vegetables...

Coconut milk

Verdict? It's decent. I really need to wait until tomorrow to see how the flavors blend, ultimately.

Just a ponder:

I probably shouldn't even talk about this here, but I'm watching the movie "Ballast" and thinking about crime. There is a ton of robberies around here--our neighborhood is the more affluent one in this area. We've even had our house broken into twice--luckily, there isn't much to steal (unless you like books). If you watch the news and such, you'll see that the vast majority of house robberies are done by teenagers. Usually, they're tried as adults, and their life is written for them. What is this? Why is this? Has it always been this way?

More variations on my favorite foods--pizza and soup

I usually read Atlanta Journal Constitution writer, John Kessler's, food blog. So when I stumbled on his review of Antico Pizza Napolatana I knew we NEEDED to try this joint. Unfortunately, I didn't bring the camera, so this is an "after" picture. Wow, wow, wow this place is good. Different than what I'm used to--there is one big table that everyone sits around, and a counter by the windows if the big table is full. Also, I hear there is a table in the kitchen, but we didn't go back to check it out. It's quite authentic, in that pretty much everyone spoke Italian and the flour, tomatoes, and other ingredients are imported. It is currently byob, so we sipped on some wine I just happened to have in the car.
We will definitely be back to have more pizza from here. Great atmosphere and the pizza is top notch. In other exciting news--look at this cute little Beaujolais! I love the mini bottles, the screw tops and I adore beaujolais :) Perfect for a picnic. Or to take to Antico Pizza.

Otherwise, we have been eating vegetable soup this week. This is such a painfully easy soup, I feel like Sandra Lee. Is it cheating to post something this easy? Sautee your onion, celery and any other vegetables you have (green pepper would have been good)
Add a couple chopped potatoes and broth to cover, cook down until potatoes are tender. Then add a bag of frozen vegetables and a can of cream of ______ soup. I used cream of mushroom, but I think cream of celery might be better. Easy food.
Baked a loaf of bread to go along with the soup. It's the "Classic White Bread" recipe from Electric Bread, with a cup of wheat flour subbed for one cup of AP flour.

Some parsley from the garden, and we're in business. With fresh bread, heels are the best! They always disappear first.

Hope you guys have a great weekend!

A post of odds and ends and an almost 5K

Unfortunately, we have had a camera mishap that erased all these really cool pictures of Atlanta at night. We had a "Wayne's World" evening the other night and watched the airplanes take off from Hart Jackson International. All the artsy pictures? Gone.

So, here's some food from when the camera decided to work again. Pesto and mozzarella on a thin wheat dough. I make pizza all the time, but this one was GOOD. I'd made the dough a couple days earlier, so it had a slightly sour taste that worked really well with the pesto.

Perfect food for the night before a race! Tavo's sister, Rockie, came down to run the Cabbagetown Romp and Stomp 5K with me on Saturday.

We met up with some more friends, and took off!! Unfortunately, everyone in the race took a wrong turn at one point, so our 5K turned out to only be 2.4 miles. I thought it was too good to be true when I finished in 22 minutes ;) After the race, we tasted chili from the festival, watched the cabbage shredding contests and listened to bluegrass. It was a gorgeous weekend.

Yesterday, we had some bean enchiladas and spanish rice. Easy and not very labor intensive. I cheat with my rice--I usually just throw a can of Herdez salsa casera and some turmeric in when I start the cooker.

Tonight, after the workout, I wanted pasta. I'm trying to up my protein intake a bit, so we have some shrimp thrown in. Not too shabby for a "clean out the cupboards" red sauce.

With the camera cooperating, I promise some more exciting posts coming up soon. Maybe even a vegetable other than tomatoes and onions.

A glass of wine and some spaghetti....squash

I know its Monday, but I'm back on my workout routine and I felt like having a glass of wine to celebrate the hundreds of push-ups, sit-ups and sprints I endured ;)

What better to go with wine than spaghetti? What better to go with working out than squash? Now that it is fall, the market is full of awesome squashes and I had to grab a few of these puppies to help keep our kitchen warm. Halve it and put face down on oiled pan; 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes, depending on size.

We still haven't had a freeze, so our basil and oregano plants are doing well. I'll wait for the weather man to tell me when to do the big harvest. They are in pots, though--do any of you keep your herbs indoors over the winter? How do they do?

I like my red sauce pretty simple. This one just has honey, garden herbs and some red pepper flakes.

...and now the kitchen is cooling down and its time to go crawl into bed with a book!