What's for Dinner?

[Mfamom]

lol macabre, the plate in the last pic of tamalies is same pattern I had when dh and I first got our house!  I gave the plates and bowls to my brother, but I still have two bowls and coffee cups with that pattern.  LOL 

[GoingNuts]

All the stress of the past few weeks has left me craving comfort food, but it's also left my stomach feeling not-so-hot.  I really wanted to dig in to some good old-fashioned mac and cheese, but knew all that fat would seriously aggravate my already flaring GERD.  I remembered seeing this recipe, so I gave it a shot.  I'll post the exact recipe, then will add how I would tweak it next time.  Keep in mind I halved it.

Creamy Mac and Four Cheeses

1 16 oz. box elbow mac
2 10 oz. pkgs. frozen pureed winter squash
2 cups low fat milk
1 1/3 cups grated extra sharp cheddar
2/3 cup grated monterey jack cheese
1/2  cup part skim ricotta
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp. dry mustard
2 Tbsp. plain bread crumbs
2 Tbsps. grated parmagiano
1 tsp. olive oil

1.  Preheat oven to 375.  Coat 9 X 13 baking dish with cooking spray.

2.  Cook pasta according to directions.  Drain well, and transfer to baking dish.

3.  While pasta is cooking, place frozen squash and milk in a large saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring and breaking up the squash until it defrosts.  Turn up the heat and cook until mixture is just simmering.

4.  Remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the cheddar, jack, ricotta, cayenne, mustard and salt.  Pour mixture over pasta and mix thoroughly.

5.  Combine bread crumbs, parmagiano and olive oil and sprinkle over pasta.

6. Bake about 25 minutes or until cheese is bubbling.  Then broil for about 3 minutes until top is brown.

I doubled the cayenne and added some Frank's hot sauce in addition, but this was still a bit too sweet for me.  It would have been better had I been able to find extra sharp cheddar, but my grocery didn't have it.  I might actually use all extra sharp cheddar, and skip the jack cheese altogether. 

DS thought bacon crumbles would have been a good addition, but that would have defeated the purpose, LOL.  Some smoky poblano bits probably would be good too; maybe even a spinkle of smoked paprika to mix in with the cheese mixture.

Served with a black bean, tomato, yellow pepper and cucumber salad.  Pretty darned good. 

[ajasfolks2]

Leftover Minestrone soup & cornbread.

Made pot of soup last night . . . have hidden the leftover cornbread or it won't make it to this evening!

I wanted to go to Whole Foods Paycheck today to get tons of veggies & fruit, but couldn't be gone from house for that long . . . my credit card will thank me, LOL!

Craving fried green tomatoes.   Or at least fried zucchini!

[TabiCat]

Grilled chicken and fresh spinich on whole wheat sandwiches with cucumber salad.

[GoingNuts]

Tuna Pasta Salad.  Quick and easy during this chaotic week!

[Janelle205]

Turkey Cheese Sausages with peppers and onions, spinach pasta, steamed broccoli.

[eragon]

last night

pork steaks in mustard sauce.

with new potatos and whole green beans.

i chop onions and mushrooms, fry them, then add the pork steaks until browned then add pork stock, white wine until steaks completely covered, add dijon mustard ,stir, and leave to simmer and reduce.

I cook the potatos with skins left on, and then crush them and use milk/soya free marge, and white pepper.

i never add marge to any other veg. never liked butter/loads of salt  on my veg!

my mum liked this dinner, and she is woman who is hard to please food wise.

[Janelle205]

Tonight:

An experiment.  Janelle version Enchiladas Suizas.

My brother really liked them at one of the local Mexican restaurants, so I've searched the internet, combined about 7 different recipes to be close to what he had and liked, and will be trying it out tonight.

Hopefully they will turn out ok.  I told him that my goal was not an exact copy, just something tasty, and he was ok with that.

[TabiCat]

good LUCK

[GoingNuts]

Mmmmm, I love enchilada suizas.  I'll be over around 6. 

Black bean/corn/tomato/cheese quesadillas tonight, with salad.

ETA:  With guacamole - how could I have forgotten that?

[Janelle205]

You should have come, goingnuts - we have tons of leftovers...which will be dinner tomorrow.

My notoriously particular brother thought they were delicious.  Have typed up the recipe so that my Mom can make them again for him.

They were pretty delicious.  DH went back home today, I'm staying a bit longer.  He is upset that he didn't get to try my new recipe.

[TabiCat]

Taco soup tonight.

[Janelle205]

Pasta with peppers and sausage.

[YouKnowWho]

So the original menu included burgers on the grill, buttered potatoes and mixed veggies.

Which was fine until the paint on my grill decided to flake off all over my burgers    And thankfully it did it at the end of season so we will be searching out a clearance model.

So Burger King it was, ugh.

[eragon]

paprika chicken and rice.
yummy!