Amazing 4 Cheese Mac and Cheese

Sometimes, you just need some mac and cheese. 

Yesterday, I had a rough day that ended with my dog pulling me backwards into a huge pile of mud and my fiancé literally hosing me down in our backyard because he didn't want me to track mud through the house.

Yeah, I needed this.

When I found this recipe that inspired me to make this, I was sad. It called for marscapone cheese, which, if you're not familiar, has about 10 grams of fat in every 2 tablespoons. EEK! 

Justin came to the rescue when he suggested substituting the marscapone for reduced fat cream cheese. Add that to the list of reasons why I am marrying him!

Make sure you check out the original recipe here, but here is what I used:

1 box of whole wheat elbow noodles

5 tbsp of butter

1/2 tsp of olive oil

1 shallot, diced

4-5 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup of flour

2 cups of milk (I used fat free)

1/3 cup of reduced fat cream cheese

8 ounces (one hunk) of gruyere cheese

8 ounces of fontina cheese (my new love)

8 ounces of reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese

1/4 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of pepper

1/4 tsp of nutmeg

panko bread crumbs

Look at all that fresh shredded cheese...shred your cheese please. I promise you'll thank me later.

Here is what you do...

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Put on a pot of boiling water and cook your pasta. 

2. Meanwhile, in a large pan, heat your butter and olive oil. Then, add your shallot and garlic and cook for about 2-3 minutes on medium high heat.

3. Add your flour and whisk constantly for about 2-3 minutes until thick. 

Butter + flour = roux

4. Slowly add your 2 cups of milk and stir the mixture until it is smooth. 

5. Allow your milk to warm, about 4 minutes. Then, add cream cheese and all your other cheeses and stir until thick, cheesy and smooth. Then, add salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

6. Drain your pasta, then add to your cheese sauce and mix well.

7. Pour the mixture into a large baking dish, top evenly with bread crumbs and bake for 30 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and let sit for about 5-10 minutes.
9. ENJOY!!

This (and a glass of wine) completely turned my day around. I hope you love it as much as I did :)

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White Bean Something

I just started a new page called Recipe Flops. This recipe inspired it.

This was supposed to be white bean gratin, but instead, it was a huge disaster. PLEASE look at and follow the original recipe. I did NOT do this, and here is what happened:

What IS that??

Ugh. Here is what I used (adapted from this recipe - use this recipe!! Not mine!!):

2 15 oz. cans of great white northern beans (original called for 3)
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 shallot, diced
4-5 garlic cloves, diced
1/2 cup of low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup of 2% milk
1/4 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of pepper
2/3 cup of panko bread crumbs
1 and 1/2 cups of parmesan (original recipe uses 3 cheeses)

Here is what I did...I will be sure to let you know the many ways I went wrong:

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Drain and rinse the beans - I did this right!

2. In a large pan, sauté your garlic and onion in 1 tbsp of olive oil. So far, so good.
3. Add your beans and stir until hot, about 3-4 minutes. At this point, things still seemed to be going okay.
4. Here is where I went super wrong. The original recipe tells you to take out 2 cups of the beans and add them to a blender with 1 tbsp of olive oil, milk, chicken broth, salt and pepper. Because I was only using 2 cans, I decided to take out HALF the beans and do this. Poor decision. Why? Because I didn't adapt any of the measurements of the other ingredients to match my change. Oops.
5. Once you blend the ingredients together, you add everything back in the pan. It was at this point I began to wonder if things had gone a little wrong...

6. If I am not mistaken, there should be WAY more whole beans in there then blended beans. Anyway, I let this warm up, then I added it to my baking dish and put the bread crumbs and cheese on top.

7. Because I couldn't find fontina and gruyere, I decided to just use parmesan. Another bad mistake. Anyway, I baked this for about 25 minutes.

Please follow the original recipe. I am sure it is fantastic. This was so far away from fantastic. Justin and I kept trying to find redeeming qualities...but that just did not happen.

Enjoy my first posted recipe flop :)

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Homemade Pizza Dough (and updated pizza recipe)!

Don't be intimidated. Making your own dough is SUPER easy and really delicious.

Plus, it makes you feel really cool to be able to make your own dough. At least it makes me feel cool.

This is all sorts of delicious. AND it's much more natural than the dough you buy at the store. MAKE YOUR OWN DOUGH.

Here's what you need (adapted from How Sweet It Is):

1 packet of dry active yeast - if it doesn't look like the package below, you need 3 tsp:

1 1/2 tbsp of pure honey
1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil
1 1/8 cups of warm water
3 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of dry basil
1 tsp of garlic powder

Here is what you do...

1. Mix water, olive oil, honey and yeast together in a big bowl. Stir with a spoon until the honey no longer clumps on the bottom. Let sit for 10-15 minutes until it looks foamy.

2. Add 2 1/2 cups of flour, salt, basil and garlic powder. Stir until it is a big ball of dough!

3. Add your additional 1/2 cup of flour slowly and knead the dough. You just don't want it to be super sticky, but you might not need all the flour.
4. Coat your bowl with olive oil, and roll your dough in it. Let your dough sit for at least 90 minutes. It will rise - this is AMAZING.
5. When you're ready to bake your pizza, preheat you oven to 375 degrees.
6. You all know I use a pizza stone, so if you're using a pizza stone, let it warm up in the oven. If not, then skip this step.
7. Roll out your dough with some flour so it does not stick to your counter.

8. Place the dough on your pizza stone or cookie sheet and assemble your pizza. Currently my favorite toppings are: pizza sauce, turkey pepperoni (on the sauce and under the cheese), about 1 1/2 bags of 2% milk mozzarella, italian seasoning, fresh garlic, and fresh shredded parmesan.

9. You can also brush a mixture of 4 garlic clove, blended with about 2 tbsp of melted butter onto your crust before you bake for a REALLY great tasting crust. 

10. Bake for 12 minutes, then turn and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

11. Remove from the oven and let sit 10-15 minutes, then ENJOY!!

This dough is fantastical. You will LOVE it, and you will feel so bad ass because you FREAKING MADE IT!!!

So easy. DO IT! I'm off to vacation for a few days. Is it still vacation when you are bringing approximately 20 cases to read? I'm going to say yes.

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Thai Beef Tacos (you don't need a grill!)

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

It's a good day. So, you should eat some tacos.

I posted this for all my lovely friends across the country living in small apartments in big cities with NO GRILLS. Note to you all: you can still grill steak! You just need a cast iron skillet:

Yes, they are a bit expensive, but totally worth it if you don't have a grill.

Bear in mind before making this recipe: you need to marinate the steak overnight. Just wanted to give you a heads up!

Here is what you need (adapted from this recipe) - if you like cilantro, use the original recipe. I am NOT a fan of cilantro, so I left it out:

1 lb of flank steak

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

3/4 cup of light coconut milk

1 tbsp sesame oil

6 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp of fresh ginger, grated

2 tbsp brown sugar

1/3 cup of sweet chili sauce

This is sweet chili sauce - it is SO good. Put it on top of your tacos, too:

Here is what you do:

1. Season your flank steak with salt and pepper

2. Blend all your other ingredients (or mix). Put in a large ziplock bag, put your steak in it, and let it marinade overnight.

3. When you're ready to cook it, take it out of the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

4. Preheat your broiler, and put your cast iron skillet on high heat (and open your window - this will get a little smoky!). 

5. Brush canola oil over your skillet.

6. Cook your steak on each side for about 3.5 minutes. 

7. Once you have cooked each side, place in the broiler for about 4 minutes.

8. Remove your steak from the oven, take it off the skillet and let rest for 15 minutes.

9. Cut your steak into strips and place it in tacos with toppings like sweet chili sauce, romaine lettuce, red onion, and whatever other toppings you want!

10. ENJOY!

These were DELICIOUS. The steak was really tasty - the marinade adds a lot of flavor. I hope you enjoy this as much as we did - have a GREAT weekend!!

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Chocolate Cupcakes

The name says it all.

You guys totally rejected my cauliflower soup. I felt bad about that, so I decided to make it up to you.

I know. They are beautiful. Ready for the best part?

100 calories. Only 2 grams of fat.

Eat them. Love them. Don't feel guilty about them.

Here's what you need (from skinny taste)...

For the cupcake (this recipe made about 18 cupcakes for me):

1 package of Duncan Hines Chocolate fudge cake mix
1 package of fat free sugar free pudding mix
1 cup of pumpkin (make sure it's not pumpkin pie filling)
1 and 1/3 cups of water

For the chocolate glaze:

1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar
1 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp 1% milk
1/4 tsp of vanilla extract

Here's what you do...

1. Preheat your oven to 350 and line a muffin tray with cupcake liners
2. Mix water, cake mix, pudding mix and pumpkin in a bowl. Mix well.

3. Pour into cupcake tins and bake for about 40-45 minutes - until a toothpick comes out clean. This took awhile for me. They are really really soft, so if you can never get your toothpick perfectly clean, that's okay.
4. Meanwhile, mix sugar, cocoa powder, milk and vanilla in a bowl. This will not look like a lot, but it's not meant to be - it's not icing, it's a glaze.
5. Pour your glaze into a ziplock bag and cut a piece of the corner off. This will allow you to pour it over the cupcakes.
6. Once the cupcakes are done, let them cool for 15-20 minutes before you put on your glaze.
7. ENJOY!!

These are so freaking delicious. It STILL blows my mind that they are this good and not crazy unhealthy.

Make these this week. They will make your Mondays better :)

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Cauliflower Soup (I promise, it's good)

Okay, so don't stop reading. Yes, this soup is made from cauliflower. No, it does not taste like crap. Have I lead you astray yet? I didn't think so.

This soup is delicious and creamy, but crazy low in fat. It's also really filling. I am a fan.

Here is what you need (adapted from whole lifestyle nutrition)...

One head of cauliflower - make sure there is no brown on it - chopped into pieces

2 tbsp of butter

1 large yellow onion

4-5 cloves of garlic, diced

4 cups of chicken (or vegetable) stock

1 tsp of dried thyme

1 tsp of pepper

salt to taste

Here is what you do...

1. Melt butter in a large pot on medium high heat. Stir in onion and garlic and let sauté about 4-5 minutes.

2. Add cauliflower, thyme and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, and then let simmer for about 30 minutes, until the cauliflower is soft. 

3. Add salt and pepper. 

4. Then, you can either pour your soup into a large blender, blend it until smooth, then add back to your pot, OR you can leave it in your pot and blend with an immersion blender.*

5. Once it's back on the heat, add the half and half and stir. Let simmer another 5-10 minutes more until thick.

6. ENJOY!

*If you like to make soups, immersion blenders are AMAZING. They make it 100% easier and they are actually fairly inexpensive. I got mine for $30.

Make this soup. It is so good and quite healthy. It's ALMOST not soup weather anymore, so DO IT NOW! 

Have a great weekend :)

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Healthy and Delicious Banana Bread Muffins

I have been so lazy this weekend, however, I have cooked A LOT.

This recipe, however, comes from my fantastic fiancé, Justin. He was nice enough to walk me through the steps to make these muffins and let me stop and take pictures :)

The recipe was inspired by this book (buy it here):

If you don't own it, go buy it. It's expensive, but totally worth it because it has EVERY recipe imaginable. At this point, he has changed it SO much, it really does not resemble the original recipe. BUT, credit must be paid.

ONTO THE BAKING.

Here is what you need...

2 cups of 100% whole wheat flour

1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt

2 eggs

3-4 REALLY ripe bananas

3/4 tsp of baking soda

1/2 tbsp of vanilla

2/3 cup of blue agave nectar

6 tbsp of melted butter

Pinch of salt

Your bananas should look like this:

Side note: blue agave is an EXCELLENT substitute for sugar. It's way lower on the glycemic index (read: less fattening), and it's just awesome. Use it.

Here is what you do...

1. Preheat oven to 345 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, mash up your bananas and add your eggs. Whisk or blend until bananas are no longer chunky.

3. Add yogurt, blue agave, baking soda, vanilla, butter and salt. Blend again until it is pretty smooth.

If you don't own one of these blenders, they're about $15 at Target. Buy one.

4. Add flour 1 cup at a time blending in between.

5. Pour into a muffin tray and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

6. Let cool, and ENJOY!

I love when he makes these muffins. They make the BEST snack and, despite the healthy ingredients, they taste DELICIOUS.

Happy Sunday :)

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Mahi Mahi with a Pineapple Sauce

It's been a crazy week. Somehow, I found time to give my blog a makeover. Like it?? BIG thanks to J.D. for all his help :)

For some reason, this week made me miss home (Florida). So, I decided to make something that reminded me of home. 

I'm very boring. I usually grill my fish with some seasoning, end of story. I needed a change.

I found this recipe on The Novice Chef, which is one of my new favorite blogs. Her recipes are simple, easy and delicious. 

Here is what you need (from The Novice Chef)...

Mahi mahi (recipe makes enough sauce for 4 good size pieces)
Salt
Pepper
1 tbsp of butter
1 large shallot, sliced
2 tbsp of brown sugar
1/2 cup of crushed pineapple
1 and 1/2 tsp of low sodium soy sauce
juice of 1 lemon

Don't buy mahi unless it looks like this

Here is what you do...

1. In a pan large enough to put all your fish in, melt the butter over medium heat. Add your shallots and stir until soft, about 4-5 minutes.
2. Add the brown sugar and stir until it is melted
3. Add pineapple, soy sauce and lemon and let it boil until most of the liquid has reduced, about 5 minutes. 

4. Pour your sauce into a food processor and blend until smooth, set aside.
5. Add a swirl of olive oil to your pan.
6. Season your mahi mahi with salt and pepper to taste.
7. Place in the pan and cook on medium high heat about 3 minutes on each side. 
8. Lowed the heat and add your sauce to your fish. Try to coat both sides and cook 1-2 minutes more on each side.
9. Place a plate covered with sauce and enjoy!

Recipes for the side dishes coming soon :)

I would suggest eating this over some cous cous or rice, which I did not do, but will do next time. 

Have a great weekend!!

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