Denise's Food Blog

This is, of course, an absolute favorite, not just of mine and kids but friends and family as well so here you have it!. I will try my best to give measurements but keep in mind, I make it different every time, depending on the cheeses I have and of course who I am feeding. Mason likes it with tomatoes, Harrison likes it with bacon. One of my friends is vegetarian so sometimes I make it plan. In short, experiment, try new things with a staple recipe that is sure to please. I actually, don't start with a rue. I know many people swear by it but I think it makes the mac n cheese, well, grainy. I start with cream cheese. I use a whole brink, yup 8 oz. I cut it into cubes so it melts better. cut it right into the pan, add some milk, enough to cover the bottom, about a cup. I use a whisk and as the cream cheese starts to melt I add a little more milk about another cup. This will start your cream sauce. Use a low heat, you never want this to come to a boil. I start to add my cheeses, st

A staple for Thanksgiving or fall.... Pumkin pie. I have always used canned pumkin, its just easy. This year, however, I used a real pie pumkin. I picked up my Field Goods, and for anyone who doesn't get it and likes to cook, should. It is a wekkly or bi-weekly delivery of fresh fruit and vegetables from lacal farms. You don't know what you'll get until a couple days before hand.  I pick up my bag, and there is a pie pumkin, so I'm going to use it. I cut in half, scooped out the seeds and gookie stuff. Placed the pumkin face down on a cookie sheet with about a quarter inch of water and baked in the oven on 375. It took about an hour, you bake until you can push a fork gently through the skin. I had to add more water part way through as well. When it was done, I took it out and let it completely cool. The skin hardened back up after it cooled so I easily took a spoon and scraped it all out. Once I had all of the pumkin in a bowl, I used my shussher, that's what I c

I'm a little behind in my postings because of Thanksgiving, family and being a little busy but that doesn't mean I was not cooking! I was in the kitchen. Knowing we were going to have Turkey and leftovers, I decided Lasagna was a perfect before Thanksgiving meal. Lasagna, such a simple meal. Cheesy ooey gooey deliciousness. I finally used the last of my sauce. I had maybe enough so I decided to add a can of petite diced tomatoes to my sauce just to make sure. I don't heat up the sauce before adding to the lasagna. First, its an extra step and it's going in the oven anyway and I also don't want to prematurely melt or cook cheese. I add sausage to mine for flavor. I usually use hot loose Italian sausage, but you can use link just peel off the casing before cooking, trust me I've done this MANY times. So I usually cook the sausage first and let it cool. Next, I mix up the ricotta. The rule for eggs, use 2 eggs per pound no matter what.This includes ricotta or mea

I grew up having cranberry sauce from a can on Thanksgiving day. I loved it! I've tried whole cranberry sauce and wasn't a fan. Then I realized I can make my own cranberry sauce! So I few years ago, I tried to make my own. I discovered it's ridiculously easy to make and wow! so much better then the canned stuff I had been eating my entire life. Now, I won't ever eat it from the can again! I make of lot of cranberry sauce. I don't think I have to make this much, I give some away. You don't have to make as much as I do. I started with 44 oz. of cranberrys. I put 3 1/2 cups of water in a large pot added 3 1/2 cups of sugar and brought to a boil. I turned it down to a simmer and listen to the cranberrys pop! I love this part. I stir it up until they stop popping. I used my hand blender to make sure I all the cranberry's were ground up. I then used the juice of one orange, a very ripe, juicy orange. I squeezed it right into the pot. I decided to add som

I was so in the mood for Asian Noodle Soup. This is definitely not my specialty, I had never made this before but given my craving for it, I thought I would give it a whirl. I took a small pork roast that I had in the freezer, sliced it into thin strips. I fried them in a little olive oil and a clove of garlic. When the pork was browned I added in some chicken broth, one carton.  Equal amounts of water and a couple of bullion cubes. I like using bullion. First, I think its full of flavor but it also reminds me of when I was a child and my mother would make me a cup with some crackers when I wasn't feeling well. Anyway, enough nostalgia. I added in ground ginger, about a teaspoon. It's all I had left so I couldn't have used more if I wanted to. I cut up an onion. I would have used green onion but if you've been following, you'd know that I used the last the other day. I added some black pepper and soy sauce and let it simmer. Sometimes simplicity is best. I used rice

So.... I still have some sauce left, hmmm I guess I'll make Linguine with Red Clam sauce. It's actually one of my favorites and I order it many times when eating out. It doesn't require a lot of sauce so if you only have a little left and aren't sure what to do with it, this is a good meal to make. Quick too! It doesn't take long because the hard part is done. You can make white clam sauce from this as well, just leave the red out and add a few more spices. Anyway, I melted a couple tablespoons of butter and added about 3 cloves of garlic. I used 2 cans of whole cherrystone clams and 1 can of chopped. If it were summer I'd use fresh but.... it's not and they are wayyy expensive right now. I add the clam juice in as well. Then I add about 1-2 cups of my homemade sauce. I like it with a little kick so I chopped up one those red peppers from the other day to it also. You can add white wine, red wine or beer to this. I like beer, about oz. simmer it al

Ok, It's Chicken Parm night. Not that it's a special night or anything but.... I made a pot of sauce the other night before I started this blog. I had used plum tomatoes from the garden. The last of them as it is November but I had blanched and pureed them and then froze it. Anyway, you can't make Chicken Parm without homemade sauce. Anyway, I take out 3 bowls, one I put flour in, add some pepper, the second I scrambled 2 eggs with a clove of garlic and the 3rd I added breadcrumbs Italian seasonings and grated parmesan. I cut the chicken breast put them in a plastic bag and pound them out thin. Dredge the chicken in the flour, eggs, and then breadcrumbs. Fry in olive oil Put them in baking dishes I spread sauce on the top, flipped it over and put sauce on the other side. Sprinkled some parmesan cheese on them grated mozzarella. Bake in the oven 350 until cheese is melted and bubbly. Of course, I cooked up some macaroni and topped with sauce for a full meal. 

So I love to cook and sometimes I can spend hours creating masterpieces of food with layers and lots of dishes but today I needed quick and easy. Have an evening appointment and only 2 of 4 home for dinner I looked to see what I had available and what can I throw together. So, I came up with Fried Rice. I started out by making the rice. I boiled 2 cups of water and I added 2 chicken bullion cubes and 1 cup of rice. I diced up 2 celery stalks, about 8 baby carrots, a quarter onion and sauteed them in olive oil and a drizzle of sesame oil. I like using sesame oil but I add too much I feel like the flavor is overwhelming. I added some frozen peas.and a clove of minced garlic. I had some green onions from my cousins garden so I pulled them out of the fridge and there some peppers in there. I made my son try them and sure enough, they were hot so I sliced one of those up and added it to the mix. Now for protein. I did scramble 2 eggs and add to the frying pan.  I usually would use h

So, I decided to make a Food Blog because, well, I love food. My kids tell me I should open a restaurant. I'm flattered but really I just enjoy cooking. It's starting to get cold so I spend a lot more time cooking and making comfort foods. I don't necessarily cook healthy but I use fresh ingredients and well, it's just Yummy. Oh did I mention I don't measure? Sorry, it's just the way I cook. I eye things, try them, smell and taste to get my final product. I was busy driving to college visits this weekend so to be honest when I got home today I decided to make something quick. I am cooking up some Bratwurst and what goes well with that? Potatoes. I have red potatoes. I sliced them up stuck them in a casserole dish and whipped up a cheese sauce to bake it in. I pre-heated the oven to 350. I made a rue with butter and flour, whisked in some whole milk and added cheese. A Lot of cheese. I used cheddar, swiss and some mozzarella. But mainly cheddar, just a smidge