It's Been Quite Sometime

It has been over a month since I have last blogged. There are no excuses for not having blogged and I am going to get right back into just in time for the start of the holiday season. Tonight when I arrived home from work, I set forth with starting laundry, picking up around the house and heading into the kitchen to do some baking. I already knew what I would be making per Randy's request, blueberry muffins. Of course after they were done baking I just had to try one and nothing beats a warm blueberry muffin with a dollop of butter.

Something For Me

I have been wanting to make macaroni and cheese and I know that Randy doesn't really care for it unless of course it is make with velveeta. When I went grocery shopping on Saturday morning I decided to buy the cheese and some noodles to make some mac and cheese for myself. Well when Randy had returned home from hunting I told him that our dinner tonight was macaroni and cheese made with orange cheese. I was thinking that maybe that would change Randy's mind and hey what do you know, Randy actually said the mac and cheese tasted really good. Well I guess from now on I will be using the orange cheese. Lol.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

2 cups rigatoni noodles
4 tablespoons butter
3/4 cups panko bread crumbs
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups Wisconsin sharp cheddar cheese (orange cheese)

Prepare noodles according to the directions on the package. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 2 quart casserole dish. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter; add bread crumbs and toss to coat. Set aside.
Meanwhile, prepare cheese sauce. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in flour until blended. Gradually stir in milk; cook until mixture thickens slightly and is smooth. Remove saucepan from heat and stir in cheese until melted.
Place drained noodles in casserole. Pour cheese sauce over noodles. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over top. Bake 20 minutes or until bubbly and crumbs are golden.

But It's Not Apple Crisp

I was going to make apple crisp the other night but then I came across this recipe in my The New Good Houskeeping Cookbook and thought I would give it a try. Well, when Randy looked at this dessert in the pan he said, "That's not apple crisp, is it? I said, "It is similiar to apple crisp and you should try it before you decide whether you like it or not." Randy did try this and did not really care for it. On Saturday night I set to making the original apple crisp recipe that I usually do and this went over well with Randy. So I guess instead of straying away and trying something different I will just stick to the original.

Crunchy Apple Dessert

4 large cooking apples (McIntosh apples from the orchard in Mexico, NY)
1/4 cup golden raisins
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats, uncooked
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Peel apples and cut each in half; remove cores and slice apples. Grease an 8"x8" baking dish. Combine apple slices, raisins, and lemon juice in baking dish.
In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Remove from heat, stir in oats and remaining ingredients until mixture forms large crumbs
Spoon oat mixture on top of apple mixture. Bake 30 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is crisp and lightly browned. Serve warmed or chilled.

A Great Tasting Meal

A meal that we both agreed on. Randy and I both were discussing how we wanted to have tacos for dinner one night. Instead of using ground beef, I used steak instead. This dish certainly satisfied our craving for tacos.

Steak Tacos

4 steaks , cooked well and cut into bite size pieces
1 large tomato, cut into chunks
lettuce
1 package taco seasoning
shredded 4 cheese mexican
sour cream
soft taco shells

Prepare the taco to suit your taste. Enjoy. If you feel like going back for seconds, go right ahead.

It's Been Awhile

It certainly has been awhile since I have posted. I made this dish the other night but am just getting a chance to post. This is going to be our dinner for tonight as soon as Randy comes home from hunting. I am going to be in my kitchen tonight making something with the apples that my coworker Patrick got for me while apple picking in Mexico, NY. I have a whole bag of delicious McIntosh apples and am looking forward to all the tasty treats I am going to make. So everyone can look forward to some great posts to come.

Muffins For Breakfast

On Wednesday when I came home from work I decided to make some muffins to have for breakfast for the rest of the week. I am usually a breakfast eater but the first part of the week I was just having a glass of orange juice and calling it good. I was thinking of making some blueberry ones but I know that Randy has been saying he wants to make some blueberry pancake so I left the blueberries alone and used some cinnamon chips instead.

Cinnamon Chip Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 cup milk

1/2 cup cinnamon chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a muffin tin. I chose to use my mini muffin tin.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, beat egg and milk until blended. Stir into flour mixture and add the cinnamon chips. Stir just until the mixture is moistened, the batter will be lumpy.

Spoon batter into the muffin cups. Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden and toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean. Immediately remove muffins from pan. Serve warm or let cool on a wire rack to enjoy later.

Four Years Ago Today....

I married my high school sweetheart and my best friend. Since I didn't do any cooking or baking today, I am going to share some photos from our wedding. The picture below is right after we had walked down the aisle after becoming husband and wife. As you can tell from the smiles on our faces what a wonderful moment this was for us both.

Randy and I as we were getting ready to cut our wedding cake. When it came time to feed each other a piece of cake, well let's just say I had a lot more cake on my face than in my mouth. That was quite the moment and had everyone laughing. Our cake was made by Cindy's Cake Shop.
The decorations and my flowers were done by Randy's cousin Stephanie.

One last picture of us enjoying our special day.