White Cheddar Macaroni

 This is a basic macaroni and cheese only with better cheese. 
1 1/2 tablespoons of flour

1 1/2 cups of milk
1 1/2 tablespoons of butte not in pic. 
1 cup of white cheddar (I used the cheap store brand not the stuff from the deli)
1 cup of Beechar's cheese (its a cheese shop for Pike's place but they sell it in the deli blocks of cheese If you can't find it use Gueyere.
 3/4 pound of dry pasta any smallish kind

Melt butter in a medium sauce pan and whisk in butter.  Cook for 30 seconds.

Whisk in milk and stir constantly on medium heat for about 5 min until it slightly thickens.  Simmer but don't boil.  Slowly add in about 3/4 a cup of each kind of cheese.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Stir cooked pasta. 

Add a little more milk or cheese as needed to desired consistency.  I like a saucy macaroni so I always do a stove top version.  You might need to add some salt and pepper too after the pasta was added.

Roasted Garlic Cheese Rolls

Roasted Garlic
1 whole head of glaric
a dash of salt
olive oil

Remove excess paper from the head of garlic.  Cut off the tips of the cloves.  Place on tin foil and sprinkle with salt and oil and bundle up.  Roast in a 425 degree oven for 40-50 min.

Dough
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of yeast

Sprinkle yeast and salt on a cup of warm water and let sit for 10 min.  Stir in flour and then knead for about 5 min with a stand mixer until the dough begins to pull away.

Coat in oil and cover.  Let rise in a warm place until doubled about an hour.

Filling:
Roasted garlic
risen dough
1 stick of butter
1 cup of mozzerella
1 cup of cheddar

Squeeze out the soft garlic from the cooled head and mix into butter.

Roll out dough into a large rectangle like you would for cinnamon rolls.

Spread with garlic butter and sprinkle with 3/4 of the mozzerella and then the 3/4 of the cheddar.  Roll up into a log.

 Place rolls in a baking dish and let rise until doubled.  Bake at 325 for about 30 min until golden.  Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and let melt. 

Chocolate Pie

Crust
1 package of regular oreos
1 stick of butter

Finely chop up Oreo in food processor or blender.  Melt butter and stir together.  Press into a pie pan.  The bottom of a measuring cup works well to make the edges and bottom.  Place in the refrigerator to firm up.

Filling:
5 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups of cream
3 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla
8 oz of good chocolate

In a cold sauce pan whisk together eggs, cream and sugar.  Over a low heat bring to a simmer whisking the whole time so you don't get lumps of egg.  Once simmer remove from heat and break chocolate into pieces and whisk until melted and then stir in vanilla.

Pour into crust and place in the refrigerator until firm for at least two hours.

Slice and serve.

Beef Barley Soup

This was a cooking triumph.  My mom said it was the best food she has ever eaten in her whole life.  I can always judge if something is good is if she takes seconds. 

1 carton of beef stock
1  onion
1 carrot
1 cup of uncooked barley
1 can of tomato paste
about a pound of beef.  You can use stew meat but its cheaper if you buy it uncut
several cloves of garlic
mushrooms
parsley flakes
Johnny's salt
a little lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to brighten up at the end

 Cut up the meat into bite size pieces and brown slightly.  be sure not to crowd the pan.  It doesn't have to be cooked all the way through.  Dice up the onion and slice the carrot.  Chop up the mushrooms.  Add to crock pot or large sauce pan.

Deglaze the pan bay adding the beef stock and scrapping up the bottom.

Add in tomato pasta and broth to the pan.  Add a much of cloves of garlic whole.  Don't worry it will simmer for a long time so it won't be bad.  Add some salt and simmer for at least two hours on low adding water as needed.   Add in some parsley flakes. I lett mine simmer most of the day.  Longer is better.

45 min before serving add in barley and adjust the seasoning. I a little lemon juice or cider vinegar to brighten it up.

Serve with bread and salad.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

1 cup of melted butter
1 1/4 cup of warm milk
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of white sugar
2 tablespoon of cinnamon
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon of salt
3 1/2 cups of flour (all purpose of bread flour)
2 1/4 teaspoon of yeast

Sprinkle yeast and a pinch of sugar on top of warm milk and let set for 10 min until bubbly.

Whisk in egg yolks, butter (save on tablespoon of later), sugar and salt.  Stir in flour.

Knead in mixer for 5 min and then briefly knead by hand to finish off. Let rise for 1 1/2 hours or until doubled.

Roll out into a long rectangle.  Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together. Sprinkle on dough and roll up and place in a loaf pan and let rise for 1/2 hour. Bake at 350 for an hour until golden.  Let cool completely.

Whisk 1 1/2 sticks of soft butter with 1/2 cup of brown sugar and a tablespoon of cinnamon.

Slice and serve with cinnamon butter.

It also makes great french toast.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bark

3 chocolate bars.  Chocolate chips are designed not to melt so they don't work well.
1 cup of peanut butter
1 cup of powdered sugar
peanut butter cups chopped up (bought them pre chopped at URM)
You can make any number of variations on this.

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler and pour into a lined 9x13 pan.

Whisk together peanut butter and powder sugar. Dollop onto hot chocolate and let rest for a couple min.  Swirl with a knife and press on peanut butter cups. Place in the fridge to set completely.

Chop into pieces and keep cool.

Sweet Scones

These are a quick simple biscuit/scones.

Here's what you need 

2 cups of flour plus more for kneading 

4 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt 

1/3 cup of shorting 

1 egg 

2 teaspoons of vanilla 

1/4 of sugar plus more for dusting 

3/4 cup of cream plus more for topping

 Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Cut shorting into flour mixture until resembles course crumbs.

 Add in eggs, cream, and vanilla until combined. 

Dust dough with flour and knead briefly.

 Roll out into a disk about 1 inch thick and cut with a cookie cutter or biscuit cutter. 

Place on a cookie sheet. Brush with cream and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes or until slightly golden.

Cool and served with sweetened cream and jam or lemon curd and of course coffee.