July 21, 2012

Homemade Mac & Cheese (with Bacon and Tuffle Oil)


homemade mac & cheese... with bacon

It came to my attention last week that I had never attempted to make Homemade Mac and Cheese.  My mom had asked me if I had a good recipe that I could share with her.  She was wanting to make Mac and Cheese as a dish to take along with her to a weekend get together at her friend’s lake house.  I racked my brain (I have a complex filing system stored up there) and came up short.  I had nothing.  Is this right?  Is this true?  But how can that be?  How is it that I have never melted cheddar into a creamy base and stirred in pasta to culminate in a gooey, cheesy, comforting dish that almost everyone has grown up on in some form of the matter?  I guess Velveeta had sufficed for the last 27 years.  That is, until now.

casarecce pasta

Once I realized that I didn’t have a macaroni and cheese recipe in my repertoire to pass along to my mom, my first instinct was to reference The Pioneer Woman.  I guess I just figured that a woman who has based her blogging career on cooking down-home, family friendly, comfort food should probably have a stellar Mac and Cheese recipe.  It wasn’t but a day later when my mom reported back to me its success and popularity.  It was a winner according to her.


July 12, 2012

Lemon Bars


silky, lucious lemon bars

I’m still trying to figure out if I’m more of a sweet tooth or salty fan. You would think I’d have that figured out by now. The thing is I’m pretty sure I like both equally. There are times when I down right crave a bag of salt & vinegar chips. Then again, there are also days when nothing else will do but a heaping scoop of Bluebell Banana Split Ice Cream. (Have you had this flavor of ice cream? No? Do your self a favor and go to your nearest grocery store and buy some NOW. It’s life changing).

crumbly buttery dough

The days that I do crave sweets, I’m often torn between satisfying myself with something chocolate or fruity. Do I want a dessert that’s more rich and substantial or do I want something lighter and perhaps a little tart? That’s often my predicament. Decisions like this make for quite the stress filled life, I know.