New place to post recipes

[Clipper]

I am not a fan of ground turkey anything Chris, but the other ingredients sound really good. I may try it with the normal lean ground beef. Kit, your tortilla soup recipe also sounds great and I will definitely be trying THAT one. I have become an avid fan of black beans over the last couple years. Black beans are what I use in my chili, and also in bean soup.

Kit. I love mac and cheese. Kathy makes a great mac and cheese with the best cheese we can find here. Cabot's Extra sharp cheddar and a decent quality Monterey Jack, both sold at Sam's club. Most cheddar we find here is dyed bright orange, is grainy and dry, and is simply disgusting. The only time we can buy any real fine quality "store cheese" cut from the big wheel is when we travel to Atlanta or Chattanooga. There is a great cheese factory in Sweetwater Tn. that is always a planned lunch and shopping stop.

Put your recipe up Kit. Kathy doesn't have hers written down. She uses the cheese, finely diced onion, a little bit of dry mustard, and she makes her white sauce with lots of butter, the shredded cheeses, whole milk and flour. After she mixes it, she puts it in a casserole, sprinkles seasoned bread crumbs on top and bakes it in the oven until crusty and bubbly on top. I love the crusty topping. THAT kind of mac and cheese is a meal, not a side dish.

Don't diss my Kraft dinner though. I love that stuff for a quick side dish or for lunch. It is not gourmet, but it is damned good, lol. When I was single, one of my "go to" quick suppers was Kraft dinner with either a can of hormel chili, or a can of tuna mixed in. That and a salad did the trick after a hard days work. One DOES have to wonder what is in that orange powder though. LOL. Hey, a working bachelor has to do what he has to do to survive. I AM lucky in that I, like you, do know how to cook. I used to make some great meals for myself on weekends.

[kit]

I only like turkey twice a year... once at Thanksgiving and one great big greasy turkey leg at the Renaissance Fair in Sterling NY. Okay... so ground turkey and turkey bacon have less fat than ground pork or beef and therefore is better for your heart. And poultry is higher in overall nutrition. True, but it just ain't the real deal when you sneak it into traditional beef or pork dishes. So I'm with you, Clipster... might as well go for the gold. It's like putting filter tips on cigarettes. Why... so the filters will keep you a little healthier and allow you to buy cigarettes and spend money for a longer period of time before the tobacco finally kills you? Doesn't make sense. It's just a marketing ploy which the cigarette manufacturers and our tax-crazy government just love. If you're going to smoke or drink or eat pork or beef or make rich French sauces, do it right for goodness sake and enjoy it.

KathyClipper's Mac-n-Cheese is a lot like mine, so it's only fitting that she write her recipe down and post it here... or you can do it. You have the time, don't you? One little secret I use that you didn't mention is that I also put a smidgen of nutmeg in my white sauce as well as a bit of white pepper. Also I use multiple cheeses rather than just cheddar. But hers sounds just as yummy, so it's your turn to post.

Cabot's X-sharp cheddar is rather good cheese and I use it myself. But processed orange cheddar comes from the depths of Hell. It's not real cheese... it's spooky... it will make us sterile... make us lose the war in the Middle East... and will make our belly-buttons fall off. Stay away from artificial orange cheese (glad you put 'lol' after saying that Kraft boxed Mac-N-Cheese 'is damned good')

Clipper, we did some wild and crazy things when we were young and single, didn't we? Like smoking, drinking, occasionally cavorting with wayward women, and eating boxed mac-n-cheese. But we know better now, don't we? (emphasis on the '?')

[Clipper]

Here's Kathy's basic mac and cheese recipe.

1/2 lb of elbow macaroni or penne pasta
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
1 large egg
1 tsp dry mustard
a couple of dashes of nutmeg (yep, she uses nutmeg too Kit. I never knew that.)
3 cups whole milk
1/2 pound of shredded cheddar
1/2 lb shredded monterey jack or muenster cheese
a small to medium sized sweet onion finely diced or grated
a dash or two of paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper

For her topping she uses another 3 tbsp of butter (melted) and a cup of seasoned bread crumbs.

Cook the macaroni in salted water while you make the sauce.

In a separate pot melt the butter and stir in the flour and mustard, stirring the roux until there is no lumps and long enough to cook out the floury taste (about 5 minutes or so)

Stir in the milk, onion and paprika.

Temper the egg and add it. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese and season with the salt and pepper. Pour it into a 2 quart casserole and sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese. Add the crumb topping and bake for 30 or 40 minutes at 350 until the top is brown and crispy.

Let it rest for a few minutes before serving. It is going to be volcanic lava hot when you take it from the oven and needs to cool a bit before serving. (Kathy's mac and cheese will sit and bubble for about 5 minutes AFTER it is removed from the oven. I would not want to blister my mouth with that molten cheese, lol)

[Clipper]

PS: I am not ashamed to admit that I STILL love the box mac and cheese occasionally, orange mystery powder and all, haha. Better take a seat before you read this next line Kit. Kathy and I both LOVE hamburger helper skillet lasagna for a quick supper, accompanied by a side salad and a couple slices of her home made bread, slathered with butter. LOL

[kit]

Kathy's Mac-N-Cheese is almost identical to mine except I don't use additional salt (the cheese has enough for me) and I use white pepper. It takes a little longer to make this than the boxed stuff, but it's really worth it in my opinion. One thing puzzles me though, Clip. You mention tempering the egg, but there's no egg in the ingredients listing. Can you clarify this? I don't use any egg in mine.

If you like box mac-n-cheese or Hamburger Helper - I say go for it. As long as it's something you really like, and nobody is going to die because of it, enjoy yourself. In fact, I may try that Hamburger Helper Skillet Lasagna thing once myself... just to see if it's something I shouldn't be living without. Thanks for the tip.

[Clipper]

Thanks for pointing out the lack of the egg in the recipe Kit. I went back and put it in. She adds the salt simply because I like it a little more salty than what you get from just the cheese. Sometimes she uses the white pepper, but I like the fresh cracked black pepper instead. I really don't notice much difference in flavor between the two, other than we buy the white pepper in a spice bottle already ground and we have no idea how old it might be. She says the egg helps it "set" when you bake it.

The skillet lasgana is good for a quick supper Kit. Sometimes she substitutes loose Italian sausage instead of the ground beef, or a mix of the two. It isn't exactly gourmet dining, but it is a quick supper and doesn't use a half dozen pots and pans. On nights when she might not feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen, it whips up quickly and all you have to do is wipe the skillet out with a paper towel and stuff it in the dishwasher.

[Clipper]

Sometimes I sneak by the pot and sprinkle a dash or two of Tobasco in the cheese sauce when she isn't looking.

I found another use for the orange mystery powder from the Kraft boxed mac and cheese. She commandeered the macaroni from a box of it to use in soup once. The envelope sat in the cupboard until one night when I was popping popcorn. I put it in a little dish, added about a quarter cup of grated parmesan (that cheap crap in a bottle) stirred it really good with a fork, and sprinkled it on the hot buttered popcorn. It was pretty damn tasty. LOL

[chris]

Clipper you could never get me to eat ground turkey anything either ....except this recipe. My sister made this and never told me it was turkey till I asked her for the recipe. My exception to the rule.

speaking of cheeses...I made myself an Egg mcmuffin and couldn't figure out why my egg tastes "HOT"...turns out Wegmans put pepper jack slices with the regular cheese slices. Better read labels next time and bot buy by sight.

[Clipper]

Haha! That will snap your eyes open at the breakfast table for sure.

I love pepperjack. That is what I order if I get a cheeseburger at Perkins, and I use it at home for omelettes and grilled cheese. I really would imagine it is quite a surprise if you DON'T want a spicy egg, lol.

I simply don't eat ground turkey because I imagine that they grind everything but the gobble into it. I am quite finicky about poultry. Birds are dirty damn things. Anything that eats the corn out of a cowpie is not something that I am crazy about eating, LOL. I probably eat worse in bologna and hot dogs, but I just have a thing about chicken and turkey.

[kit]

Clip... I broke down and bought a box of Hamburger Helper Lasagna yesterday and made it for supper. Big mistake for me. I immediately found out why I can't eat most boxed food products. Among other reasons, they're loaded with salt. Having high blood pressure, I cut down my salt intake and each serving of the HH has 2400mg of salt. YOW ! It takes me almost a week to consume that much salt. It also contains MSG along with a bunch of chemicals that scare me. I ate some if it but had to throw the rest away. It was a shame to waste a pound of top round.

I know the problem is on my end and I mean no disrespect to you or anyone who likes Hamburger Helper or any other product containing a lot of salt, but I still prefer cooking from scratch... that way I know exactly what, and how much, of each ingredient goes into the dishes I make.

Thanks for Kathy's Macaroni-and-Cheese recipe. I make it without the egg, but that works just as well. And I agree that fresh ground pepper is the most fragrant, but I don't care for the black specks in a white mac-n-cheese... hence the white pepper. I wonder if white peppercorns are available?

And you're right about the poultry. Even though it's high in nutrition (and 'vibrations' if you're into that line of thinking) you have to wash and dry it carefully before using. And if it's going to be ground, it's best if you do it yourself.

[Clipper]

There is no getting around the fact that HH and MOST prepared foods have a lot of sodium. Therefore we try to avoid eating them on a regular basis. We avoid salt also by using frozen or fresh vegetables and other produce, rather than canned goods. Canned soups and gravies are notorious offenders. I love home made soup, and when i make it, I keep the salt to a minimum and I make enough to freeze a gallon or so in Ziplock bags for future use.

I have high blood pressure also, but it is well controlled with atenolol. It runs about 115 over 60 or so. I do like a bowl of popcorn now and again, and I would rather have pretzels than candy or cookies.

As you said earlier, we survived booze, smoking, and wild wayward women in our younger days. Having given up smoking, drinking, and the occasional wayward damsel, I confine myself to one wonderful gal, and I feel entitled to a bowl of salty pretzels or fritos occasionally. Not that Snyders of Pennsylvania or Frito Lay packages anything that compares to the excitement of a sweaty roll in the hay with a horny big breasted bar fly . But such a roll would probably kill me, and if it didn't, Kathy would. LOL

[kit]

Point well taken regarding the horny barfly with the bocacious bazookas... and Kathy. I've been unattached for many years since the divorce and I must confess that I do sometimes have a fleeting thought of one wayward woman or another from back in my high school days. And the nice thing is that in my thoughts, the wayward women are 50 years younger. That certainly doesn't hurt.

And this line of conversation has absolutely nothing to do with posting a recipe, so I'll shut up now and simply ask... Do you call it 'Cole Slaw' or 'Cabbage Salad?' And what is the difference?

[Clipper]

When I make it at home and add simple mayo mixed with a little wine vinegar, a dash of celery salt, some grated apple, and some sugar, I call it cabbage salad. When I buy the shredded cabbage in a bag and put the bottled cole slaw dressing on it, I call it cole slaw.

Actually Wiki tells us that the name "cole slaw" comes from the dutch word "koolsla", short for "koolsalade" which is german for cabbage salad.

With that in mind, I guess there actually IS no difference between the two.

Just a note. Here in the South, people put coleslaw on hotdogs. Even a chili dog often has coleslaw added to it. I tried it just once, and was not impressed. It is also often added to BBQ sandwiches. I guess I am rooted in the Northeast. When I think coleslaw, I think side dish to accompany fish fries, other seafood or chicken and picnics.

PS: "Fleeting thoughts" and memories of younger days are a part of aging I guess, lol. They still bring a smile to our faces and make our hearts beat a little faster, although in all reality most of those encounters are less than admirable and best forgotten. At least that is true in my own particular case.

As for your question as to whether you can buy white peppercorns, your question aroused my curiosity. I was surprised to find that white pepper corns are actually the fully ripened state of the pepper corn. Black peppercorns are actually picked when they are not yet ripe, and dried until black and shriveled. I was always under the impression that it was just the opposite case and that white peppercorns were the immature form. Now that I know that white ones are available, I may buy a small jar, just to see how the flavor and spiciness is when fresh ground. We have an extra pepper grinder that I can use for that purpose. It may become a flavorful addition to our "spice arsenal."

[kit]

Clipper... please let me know about the white peppercorns. There's nothing like the fragrant aroma and taste of freshly ground black pepper and I imagine it's even stronger with white.

Making pepper is like the production of stone, coal or wood. It's all crushed (or sawed, or ground) and passed through a screen of a certain size. The larger particles that remain above the screen are sold as a certain product. What falls through goes to another screen to filter out smaller particles and sold as a different product, and so on. The end product (which I call 'dust'... sort of like floor sweepings) are the tiny particles that fall through even the smallest screen. This pepper is what makes you sneeze and you can buy it at bargain prices in most grocery stores. They all have the 'bite' of pepper, but the larger pieces have more fragrance and taste. Also, like other spices, once it's ground the aromatic and piquant taste of pepper has a shelf-life. The longer it sits around waiting to be used, the more the fragrance evaporates.

What irks me are restaurants that buy coarse ground pepper, which of course is more flavorful, but they put it in pepper shakers with holes so small that you have to shake it for 10 minutes to get any pepper out, and when you do, it's mostly dust anyway. Duh! (Don't tell anybody, but I've been known to sometimes remove the top and put some of the good stuff in my hand to shake on my food) Aside from the increased price for its entertainment value, there's something to be said for the person who comes around with that huge wooden pepper grinder and offers to put fresh ground pepper on your salad or whatever. Same with grated cheese. So regarding pepper grind, "Size does matter." That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Clipper]

I agree with your observations about the size of the grind, and the freshness of the packaged products. I also relate to your frustrations with restaurants that put coarse ground pepper in shakers with tiny holes. I do exactly the same thing when we eat at Perkins. I take the cover off, dump a little pepper in my left hand and sprinkle it onto my food with my fingers.

At home I have several grinders, but the one I like best was bought at Big Lots years ago. It is quite tall, and made from lucite. I can adjust the coarseness of the grind by loosening or tightening the tension on the screw that holds the top on and runs through the blades and all the way to the top of the canister. I prefer the "dust" size grind for table use in most cases, and the quality and flavor are fine as long as it is fresh ground from the peppercorns. We have one next to the stove that has a crank on the top, and dispenses a coarser grind that is well suited for cooking.

When it comes to packaged ground pepper, I buy nothing less than McCormick, and have been known to dump the shakers out and start over when it loses it's potency.


We also have started using sea salt instead of the iodized table salt. It comes in a grinder like a pepper grinder. We get enough iodine in our diets from the seafood that we eat quite frequently when eating out. That also makes a large flavor difference when compared to normal run of the mill table salt. I remember once when we were camping I bought a spice bottle of ground black pepper from a dollar store. The next morning I shook some on my eggs. It had NO flavor, and was much like putting dirt on my food. The bottle went in the trash and I never buy pepper or spices from a discount retailer any more.

There are places in cooking where cutting corners is okay, but in most cases, quality ingredients dictate the very quality of the finished product.