Baked Spaghetti and Cheese

Tonight my hairdresser mentioned Mac and cheese and I thought to myself...hmmm I could go for some of that. But without high quality cheese and some Gouda in my fridge, I wasn't about to do a simple Mac and cheese! In this recipe, I used additional ingredients to dress up some standard mild cheddar that I had left over from the weekend.  There's always a way to make do with what you have lying around the house!

Baked Spaghetti and Cheese

"Meaty" Gravy

One thing that I am struggling with now that I am not eating meat, is getting that feeling of a heavy, "meaty" dish when I am looking for that.  The other night I decided to experiment and I figured out a pretty good recipe for a "gravy" that could be used on rice, egg noodles, tofu, etc.  This is a weekday recipe where I chose to start with a pre-made gravy rather than make my own, and then add my own components to it to thicken and spice it up!  You could make your own gravy to do this as well, but I like to save some time on the weekdays!  This recipe proves that food with a lot of flavor and texture doesn't always have to take a long time to prepare!

"Meaty" Gravy served over sushi rice with grilled squash and peppers

Black Bean Pancakes

I am a huge breakfast person.  I don't feel right without starting my day with a big plate that will keep me satisfied until lunch.  In my quest for new breakfast recipes, I came across this recipe and in true Lauren fashion, edited it a little bit to suit my needs. 

Black Bean Pancake with Fried Egg, Sour Cream and Avocado

Potatoes Au Gratin with a Twist

I know it's been a while since I've updated this, there has been a lot going on in my life that I've been trying to figure out and work through.  Last night I decided that I need to start doing what I enjoy again and stop dwelling so here I go!
I have been cooking a lot with one major change! I went vegetarian a month ago and haven't looked back.  After biting into something that had a bone piece in it and shouldn't have, I became disgusted and haven't had any desire to eat meat since.  I don't know if this is something that will last, or a phase I'll go through before I feel like eating meat again...but I haven't had the desire and I haven't forced myself (what's the point of that?).

But anyways...enough about that and onto the food.  Last night I got home, and needed to do something with some leftovers.  The result was this invention...Potatoes au Gratin with a twist.

The picture leaves something to desired, but let me assure you, the taste was great!

Local farm fresh breakfast

My mother has been visiting this week for an enjoyable girls' stay-cation.  With a girls' adventure comes shopping, and great food!  Because we went to my favorite breakfast spot for lunch yesterday, I wanted to try something new this morning.  I did some google searching and found The Knight Farm, only 10 minutes from my home...serving breakfast 7 days a week.  

Special: Blueberry lemon pancakes

My mother ordered these pancakes, a special offered today.  When they arrived at the table, I was surprised to see the lemon on top...I thought that the lemon would have been integrated into the batter.  Despite the wrong assumption, the pancakes were light, fluffy and not too buttery or sweet.  I usually like savory breakfast because I don't really like desert for breakfast but I could have easily demolished a plate of these.

My choice: Corned beef hash and scrambled eggs

I had high hopes for this but sadly I was let down.  Nothing can surpass my grandmother's corned beef hash.  The potatoes were good, standard homefries, the rye toast was great.  Nothing was wrong with the hash, it was browned well on both sides and not overly greasy but it simply wasn't what I had in mind.  It didn't seem like they mixed the scrambled eggs with milk or water before cooking but rather, just scrambled eggs.  The texture left something to be desired.  

Overall, I was satisfied  by our experience.  I always say I will give a place two tries before I make a generally negative judgement.  I look forward to trying something different here and maybe will stop in on the weekend when they tend to have more customers.  

Spicy Polenta

Last week I didn't plan my groceries too well due to being out of town.  One night I stood staring at the pantry, the fridge, the pantry, the fridge and finally thought of a new polenta dish to try.  I am very happy with the result!  The spice of the cheese was evened out by the subtleness of the polenta.  The sour cream was a nice cooling element to the plate as every other ingredient is hot and spicy.  

Jalapeno cheddar polenta with spicy chicken, and fried avocado

Slacking Off...

Here's a whole mess of things I've made in the past few weeks.  I've been very busy and had a lot on my mind so I have not updated this blog at all.  Hopefully after some vacation and our honeymoon in the next few weeks, I'll be back in good spirits!

Pesto, sundried tomato, chicken and mozzarella pizza

Lazy dinner, only thing mentionable on this plate is the pepper and olive salad I made.

I simply sauteed black olives and the peppers I had in olive oil, salt and pepper; taste was simply and wonderful!

Squash towers.  Sauteed squash and fried onion breaded with panko.  Stacked sqaush with mozz cheese in between each layer with the onion on top!

Spanish rice with chicken enchiladas!

Cooked chicken in the slow cooker in enchilada sauce with peppers. 

Sausage, peppers, potatoes and onion in olive oil and spices

Squash o gratin with ham, celery and onions

Phew.