Julie's Best Mac & Cheese

The rain has arrived this week, and it had us stuck in the house all day yesterday. So it seemed like the perfect day for a warm bowl of one my kids' favorite comfort foods - macaroni and cheese.

Homemade macaroni and cheese is really not much more complicated than the stuff in the blue box. No, really, it isn't. And for some reason, my girls won't eat the boxed stuff, anyway. (Okay, the obvious reason is because this is much better.) So this is how we make it in our house.

In this dish, I forgo the traditional bechamel sauce, favoring instead a carbonara-esque sauce made with egg and milk. The result is an incredibly rich, creamy, cheesy sauce. Easy and yummy!



Ingredients:

1 cup small pasta (we like whole-wheat organic elbows)
1 egg
1/4 cup milk (although I never measure - just splash it into the bowl with the egg)
4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
salt (and pepper) to taste

Boil the pasta as directed.

Meanwhile, beat the egg and milk together in a small bowl. When the pasta is done, drain off the hot water in a strainer and immediately put the empty pot back on the burner over low heat.

Pour the egg-milk mixture into the pot and stir while cooking over low heat for a few minutes. You want to heat the mixture so it gets hot and kills any bacteria and thickens just so slightly, but not scramble the eggs.

Stir in the hot, drained pasta (which will also help cook the egg sauce a bit), and then mix in the shredded cheese until melted and smooth. Add salt to taste (and pepper, if desired), and then EAT!

This makes enough to feed about two hungry kids.

Grammy's Ginger Cookies

Food For Thought: "The purpose of flavor is to arouse a special kind of emotion, that flavor must emerge from genuine feelings about the materials you are handling. What you are, you cook."
~ Marcella Hazan

What better way to start out than to bake a classic family recipe? This recipe was passed down from our father's mother, Clarice Marie; or as we so affectionately called her, Grammy. These cookies are great for getting you in the mood for fall, and they smell delicious. Even if you think you don't like Ginger Cookies or Ginger Snaps, you ought to give these a try. As Julie pointed out to me today, people who stubbornly claim they do not like ginger cookies will often fall head over heels for these.


Grammy's Ginger Cookies
makes about 4 1/2 dozen

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/2 cup molasses
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
4 cups flour
4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. salt (if you are using salted butter, just use 1 tsp.)

Directions:
Melt butter and let cool for about 10 minutes. Add oil, sugar, molasses, eggs and beat until well combined. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, cloves, ginger, cinnamon and salt. Combine the two mixtures and chill in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours or until the batter stiffens slightly.

Preheat oven to 375F. Form batter into balls about one inch in diameter, or the size of a donut hole. Roll each ball in a bowl of sugar to coat completely, and then place on cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until your preferred consistency is reached (you might want to experiment with this). When the cookies come out of the oven they will be puffy, but as they cool on the counter they will flatten. Enjoy with a cold glass of milk, yummy.