French Onion Mac 'n Cheese?

I know, sounds odd, doesn't it? It was just different enough to pique my interest.

I found the recipe for French Onion Mac 'n Cheese in the December issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray. We love French Onion Soup, so I decided to give the mac 'n cheese a try.

The recipe calls for 3/4 of a pound of Gruyere cheese, but at $20.00 a pound, I opted for the less expensive Baby Swiss as a substitute. It also calls for Chicken stock, but French Onion to me is all about Beef stock - therefore another change to the recipe. I also added a tablespoon of minced garlic, and a splash of cooking Sherry.

It turned out fairly well. It tasted like a blend of Beef Stroganoff, Alfredo Sauce and French Onion Soup. The husband and I both agree it would make a very nice side dish to have with steak or pot roast. We're going to add grilled Baby Bella mushrooms the next time we make it.

The interesting thing about this recipe is that if a couple key ingredients are changed, it could make a very nice Alfredo Sauce. I'll be trying that next weekend and will post the recipe once I see how it turns out.

Roasting the holiday bird

People tend to stress out about being responsible for roasting the turkey for the Thanksgiving feast. Honestly, it's not hard to do, but there are steps to follow, and it helps if you have an electric roaster.

Take the plastic wrapper off the turkey. Reach inside the body cavity and neck cavity and pull out the giblets (heart, liver, neck, etc.). Rinse the bird inside and out with cold water. Put the turkey on the rack in the roaster.

Slice an onion in half, and then slice the halves in strips. Put the strips inside the body cavity, and throw in a heaping tablespoon of minced garlic while you're at it. If you have an apple handy, slice it in half and put that with the onion and garlic (as the turkey cooks, the flavors will be absorbed by the meat).

Now, melt a stick of butter and drizzle it over the top of the turkey. Sprinkle some rubbed or ground Sage (a tablespoon) over the butter. Pour 2 cups of water into the bottom of the roasting pan.

Line the roaster lid with aluminum foil, put the lid on the roaster, and turn it on.

A good rule of thumb is 20 minutes cooking time at 325 degrees Fahrenheit per pound of bird.

Of course, you don't have to make a turkey. My folks are doing Lasagna, some people do ham - heck, some order in pizza or make reservations. Don't stress. Holidays aren't about food, they're about family!

Butternut Squash

I started haunting our local apple seller at the beginning of September. You might think I was itching to get my hands on some early season apples, but what I was actually looking for was Butternut Squash.

Butternut Squash is a Winter squash commonly available during the Fall months. Winter squash differs from Summer squash in that it must be cooked before eating. Butternut is high in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, manganese, magnesium and potassium, and it's low in calories. It has a sweet, nutty flavor and can be used in place of Pumpkin in most recipes. And, like Pumpkin, the seeds can be roasted and eaten as a nutritional snack.

My family and I are big fans of Butternut. We eat it just out of the oven, with butter and a drizzle of honey. Butternut Squash soup and bread make a lovely Autumn meal, and a friend has even made oven baked fries with Butternut squash. It was such a fantastic growing season here in South Central Minnesota that we've been able to buy 5 - 10 pound squash for $1.99 each. That's a lot of squash! And, it freezes well, so we've been stocking up.

I made Butternut Squash Bread Sunday night. My family loved it, the neighbors loved it, and a friend ordered a batch after sampling it. I used my Pumpkin Bread recipe, substituting the squash for the pumpkin and brown sugar for white. It turned out lighter, moister and more buttery than the Pumpkin Bread. The recipe follows -


Butternut Squash Bread
Ingredients:

• 1 cup vegetable oil


• 2 cups Brown sugar


• 2 cups of cooked, mashed Butternut squash


• 4 eggs (slightly scrambled)


• 3 1/2 cups flour


• 1 tsp baking soda


• 2 tsp baking powder


• 2 tsp salt


• 3 tsp Apple Pie spice


• 1/3 cup water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large mixing bowl, mix sugar, oil, eggs and squash. Slowly stir in remaining ingredients. Add water and stir well. Pour batter into loaf pans (this recipe is enough for 3 standard size loaves). Bake for at least an hour or until a toothpick inserted in the top of the loaf comes out clean.

Feel free to experiment with chocolate chips, nuts or your favorite glaze to dress this up.

Salmon Cakes

Our family likes Salmon. As a matter of fact, when the husband and I occasionally have dinner alone, grilled Salmon and lettuce salad is a perfect meal. Salmon filets are a bit spendy lately at over $8.00 a pound, so this is our more frugal version. Think of them as "poor man's Crab Cakes."

Salmon Cakes

Ingredients

• 1 15-oz can of Salmon (drained and de-boned)
• 20 saltine crackers
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup of milk
• 1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash seasoning

Mix all ingredients together in a medium size bowl. Feel free to get your hands in there.

Shape into palm size patties and fry until lightly brown in the oil of your choice - Canola, Vegetable, Olive.

Serve over rice pilaf or on a hamburger bun. Tartar sauce, barbecue sauce or a little lemon all work well to dress the cakes.

French Onion Soup

It's a cool day here in southern Minnesota, so I decided to make a family favorite, French Onion Soup. Even my 7 year old loves it.









Ingredients

• 5 large Vidalia (sweet) onions


• 1 heaping tablespoon of minced garlic


• 2 tablespoons butter


• 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil


• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar


• 8 cups beef stock


• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper


• 1 teaspoon dried Thyme leaves


• 1 teaspoon ground Sage


• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper


• 1/2 cup White cooking wine


• 3/4 cup cooking Sherry


• Parmesan Cheese (shredded) as garnish

Slice onions in half and then cut into strips. Saute onion and garlic in the butter and olive oil in a large frying pan, until the onions are translucent. Sprinkle the sugar into the onions and garlic and stir.

While the onions are cooking down, in a large stock pot, combine beef stock, white pepper, Thyme, Sage and ground black pepper. Bring to a boil.

Once the onions are done, add them to the boiling broth. Then add the White wine and sherry. Turn the heat back to medium and let cook for half an hour.

Serve in soup bowls garnished with shredded (real) Parmesan Cheese.

The thing I love about making this soup is the aroma that rises up just after I add the wine and Sherry. If I could bottle it, I'd wear it as perfume.

Who likes pancakes?

My neighbor created a delicious recipe for pancakes, and I wanted to share it with you.

Pancakes, Pancakes

The harvest is just beginning.

Lunch today was a small cucumber and 6 cherry tomatoes from our gardens, sliced up and drenched in a roasted garlic vinaigrette. I love fresh produce!