Jen's Homemade Baked Mac and Cheese

I adapted this recipe from about 5 different recipes after deciding that none of them looked just right to me. It came out delicious, full of flavor and the whole pan was gone in about 15 minutes at the dinner party I took it to!

Jen's Homemade Baked Mac and Cheese

Prep Time:20 min

Inactive Prep Time: -- 

Cook Time:45 min
Serves:
6 to 8+ servings

Ingredients
1/2 pound elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon powdered mustard
3 cups milk
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon paprika
12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded

12 ounces monterey jack, shredded

12 ounces extra sharp cheddar, shredded1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper



Topping:
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup panko bread crumbs




Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, bay leaf, black pepper and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

Temper in the egg. Stir in 1/2 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper.


In baking dish, layer bottom with macaroni noodles. Top with an even mixture of all three cheese blends. Repeat with more noodles and cheese until your dish is almost full. Pour milk mixture slowly over the whole dish.


Bake in oven for about 40 minutes, then remove and add the panko bread crumbs.


Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.


Place back in oven until bread crumbs are crispy and the milk doesn't bubble up when you press on the noodles.

Devin's Delicious Brookies

This recipe was shared with me from my friend, Devin, and it is SUPER delicious.  I warn you, do not make them unless you can share them because you will eat them all in one go!

Brookies Directions:
-2 packets of Betty Crocker Fudge Brownie Mix
-1 packet Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix
-3 eggs
-2/3 cup of oil
-1 stick of butter
-4tbsp water
-nonstick cooking spray

**preheat oven to 350

1. In a medium bowl mix cookie dough mix with 1 stick of MELTED butter and 1 egg. Mix well. Place in refrigerator.
2. In a large bowl mix 2 packets of brownie mix, 2 eggs, oil and water.
3. Spray muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.
4. Fill each muffin tin with 1 large tablespoon of brownie mix.
5. Remove cookie mix from refrigerator. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of cookie dough into the middle of the brownie mix. Pat down softly.
6. Bake on 350 for 11 minutes. Rotate pans and place back in the oven (if using 2 pans at a time, rotate pans back to front AND switch the pans from left to right...for even cooking).
7. Bake for another 11 minutes. Remove from oven.
8. Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes.
9. ENJOY!!!

20 Minute Chicken Alfredo

Super Simple Chicken Alfredo:

Another recipe I've adapted over the years into a 2 pot 20 minute dinner.  It's not healthy at all, but it's a crowd pleaser and my daughter looooves it.

Ingredients:
2-3 garlic cloves (or garlic salt)
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
1 pint heavy whipping cream
3/4 stick of butter
3 chicken breasts, diced into cubes
1 box pasta of choice (I use mini farfalle)
Shredded parmesan cheese

Optional Add-ins:
Steamed Broccoli
Steamed Cauliflower
Red Pepper
Mushrooms

Directions:

In a large sautee pan (at least 2 inches deep), melt better over medium heat.  Add in your garlic (either salt or diced cloves), pepper and paprika if you like it.  Once butter is melted, add in chicken and cook until no longer pink.  Once chicken is fully cooked, add in 1 pint of heavy whipping cream.  Stir until mixed fully with butter, and then simmer on low for 10-15 minutes, or until the sauce thickens up.

While chicken is cooking, boil pasta in a separate pot and steam or sautee any added veggies you will be adding in.  Once sauce thickens, add in any veggies and the parmesan cheese and serve immediately over pasta.

Easy 20 minutes chicken alfredo!

Avocado Chicken Salad

Avocado Chicken Salad
(adapted from a Paula Dean recipe)




Ingredients

Salad:
3 cups cooked, diced or shredded chicken
1 avocado, peeled, diced, and tossed with 1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 red or green pepper, chopped (you can also use tomato if you prefer)
1 to 2 teaspoons pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves or cilantro leaves

Avocado Dressing:
2 large avocados, peeled and mashed with 2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Dash cayenne pepper

Thick, crusty bread, multi-grain or sourdough, for serving
OR
Pita pocket bread
Lemon wedges, for garnish

Directions

Salad:

Mix all ingredients and chill. Pass with avocado dressing.

Dressing:

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Chill and serve alongside chicken salad.

Blog Overhall

So the blog may be looking a little different to anyone that has been here before!  It not only got a new name and url, but I changed the look and what exactly the blog is!

Introducing:

Jen's Mountain View Kitchen!

A blog with tasty recipes I create or adapt and then feed to my unsuspecting family, with a few humorous tales of mommyhood thrown in.  Hopefully I'll try to blog here a little more often, but who knows since we're expecting a baby in less than 50 days!

Hope you enjoy the recipes!

Jen

Recipe: Lemon and Beer Chicken

One of my "signature dishes" is a whole roast chicken that slowly cooks in the oven.  It's very easy to make, but the flavors pop, and the chicken itself is extremely juicy!  My daughter, who can be very very picky, will eat two helpings of this chicken, so it's a tried and true toddler favorite!


Ingredients:
1 Whole Chicken
1 1/2 tsp garlic salt  (Or you can use 2 garlic cloves)
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dill
2 lemons
1/2 cup of Shiner Bock (or a similar beer)
4 pats of butter

Gravy:
As much of the juices as you can pull from the pan
1/2 to 1 cup of milk (Watch the color of the gravy, it should be a tan, you don't want too much milk to overpower the juices)
1 TB corn starch

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.

Remove innards from chicken, and wash out thoroughly with COLD water (this is important, warm water can promote bacteria growth on raw chicken).

Place chicken, breast up, into a pan at least 2 inches deep.

Roll 1 lemon, while pressing gently, to release juices, and then cut in half.  Squeeze two lemon halves over the chicken, then place in opposite corners of the pan.  Roll the other lemon, then prick 3 times with a fork, and place inside the chicken.  Pour 1/2 cup of shiner bock slowly over the chicken and into the bottom of the pan (again you can adjust as needed, I usually pour enough beer to coat the bottom of the pan, rising maybe 1/2 an inch.)

Sprinkle all seasonings evenly over the top of the chicken (don't forget to season the legs), you can adjust the seasonings as needed, I don't measure them, and just eyeball how much goes on.  I'm very liberal with the garlic salt.  If you are using garlic cloves, just toss them into the bottom of the pan to flavor the gravy and juices.

Place chicken in oven, and let cook until the juices run clear and the temp is at least 165, approximately 1 1/2 hours to 2 1/2 hours depending on your oven.

About 30 minutes before the chicken is finished, pull 1/2 cup of juices and put into a saucepan.  Turn on low.  Add approximately 1/2 cup of  milk and 1 TB of cornstarch mixed together into the saucepan (you may need more cornstarch to get the desired gravy thickness, but add it in small amounts).  Let thicken while stirring occasionally until the chicken is finished.  (This gravy is some of the best gravy I have ever had in my whole life, I promise!)  Make sure you mix the corn starch into the cold milk before slowly adding to the chicken juices, or else it will be clumpy.

Enjoy!

(This is the chicken prior to pulling out the juice for the gravy.  As you can see it is extremely juicy!)

Obsolete

So obviously this blog has become rather obsolete.  My husband is now a contractor for the government and no longer a soldier in the army.  Our little princess is over 5 years old and we're now expecting a little prince in a couple of months!  The furry crew is all still here and making mischief.

I won't keep up with this blog (not that it ever saw much action), but I may add recipes time to time as a way to keep them consolidated for me.  Who knows, maybe I'll start a recipe blog instead. :)