Macaroni and Cheese

Everyone is always looking for the best macaroni and cheese and everyone thinks theirs is the best. I am no different. Thru watching the cooking shows on Food Network, particularity Drive Ins, Dinners and Dives (which I just happen to love, it's one of my favorite shows). I have perfected our families macaroni and cheese, well at least that is what my husband and 8 year old daughter say anyways.  Here is a picture of the mac and cheese I made tonight for dinner.

and it was very very good. So instead of doing a Pinterest recipe  would make one of my own for once.

Mac and Cheese

8 oz Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese - or what ever your family likes.
8 oz Monterrey Jack Cheese
about 8 slices of American Cheese
1/2 container of Deli Parmesan Cheese - I usually by Stella Brand and its in the specialty cheeses in the Deli
3 cups of milk - I use 2% but you can use what ever you want even Heavy Cream
1/4 cup of butter
1/3 cup flour
a squirt of yellow mustard or you can use dry mustard about a tsp full
1 box of Cellentani - that is the pasta I love to use the most. It holds on to the cheese plus there is some in the pasta but you can use what ever you want
I a lot of times will use about 1/4 lb chuck of Velveeta, I like that creaminess it adds to the mac and cheese, but I didn't have any tonight. 
I use a 9x9 baking dish, sometimes cause it really fills the pan I will use a slightly bigger pan. LOL Depends on how lazy I am.  Sprayed with Pam
Preheat oven to 400 degrees

I cook the pasta and leave it just a tad bit more al denta cause I bake my pasta, love that crusty cheese top it gets.  Grate your cheese while your pasta is cooking.
Drain the paste and I just leave it in the strainer, I don't like to dirty too many dishes so I use the same pan as I boiled the pasta in to make the cheese sauce.
Put the butter in the pan, melt it.
Add Flour and stir untill mix together and cook for at least a 1 or 2  minutes. Its important to cook the flour so that your sauce won't taste floury or pasty
Pour in your 3 cups of milk and whisk, continue whisking till it comes to a boil. This is the only place you want this cheese sauce to boil. It's the only way to tell how thick your sauce will be,. You want it to be thick like a nice thick gravy.  If your sauce boils with the cheese in it, it makes it grainy.
Once it has boiled turn your heat down to low, you just want it to keep the sauce warm while you add the cheese.
I cut the American cheese in chunks and add that first, once that has almost all melt if I am using Velveeta I add that next. Then the rest of the cheeses one at a time, leaving a good hand full for the top of the mac and cheese.  You can turn your heat off now when most of the cheese is melted. Just finish whisking till all the cheese is melted and mixed together.
Squirt in a good squirt of yellow mustard, stir in the pasta put it your baking dish and top with the rest of the cheese. Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is as crusty as you want. Dinner is ready. 

Served it with some Italian Chicken Sausages and tomatoes. It was yummy

Dinner Tonight

I know I haven't posted in a few days but really haven't been cooking anything out of the ordinary of us anyways. LOL

Today's dinner was very yummy. I really out did myself tonight.
Marinated boneless chuck steak - that I pounded out to be thinner than it was.
and warm potato salad with a warm bacon vinaigrette. check it out
Roasted Potato Salad with Bacon, Caramelized Onions and warm bacon vinaigrette.

I didn't have any red onions so I just used white onions and it was soooooooo good.
This recipe comes from The Cozy Apron

Best Steak Marinade in Existence -so the recipe said. We liked it, I won't call it the best cause I have had better that I really like but it's different and that is what I was going for, Now next time I do it thou cutting down on the basil, it was just a bit too much basil in there. Check out the recipe it comes from All Recipes
 I do have a recipe from one of the dinners we had last week that my family really loves beyond the veggies for my husband. He is just not a veggie person, he will tell you he likes them but I know better.
sorry don't have a picture of my dinner 

Italian Chicken with Veggies

you will need
3-4 chicken breast - I do boneless
spaghetti
Italian salad dressing
1 small zucchini
1 small yellow squash
some good Parmesan cheese - not the kind in the can, actually get some from the deli so much better

Do this in the morning  to mid morning.
Marinate 3-4 chicken breast in Italian salad dressing
    now this past week I used a Mediterranean Salad Dressing by Wishbone and OMG it was sooooooo good but use what your family likes.
Cut the zucchini and summer squash down the middle, place in a storage bag and dump some Italian dressing on them. Situate them so that the squash insides are resting in the dressing. 
Let everything marinate till dinner time,
Have someone grill the chicken breast, summer squash and zucchini. Till done Watch the squashes cause you don't want them too soft. Want some bite to them  Save the marinate from the squash
Boil some spaghetti. After the spaghetti is done, drain and put back in the pan. Dumb the marinate from the squash into the pain with the spaghetti and any more from the bottle depends on how much you want. I tend to like a lot LOL Keep warm on the stove till the veggies and chicken are done,
When the squash is ready, cute into bit size pieces add to spaghetti.
cut the chicken along the top but not quite thru the whole peices, you want to fan it out across the top of spaghetti, if you want to.
Put some spaghetti, veggies, place chicken on top and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. This is really good.