mac & cheese

Homemade Mac & Cheese
(2 servings)

* Cook and drain pasta for 2 people
* Saute 1/2 an onion in 1 tbsp butter
* Grate 2 1/2 cups of cheddar cheese (mine was white cheddar but either one works)

Set all the different components to the side.
* In a saucepan:

Mix 1/2 liter of milk
2 tablespoons of corn starch (maizena)
1/4 teaspoon salt
pinch of pepper
pinch of nutmeg

Over low heat continuously stir until the white sauce (bechamel) thickens and if you run your finger over the back of the spoon the sauce is thick enough to stay off to the sides.
Quickly mix in the cheddar and the onions. Stir until the cheddar is melted and smooth then pour onto the pasta and mix all together. Serve with a pinch of paprika on top.

risotto

Risotto

1 onion
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cups risotto rice (the round kind)
veggies
1 liter chicken stock
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Dice the onion and saute until clear in the olive oil and butter. Add the rice and mix well. Add the white wine and lower the heat to a simmer. As the rice absorbs the liquid start ladling in the chicken stock letting it absorb between each ladle full. When you're about 2/3 through the stock add diced veggies (zucchini, mushrooms, bell peppers etc) and any meat (turkey, chicken, seafood) and continue to simmer and add half the Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste. Cover and let sit 5 minutes.

Serve with more Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top!

When the rice is just cooked through remove from heat and add 1/2 package of

spaghetti sauce

Spaghetti Sauce

2.5 kilos fresh ripe tomatoes (chopped)
2 small onions (minced)
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 steak hachee
1 small green pepper (minced)
mushrooms (sliced
olive oil
basil
thyme
oregano

In a large pot sautee onions, garlic and green pepper in olive oil until soft. Add the crumbled pieces of steak hachee (or hamburger meat) and mushrooms (and any other veggies, I threw in some leftover zucchini. Cook until the hamburger is browned.

Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Salt, pepper and other spices to taste.

Cook down until the tomato has broken down and the consistency looks good.

tomates farcies

Tomates Farcies

4 large and firm tomatoes (slightly under ripe, you don't want them to get mushy) *you can also use round zucchinis!
250g ground beef (or 2 steak hachees)
1/2 cup cooked rice, cold if possible
1 small onion finely chopped
1 clove of garlic finely chopped (or garlic powder if you don't have any fresh on hand)
salt and pepper
butter

Cut the tops off of the tomatoes and scoop out the insides so you get as much room as possible. Set aside.

In a small bowl mix the rest of the ingredients (I use my hands to make sure they're well mixed). Split the mixture into 4 equal parts and stuff it inside the tomatoes. Put the "hat" back on and put a small nob of butter over the stem of each tomato to prevent them from burning (you can also add some bread crumbs but as I didn't have any gluten free on hand I left that out.)

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

puree de carottes

Puree de Carottes

5 or 6 medium size carrots

1 clove garlic, peeled

1/4 cup milk

1 tbsp butter

salt/pepper

Boil the carrots and garlic until very tender. Drain. Then either in a mixer or with a potato masher mash the carrots with the butter until fairly smooth, add a little bit of milk at a time to get a creamy texture. Salt and pepper to taste.

I love this, the first time I ate with a French family we had mashed carrots and it was delish! I had never heard of mashing them before but I love it. Yesterday I found a great deal on carrots at the market and stocked up. Since I had so many I thought I'd try out this recipe for the first time, turned out great!

breakfast potatoes

Breakfast potatoes

'Taters

butter

salt/pepper/paprika to taste

*optional cheddar cheese

I just made this up for my brunch but all I did was boil whole potatoes and then dice them up into small cubes. (For time reasons I did this the night before) Then I heated the frying pan with some butter and sauteed them until golden brown with said spices :-) When all was done I set my oven on the lowest heat and sprinkled a generous amount of cheddar cheese. While the rest of brunch was cooking I let that sit warming in the oven and the cheddar was all melted over the potatoes. Yum.

cranberry sauce

Cranberry Sauce

1 cup (200 g) sugar

1 cup (255 mL) water

4 cups (1 12-oz package) fresh or frozen cranberries

In a saucepan bring to a boil water and sugar, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add cranberries, return to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer for 10 minutes or until cranberries burst.

Remove from heat. Cool completely at room temperature and then chill in refrigerator. Cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools.

For those of you ex-pats who don't want to fork over an arm and a leg for a teeny-weenie jar of cranberry sauce I found that fresh cranberries are reasonably cheap at my local Monoprix so I just make the sauce from scratch. Easy-peasy!

stuffin'

Apple and Onion Stuffing

Place in boiling water for 5 minutes

-1 cup raisins

Drain well.

Add to them 7 cups bread crumbs (soft, not dry)

Melt 3/4 cup butter and saute for 3-5 minutes:

-1 cup chopped onion

-1 chopped garlic clove

-1 cup chopped celery

Cook until clear but not brown.

Add all this to the bread. Then add:

-3 cups diced tart apples

-1/4 cup chopped parsely

-1 1/2 tsp salt

-1 tsp paprika

Stuff turkey loosely, or put into a dish, cover and bake at 350F.

This is the recipe my mom always used and yum yum! + its veggie so unless someone is opposed to something cooked in the turkey (you could always bake some extra in a dish) its great for everyone :-) Even those who don't like stuffing get converted!!!