Better than Dad's???

...so I've been told. The source shall remain nameless though. Lately I have had an addiction of looking at food blogs, which is starting to turn into a real problem. I am finding so many good looking things to make, all of which are full of fatty goodness. That's where this Mac 'N Cheese recipe comes in. I have only made homemade Mac 'N Cheese once in my life, and I didn't have a recipe, so it didn't turn out so well. But when I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it. And so I must share it for all to try because it was so delicious. And I have to admit I liked it better the next day! I had to do a few alterations to the recipe because Wal-Mart is limited in the cheese department, but that didn't seem to matter, it was still delightful! The recipe seems lengthy...it is, but well worth the effort. The picture doesn't do it justice.

LunaCafe OtherWorldly Mac & Cheese

Pasta
12 ounces, short, dried, tubular pasta, such as garganelli, maccheroni, mostaccioli, penne, tortiglione, or ziti **I used a whole 16 oz. box
2 teaspoons sea salt

Breadcrumb Topping
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 cups stale white bread crumbs, coarsely crumbled ** I used stuffing mix ground in a food processor...lots more flavor
2 clove garlic, pressed or minced

Cheeses (15-16 ounces or about 5 cups total cheese)
6 ounces (2 cups) grated, aged cheddar cheese
3 ounces (1 cup) grated Swiss Emmanthaler or Gruyere **Couldn't find
3 ounces (1 cup) grated, mild-flavored melting cheese, such as Jack or Asadero
3 ounces (1 cup) grated Italian Pecorino Romano (aged at least 9 months) ** I used a combo of Romano, Asiago, and Parmesan
optional: 2-4 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese (1 ounce) **Couldn't find

**I just added more of the cheesed that I had to compensate for the cheese I couldn't find

Béchamel Sauce
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups minced yellow onion (8 ounces or about 1 large onion)
2 cloves garlic, peeled, and minced or pressed
½ cup all-purpose flour
4 cups milk (or a mixture of half milk and half cream or sour cream, or a mixture of half cream and half chicken stock) **I used half milk and half cream
sea salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Optional Extras (choose one or more)
½ cup, stemmed, seeded, diced jalapeno chilies (add while the onions are cooking)
½ cup cooked, crumbled applewood smoked bacon (add when mixing the sauce with the pasta)
1 cup roasted, peeled, seeded, diced poblano chile (add when mixing the sauce with the pasta)
½ cup roasted, peeled, seeded, diced jalapeno chile (add when mixing the sauce with the pasta)
2 cups sautéed, chopped shitake mushrooms (add when mixing the sauce with the pasta)

Prepare the baking dish

1. Coat a 6-cup capacity, ovenproof casserole with vegetable spray or a dab of butter. Reserve.

Make the breadcrumb topping

1. In a small mixing bowl, combine the melted butter, bread crumbs, and garlic. Reserve.

Cook the pasta

1. Bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil, add 2 teaspoons of salt, return to a boil, and add the pasta.
2. Cook until just barely tender with a bit of chewiness remaining.
3. Remove the pasta pot from the stove and carefully pour the water and pasta into a large colander to drain. Run cold water over the pasta to cool it to room temperature. Add pasta to a large mixing bowl.
4. Toss the pasta in the bowl with all of the cheeses and reserve.

Make the béchamel sauce

1. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter, add the onions, and slowly cook until onions are softened but not browned. Add the garlic and stir to combine.
2. Stir in the flour, and cook without browning for two minutes.
3. Slowly pour in the milk and whisk constantly while bringing the sauce to a simmer. Simmer, whisking continuously, for 2 minutes.
4. Pour the sauce over the pasta and cheeses in the bowl. With a large spatula, fold to combine.
5. Spoon into the prepared casserole, mounding slightly at the center.
6. Sprinkle on the breadcrumb topping.
7. Bake at 350º for 30-40 minutes until heated through and bubbling. Broil for a minute or two to finish browning the top.

My Prince Charming?

So I have been spending a lot of time with a boy lately, and tonight we went on our first date. Before I go into too much detail about the date, let me weigh out some pros and cons about the boy and our date. Just to give you an idea of who he is.

Pro- He's got a lot of energy and likes to do most things. I had a hard time keeping up with him.
Con- He is a bit younger than I am. And by a bit, I mean quite a bit. That's why he has so much energy.

Pro- He loves singing, and maybe he will be a musician someday.
Con- He doesn't have a job now, so he borrowed money from his mom for the date.

Pro- There was a lot of holding hands.
Con- He is shorter than I am. Which probably makes it tiring for his arm to hold my hand.

Pro- He had a really nice red striped shirt on...he looked really cute in it.
Con- He decided to pair that really nice looking shirt with bright green boots.

Pro- I lost count of how many times he told me he loves me.
Con- Although he says he loves me, he never once opened my door for me.

Pro- He always comes up with random things to talk about...makes it interesting.
Con- The majority of our conversations centered around Halloween.

Pro- We went to get ice cream! I love ice cream!
Con- He had a problem keeping most of his ice cream off his face. Then ate half of my cone.

Pro- There were a lot of kisses.
Con- Most were slobbery.

So, he's got a lot of learning to do before his next date, I would say. But that's okay, because he still has 14 more years to figure it out. He will be a pro by then. So maybe you are thinking that I went out with some weirdo loser guy...but let me explain. I got to go out on a date with my nephew...who is 2. For being 2 we had a pretty great date. We went to McDonald's for dinner and he was very pleased with his race car toy. We named it Speed Racer. After dinner we went to Michael's Crafts...because the kid is obsessed with Halloween, and Michael's has a pretty decent spread. He loved going around the store looking for witches and pumpkins. Then we went next door to Petco to look at all the animals. This is where he went crazy running all over the place. He had to look at the fish, then run over to the hamsters, then to the snakes, and back to the fish, etc. Back and Forth a few times. When we had to leave the store he was pretty sad, so I used the old bribe him with ice cream trick. It worked until we got out to the car, then the screams started. He did not want to get into his carseat. People looked at us, and probably thought I was beating him or something. It was pretty cute though, because he had his arms around my neck and wouldn't let go then he looked at me and planted a big kiss on my cheek so I wouldn't put him in. That boy sure knows that kisses will make me do what he wants. Eventually he got in his seat and we went to a different McDonald's to get ice cream cones. You can't go back to the same one, so we had to find a new one and the whole way there we talked about Halloween. He was very excited to get his one whole ice cream cone. When I gave it to him he got such a surprised expression on his face and said "Oh, Wow!" After ice cream I brought him back home. It was a pretty great date. He was really cute in his bright green frog boots, and a face covered in ice cream.

Smarter than me?

Not hard to do. So I saw a link to this quiz where you have to arrange a bunch of color chips in order of hue. I thought I did pretty well with a score of 12, then I saw comments where people were getting perfect scores! I thought it was pretty hard...so I am blaming it on my computer screen. I am curious to see what you all get!