Not your kids Beefy Mac n Cheese

I'm feeling almost domestic lately. As I need to plant a garden, paint a mural, or cook. And that is what I have been doing all after noon. Not that what I made took hours. But I've been....mulling... almost, in the kitchen. Going from Laptop to kitchen back and forth. And part of it is the sheer inspiration from reading my fellow bloggers. And part of it is my family rooting me on everyday with what I cook. Having my son write on my Facebook wall how much he enjoyed my dinner was pretty special. My recipes are not special. In fact, after reading so many blogs lately, I have come to see how just average my food it.

In fact, I made a huge blunder in my cooking today. I can hear my grandmother in my ear whispering how baking is a science. I ran out of flour in the middle of making a basic chocolate cookie. In my impatience I substituted oatmeal. Baked and while pulling them out of the oven, The Fireman looked at me puzzled "what happened to them?" And knowing the answer, hearing my grandmother...I knew! Not every substitution is equal. They tasted just fine, but looked a little thin. Not that my kids wont eat them.

I have other amazing news to report. My anti-cheese eating son decided he liked it again. Mind you, he did pick a more expensive cheese to try. Fontina is not the cheapest. He surprised me with asking for a little off the freshly grated pile. I was so surprised when he liked it that I dived into the cheese stash and had him try some Irish cheese. Again, he liked it. Not as much as the fontina. There is hope for him after all!

Tonight's dinner is inspired by theperfectchef. She had a rotini pasta dish yesterday on her blog. This is not her recipe as this is not as sophisticated as hers (and I can't wait to cooks hers) but this is what my grandmother would have made in the winter. Or this is what I remember her making as she had a habit of not cooking with recipes. And I am sure that the cheese I used was more cultured than what was available back in the seventies. I'm pretty sure she would have used Velveta. I used
rotini pasta and I am pretty sure that grandma would have used macaroni.

The amazing thing about pasta is that the recipes are as easy to change (unlike my cookie recipe) I used ground turkey but Italian sausage would have been wonderful. I used a jar of my favorite sauce (vodka) but a can of tomatoes would have sufficed. I used Fontina cheese but Gouda or even white cheddar would have been yummy. I was trying to keep the cheese flavor down for the non cheese eater but now that he has joined us you can be sure I will be ladling food with cheese again



Not your kids Beefy Mac n Cheese

1 lb ground turkey seasoned (salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning) and cooked with one onion chopped and one glove of garlic chopped. While cooking I boiled and cooked one pound of pasta. In another pan I melted 4 TB butter and cooked 1/2 cup of flour into it. It makes this pasty mess but let it cook for a minute to get the flour taste out of it. Add slowly four cups of milk and keep stirring. It will thicken up into almost a gravy consistency. Take off the heat and add 8 oz of your favorite cheese and one jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce. Add the pasta and the meat and pour into a greased baking dish. I covered my with 1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 till melted and warm. About 30 minutes.