Truffle Mac n Cheese

Recently, I've been obsessed with mac n cheese.  Before this though, I disliked it very much.  As a kid I've had the kraft mac n cheese and just always thought it was too cheesy.  Just too much for me.  However, recently when I've gone out to dinner, someone in the group will order mac n cheese if the restaurant has it and it taste so much better than the kraft kind.  Maybe because it's not just the usual cheddar that's used.  There's usually more than one type of cheese, breadcrumb, bacon or something else that gives it that extra kick.  I decided to try making it myself and followed this recipe.  I adjusted the recipe to my own liking by adding onions, pancetta, and blue cheese.  To top it off, I added truffle oil, which I love! 

 

Crab Cakes

Over the holidays my mom asked if I wanted to make something for our Christmas party.  I came upon this crab cake recipe and it looked simple enough so I gave it a try.  I also made an aioli sauce to go with the crab cakes and to my surprise, it was a lot easier than I had expected.  I love aioli sauce and never knew it consisted mainly of mayo, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Had I known it was that simple I would've made this sauce more often.  I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the sauce, but I'm sure you can imagine what it looks like. 

1/2 cup of red onion, diced
1/2 cup of celery, diced
1/2 cup of red pepper, minced
2 tablespoons of parsley, diced
1/4 teaspoon tabasco
1 teaspoon of crab boil spice (Old Bay)
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 pound of lump crab meat (canned)
1/4 cup of mayo
1 egg
1 tablespoon of dijon
1 cup panko bread crumbs

Thanksgiving Massive

Last Saturday was our annual Thanksgiving Massive potluck.  Since I enjoy cooking and baking, I usually make a savory and sweet dish for our potlucks but this year I knew I wouldn't have enough time.  So, I decided to go with something simple and easy, bruschetta.  I followed this recipe that my sister sent me.  I knew it was a hit when I came out of my room from getting ready to find that people had already ate some when I didn't even put it in the oven yet.  There was so much good food that I couldn't help but pile my plate with a little bit of everything.  I was more than stuffed by the end of the night.  I can't wait for next week's dinner though with my family. I love the holidays!

 

 I piled my plate with this much food!  I was full but I wanted to try everything!

 Everyone stuffing their faces!

Pizza Roll

Since I don't live at home (sometimes I wish I still did), I cook dinner almost every weeknight.  It gets boring though when you're cooking the same meals over and over.  I try to find new recipes but ones with a lot of ingredients or ingredients I've never heard of make me pass on it, even if it looks like a delicious dish.  I've had this pizza roll recipe bookmarked for a while, but always figured it was difficult to make.  To my surprise, it's probably one of the quickest and easiest dinner I've ever made.  I added my own touch by adding pizza sauce into the recipe.  Instead of making pizza dough from scratch, I bought some garlic and herb dough from the store.  I'm definitely going to make it with wheat dough next time though.  Just to be somewhat healthy. 

Ingredients
- pizza dough
- pizza sauce
- mozzarella cheese
- pepporonni
- canadian bacon
- basil

You roll out the dough and put all the ingredients on top.  After that you roll it into a log shape.  Make sure to seal the ends so nothing oozes out.  Put it in the oven at 350degrees for about 25-35 minutes and voila!  Cut, serve as you please, and enjoy!

 Tomato soup and pizza roll