Mac & Cheese

This recipe came from the Macaroni & Cheese cookbook, which is pretty hilarious because the only requirements are literally that the recipe contain macaroni AND cheese. So recipes like Truffled Timbales with Zucchini Pesto, Lemon-Scented Pasta Pudding and Tuna Noodle Casserole are in this book because they have… you guessed it… both cheese and macaroni! We’ll be trying out a couple more recipes, especially a couple of the baked versions.

This recipe is SUPER easy and SUPER quick. You can literally prep everything in the time it take for your pot was water to come to a boil.

Ingredients:

12 ounces smallish macaroni (elbows or pennette)
2 cloves chopped garlic (we minced 4 cloves)
1 shallot, chopped
(we clearly used a red onion)
10-12 ounces shredded Gruyere, Emmenthal or Appenzeller
(we used about 16 ounces total of all three!)
4 ounces of creme fraiche (we used heavy whipping cream)
A grating of nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
2 – 3 tablespoons butter


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Peter’s Minestrone Soup

Monday is Peter’s night to cook, so he used up all the vegetables in the fridge to make his “world-famous” (his words) Minestrone Soup! You can use whatever ratio of veggies you happen to have on hand, or use our list of ingredients below as a general guideline. The main key is to cook all the vegetables individually. That and add lots of tomatoes. Oh, and don’t forget to season and taste as you go along!

Ingredients:

4 sticks of celery
4 carrots
Bunch of broccoli
A handful of green beans
1 can of white beans
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
4 cups of chicken stock (to start)
1 can of tomato paste
3 blanched tomatoes
4 chopped and crushed tomatoes
2 cups of pasta
2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh oregano & 1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt & Pepper to taste

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Red & Green Lasagna

Ingredients:

30 ounces ricotta cheese (about 4 cups)
one package frozen chopped spinach
4 cups prepared pasta sauce
Twelve 7 by 3 ½ inch dry no-boil lasagna pasta
10 ounces mozzarella, grated (about 2 ½ cups)
1 ¼ cups fresh grated parmesan (about 5 ounces)
1 cup basil pesto

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