Bacon, Leeks and Pasta

Yuuuuuummy.

Whenever I buy an ingredient that I'm not QUITE sure how to use... I always go to Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman's) cooking blog. I LOVE her recipes. I desperately want the time and energy to make her cinnamon rolls.

Anyway. I digress.

So, I bought Leeks yesterday at the store, got home and went... "Mmmmhmm...so... how do I fix these?" So I went to her site and found THIS recipe.

Great! Except I didn't have pancetta. Or cream. Or white wine.

NO MATTER! I created my own recipe!

You will need:
1-2 Leeks
Bacon
Buter (honestly, can I make anything without it?)
Garlic
Parmesan Cheese
Pasta (I used fettuccine)
Reserved Pasta water

Cut the bacon up into little pieces, and begin frying it. No oil needed. Begin chopping the leeks. Use the white to light green parts, and I just sliced it up, then separated the rounds. Chop 1 clove (or more if you want it), of garlic.

Add garlic and leeks to the pan once the bacon is browned slightly. Begin cooking your pasta. Add salt and pepper to the leek mixture (easy on the salt....bacon + parmesan cheese means you won't need a lot). Continue cooking leeks and bacon on low until the pasta is done (and the leeks are softened). Add pasta, 1-2 handfuls of shredded parmesan cheese, about 3 tablespoons of butter. Mix well. Add a little bit of the pasta water to thin out the sauce if needed.

Top with Parmesan cheese shavings (which you make with a veggie peeler and a block of Parm).

ENJOY.

"Burn Your Mouth" Mac and Cheese

So, I was watching Rachael Ray's daytime talk show thing the other day, and she made this recipe, which was a mac and cheese with broceili. She made it with a rue (rew? roo?), which I had attempted before with a big ole' epic fail... It was so thick and nasty. But, today, I decided to try my hand at making it again.

Lemme start off right here by telling all you new folk... I don't follow recipes. This is why I cannot bake. Okay, I can very rarely... but usually something turns out badly. But, I can cook! In fact, I seriously wish I could go back in time, not go to college, and just go to culinary school. *le sigh*

ANYWAY. I set out to make mac and cheese. I decided to use spinach. I used fresh spinach leaves, NOT baby spinach... but I don't think I liked it as well as if I had used baby... so I'm including baby spinach in the recipe.

I'm going to include my ingredients list. THEN I'm going to tell you how I made it, because, remember, I don't like recipes, so there will be no exact amounts. Sorry!

Elbow Macaroni
Spinach
Butter
Flour
Boxed Chicken Stock (NO MSG!!)
Milk
Several different kinds of cheese, shredded (I used Yoder's brand, which, if you can find it where you live, BUY IT. It's delish!)

I started off by cooking the macaroni pretty al dente ("to the tooth" in Italian). I then drained the pasta and left it in the drainy thingy. In the same pot I cooked the pasta in, I melted 2ish tablespoons of butter. Then I whisked in 1ish tablespoon of flour, until it was well-incorporated, and slightly brown. I then stirred in 1ish cup of Chicken stock, then 1 and a halfish cups of milk. Then I added several handfuls of Italian, Monterrey Jack and Cheddar cheeses. I then added back in the pasta, and several handfuls of spinach. Once the spinach wilted down, I added it to a casserole dish, and then topped with Cheddar cheese (sharp!). I broiled it on low until the cheese was nice, bubbly and brown.

I called it the "Burn Your Mouth" mac and cheese because it is SO FREAKING GOOD that you (or at least I did) will burn your mouth several times trying to shovel it in!

And hey, think of it this way. The more spinach you add, the better for you it gets!

Mmmm... Lasagne

I made Lasagna yesterday. And it was good.

The End.

.....

Oh, wait, what? You want my personal recipe?

You mean the one I made up LAST time I made lasagna, that made my husband fall at my feet and worship me? That one?

Well... I guess....

Since you asked so nicely.

WARNING: Making this Lasagna one time will cause you to never want anyone elses lasagna ever again, unless its your Grandma's.

Shaina's Stupendous Spinach Lasagna
You will need:
Oven Ready Lasagna Noodles (or, the regular ones, you'll just have to follow the instructions on the box)
Hamburger (I prefer ground chuck)
Italian Sausage (2 links)
1 Box of Frozen Spinach
Cottage Cheese
Cream Cheese
Shredded Cheese of your choice, 1 package (I prefer mozzarella, or Colby Jack)
1 jar of spaghetti sauce of your choice (maybe even a big jar and a little jar, last nights was a little dry because of the oven ready noodles).
Various spices and stuff which I'll mention in the recipe.

Start off by browning the hamburger. Using a knife, run it down the sausages and cutting open the casings. Peel the meat out, and add it to the hamburger, continue to brown, making sure to crumble it all up. Add (these are optional), garlic, onions, italian seasonings, and a LITTLE bit of salt. Once the Hamburger/Sausage is browned, drain the excess fat/oil from the pan, then add the spaghetti sauce and let simmer.

While the hamburger is browning, defrost your box of spinach. Drain well. Add the spinach to a bowl, then add in 2-3 large tablespoons of cream cheese, 1-2 large tablespoons of cottage cheese (or ricotta if you prefer, I just don't like ricotta), and half the bag of shredded cheese. Mix well.

Start off with a layer of sauce, then cheese, then noodles. Repeat till you run out of cheese and sauce. End with the rest of the shredded cheese on top, with a little bit of italian seasoning sprinkled on top. I baked it in a 375ish oven (I don't really remember...) for 45 minutes. The noodles were tender, and the cheese was wonderfully brown!

Theoretically you should let it set for about 15 minutes to cool a little, but in reality we dug into it as SOON as it was out of the oven yesterday...

Enjoy!

Hey, if you make it, and like it, send me a shout to let me know!