I changed a few things.  More bacon, of course.  I’m pretty sure I doubled it, but I wasn’t really keeping track.  I also roasted some brussels sprouts along with the other vegetables.  I didn’t think I liked brussels sprouts until about 5 years ago when my husband’s aunt cooked them for Thanksgiving.  It was a huge eye opener for me.  I guess I’d just always thought I was supposed to hate them, so I did, without any good reason.  Thank you, Lynn!  They might be one of of my favorite vegetables now.  I also opted to use medium pasta shells because I was not about to pay $8 for a bag of orcchiette.  Not going to happen, Martha.  I shaved big hunks of Parmesan into the pasta but I wished I’d grated at least some of it, as the recipe suggests.  It’s nice to get those big pieces of salty cheese, but I think smaller pieces that can make their way into the nooks and crannies of the pasta would’ve been better.  A few shaved pieces on top are all you need.

This was a lovely dinner.  A definite comfort food that fed 4 quite generously.  I will be making this again as the weather continues to cool off.  Enjoy!

Roasted Vegetable Pasta with Bacon and Parmesan

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2-4 ounces bacon, preferably slab, chopped
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 head cauliflower, trimmed into 1 1/2-inch florets (about 2 1/2 cups)
• 1 bag of brussel sprouts, trimmed and halved
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 8 ounces orecchiette or other medium pasta shape
• 3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (1 1/2 ounces), plus more, shaved, for garnish
• 1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped

I didn’t want to make typical freezer meals.  Lasagna, chili and casseroles that use cans of cream of whatever soup were just not the kind of meals I was looking for.  Yes, I like to make things difficult for myself.  Yes, I am a bit of a food snob.  Ask me a year from now, and I think my love of convenience foods will have grown.  But since I have the time now, why not make something extra good?

Here is what I ended up with in my freezer.  Click on the meal for a link to the recipe.  The pastitsio and shepherd’s pie include freezing instructions.  I added my own for the chicken pasta.

Pastitsio - a layered Greek noodle dish with ground beef, tomatoes and bechamel sauce.  The beef layer is spiced with olives, oregano, cinnamon and oregano.

Chicken Florentine Artichoke Bake – a bowtie pasta casserole with chicken, artichokes, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and cheese.

Shepherd’s Pie – Turkey, tomato, peas, corn and mushrooms topped with mashed carrots and potatoes.

These are not the quickest meals to get prepped for the freezer.  But the time you spend now will be time you save in a few weeks or a couple months when you go to enjoy the results of your hard work.  I made the pastitsio the other afternooon, I think it took me about an hour and a half to cook and clean up.  I made the chicken pasta and shepherd’s pie Saturday morning, and I think my total chopping, cooking, boiling, packaging and cleaning time was 3 hours.  Here’s my kitchen during its worst moment on Saturday.

I know some of you have now decided that I am crazy to have spent that much of my Saturday morning on this project, but it’s something I’d planned to do…and so I had to do it.  I also kind of like spending that time in the kitchen and having something to show for it.  It makes me feel productive, and it’s a lot more fun that organizing the stacks of paper on the desk in the office.  And look at my fully stocked freezer!  Two 9×13 pans and two 8×8 pans of food waiting patiently to be eaten.  Why does this kind of thing make me happy?

Here are a few quick notes and changes on these recipes.  Some changes were made because of personal preferences, others because I forgot to or chose not to buy an ingredient.  I am becoming more and more comfortable with improvising in the kitchen.  It makes life so much easier, and it saves money too.  A jar of sun-dried tomatoes was going to set me back $5.99…so I used some sun-dried tomato pesto that I already had.  It makes me feel so resourceful when I can do things like that.

Pastitsio:

• Left out the red wine
• Used green olives instead of Kalamata
• Used only 4 tablespoons of butter, 1 cup of milk and 1 egg in the pasta mixture
• Use a LARGE and DEEP pan, I did not have room in a regular 9×13 to fit all the sauce.  It broke my heart to pour that creamy bechamel down the drain.

Chicken Florentine Artichoke Pasta

• Cooked 2 chicken breasts in a skillet and chopped it up to make 2 cups
• Used a 12 ounce package of pasta instead of 8 ounce
• Used 2 tablespoons of sun dried tomato pesto instead of the chopped sun dried tomatoes
• Freezer Instructions: Bake without bread crumbs for 15 minutes, then with bread crumbs for 5 minutes.  Let cool completely, then cover with plastic wrap and a couple layers of foil.  When ready to bake, let it thaw in the fridge overnight, then bake @ 350 F covered with foil for 20 minutes and without foil for 15-20 minutes or until nicely brown on top.

Shepherd’s Pie

• Used 6 carrots and 4 large baking potatoes which was enough to top 2 8-inch pans
• Made one of my pans with cheese, and one without
• Used 1 1/2 cups mushrooms, 1 1/2 cups peas and 1 cup corn in addition to the meat and tomatoes

When Ben and I get around to eating these over the next couple months I will give some feedback about how the thawing and re-heating goes.  If you try them in the meantime and bake them right away, please let me know how they turn out!

This obsession I have with macaroni and cheese may never end.  It is just too good.  How can you not love it?

My most recent mac and cheese adventure was a BLT version with bacon, leeks, tomatoes, colby jack cheese, and a toasted bread crumb topping.  While this did not quite live up to the deliciousness of other macs, it was still very tasty.  I liked the subtle flavor of the leeks, juicy tomatoes, salty bacon and creamy cheese.

The inspiration for this dish came while I was perusing recipes and found a BLT pizza that used arugala as the “lettuce” in the BLT.  I thought it could be changed a bit to make mac and cheese.  I searched BLT mac and cheese and found quite a few recipes, the top result being one from Rachel Ray.  It sounds pretty tasty, and I will probably try it sometime and see how it compares to this one.  She uses cream cheese in her recipe, and does not make a roux at all.  I like making the cheese sauce with the roux, milk and cheese, but maybe she’s on to something with the cream cheese.  I’ll let you know once I try it out.

All the recipes I found had a few basics in common.  All used bacon and tomatoes, of course, most used leeks, and arugala was the lettuce in most recipes that I found.  I could not find arugala at the grocery store, so my leeks became the “L” in this BLT.

Bacon, Leek and Tomato Macaroni and Cheese

• 1 lb. short tubular pasta, such as penne
• 12 slices of bacon
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup whole milk
• 12 ounces shredded cheese, cheddar, Monterey jack, etc
• 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
• salt & pepper to taste
• 2 medium leeks, white and light green parts
• 4 roma tomatoes
• ¾ to 1 cup fresh bread crumbs
• 3 tablespoons butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook the pasta according to package directions, drain and place cooked pasta in a large bowl; set aside.
3. Cook bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat 8-10 minutes or until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet, leaving drippings in the pan, to paper towel-lined plate to drain and cool.  Chop bacon into ½ inch pieces then place in the large bowl.
4. Slice leek in half lengthwise, then submerge halves in cold water to rinse out any dirt.  Remove from water, pat dry and slice into ½ inch pieces.  Saute the leeks in the skillet with bacon drippings over medium heat. Cook, uncovered, just until it softens up and place in the large bowl.
5. Cut tomatoes into ¼ inch slices.
6. In a sauce pan, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Once it’s completely melted, add the flour and whisk to create a roux.  Allow to just come to a boil and then slowly stir in the milk, then the garlic. Allow the milk to come to a simmer and thicken, whisking frequently to avoid clumps. Once it thickens up to coat the back of the spoon, turn off the heat. Carefully stir in the cheeses until melted. Add the garlic powder and salt & pepper to taste.
7. Pour the cheese sauce over the pasta and other ingredients in the large bowl and mix well to combine.
8. Spread half the pasta mixture into a pan, then layer half the tomato slices on top.  Cover with the rest of the pasta, then the rest of the tomatoes.
9. In a small skillet, melt the 3 tablespoons of butter over medium high heat.  Add the bread crumbs and stir until the crumbs are slightly golden brown.  Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top of the casserole.
10. Bake for 20 minutes until bubbly and the top has browned slightly.  Let rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

This recipe pays tribute to the amazing French ham and cheese sandwich of the same name.  I’ve made croque monsieurs and madames and they are both delicious sandwiches, so there was no possible way that this could be anything less than incredible!  It was more than incredible.  It was life altering and something I will definitely make again, but not regularly since gruyere cheese is not exactly cheap.  I think it was something like $13.99 per pound at my grocery store, but can apparently set you back even more if you order it from this artisanal cheese site.  Yikes.  You could use Swiss cheese and it would be just as good.

This macaroni and cheese contains all the required ingredients to earn the name croque monsieur; ham, gruyere cheese and crusty bread.  Thank you Food Network Magazine for this incredibly yummy dish.  The flavors are great and the topping of big bread crumbs is perfection.  I used a ham steak with good results.  The slices of ham along with the gooey cheese and tender ziti in this mac and cheese made for a great dinner along with a nice green salad.

Croque Monsieur Mac & Cheese

Ingredients

• ½  pound ziti
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups coarsely grated gruyere cheese(about 6 ounces)
• 1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese (about 4 ounces)
• 2 large eggs
• 3 slices white sandwich bread, roughly diced
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Kosher salt
• 8 ounces thinly sliced deli-boiled ham

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the ziti and cook until al dente, about 6 minutes. Drain and transfer to a large bowl; toss with 1/4 cup milk.
2. Meanwhile, combine both cheeses in a bowl. Beat 1/4 cup milk and the eggs in another bowl; fold in the bread and add half of the cheese.
3. Melt the butter in a saucepan over high heat. Add the onion and garlic; cook, stirring, until just brown, 2 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour, cayenne, nutmeg and 1 teaspoon Kosher salt; cook, stirring, about 2 minutes. Slowly add 3/4 cup water and the remaining 1 1/2 cups milk; bring to a boil, stirring until thickened. Remove from the heat and whisk to cool slightly. Whisk in the remaining cheese, then add the pasta and toss.
4. Butter a shallow casserole dish. Add half of the pasta, top with some of the ham and cover with the remaining pasta. Top with the remaining ham, then cover with the bread mixture. Bake until golden and bubbly, about 20 minutes. Let rest a few minutes before serving.

I found so many variations on butternut squash sauce for pastas.  At first I started to get an anxiety attack.  What is the BEST way?  Please!  Someone!  Just give me the all time best recipe so that I will stop wasting my time browsing recipe after recipe finding something about the ingredient list or preparation in each recipe to be lacking!  Then an ingenious idea came to me.  Would it be so wrong for me to take the things I liked best about all the recipes and make…my own recipe?  I keep getting braver and braver, people!  One of these days I will use nothing but pure instinct in the kitchen…someday.

I referenced many recipes to arrive at the final product.  I wanted a recipe that met the following criteria:

• Roasted, not steamed or sautéed, butternut squash
• Pureed or slightly chunky sauce, not big hunks of squash
• Sage.  Glorious, warm, fuzzy, sage.
• Bacon or Pancetta (meat is murder…tasty, tasty, murder)
• A light sauce, not laden with heavy cream
• Penne, or some other non-slinky pasta

With these specific preferences, I had no choice but to combine about 6 recipes that met the requirements.  The resulting meal was creamy, light, the perfect combination of sweet and salty, warm and inviting.

This is a lovely fall meal.  I highly recommend it.

Butternut Squash Pasta with Bacon and Sage

• 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1/2 pound bacon
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 pound penne pasta
• 2 tablespoons sage, roughly chopped + 8-10 whole sage leaves
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. Spread squash and smashed garlic cloves onto a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt.  Roast for 25-30 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool.
3. Pulse squash in a food processor or mash with a spoon, set aside.
4. Cook pasta to al dente according to package instructions.  Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta water, and set aside.
5. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.  Cook bacon until just crisp, then remove from pan to paper towels to drain.  Chop into medium chunks after it is cool.
6. Add onion to the bacon grease and cook until translucent, 6-8 minutes.
7. Add squash, chicken broth, half and half and sage to the onion.
8. Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes.
9. Reduce heat to low, then add pasta and bacon to the onion mixture and stir to combine.
10. If the pasta seems too thick, add some pasta water to thin the sauce.
11. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup Parmesan, cover, and let heat through for 3-5 minutes.
12. Stir pasta and serve in pasta bowls with Parmesan and sage leaves.

I loved the crunchy breadcrumbs on top of this dish.  The sauteed onions and garlic mixed with tomato paste give the sauce a richer flavor that is more than just milk and cheese.  I used 2% milk and half swiss, half sharp cheddar with a great resulting flavor.  I cooked the chicken in chunks, but ended up kind of shredding it into smaller pieces before adding it to the cheese.  The recipe calls for penne or similar pasta, but I used traditional elbow macaroni.

I was pretty hungry when we ate dinner last night, so my hunger could have contributed for my rave review of this pasta.  However, Ben ate a chimichanga for lunch, so he wasn’t starving…and he had two helpings.  This leads me to believe that this was a true culinary success.  You could add broccoli to this for a little punch of vitamins and color.

This dish was pretty easy to prep and has a quick baking time.  Consider these time saving tips to make life even easier.

1. Use dry bread crumbs instead of fresh.
2. Use rotisserie chicken.
3. Use pre-shredded cheese.
4. Cook the pasta earlier in the day and store it in the fridge.

Mac and Cheese with Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 pound skinless, boneless, chicken breast halves
• 1 to 2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning, crushed
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 10 ounces macaroni
• 1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 cups 2 % milk
• 2 cups shredded cheese, 1 cup swiss and 1 cup cheddar
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 2 cups soft sourdough bread crumbs
• 2 ounces finely shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese (1/2 cup)
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. In a large skillet cook chicken, Italian or desired seasoning blend, salt, and pepper in hot oil over medium heat until chicken is no longer pink. Remove chicken from skillet; set aside.

2.  In a large pot or kettle cook pasta according to package directions until just tender. Drain; return pasta to pot.

3.  Meanwhile, in the same skillet in which chicken was cooked, cook onion and garlic in 3 tablespoons hot butter over medium heat until tender. Stir in flour until well combined. Stir in tomato paste. Add milk. Cook and stir until mixture is thickened and bubbly; reduce heat. Add the shredded cheese. Stir until cheese is almost melted. Remove from heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add sauce and chicken to cooked pasta in pot; stir to coat. Spoon mixture into a 2-quart square or rectangular baking dish.

4.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl stir together bread crumbs,Parmesan cheese, and 3 tablespoons melted butter. Sprinkle crumb mixture over pasta mixture. Bake, uncovered, for 20 to 25 minutes or until crumb mixture is golden and edges are bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.