Hot Wings Mac & Cheese

Oh, I had a hot wings craving and made too many. You know how it goes, I'm sure.

DO NOT leave this stuff too long. For some reason it degenerates if you do. I'd recommend a week max. Or you could try freezing it. And I would have, but as our R.A. Kate's R.A. fiance Jeremy says, our freezer is like Tetris. So no.

HOT WINGS MAC

Prepare the Mac & Cheese as directed on the box. Add chopped boneless hot wings, some mixture of spices and cream cheese--I had a spicy cheese ball to spare, so I used that--and sriracha sauce.

I like to melt in some individual slices of gouda over the bowls when I reheat it.

Apologies

Hello everyone.

So, the semester swallowed me for awhile. I LOVE all my classes, especially my cooking and feature writing classes! But, I want to do better than last semester. 18 credits was an insanity on my part, but I still need to do my best with the much saner 14 credits this semester.

So why am I here? Because blogging makes me at least 20% happier.

In other news, I've been cooking like crazy, caught the crud that's going around campus (stay healthy, Cougars!), and am currently experiencing a very weird form of insomnia. No, it is not Pinsomnia. I legitimately cannot sleep no matter what I do. I hope it's temporary. If not, I'll just use the time to be productive.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of what I've been up to:

Not for nothing is one of my nicknames "The Dairy Queen"

I got a really weird dairy craving. I crave dairy all the time, but this was something different. I have milk, cottage cheese, yogurt, cheddar, and ice cream out in that picture. I was a little scared, as it has never been that bad before.

PS my glasses in this are fake.

Mal came and visited me!!! Well, this has happened before, but on the occasion of her interview and Kay & Tate's (her older sister & younger brother) farewells, she stayed over and we had a PROPER girl's night! We looked at Harry Potter stuff on Pinterest, and just talked like old times. I needed it.

{PSS: Mal, you never got back to me: HOW did I get Anne Elliot on that Jane Austen Quiz?}

Hailey, Cherie, and I at the Blue Lemon

The Halfway Homeless Girl's club got Brian Regan tickets and so we went up to Salt Lake. We were planning on the Lion House Pantry, but it had been closed all week for renovations. So we were forced into trying a new place, the Blue Lemon. They're all about fresh ingredients and it was total bliss. I would absolutely go there again, even though going without Lion House rolls was pretty depressing.

We had some time before the HILARIOUS show to make a few funny faces.

I love how they made this look like a 1930's movie poster

The very next week, Hailey and I went to see The Woman in Black. It was so freaky, well-shot, and I intend to buy the DVD when it comes out.

The more I learn about this man...

I've been viewing David Tennant's visage and work more and more lately. Of course we are aware of how obsessed I already was with Doctor Who, but he's just an amazing actor all around. His Scottish voice in the BBC radio plays soothes me right to sleep most nights {except for this dreadful insomnia, that's the weird thing}. Anyway, I'm very excited for his new romantic comedy The Decoy Bride. I think it looks fantastic and I hope it's not one of those "in select theaters" movies. If so, then I'll figure it out at the time.

I'll be posting oatmeal recipes, and mac&cheese recipes, very soon. I think I'll actually be able to do all the oatmeal recipes in one post. Maybe two. Yeah, two would be better. 

A New Culinary Challenge...

Merry Christmas All!!

So, after a long semester--and I do mean long--I came home for Christmas.

A few hours ago--during the Doctor Who Christmas Special, no less--my parents decided to sort through our food storage in the family room.

Guess what I got?

Two bags of this stuff.

"But Lindsey" I hear you say "you LOVE oatmeal! How is this a problem?" 

This is a problem because one cup of oatmeal makes about four servings, and I have to finish it by February.

However, oatmeal is a VERY nice, warm, filling sort of breakfast, which is quite honestly what I need if I'm to ride out the winter sickness-free, which I fully intend to do, thank you very much. It's healthy, whole-grain, and full of fiber, which will help with my one of my New Year's Resolutions {More on those next week}.

So it looks like I'm going to be posting twice a day sometimes, folks. The January 2012 oatmeal challenge will begin on the third of January {because that's when I get back to Provo}.

Much like the Mac & Cheese Challenge, it will consist of me trying to come up with different ways of serving Oatmeal. So far...I have three.

January is going to be fun!!

Cheesy Chicken Ranch Mac

This recipe was born of the desperation that only the need to rid one's fridge of perishables during and after finals week can produce. I had the stuff, it sounded good, and it was all surprisingly filling.

Prepare mac & cheese as directed on box.

Now, add any and all real cheese you have, plus that leftover ranch dressing.

Tear up the leftover chicken you're too lazy to put into a sandwich. Stor. Now add salt & pepper to taste.

I made this during finals week so there wasn't much time for pictures. There will always be pictures from now on, I promise.

The Spicy No-Sweat Sweatpant Stir-fry

Why did I make a spicy stir-fry in the middle of a Mac & Cheese Challenge?

Because I was sick of Mac & Cheese, that's why. Oh well. I got back to it.

I called this what I did because it's spicy, pretty easy to make, and I cooked it in my electric-lime-colored sweat pants.

I had peppers and turkey and broccoli, and stir-fry sounded amazing!!

I have everything in this picture but the peppers!

So, first of all, here is a little tutorial, boys & girls, on how to roast your own peppers at home, so you don't have to buy them expensive and pre-roasted in a jar. I always think everything is better homemade, cheaper and fresh.

So you have your peppers {probably red} and you put them on a cookie sheet, or a jelly-roll pan, which are the cookie sheets with the raised edges. Technically a jelly-roll pan.

Brush them with oil, or spray them with PAM. Turn your oven to broil.

When they get black on top in places, flip them over.

When they're done, take them out and let them cool down.

They will be HOT for a long time!

MEANWHILE...if you did this at the spur of the moment, thaw that ground turkey!

{I keep like three of these in my freezer at any given time. CHEAPER THAN GROUND BEEF!!}

Once your meat is thawed, brown it in a large skillet.

So, turn this

into this

At which point, add Soy Sauce, Sriracha, Garlic, cayenne {go light!}, chili powder, rotisserie seasoning {optional}, curry powder, nutmeg, and thyme. This will make the sauce you see above.

At some point, you peppers will have cooled. Remove the skin, if possible. Slice one pepper, and put the others into a tupperware {You can use them on all sorts of things later}. 

Now throw the pepper slices, seeds and all, into the skillet

Chop up your broccoli, like so:

You want small enough pieces that it can be easily eaten and stirred but large enough pieces that the broccoli retains its unique shape. 

Now put it in the skillet.

And stir it around a bit

Yes I cook in sweats, I like it

{Thank you Cherie for photographing me so I don't ruin my camera}

Anyway, then you boil your pasta {or rice, I felt like angel hair pasta this night} and it comes out looking like this:

And that is how you do the Spicy No-Sweat Sweatpant Stir-fry!!

Chili Mac

This was another idea I first thought of when this challenge occurred. I thought of using my own chili, which I had made JUST because I felt like it. But I had some Wendy's Chili lying around, so I thought I'd use that up instead.

I have to say I wish I had used my own chili--nothing against Wendy's, I just ought to have had more Chili in there.

So what you do for this one is you make the Mac & cheese, and then you want at least a cup of chili, and 1/2 C of cottage cheese. Stir and enjoy.

Sorry no photos on this one, but I made it at Cherie's house without my camera. I promise more next time!!

Salsa-Gouda Mac

Round Two!!

Also as part of the great 2011 food-storage dump, my mother gave me three jars of salsa. I learned two things from this:

1. I now understand why cheese goes so well and so often with Salsa
2. Never underestimate my ability to power through salsa. It is seriously one of my favorite snacks.

But this was one of my first ideas when I took this challenge on, and I happened to have some Gouda lying around, so I did this!!

You will need what you see here:

{Plus, of course, what it said you needed on the Blue Box}

Cook the mac & cheese as directed on the package. Now add in pieces of the Gouda, salt & pepper, 1/2c to 1 C of the Salsa, a teaspoon of the cream cheese {I used Garden vegetable} the chili powder, the cayenne pepper {go easy}, the sriracha {for gosh sakes go easy!}, the onion, and stir.

{Rather like this}

Once the cheese melts you know it's done and ready to serve. 

Bon Appetit!!