Recipe Board

[Carlawarla 1]

Homemade Macaroni and cheese

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm sounds wonderful! I'm going to try it. Good comfort food!

Here's one of mine.

Spinach Rolls

1 package puff pastry

1 box of frozen spinach (leaves or chopped) thawed

1 cup shredded Swiss cheese

1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese

1/4 cup Parmesean cheese

dash of olive oil

dash of salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Take pastry out of box and wrappings and put on baking sheet to thaw about 40 minutes.

Mix thawed spinach, cheeses and oil.

When pastry is thawed, put spinach mixture along middle of one sheet of pastry in a line. Do the same for the other sheet. You should use all the spinach this way.

Roll and tuck in sides.

Place seam side down on baking sheet. Make slashes on top of pastry (about 3 or 4)

Bake for about 30 min. (however watch, sometimes it seems to be 40 min.) until brown and bubbly.

They puff up nice and brown and flaky!

Gene and I split one with homemade soup for suppers. Often I send the other half with him to work for lunch.

You can also put them together, don't do the slash thingy, and instead slice them into one inch slices, and place cut side down on baking sheet, bake as above, but not as long. They are excellent appetizers!

Carla

[LadyJane 1]

Good tips Carla

Homemade Macaroni and cheese

NICE one, Udella! I looooooove homemade mac and cheese. I'm going to try this recipe. But I'm going to substitute sharp cheddar..... I like the extra kick.

I've found a bit of gruyere cheese, with the sharp cheddar, is very tasty in mac-n-cheese.

[trailmix 77]

EXCELLENT tips Carla! Not using a plastic bowl is key. I never use cream of tartar but it is definitely recommended when there's high humidity or runny whites. Funny how you take knowing things for granted until you start analysing where it all went wrong.

I have made about 100 of these, maybe a few less. When I lived in NZ I bought them. They stand about 12 inches high and they are perfect. So when I moved back to Canada I wanted to perfect these puppies. I did many many many trials, I tried cream of tartar, some other stabilizer (which helped somewhat), but altitude, humidity all play a roll and vinegar should stabilize it anyway.

For that one in the picture I would say they used about 10 egg whites.

So if you can get it a few inches high - that is probably as good as it is going to get. The difference between this and meringue is that meringue is crispy in the middle and the pav isn't - it's marshmallowy - to achieve that you have to leave it in the oven until the oven is cool, otherwise it is kind of raw in the middle and that's just gross haha.

So try it with 10 egg whites and be sure to pile it high in the oven and now I want one.

[Emancipation 2]

Did you whip the egg whites until they formed soft peaks before adding the sugar a little at a time?

I thought I did.. perhaps my perceptions of soft peaks is different.. *sigh.. so frustrating.. I remember my mother saying she never could make meringue and last night I thought her curse was coming right back to haunt me!! tee hee..

Soft peaks is when you pull out the mixer and the meringue forms a kind of snowman effect, with the top of the meringue falling over but maintaining a mound. (Remaining standing up pointy would be stiff peaks.) Another to look for if your meringues don't come out is if you get some yolk in them when separating the eggs. Any bit of yolk will prevent a meringue from forming. Good luck with round two!

Ahhhh well that might be the kicker..

Okay, so i have NO clue what soft peaks is I did have a bit of yolk in it.. that's probably what happened then.. a combo of me not knowing how to bake, and my inability to separate an egg!!

Okay..okay...I'll let you all in on the secret!

1) chill your beaters and bowl - which must be glass or metal bowl - do NOT use a plastic bowl...it's greasy...you'll never get the grease off a plastic bowl!

2) your eggs will increase in volume if you leave them out of the fridge for 30 min. before beating

3) Never, NEVER get yolk in the eggwhites. Crack each egg in a seperate small bowl before adding to the bigger bowl. If you have some yolk in one cracked egg (in the small bowl) put it away, and use later. Crack a new egg.

4) Egg whites contain water, so you need a stabilizer with them. Acid. So...put a pinch of cream of tartar in the whites. If you don't have this, or can't find it, a sprinkle of lemon juice will work as will a little vinegar.

5) Start mixing slowly and then speed up mixer when the foam develops. Slowly incorporate sugar at this point. One or two tablespoons at a time.

Hope this helps!

Carla

Carla.. you are a life saver! I'm going to try again.. you've all given me hope that I can make this dish!! Yeah!! I was so dissapointed last night.. hubby was helping and I got frustrated with him.. and he took it all in stride.. he's about to go buy a $200 kitchen mixer so i can make this dish.. i was thinking the problem was with the hand mixer.. now i know it's with ME!!

EXCELLENT tips Carla! Not using a plastic bowl is key. I never use cream of tartar but it is definitely recommended when there's high humidity or runny whites. Funny how you take knowing things for granted until you start analysing where it all went wrong.

I have made about 100 of these, maybe a few less. When I lived in NZ I bought them. They stand about 12 inches high and they are perfect. So when I moved back to Canada I wanted to perfect these puppies. I did many many many trials, I tried cream of tartar, some other stabilizer (which helped somewhat), but altitude, humidity all play a roll and vinegar should stabilize it anyway.

For that one in the picture I would say they used about 10 egg whites.

So if you can get it a few inches high - that is probably as good as it is going to get. The difference between this and meringue is that meringue is crispy in the middle and the pav isn't - it's marshmallowy - to achieve that you have to leave it in the oven until the oven is cool, otherwise it is kind of raw in the middle and that's just gross haha.

So try it with 10 egg whites and be sure to pile it high in the oven and now I want one.

Ahhh see... i didn't do that either.. leave it in the oven until the oven cools..

MAN this is like a secret society trying to learn to make this!!!

[Krikit 1,164]

I've found a bit of gruyere cheese, with the sharp cheddar, is very tasty in mac-n-cheese.

Excellent! Thank you.

[MissStacey 1]

I can't believe I married a man who does not like cheese. What was I thinking?

[Krikit 1,164]

The difference between this and meringue is that meringue is crispy in the middle and the pav isn't - it's marshmallowy

That is so true! I wanted to make a pavlova a few weeks ago but my fancy mixer got crushed to ratsh*t during my last move. So I hunted high and low for pre-made meringue and found some little coloured individual ones in a tub. Boy was I sure disappointed. Do people really EAT those things?

MAN this is like a secret society trying to learn to make this!!!

Shhhh. Don't tell anyone.

I can't believe I married a man who does not like cheese. What was I thinking?

[trailmix 77]

I can't believe I married a man who does not like cheese. What was I thinking?

[MissStacey 1]

I can't believe I married a man who does not like cheese. What was I thinking?

I know.

[Krikit 1,164]

I can't believe I married a man who does not like cheese. What was I thinking?

I know.

[kimmbo 0]

Stacey, does he dislike only certain cheeses or all cheese? My mother HATES cheese! She tells everyone she is allergic to it, but she isnt..it just grosses her out... She never even ate it as a child.. You should see the weird looks we used to get when I was a kid and my mom would order a pizza with NO cheese! I would get so embarrassed as a kid... BUT Im the say way with anything MINT, I despise mint!! always have..If I smell someone chewing mint gum I have to get away as quickly as possible, makes me wanna puke!..LOL

when my husband and I order pizza with her we have to get 2 pizzas, there is no way my husband would eat pizza with no cheese... funny thing is, I now share the NO cheese pizza with my mom!..LOL

about the mac and cheese, I make mine with a mix of Sharp/Old, Gruyere, Parmigiano Reggiano, and a little Mozarella... and always use Whole Wheat macaroni (my husband that doesnt like whole wheat pasta, has no idea and loves it!)..LOL

Edited December 18, 2007 by kimmbo

[MissStacey 1]

Stacey, does he dislike only certain cheeses or all cheese? My mother HATES cheese! She tells everyone she is allergic to it, but she isnt..it just grosses her out... She never even ate it as a child.. You should see the weird looks we used to get when I was a kid and my mom would order a pizza with NO cheese! I would get so embarrassed as a kid... BUT Im the say way with anything MINT, I despise mint!! always have..If I smell someone chewing mint gum I have to get away as quickly as possible, makes me wanna puke!..LOL

when my husband and I order pizza with her we have to get 2 pizzas, there is no way my husband would eat pizza with no cheese... funny thing is, I now share the NO cheese pizza with my mom!..LOL

about the mac and cheese, I make mine with a mix of Sharp/Old, Gruyere, Parmigiano Reggiano, and a little Mozarella... and always use Whole Wheat macaroni (my husband that doesnt like whole wheat pasta, has no idea and loves it!)..LOL

Pizza is the only thing he will eat that has cheese. He loves pizza.

He claims he doesn't like it because his mother drowned everything with cheese when he was growing up.

[Krikit 1,164]

He claims he doesn't like it because his mother drowned everything with cheese when he was growing up.

It always comes down to the mother, doesn't it?

[trailmix 77]

He claims he doesn't like it because his mother drowned everything with cheese when he was growing up.

It always comes down to the mother, doesn't it?

lol, that is so true

The thing is, some of these Mothers weren't that - hmm - umm cooking wasn't their forte'.

[Krikit 1,164]

The thing is, some of these Mothers weren't that - hmm - umm cooking wasn't their forte'.

LOL. Yup. My daughter's fiance used to drown everything in ketchup. We cured him of that habit. He also learned to eat vegetables and ethnic foods too. Apparently his Mom is a terrible cook, and only served meat and potatoes. But she managed to screw even that up, so the entire family learned to disguise it with ketchup. I can't even imagine. Maybe Stacey's MIL did the same thing with cheese.