Macaroni and Cheese please!

Ok, so by now you know that I am not American by birth. I came to this lovely country when I was about 12 years old, with a set of taste buds that were already deeply rooted in the Peruvian flavors that I enjoy so much. I didn't eat a PB&J sandwich until I was probably 16 years old, and that was thanks to an All American friend who refused to let me go through life without trying this delicacy. The same goes for Macaroni and Cheese. I tried this dish late in the game and although I liked it, it was never one of those dishes that I cared to re-create in my kitchen. Until now.

My daughter, although brown haired, brown eyed and cinnamon skinned is as American as well, flan. Don't understand? I guess you don't live in Miami now do you?

No, really, Mia likes Mac and Cheese as much as the next kid and while we lived in Memphis she tried this southern gooey goodness many times. But that was the South, and Florida is, well its the south too...but...really, its a world unto its own. Regardless of this, I had promised Mia I would make some Macaroni and Cheese specially for her and that kid has the memory of an elephant, whenever its convenient for her of course...

So I armed myself with about 10 recipes and took out bits and pieces that I liked from each one and made my version of Mac and Cheese. Again, I remind you that I am not American nor did I grow up eating this, so if I butcher this recipe or if you find it horribly different from the classic version that your grandma made, then please accept the apologies both from myself and my Inca ancestors.

So with my apologies made, on I go.

These are the items you will need:

For the Mac and Cheese

1 Box of Macaroni noodles (1# box)
2 Teaspoons of dry mustard
2 Teaspoons of Paprika
3 cups of Milk
3 tablespoons of butter
3 tablespoons of all purpose flour
1 egg
1 Pound of Sharp Cheddar
1/2 a pound of Monterrey Jack cheese
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
Broccoli
Red Bell Pepper diced in cubes
Thyme
1 bay leaf
Nutmeg

Salt Pepper

bread crumbs

For the Chicken

2 Chicken breasts

Breadcrumbs

1 egg

some milk

salt pepper

Please imagine the missing ingredients here...

Ok, so begin by grating the cheeses, I was going to buy the shredded kind, but all the recipes said that it was best to grate it fresh....so on I went. Actually, this was a great activity for Mia to help out in.


This actually was messier than I anticipated, especially for an almost 4 year old to try (I can't believe I have an almost 4 year old kid!) but it kept her entertained for a while. Kept me cleaning for a while as well, but that's life.

Ok, now that your cheese is grated you can begin. Cook the macaroni until a bit underdone, about 5 minutes, remember that this will go into the oven for about 30 minutes and will continue cooking!! Drain. Then, place a large pot and put on medium heat. Melt the butter. Once this is melted add the flour, mix well so that there are no lumps and continue to stir in order to cook this "roux" and take out the flour-y taste from the mixture. This should take about 5-10 mins top. Add the dry mustard and about a teaspoon of the freshly grated nutmeg. Now, add the 3 cups of milk, stir well so that there are no lumps. Add to this the thyme (about a palmful) and bay leaf. Keep this on medium heat and stir until it gets a bit thick another 10-15 minutes. Once it gets to a creamy like consistency, (don't worry if its a bit watery, mine was at the beginning as well) turn off the heat and add the Cheddar and Jack cheeses. The residual heat will be enough to melt this.

Next put the already undercooked and drained macaroni in a baking dish and add the cheese and veggies (I had to make it healthy)

Pardon our complete disregard to the pictures on the cutting boards, we're WILD!

You can put these veggies raw, I like my broccoli with a bit of a bite still in it if you don't then I guess you could cook it for a few minutes prior to adding it...but that's just another messy pan, so why bother?

Mix the cheese and veggies in the baking dish, cover with the breadcrumbs and top with the Parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Finish with the broiler on high until golden brown and bubbly on top.

Now on to the chicken.

I made some breaded chicken cutlets to go with this meal ("apanado" for my Hispanic peeps)

Butterfly the chicken breast into thinner sections add salt pepper and set aside. In a deep bowl mix the egg and milk and in a shallow large plate place the breadcrumbs. Heat a skillet with some olive oil. Coat each chicken section with the egg wash and then place on the breadcrumbs and cover. Fry until golden brown. Repeat with all pieces. Serve together with the mac and cheese.

Unfortunately I don't have a finished picture to show you because we were just too hungry to remember take one before we dug in. But it was good. At least as good as this Peruvian girl can possibly make!!

Chinese is Chineasy! :)

I must have inherited my Grandmother's aversion to throwing food away. I save all scraps of food and try to incorporate them into a dish in one way or another. I actually laugh at my mom for doing this, but I secretly and shamelessly can not turn away from this inherited gift to give any and all leftovers a face lift and turn them into dinner for some other night.

Being Hispanic, my family eats a lot of rice with our meals. I think over 80% of our meals include rice as a side dish, because of this, I also find myself with lots of rice as leftovers.

And so a typical Tuesday evening begins. I lie, there is nothing typical in my life...

I was actually craving Chinese food with all of its crunchy good for you vegetables, and I knew I had a pot of leftover rice from Sunday that needed to be utilized ASAP. It would not go to waste, not on my watch (and its always my watch),

So off I go, flying through the kitchen (don't worry its not a very large kitchen) looking for all the ingredients needed to make Chicken fried rice.


For this dish you will need:

6 Boneless/skinless chicken thighs cut into bite size pieces (You can use Chicken breast but I find this a bit dry) I've also made it with Shrimp and its oh so good!
4 cups of leftover white rice (you can make this ahead the night before)
1 Red bell pepper cut into cubes
1 pack of snow peas cut into pieces
1 pack of Scallions cut up
1/2 a medium yellow onion cut into cubes
About 1/2 a cup of Soy sauce
A dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 chunk of fresh ginger (ginger freezes real well, so you can use what you want and freeze the rest in a zip bag. The plus? you don't have to peel frozen ginger, the frozen peel actually never grates! You're welcome)
Sesame seeds
Sesame seed oil, you can use regular olive oil instead

Heat the oil in a large pot, wait until hot and sprinkle about a palm full of sesame seeds wait a minute until you hear them or see them popping and put in the chopped up onions. Caramelize. Add the chicken and leave it alone. Don't stir it, don't do anything, just let it be. I know, hard right? wait until about 10 minutes have passed by or until you see that it has developed a nice brown color on the side that is touching the pot. Now you are free to stir. Move it around and grate about 2 or 3 tablespoons of ginger into the chicken. Add about 1/4 of the cup of soy sauce and a couple of shakes of the Worcestershire. Cover and let it simmer on low until it is cooked through. Remove into a large bowl with all the juices.

In the same pot add a bit more of oil and add half the vegetables. You don't want to cook these veggies, you want them to stay crunchy and bright, so sauteing will only take about 5 minutes TOPS. Add half of the remaining soy sauce and shave about 1 tablespoon of ginger. Remove to a bowl. Do the same with the other half of the veggies. The reason why you don't want to do them all at once is because you want to stir fry them, if you crowd the pot they will just get watery and mushy.

Add the already cooked leftover rice to the pot and stir so that the rice can get coated with some of the left over bits of soy sauce and heat up. Add the veggies and chicken and mix in as well.

I usually add more ginger and soy sauce at the end to my liking.

(disclaimer: The pot in the picture was the first pot my mom purchased when we arrived to this country almost 20 years ago. Yes, it is old and battered and not very nice to look at but I will never get rid of it. I have made firm plans to be buried with it actually)

Finished! You have a dinner that is full of yummy good for you veggies (I like to add some bean sprouts as well, but I didn't have any on hand today) that was made in about 30 minutes. Seriously, no take out can beat that!