Mommy "Mac & Cheese"

Right now I'm about eight months pregnant and I want all things comfort related. Especially sleep! But since sleep is an enigma, I've been looking for comfort in other places: comfy clothes, feel-good movies, and comfort food. One of my favorite comfort foods: mac and cheese.

When I was little, my idea of a good meal was some box mix macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets. Now I wonder if the upcoming babe will think the same thing when he gets old enough for solid foods. What if he doesn't like the blue box? What if he doesn't like chicken nuggets?? Too many what-if's!

But how do you help a comfort food like mac and cheese translate to something that is just as enjoyable for an adult? Two words: goat cheese!

Goat cheese is like kryptonite. I just can't get enough. I remember my first experience with goat cheese. It was only a few years ago and I picked it up at a local farmers market in Blowing Rock, NC. The husband was working as a valet then just down the street from the farmers market so I stopped by to see him for a few minutes. I remember telling him about this great goat cheese I tried and ended up buying some of and in an effort to be nice and share, I pulled it out. We ended up eating it with our fingers it was so good. I don't think much made it home. But a food addiction was born. And I quickly learned that with all good foods, fresher is definitely better.

The idea to add goat cheese to homemade macaroni and cheese somehow never occurred to me. But once I heard about this, I had a serious WTF moment. How had I never thought of this? Why had it taken 30 years to figure out this combination? Fail. Just fail. So obviously I had to remedy this.

Mommy "Mac and Cheese"
- 1lb rigatoni
- 1qt. heavy cream
~ 2 tbsp. chopped rosemary
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
~ 10oz. goat cheese
~ 2 cups roasted chicken

Sorry for the lack of pictures that I normally put up with the ingredients for the recipe. I wasn't initially sure if I was going to chronicle this recipe because trying to roast the chicken before hand gave me a bit of a...pregnant moment. Yes, lets just call it a pregnant moment. But I did roast my own chicken (5lb chicken, cover with a little olive oil and salt and in the oven at 400 degrees for about 90 minutes or until internal temp is 165) with the help of my fantastic husband. He did the yucky parts for me.

Boil a large pot of salted water. Once boiling add the rigatoni and cook according to directions.

In a second pot, heat the heavy cream, garlic and rosemary over medium heat. Bring it to a simmer and let it reduce by half. 

This is why its a "mac and cheese" versus being mac and cheese. I became hungry and impatient and did not let the cream mixture reduce as much as you should. So when the finished product was put together, the sauce was more saucy then I wanted. Had I waited a bit more, I think it would have been just that tad bit thicker and more like what you imagine with macaroni and cheese. Either way, taste was not affected. 

Once the cream has reduced, add the goat cheese and chicken. I used a half and half mix of plain goat cheese and garlic and herb goat cheese. 

As you can see, the cream boiled over for a minute. Try not to let that happen.

Bring the cream mixture back up to a warm temp. The cheese and chicken cooled it off way more than I thought it would. Once its back up to temp, add the pasta. I ended up having to put the pasta back in the pot I cooked it in and pour the cheese mixture over the top of it rather than the opposite. Either way, mix it all together! 

Once its mixed, bring it back up to temp (again). And obviously, at this point, taste testing for quality control purposes is perfectly acceptable and encouraged!! 

As you can see it was a bit more on the saucy side. However, the final verdict: freaking delicious! I am so excited to eat the leftovers for lunch today and anytime you already can't wait to eat a food you've made, you know it has to be good. 

The reason I decided to call this Mommy Mac & Cheese was two fold: 1). I love thinking about the fact that way sooner than later I am going to be a mom and this absolutely fit into what I was wanting comfort food wise; 2). there is not a chance that I would be making this on a regular basis for the bebe. I have a feeling I will definitely be making this again, but it will be for when I am in the mood for my comfort food, and possibly with a glass of wine. Oh lord, I hadn't even thought of that combination until now and yes, I think a nice cold glass of Chardonnay would be perfect to enjoy. 

Sorry for being so scatterbrained with this recipe but I hope you enjoy it should you try it. It is most definitely worth it! Thanks for stopping by! 

Bangarang Fried Chicken

First, my sincere apologies about taking a...oh...seven month hiatus from this blog. When I started it last year, I had no idea what the following year would have in store for me and nor would I change a minute of it!

Quick recap of the last seven months can be summed up in three words: prepping for baby! For a number of months, my idea of "cooking" involved pouring the noodles for mac and cheese into boiling water or the check-out line at Subway. For a while I made the joke that our kid is going to come out as a subway sandwich. But after months of trying to figure out what I wanted the nursery to look like, or trying to answer questions like "Do we really need a diaper pail?", I feel like we are 90% ready for our upcoming adventure. Good thing too since theres not too much time left to get things in order!

Baby Sheppard Feet

We've also been adjusting to the move that we made out here to Colorado. I've been incredibly fortunate to have met an amazing group of women that I have become excellent friends with after we all randomly decided to start a book club. It was one of those happy accidents that can change your life and I feel confident saying that these women will be friends for life, wherever the roads may lead us.

A view of the Rocky Mountains from the backyard after a storm

But since things seem to have finally settled down and have become a bit more stable (only took eight months!!), and since I've changed my priorities around, I've had more time to cook and try out new recipes. After also recently turning 30 and getting an amazing camera from my husband for my birthday, I realized I really had no excuse in putting off putting up new recipes. So, with out further adieu:

Bangarang Fried Chicken:

chicken pieces of choice (I used 4 drumsticks and 4 thighs)

1qt buttermilk (optional)

~ 2 cups flour

~ 2 tbsp garlic powder

~ 2 tbsp onion powder

salt 

pepper

vegetable oil for frying 

Let me first say that I love how after living in the south for 23 years, it took moving to the mid-west to want to cook like a southerner. The husband, who was born and raised in the south, was craving some home cooking and wanted pinto beans and cornbread for dinner. As appetizing as that sounded by itself, I felt a little bit more could go into the meal so I volunteered to try my hand at homemade fried chicken. 

Fried chicken. The thought struck fear into my heart. Typically in our house we have the greasy bucket o' chicken once a year, on the first regular season football game for the Carolina Panthers. But everyone in my general circle who has attempted to make fried chicken at home has horror stories. The oil was too hot. The oil wasn't hot enough. The outside was burned but the chicken was raw. Even my own mother sent her words of worry. Throw in some high elevation and the most temperamental gas stove-top known to man and I was worried! But with the help of some common sense and the advice of my friend Patrice, I felt at least willing to make the attempt. 

I soaked the chicken in buttermilk. I don't know why other then thats what southern women of old do. And I figured if they did so, there was a reason. 

While that was soaking, I worked on my pinto beans. There's really no recipe for them. But in case you were interested, soak a bag of beans in a bowl of water overnight or for at least 8 hours. Drain beans and rinse. Put them in a pot with one chopped onion, 2/3 a package thick sliced chopped bacon, salt and pepper. Fill with water to an inch or so over the beans. Put it on the stove, bring to a simmer and let it go, stirring occasionally, until desired tenderness and consistency. In my case, it took about 4 hours. 

Once the beans were almost done, I started on the chicken. It had been soaking in the buttermilk for about 4 hours. Honestly, I don't know what, if anything it did to help the chicken. I'm sure it didn't hurt it in any way, but I would say the soaking was not required if you choose not to do so. 

In a large bag, mix together the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Also feel free to add any other seasonings you thing would be good. I've learned that this recipe is easily tailored to your individual families preferences. 

Bring the oil to temp on the stove. Again, because we have the weirdest stove-top ever, I can't tell you what the degree temperature was. I heated mine up on the equivalent of medium-low I believe (although on my stove knob it said super low). It was hot enough that when the chicken was put in, it bubbled and popped without lashing out irrationally at me. And really there was not a huge mess on the stove-top when all was said and done either. Also, its a lot easier to turn the temperature up because you don't have it high/hot enough then to turn it down and not scorch or burn whatever you're cooking. 

Add the chicken and leave it alone! Patrice recommended to make sure there was enough oil in the pot to make sure that the chicken is covered which I think proved to be one of the successes of this recipe. 

After the chicken has been in for about 10-15 minutes, flip it over for another 10-15 minutes. I thought this was kind of weird thinking, "Hey, its frying! It will just flip itself!" But it really doesn't. So flipping becomes required. 

Once you've flipped the chicken and its had time to cook on the second side, carefully remove it from the oil and let it rest for a few minutes, partly to cool but also in my worry, to make sure the chicken was done all the way through! 

I had to do all eight pieces of my chicken in two batches. The above is the first batch and based on looks alone, I was fairly optimistic! But of course...there was still the acid test. So I did what any good cook and wife would do:  I made my husband try it first! 

The verdict was unanimous! I scored a home run! I once again proved my culinary mastery! I made homemade-crispy-and-golden-brown-and-cooked-all-the-way-through fried chicken! It was bangarang if I may say so myself. And the pinto beans and cornbread were the perfect compliment to our southern style dinner. The husband was happy. I was happy. The animals were jealous. All was right in the world! 

Sally, Atira and Bacchus

Now that this first post back is under my belt, I will most definitely try to put more more tasty recipes. I'm pretty excited about some new recipes I've got planned for this coming week. So please, keep checking back. And thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a great day!