Macaroni & Cheese

I've been testing different recipes and will still probably test a few more, but I figured I could share an easy, yummy recipe that's a staple in our house now. It's, more or less, my mom's recipe with a few tweaks to make it yummier. Lynne loves it, and we always have leftovers that she has for lunch.

1 lb of elbow macaroni
1 can of Campbell's Cheese soup
2/3 can of milk
2 c grated cheese (more if you want)
salt
pepper
nutmeg
1 can corn
bread crumbs

Cook the macaroni to just before al dente. Since you're gonna bake it, it'll cook some more. In a saucepan, mix the soup and milk until smooth. Add salt and pepper, about a teaspoon a piece. Add nutmeg, 1/2-1 teaspoon. Add in the cheese. Stir in drained macaroni and drained corn. Put in 9x13 pan and sprinkle/layer the bread crumbs on top. Cook at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

Yummy.

Corn & Potato Chowder

This has recently become a household favorite. The original recipe is found here, but we made a few modifications to suit our family's taste and resources. The biggest ones being we use russet potatoes instead of red potatoes, the full pound of bacon to avoid having leftover bacon go bad in our fridge, and no onion, because we felt it overpowered the chowder.

It is indeed a family pleaser. Our potato-loving toddler loves it. My meat and potatoes husband loves it. And I find several opportunities to dip a spoon into the cooking pot and make sure it tastes right; After all you can't be too careful, the taste might change on you if you don't sample it frequently! It takes a little time to prepare, so it's always nice to have a second set of hands around to wrangle the kids while you are cooking.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. butter/margarine
1/4 c. flour
1 c. water
2 1/4 c. milk
2 tsp. chicken bouillon
3 medium-sized potatoes
1 can of corn, drained
1 pack of bacon
Chili powder
Pepper

Directions:

1. Cut up and cook bacon until crispy. Set on a paper towel to drain the grease.

2. Peel and dice potatoes. The smaller the potato is cut the faster it'll cook. You'll want these pretty small, otherwise they'll take forever to cook.

3. In a cooking pot, melt butter. Have flour and water on hand. Once melted, whisk the flour in to make a roux (butter and flour should be completely mixed together). Add water and whisk to dissolve the roux completely.

4. Add milk and bouillon.

5. Add potatoes and simmer over medium heat. Stir frequently as the chowder heats up (the hotter it is the more you need to stir) to avoid burning the bottom of the chowder (don't worry, it doesn't make the chowder taste burnt if you get a little burnt at the bottom). This step can take awhile (40+ minutes) Using the red potatoes, instead of the russet potatoes, may cut down on how long this will take. Or you may choose to heat it on high to cut down on cooking time, but you up your chances of getting slightly-burnt chowder stuck at the bottom of the pan to clean out later (again, this doesn't affect the taste, that I've noticed).

6. Add corn and bacon.

7. Add chili powder and pepper to taste. You can also add some cheddar cheese, salt, or hot sauce to suit your family's taste.

8. Serve and enjoy!