Free Recipes–Cooking At Home

Archive for October, 2009

By Tammy Embrich

When my son was a young child, his favorite dish for lunch was macaroni and cheese. Everyday I’d ask him “what would you like for lunch?” He’d always respond with a smile “mac and cheese.” I always knew what his answer would be.

I think mac and cheese is on top of a lot of kid’s favorite foods list. I remember it was on mine. Macaroni and cheese has never been boring just by itself because I love it so much. But there is so much that you can do with it to make it more fun and tasty. You can add a variety of meats, vegetables, sauces, dips, and more to change up the texture and taste and just to make something different for a change for your family.

Below are a few ideas to get you started

* hot dogs
* ground beef
* ground turkey
* chicken
* tuna
* veal
* onions
* green, yellow, and red peppers
* broccoli
* beans
* peas
* spinach
* mushrooms
* tomatoes
* bacon
* parsley
* garlic
* sour cream
* potatoes
* eggs
* carrots
* cauliflower
* ham
* chili
* shrimp
* crab
* salsa

Here is a recipe that I recently tried and enjoyed

Beef And Broccoli Macaroni And Cheese

Ingredients

2 1/2 uncooked cups whole wheat spiral noodles
1 lb. extra lean ground beef
2 cups frozen/fresh broccoli
1 cup fat free milk
3 ounces light cheddar cheese, shredded
3 ounces light swiss cheese, shredded
2 tbs flour
1 tbs I can’t believe it’s not butter, melted
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Cook the pasta following the package directions. Cook the beef in a skillet and drain well. Microwave the broccoli until tender.

Meanwhile in a medium sauce pan, add the flour and slowly add the milk to form a paste, using whisk. Make sure you get out all the lumps. Keep stirring over medium heat and add both cheeses. Stir until creamy and slightly thickens.

Add butter to cooked spiral noodles. Then add all ingredients together and mix well. Serve immediately.

Try adding your favorite food items to the ordinary macaroni and cheese dish. Go against the norm and add something totally off the beaten path. Try something new. You never know, you may find a unique combination that will exhilarate those taste buds and also end up being a new family favorite.

Article Written By Tammy Embrich

For some fabulous recipes, visit Cooking With Betty Crocker, featuring over 1000 recipes, tips, and more.

Also Tammy has more free recipes, and more articles and tips at Free Recipes – Cooking At Home. Come on over and get some free recipes and even submit your own.

Ingredients

2 1/2 uncooked cups whole wheat spiral noodles
1 lb. extra lean ground beef
2 cups frozen/fresh broccoli
1 cup fat free milk
3 ounces light cheddar cheese, shredded
3 ounces light swiss cheese, shredded
2 tbs flour
1 tbs I can’t believe it’s not butter, melted
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Cook the pasta following the package directions. Cook the beef in a skillet and drain well. Microwave the broccoli until tender.

Meanwhile in a medium sauce pan, add the flour and slowly add the milk to form a paste, using whisk. Make sure you get out all the lumps. Keep stirring over medium heat and add both cheeses. Stir until creamy and slightly thickens.

Add butter to cooked spiral noodles. Then add all ingredients together and mix well. Serve immediately.

This recipe turned out exceptionally well.

Enjoy!

I’ve been wanting to try my Grandmother’s meatloaf with some ground turkey instead of ground beef. I’ve never had meatloaf with turkey. I ended up doing 1/2 ground beef and 1/2 ground turkey. I also took the yolks out of the eggs to make it even more healthy.

So with the healthy version of this recipe here, I just substituted 1/2 part ground turkey for 1/2 part ground beef. So I used 1 pound ground beef and 1 pound turkey. I also took out the yolks of the eggs used.

The meatloaf was pretty good…

Here is a list of some of the most wanted E-Cookbooks online…

Ingredients

2 pkg. (0.9 oz) JELL-O banana cream flavor fat and sugar free pudding
3 1/2 cups 1% milk
About 20 low fat nilla wafers
2 bananas thinly sliced
1 small container light cool whip
About 1/2 cup quartered walnuts (go easy on these, as they are high in fat)

Directions

Mix pudding and milk in bowl with whisk about 2 minutes.

Layer the bottom of a 2-qt. bowl with half of the nilla wafers. Add layer of 1/2 of the pudding. Add layer of 1/2 of the banana slices.

Then repeat the layers. Add the cool whip on top. Then sprinkle with the walnuts. Store in refrigerator.

Enjoy!