Macaroni and Cheese

I am a big fan of pastas made from vegetables, mostly because it helps assuage my "mommy guilt" over the fact that my son does not eat vegetables. I think most parents will agree that your preconceived notions about your children go right out the window pretty much at birth. But you know, I honestly believed that I would not have picky eaters. After all, I'm a professionally-trained chef - I know how to cook and I am passionate about food. I involve my kids in growing vegetables and in cooking - how could I possibly have a picky eater in that environment?? But God does have a sense of humor, and my son literally spit out his first bite of vegetable baby food, and never looked back.

Anyway, he will eat just about any pasta if I put a cheese sauce or tomato sauce on it, and he doesn't realize that the green noodles have spinach in them - at least not yet! I'll have to hide the box once he learns how to read the word spinach. So tonight we had pasta made from carrots and squash, with a nice cheddar cheese sauce. It was bright orange, but it was very delicious as well!

Making macaroni and cheese from scratch is quite easy, you just have to buy a nice sharp cheese. For budget purposes, I don't usually buy fancy cheeses (although I do indulge occasionally). A good extra sharp cheddar does the trick nicely.

First, boil your pasta according to package directions and drain. Preheat your oven to 350. In a large saucepan (I use the same pan that I cooked the pasta in to save dishwasher space), melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Whisk in 2 tablespoons of flour, and stir for a minute or so to cook the flour. Add 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and a dash of pepper. Pour in 2 cups of milk and whisk quickly so that you don't get lumps. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat. Stir in about 8 oz of shredded cheese. Taste for salt and pepper and add if needed. Stir in pasta, then pour into an oven-safe casserole dish. Bake for 15 minutes.

Food with Heart

My daughter wanted a heart theme for her birthday, so I ran with it. I found a heart-shaped mold and used it to make ice cubes. I also experimented with making my own heart-shaped fruit snacks. First I mixed 1/3 cup juice with 3 packs of plain gelatin. They looked great, but were too chewy. I increased the juice to 1/2 cup, but they were still a little too tough, so I'll keep playing with the ratios to get it right.

I also made heart-shaped pizza with sourdough crust. I really like this crust recipe - nice and chewy! I have to give credit to King Arthur Flour for this recipe. I also like to mix cheddar and mozzarella on my pizza, great flavor!

• 1 cup sourdough starter, unfed (straight from the fridge)
• 1/2 cup hot tap water
• 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast

Directions

1) Stir any liquid into the sourdough starter, and spoon 1 cup starter into a mixing bowl.

2) Add the hot water, flour, salt, yeast. Mix to combine, then knead till smooth and slightly sticky, about 7 minutes at medium speed using a stand mixer with dough hook. Place the kneaded dough in a lightly greased container, and allow it to rise till it's just about doubled in bulk. This might take 2 to 4 hours; it might take more.

3) Shape your pizza.

4) Cover the pan, and let the dough rise till it's as thick as you like. For thin-crust pizza made from fairly fresh starter, this may only be an hour or so. For thick-crust, using an old, little-used starter, this may take most of the day. There are no hard-and-fast rules here; it all depends on the vigor of your starter, and how you like your crust. Once you make it a couple of times, you'll figure out what time frame works for you.

5) Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 450°F.

6) For a thicker crust, pre-bake the crust for about 8 minutes before topping. Top, then bake till toppings are hot and cheese is melted and bubbly, about 10 minutes. For thin crusts, bake for 4 to 5 minutes, then top and bake for an additional 8 to 10 minutes, or till toppings are as done as you like.

Yield: one 14" round, or rectangular thick-crust pizza; or two 12" round thin-crust pizzas.

And finally, what's a birthday party without cake?? She wanted a pink cake with chocolate icing. The base is a chocolate cake, and for the heart shape I made a strawberry cake with strawberry jam filling. The strawberry cake is simply a white cake with some mashed strawberries (I used thawed frozen strawberries) mixed in. I used some homemade strawberry jam between the layers.

Smores Cake

A friend was asking about the Smores Cake, and it was very easy. I used the Graham Cracker Cake recipe found on Better Homes and Gardens' website. The only thing I would do differently would be to double the recipe - the cake doesn't rise very much in the oven.

I used marshmallow fluff between the layers, and chocolate icing, then garnished with graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate bars. Yum! Oh, and the chocolate icing recipe came from Cooks Illustrated.