Macaroni & Cheese

Not just any macaroni and cheese.  Macaroni and cheese with bacon.

We died and went to heaven this weekend with good food.  I can't even name a favorite.  But the macaroni and cheese was delightful.  And possibly a little too sinful for a Sunday.  Thank goodness God is a forgiving God.  I like this recipe because it doesn't require a roux for the cheese sauce.  It seriously makes the best macaroni and cheese either Justin or I have ever eaten.

Recipe:
1 Box of noodles (use shells to make your heart sing with happiness)
1 8oz block of Medium Cheddar Cheese
3.5 oz (approximately) of Farmer's Cheese-whatever that is
2 cups of milk/almond milk/soy milk
2 tsp brown rice flour
1/4 pound diced and browned bacon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg
4 tsp sour cream
1 egg

Cook noodles and drain them.  Cook to al dente.  I used quinoa noodles because they were the cheapest on the shelf.  Use your favorite.

Shred up the cheeses. Save some cheddar to sprinkle and brown on top.

Combine egg, flour, s&p and nutmeg, sour cream and milk in LARGE bowl with the rest of the shredded cheese, and bacon.

Grease your 2 qt. baking dish with -wait for it- the bacon grease.  You'll thank me.

Mix noodles into the cheese sauce mixture and then pour into the dish and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

minnesota

Today (along with other days) I wish I was back in Minnesota.

It's crazy how two hundred and fifty miles can seem like completely different countries.  They address problems differently here.  Have a slightly different dialect (with a completely different accent).  It smells different when you walk outside.  Some days it feels black and white.

I love my job and my house and I don't want to move.  But if I could pick those things up and scooch them north.  I would do it yesterday.  Now I should go back in time and tell my 14 year old self that the place I would want to be the most is not California, New York, Colorado, or Europe.  It's where o's are drawn out.  Lakes are abundant.  And I don't feel like a fish out of water.

Who knows.  Maybe fish can adapt.

Menu

Growing up, my mom went to the grocery store about 4 times a week because we never decided what we were having for supper until the last minute and then we had to go and get any missing ingredients.

That was fine then.  But now I'm the one going to the grocery store.  And I don't like it.  After I've worked a full day, the last thing I want to do is figure out what to make for dinner.  Decide if I have the necessary ingredients.  Go to the store and fight the droves of people doing the same thing.  And then go home and prepare a meal.

No.

So I became a menu planner.  This helped not only with my sanity, but with saving money at the grocery store.  I now scan the ads before I decide what I'm going to make, and take inventory of our produce and pantry items.  I then make a list on Excel breaking down each meal and the ingredients I need from the store for each one with a miscellaneous column on the bottom.  We went from spending about 120$ per week on groceries to around $80, and I've had weeks where we've only spent about $40.  That's more like it.

This week's menu:

Monday:

Pizza (I had all these ingredients already)

Tuesday:

Pork Chops

Grilled Veggies

Wednesday:

Barbecue Chicken

Green Beans

Thursday:

Chicken Stir Fry

Rice

Friday:

Hamburgers

Oven Fries

Fruit Salad

Saturday:

Jerk Chicken

Grilled pineapple

Baked Potato Soup

Rain rain...

You can stay.

As long as you turn the tomatoes in my "garden" red.

Love,

Megan.

karma

So yesterday after I complained about how sometimes Celiac Disease is a major bummer and today, this is what I ate.

Yay.  What a perfect supper.

On top of my soap box

I don't have a ton of complaints anymore about the mandatory gluten free lifestyle that I follow.  5 years of it has beat me into submission and even taught me to appreciate the hand I have been dealt.  Some days though, I feel like I did at the beginning.  This isn't fair.

J and I have been invited to one of my co-worker's houses this weekend for a get together.  My co-worker said she was going to make hamburgers and told me I should just bring my own bun.  I said oh that's ok, I'm just not going to eat. [Note: I don't eat at other people's houses unless I am the one preparing the food because I am a VERY sensitive celiac and have gotten sick from ridiculously small amounts of gluten cross contamination.]  My co-workers response to my statement was somewhat unexpected, though I've heard it before, "you're weird!"  No, dear people of the world.  I am not weird.  I am protecting myself and my health, if I could eat safely at your house I promise you I would.  Your food always looks good.  Upon explaining this, her statement was retracted and I was instead deemed "high maintenance."  Au contraire.  I am no maintenance.  You don't even have to feed me.  How is that high maintenance?  I simply go to these sorts of functions to be in your presence.

I realize that we are a species that loves feeding one another, and when people come over to my house I live and die to feed them.  I feel awful that I cannot eat the beautiful food that has been prepared.  I know it is hard.  Please don't slap a hurtful label on me for a choice that I never wanted to have to make.  My intention was never to make anyone uncomfortable.

Invite me out to dinner.  If I don't eat, don't say anything.  Know that I will eat eventually, but at that moment I care more about the company I'm with than the food.

After a lengthy hiatus...

I'm going to try coming back.

It's been a crazy 8 months.

Friedrich is my beloved ceramic bird.  Oh the joy
he brings!

We bought, and have been fixing up our house.

We got married!  It was the most perfect wedding.

AND

She doesn't like being cold.

We saved this bundle of energy and personality from the humane society.  She was labeled as a pit bull mix, but we were told by the vet that she's all pit bull.  Her name is Lady and she's mostly good with a few quirks.  The snuggles better than any dog I've ever had and she's got a good heart.