Bacon Ranch Cheese Ball

Yum
This cheese ball was one of the super bowl snacks I made.  I would say it was my favorite snack of the night too.  I rolled the cheese ball in bacon instead of nuts and boy did that ever bring out the flavor in the spices.

Slow Cooker Macaroni and Cheese

Bill and I went to Portsmouth to see Cally last weekend.  She found out that Romney was going to be on campus on Saturday afternoon.  The students could get tickets to attend the rally and she called and asked Bill and I to go with her.  So we got up early on Saturday, stopped and bought some Schulers donuts and headed to Portsmouth.  We had a really good time at the rally.

After the rally we went to eat at Port City Cafe and Pub.  It is an Irish Pub.  It was really neat inside.  It reminded me of an old fashion bar.  We all had Rubens and chips.  I think the Ruben was the best I have ever had.  We will definitely go back there to eat when we are in Portsmouth.


picture from http://www.theportcitycafeandpub.com/about_us.html

This slow Cooker Macaroni and Cheese was excellent.  I love being able to put stuff in the crock pot.  The smell is amazing all day long.  The Mac and Cheese was so cheesy.  I did make mine with a different cheese than Trisha did.  I used 8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese and 8 oz shredded pepper jack cheese.  Mine had a little bit of a bite to it from the pepper jack cheese.  I have read other reviews for this recipe and those had said they did not boil the macaroni first, they just put it in raw.  I did boil mine first and it was not mushy at all when it was done.



Slow Cooker Macaroni and Cheese
Trisha Yearwood

• Cooking spray
• 8 ounces cooked elbow macaroni
• One 12-ounce can evaporated milk
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick ) of butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Dash of pepper
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• Two 10-ounce bricks sharp Cheddar cheese, grated (about 5 cups)
• Dash of paprika

Directions

In a large 4-quart slow cooker sprayed with cooking spray, mix the macaroni, evaporated milk, milk, butter, salt, pepper, eggs and all but 1/2 cup of the grated cheese. Sprinkle the reserved cheese over the top of the mixture and then sprinkle with paprika. Cover and cook on low heat for 3 hours and 15 minutes. Turn off the slow cooker, stir the mixture and serve hot.

Cook's Note: If you don't have a slow cooker, grease a 9-by-13-by-2-inch pan with butter, add the mixture and bake at 350 degrees F for 50 minutes.

Fried Mozzarella and a Birthday surprise

I had a great weekend.  My birthday is tomorrow and Cally had said early on that she would be home the weekend before my birthday to celebrate with me.  Then last week she said with midterm coming up she had too much work and could not make it home.  At that point it was going on 3 weeks since I had seen Cally.  I was bummed but knew she had work to do so it was ok.  I then started making my own plans to go see her on the weekend of the 13th.  I kept asking Bill about reserving a room in Portsmouth for the 13th.  He was not paying a whole lot of attention to me.  On Thursday night I found a room at the Greenbo Lake National Park Lodge.  He would not say for sure he was on board with going to see her.  On Friday I decided I was just going to book the room at the lodge because rooms were filling up fast in that area for the next weekend.  

Bill and I had plans for Friday night, we were leaving as soon as he arrived home from work to put our car in the New Carlisle Heritage of Flights car show.  We went to the car show with our cousin Greg.  Greg has a 63 Impala SS.  We have been attending car shows with him some this summer.  Below is Greg's 63 Impala SS and our Corvette at the car show.

While at the car show Cally called me a couple of times and chit chatted with me about her day and what she was doing for supper.  I told Bill and Greg about my conversations with Cally and they listened to what I had to say about her day.  Little did I know Greg was also in on the secret surprise I had later on in the evening.  It started to rain so Bill and I ordered a pizza and decided to call it a night and go home.  I was the first one in the door when we arrived home.  All the lights were off but I could see some inside the kitchen from the garage light behind me and I said to Bill, Someone has been in the house cause there is a cake, flowers and a present on the kitchen bar.... I no longer said that and the light came on and Cally jumped out of the living room yelling Happy Birthday.  It was the best surprise I had ever had.

This was my present from Cally.  We love Pioneer Woman.  I have her first cookbook and we also watch her cooking show on Saturday.  Cally and I made several dishes from the cookbook this weekend.  Below is Cally preparing and frying the mozzarella sticks.

The Fried Mozzarella sticks were our favorite.  They are the best Mozzarella sticks I have ever had.  They were super easy to make too.  We also made Lemon Blueberry Pancakes and I will blog about them soon.... they were also scrumptious.

Fried Mozzarella
from Pioneer Woman

16 pieces string cheese, removed from their wrappers
1/2 C flour
2 eggs
1/4 C milk
2 C panko bread crumbs
1 T dried parsley flakes
canola oil for frying
pizza sauce for dipping

Slices the sting cheese pieces in half for a total of 32 pieces.  Place the flour in a small bowl.  In a separate bowl whisk together the egg and milk.  In another bowl, combine the bread crumbs with the parsley flakes.  One by one roll the mozzarella pieces in the flout.  Then briefly dunk them in the egg/milk mixture.  Finally roll them in the panko mixture.  Use your hands if necessary to get the crumbs to adhere.  Place the mozzarella pieces on a baking sheet, then place them in the freezer for 20 to 30 min (I only had mine in for 10 to 15) to flash freeze.

To Fry the mozzarella, heat 1 1/2 inches of canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  When the oil is hot, add the mozzarella sticks 6 to 8 pieces at a time.  Watch them closely and turn them over to brown evenly.  They should cook for less than 2 minutes; make sure the cheese doesn't start to bubble and leak.

Remove them to a paper towel-lined plate.  Serve immediately with warm pizza sauce.

Pepper Jack Mac and Cheese

I have been very busy trying to get Cally's senior pictures taken before the weather gets bad and the leaves are off the trees.  Done pretty well, I have taken over 500 pictures so I think she should be able to find something to work with.  I will post some of them in my future posts.  Tonight we had Ruben Quesadillas and Pepper Jack Mac and Cheese.  This dish is creamy and just a little spicy from the pepper jack cheese.  I love backed mac and cheese!

Pepper Jack Mac and Cheese

1 lb elbow macaroni, cooked and drained
2 T butter
2 T flour
2 t ground mustard
2 1/2 C milk
16 oz sharp cheddar cheese
8 oz pepper jack cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.  Melt 2T butter in pan. Stir in flour and ground mustard with a wooden spoon until smooth. Whisk in the milk and stir until thick.  Stir in the cheddar and pepper jack cheese and stir until melted.  Place the cooked macaroni in the 9x13 pan, pour cheese sauce over the macaroni.  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes.