Mac and cheese is so good, isn't it?  Creamy, cheesy, hearty.  Oh gosh, no wonder it's one of the top comfort foods out there.  Just telling you about this recipe makes me want some.

A few years ago a coworker started bringing crock pot mac and cheese to our staff potlucks and it was some of the best macaroni and cheese EVER.  I don't have her recipe, but it did cause me to start pinning slow cooker mac and cheese recipes like crazy and this past summer, I finally tried one of them out.  I've since made it again, and Drew thinks it's his favorite recipe yet.

It's creamy, cheesy, and smooth, and it's pretty hands-off.  If you need a lot of macaroni and cheese, this is your recipe.  Since it's made in a slow cooker, it's great for any time of the year, because the slow cooker doesn't heat up the kitchen like the stove or oven.  Love that!

Slow Cooker Macaroni and Cheese
from Trisha Yearwood via Food Network

Cooking spray
8 ounces elbow macaroni, cooked
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

In a large 4-quart slow cooker sprayed with cooking spray (or greased with butter), 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.

I am really excited to share this recipe with you because it's SO GOOD.  If you make this cake and don't eat it all yourself, you will look like a rock star in the kitchen, and hey, even if you do eat it all yourself, you'll at least know you're a rock star.



This cake is perfect for this time of year- it's light, lemony, creamy, and just all around dreamy.  The filling seriously could be as light as a cloud, if they were made of cheese.  It's pretty in its simplicity.  No need to break out piping bags or even icing spatulas.

Read More

My go-to salsa during winter when fresh tomatoes aren't available is the Pioneer Woman's Restaurant Style Salsa.  It has an impressive flavor and is quick and easy to boot.  I've made it dozens of times, and each time there's just never enough, even though it makes a ton.

I can't remember if this salsa remix was born out of the desire to experiment or just because I didn't have plain tomatoes, but a couple weeks ago I decided to try making the salsa with fire roasted tomatoes instead of plain ones.  This discovery has to rank right up there with sliced bread.  It's more complex- slightly smoky, spicy, and the flavor just feels...deeper.  It's so good!

Read More

With the country standing at the cusp of grilling season (sounds so dramatic, doesn't it?), this dish is one you'll want to make again and again.  It's one of those recipes that you unfortunately won't have a lot of leftovers if you take it to a potluck and one that almost everyone will ask for the recipe.

Read More

This frosting.  Oh, this frosting.  If you're below the age of 40, you know it well.  It adorned at least half the cupcakes you ate as a child, and I have also been known to eat it as a dip with graham crackers.  So creamy, so tasty.  So discontinued.  A generation mourns.  There are imitators out there, but it's just not the same.

Until now, when it gets better.  I found this recipe for a homemade version on Pinterest, and it really does have the taste and close to the texture of the original.  Unfortunately, no homemade frosting will ever perfectly mimic the texture of canned frosting because it's more of a science project than food, and all those hydrogenated oils, syrups, and shelf stabilizers give it the texture we know (and many of us, like me, prefer).  This recipe, though, with its cream cheese icing base, comes pretty close to being that creamy, sort of light, spreadable frosting texture.  The flavor of this frosting is amazing, and since you make it, you of course get to play with how it tastes.

Read More

What I came up with satisfies my coconut AND chocolate cravings.  I think I have a little work to do on the texture, but overall I am pleased.  They freeze and reheat well, so you can make up a batch and save some for later.

Chocolate Chip-Coconut Scones
A Lauren original, inspired by Heather's Dish and Martha Stewart

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tb butter, cut into small cubes and chilled
3 Tb coconut oil, chilled, broken or cut into small pieces and put back in fridge to chill
3/4 cup canned coconut milk, with the chunks
3/4 cup shredded coconut, toasted
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.  Cut the butter and coconut oil into the flour mixture (usig a pastry blender, two forks, or even your fingers) until you have a mixure that looks like coarse meal or sand, with a few larger (pea sized) pieces of fat still visible.  With a fork, stir in the coconut milk.  If it looks too dry, add more milk 1 Tb at a time.   Gently stir in the toasted coconut and chocolate chips.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface and pat into a 6-inch circle. Cut into 6 wedges and transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush tops with some of the remaining coconut milk if desired. Bake until golden, 16 to 18 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through.

Oh my goodness.  It's been a crazy last few weeks.  There's nothing incredibly out of the ordinary going on, but the last few weeks have felt busier, more hectic.  I realized it's been a while since my last recipe share with you.  Slow cooker meals are needed now more than ever, right?  A few years back, Drew and I decided to try to become champions of the slow cooker.  We're still (very slowly) working on it, and this recipe will definitely be in our rotation for the future.  It's delicious and just gets better as it sits for a few days.



The upside to this lasagna recipe is that the slow cooker stretches out the baking process, allowing you to run errands or whatever while it cooks.  One downside is that the directions call for you to cook it only about 4-6 hours, and it was definitely done in that time.  I brought my slow cooker to work to be able to monitor it and it made the entire building hungry that afternoon.  Another upside is that the lasagna stayed nice and moist.

Slow Cooker Lasagna
adapted from Allrecipes user KIMIRN
feeds 6-8

1 pound lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 (29 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1/4 to 1/2 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 (12 ounce) package lasagna noodles
12 ounces ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
12 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

In a large skillet over medium heat cook the ground beef, onion, and garlic until brown. Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, salt, and oregano and stir until well incorporated. Cook until heated through.

In a large bowl mix together the cottage cheese, grated Parmesan cheese, and shredded mozzarella cheese.

Spoon a layer of the meat mixture onto the bottom of the slow cooker. Add a double layer of the uncooked lasagna noodles. Break to fit noodles into slow cooker. Top noodles with a portion of the cheese mixture. Repeat the layering of sauce, noodles, and cheese until all the ingredients are used.
Cover, and cook on LOW setting for 4 to 6 hours.

Notes

• One thing I do love about Allrecipes is the user reviews.  Reading those with the recipe help see potential pitfalls or slight modifications.  A common one with this recipe was complaints of the lasagna being too dry.  I added extra water to the sauce to make sure the noodles (which I did not cook ahead of time and they were not labeled as "no cook") cooked and didn't take too much moisture.  The noodles were a bit soft, but the lasagna was pretty perfect in terms of moisture.  

• I used 1 quart homemade turkey stock from a smoked turkey we ate at Thanksgiving dinner and 1 quart store bought chicken stock.  You can use chicken, turkey, or vegetable stock here.  
• I halved the orzo amount from the original recipe, and still felt like there was a lot in the pot.  Feel free to adjust based on how thick you like your soup.
• On the orzo (or any other soup with pasta)- pasta has the tendency to swell and become mushy in soups, especially when it comes to leftovers.  You can follow the directions above and your pasta will likely have a similar result.  It doesn't usually bother me in these thinner, shorter pastas.  If, however, you don't like how pastas turn out in soups, cook the pasta separately to desired doneness and then add it to individual bowls of soup.  
• I used a rotisserie chicken for this recipe.  My local store's rotisserie chickens are smaller but less fatty, and it takes about half the chicken to get the amount I want.
• I didn't use a slow cooker, but I imagine you could warm everything together, maybe not adding the chicken and spinach until the last 30 minutes to hour of cooking.

3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted, divided
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (from a 1/4-ounce package)
1/4 cup warm milk (105–115°F)
1 tablespoon mild honey or sugar
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour plus more for kneading and dusting
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup canned pure pumpkin
2 large eggs, divided, plus 1 yolk
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon water

Butter muffin cups with 1 tablespoon melted butter.

Stir together yeast, warm milk, and honey in a large bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn’t foam, start over with new yeast.)

Mix flour, salt, pumpkin, 1 whole egg, yolk, orange zest and juice, and remaining 5 tablespoon butter into yeast mixture with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until a soft dough forms. Turn out dough onto a floured surface and knead, dusting surface and your hands with just enough flour to keep dough from sticking, until dough is elastic and smooth, 6 to 8 minutes. Form dough into a ball.

Put dough in an oiled large bowl and turn to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Punch down dough (do not knead), then halve. Roll half of dough on a lightly floured surface with lightly floured hands into a 12-inch-long log (keep remaining half covered with plastic wrap).

Cut log into 6 equal pieces, then cut each piece into thirds. Roll each piece into a 1-inch ball by cupping your hand and pushing dough against work surface as you roll in a circular motion. Put 3 balls side by side in each of 6 muffin cups.

Make more rolls with remaining dough in same manner. Cover rolls with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth) and let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until dough is about 1 inch above rim of muffin cups, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle.

Whisk together remaining egg and water and brush on tops of rolls. (You will have leftover egg wash.)

Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer rolls to a rack and cool at least 20 minutes.

recipe note:
Rolls are best the day they’re made but can be frozen (cool completely, then wrap well) 1 month. Thaw, then reheat on a baking sheet in a 350°F oven until warmed through, 5 to 10 minutes.

Bake in the oven for about 10-15 minutes (varies on oven) or until the eggs are just set.

Notes

• Learn from my mistakes.  Oil or line your muffin tin if it is not "non-stick."  Even if it is, it's still not the worst idea.  I spent FOREVER cleaning out that tin.
• These work in mini muffin tins too- baking time is shorter
• The base of this muffin is the egg.  All other add-ins are optional.  What else might you try?  Olives?  Jalapenos?  Feta Cheese?  I had a combination- some contained cheese, greens, mushrooms, peppers, onions, and sausage, while others had just cheese and slow roasted tomatoes. 
• These are good, and I loved that I can store them in the fridge or freezer and reheat them.  I am not completely convinced that they're at optimum, but I could have overbaked them or maybe they need a little more to be perfect textured.  Either way, they're pretty good.  

When they first come out of the oven, they are puffy, but don't worry; they will settle.

Notes

• If you visit the original post site (the link to the original post is the recipe title), you will see that Averie's cookies are a bit thicker.  I used about half the dough she uses for one cookie, so that I'd have more.  This may have affected the candy corn staying in tact.
• I baked mine 9 minutes, just like the recipe suggested.  Some still looked too underdone, and even after about 5 mins. were too soft to pick up from the baking sheet.  After further cooling- maybe 30 minutes- they were fine to pick up.

If you make these for a party, then you will want to start early.  I could only fit about 4 whole tortillas on a baking sheet, and that's only like 1 serving.  So yes, I ate a whole pan.  I'll go be filled with self loathing now.

Baked Corn Tortilla Chips
to make 1-2 servings

4- 6 inch corn tortillas
Canola or other flavorless oil OR cooking spray/spray oil
Salt (I use Kosher but regular would be fine)

Preheat an oven to 350 and center your oven rack.  Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment (optional, but makes for much easier cleanup).

Cut your tortillas into quarters (or whatever size you desire- sixths would be fine too).  Lay them flat in a single layer on your baking sheet, and spray with oil.  You can use a Misto sprayer, a pump sprayer, or even a spray bottle with a nozzle, or even cooking spray- you just want an even, light layer of oil on the chips.  Sprinkle with salt.  Turn over and repeat on the other side.

Bake in preheated oven about 10-15 minutes, flipping about halfway through.  They are done when they've crisped up and are golden with some light browning.

Notes

• Depending on your love of salt, you may want to go easy at first.  Remember you are salting both sides (or just salt one side if you were heavy handed on the first side).  These can tend to be a little salty if you aren't careful.
• Despite their sturdiness, they get soggy more easily than the store bought chips.  Be warned.

• I decreased the original amount of sugar by about half, and I'd probably decrease it further next time.
• I will also decrease the olive oil next time, likely to about 1/3 cup.
• The onions said "sweet" in the store, but they were hot!  If your onion is hot, I'd encourage you to cut it back to 1 onion AND/OR to rinse the onions under cold water and let them drain a couple minutes before adding them to the rest of the mix OR to quick pickle them in the vinegar before the vinegar and sugar are mixed together and heated.

Chocolate Chip Pie
From Just Desserts by Paula Deen

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 unbaked 9 inch pie shell

Preheat  your oven to 325.  In a medium bowl, mix together flour and sugar.  Add all other ingredients, stirring until moistened.  Pour into an unbaked pie shell and bake 45-60 minutes, until set.  The top will also be lightly browned.

Serve with ice cream or sweetened whipped cream.

Notes

• I used mini chocolate chips, because I liked the idea of smaller chips of chocolate scattered throughout.
• If you use a glass dish like I did, it's best to reduce the heat of the oven by 25 degrees Fahrenheit and extend the time a little, which allows for a better browning of the crust while not burning everything else.

• I made the actual muffin as the original poster wrote them, but I left out the glaze.  I am just not much of a glaze girl on cake doughnuts or muffins.  For the glaze recipe, just click on the recipe title, which doubles as a link to the original post.
• These freeze well.  Wrap them individually and place in a zip-top freezer bag.  Thaw either on counter or in microwave about 30 seconds.

Prep your farro:  follow package directions to cook farro.  Let cool.  Also may be done ahead of time.

• I always like to give credit where it's due.  This recipe was inspired by a Smitten Kitchen recipe.
• Farro is a grain, and it is sold in several places.  I found my bag at Trader Joe's.  If you can't find farro, you can substitute barley, quinoa, and even rice or some other grain.  

serves 15

1 chocolate cake, baked in a 9x13 pan
1 large tub cool whip or approx. 2 cups heavy cream, whipped (you want about 6 cups total whipped cream)
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee or espresso
3-4 packages white chocolate instant pudding mix
4 cups almond milk OR 6 cups cow's milk
Dark chocolate bar (optional)
3 Tb. Chocolate covered espresso beans, chopped

Bake a chocolate cake according to recipe or package directions.  When cooled, cut into about 1 inch cubes.

Make your instant pudding (if you're a purist, feel free to make your own pudding; you want about 5-6 cups):
            Dissolve either instant coffee or instant espresso in your milk before adding it to your pudding mixture.  The amount depends on your own desire for the coffee flavor to shine through, but I'd go with about 1/3 cup intsant coffee or 3 Tb. instant espresso.  If you, like me, need a dairy free option, you need 4 boxes of pudding mix.  Mix 1 box mix to 1 cup almond milk, dissolving the instant espresso/coffee into your milk prior to mixing with the pudding.  If you don't need a dairy free option, you could get away with 2-3 boxes pudding mix, and follow package directions with amount of milk, adding the instant coffee/espresso prior to mixing with pudding mix.  Set aside.

In a large bowl or trifle bowl, layer as follows:
Place a layer of cake cubes in the bottom of the bowl.  If you have a plastic squeeze bottle, pour half your brewed coffee/espresso into the bottle and squirt over the cake.  Top with half the pudding mixture, and the top that with the whipped topping/cream.  Repeat layers.  On top, for garnish, scatter chopped, chocolate covered espresso beans and, if desired, use a small hole zester/grater (such as a Microplane) to grate little chocolate shavings on top.  Cover and refrigerate about a day or two before you need to serve.

Notes

• My dad can't have dairy, which sometimes presents a challenge in making desserts.  I mean, take away milk, cream, butter, sour cream, and cream cheese, and you're left with a baking challenge.  While not the food snobby thing to do, I used a cake mix, pudding mixes with almond milk, and whipped topping.  If you're a purist, feel free to make all these homemade.  There are also low sugar and sugar free options in most of these products, which make it helpful for those with diabetes.  
• This tasted pretty good the day I served it (1 day after I made it), but it tasted way better and the mocha flavor really came through the next day, so you could make this as far as 2-3 days in advance and still have a killer dessert.  Garnish before you serve rather than when you make it.
• Feel free to try another pudding flavor, such as cheesecake, vanilla, or even chocolate.  I like the color contrast of the coffee-colored pudding.
• We liked this pretty well as is, but I thought about adding a crunchy element/layer through the dessert.  If you want to play a little bit, add in some chocolate biscotti or more chocolate covered espresso beans between the pudding and whipped cream layers.
• By the way, when pouring/squirting the coffee over the cake, you don't want to absolutely inundate the cake with coffee.  It shouldn't be so soggy it falls apart.  You just want to impart some coffee flavor into the cake.

• I will do a post on how to toast coconut, but if you want to know now, just heat your oven to 325.  Put a single layer of coconut on a baking sheet and toast 5-10 minutes.  Store leftovers in a resealable container.
• The oats are sweet enough for me as I wrote it, but if you prefer sweeter than that, add honey, molasses, agave- whatever suits you!