Macaroni and Cheese Bake

Mac and Cheese.  Comfort food for heart and soul.  Mac and Cheese with me is simple and starts with a roux.  A roux is equal parts butter and flour whisked together over heat.

I start with a quarter cup butter, melted.

Whisk in 1/4 cup flour. 

My roux is ready for milk.

Whisk 3 cups milk into roux over heat until it thickens and is smooth.

Add cheese to milk mixture,
I used 4 cups sharp shredded cheddar cheese
4 ounces of cream cheese and
1 cup pepper jack cheese into blocks.
Whisk over heat until melted and smooth, add cooked pasta.

My pantry did not have elbow pasta, so I went with the penne pasta.

Place in a lightly greased casserole dish. Top with seasoned bread crumbs.

Bake 350 degrees until golden and bubbly,
approximately 30-45 minutes.

comfort food for fall...yum!



Blueberry Muffins

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line cupcake pan with 8-10 muffin liners.  

This recipe makes approx. 9 muffins.  

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 large egg

*1/3 cup milk

1 cup fresh, clean blueberries

Directions:

Combine in mixing bowl flour, sugar,salt,baking powder.  in one cup measuring cup, measure oil and add egg.  *Add milk to this until 1 cup, then top with vanilla.  Add this to dry mixture in bowl and mix until smooth,  Fold in blueberries.        

  Fill muffin cups until almost full.   

 Sprinkle crumb topping on tops of muffins prior to baking.

To make crumb topping mix together with a fork

1/3 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and 2 teaspoons butter.

 Bake 18-22 minutes until done.

Fall Bucket List

Summer slips away, Fall is moments away...
at least it feels that way to me today.

Time for a free Fall printable : )

I left a blank frame in the upper right corner
for you to add your favorite

Family Fall photo.

CLICK AND PRINT



Organization with AstroBrights Colored Paper

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Astrobrights Papers by Neenah Paper for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
As this summer slips away and our colorful New England fall arrives, my calendar and thoughts are reving up for the busy last quarter of the year.  We all have full schedules with school starting and school activities to track and note on our calendars. Of course, there is also the never ending home maintenance To Do List.  Leaves to rake, gutters to clean, windows to wash...you know the drill. Don't forget the "faster than you think" approaching holidays; plan the menus for your family dinners, Holiday Present Wish List and Size tracker lists to create.  Organization becomes vital at this time of the year for many of us. AstroBrights Colored Paper is perfect to help create that organization by assigning a beautiful, bright and attention getting color to different subjects in my Home Binder! The super bright colors stand out and they come in 23 colors so you're sure to find a color for everything. They're excellent for making brochures, invitations, cards, and so much more. AstroBrights is the only paper that I've found that is a truly brilliant shade.
AstroBrights Paper gives back to the community with "Give a Brighter Year" sweepstakes  where you can win a cash prize and school supplies valued at $30,000 for the local elementary school of your choice.  I can think of a few schools that would benefit from this prize.  Entries are accepted via the Astrobrights on Facebook.
You can also participate in the family-friendly "Make Something AstroBright" design challenges, also found on Astrobrights on Facebook. Unleash and share your creative projects with photos or videos.  Be certain to use #goastrobrights when sharing on social media, like Twitter and Pinterest.  Each week one lucky entry will win a Visa Card!

Cinnamon Rolls-Pinterest Inspired

Today is my Pinterest Inspiration Day.  After seeing so many yummy looking and sounding cinnamon roll variations on Pinterest this past week I decided to copycat from all of them and add my own twist.  They turned out great!  Hard to go wrong with homemade cinnamon rolls : )

 Cinnamon Rolls Recipe:

Ingredients:
Cinnamon Rolls:
1 box of yellow cake mix
2 packages of active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups of warm water-120 degrees
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups flour
Filling:
I large box instant vanilla pudding
1 cups brown sugar
1 cup of granulated sugar
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
1/2 cup butter, melted
raisins (optional)
Frosting:
1 large can cream cheese frosting
(I use 1 to 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and 1/2 cup cream cheese with 2 teaspoons butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla to make frosting.)

Directions:

Mix yeast and warm water until dissolved. Combine cake mix, salt and flour in a large bowl. Add warm water/yeast mixture and vanilla to cake mix, salt and flour mixture. Mix well, completely combine ingredients. Cover and let rise for one hour. Punch down and let rise

again for another 30-60 minutes.

On a floured surface, roll dough into a rectangle shape, approx 1/4″ thick. Once dough is rolled out, brush with melted butter. Sprinkle dry vanilla pudding mix over dough. More sprinkling with brown sugar and granulated sugar, cinnamon and lightly dust with nutmeg. Add the raisins into the filling layer if desired.

Starting at end opposite from you, roll the dough towards you until all dough is rolled into one long piece and pinch seam to seal. Slice dough into 24 equal sized pieces.

Place rolls in two greased 9×13 pans. Cover and let rise until doubled in size.

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

 

Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Enjoy!

A pan of these quickly disappeared in my house!