Grandma's Macaroni and Cheese

Long ago and far away, there lived a working mother who wanted to serve her children well-balanced meals, on a tight food budget and an even tighter schedule. Over the years, she developed a lot of ideas and techniques that helped her kids learn to really like vegetables, to come to expect more meatless days than not, and to understand why their Mom's shopping list never included soda. (That is not to say they didn't use some of their first paper route earnings to go out and splurge on a few Big Gulps!) Much of what I learned in those early years is what I hope is helping anyone reading this blog now and again.

Early on, I learned that the "best" nutrients in carrots were generally more available to the human body when the carrots were cooked. I didn't stop serving carrot sticks, but I did begin adding cooked carrots as a side dish to many meals. This, however, was not a very popular option. Plain old steamed carrots just weren't anybody's favorite vegetable. But then I served them one day with some creamy macaroni and cheese, and the kids ate them up, sloshed as they were with the cheesy sauce. To be sure that the ratio of carrots to cheese and macaroni was what I wanted it to be, the next time I served mac and cheese, I cooked the carrots and stirred them into the pasta dish before serving. A quizzical look here and there, but soon that became "the way" we had this dish.

Fast forward a few years. My oldest grandson was still in his toddler years when I visited their home in another state. Looking for a quick meal before going off to some fun family thing, I offered to make mac and cheese. There was elbow macaroni on the shelf and some Velveeta in the refrigerator (the very quickest way to make this dish, even if it is not the foody purist's preference), but not a carrot to be found. The good news was that a bag of frozen peas lurked in the back of the freezer, so we were set. I put water on to boil for the pasta, found some nonfat dry milk powder to up the calcium content a bit, and in a few minutes the main dish was done. A couple of tomatoes were sliced to add color and variation to each plate and a well-balanced meal was ready.

As basic as that "recipe" was, it soon became known as "Grandma's Macaroni and Cheese" and was an asked-for dish each time I visited. I still find it a great go-to meal if one or more of the kids happen to be here for a last-minute lunch. A "recipe" follows.

Grandma's Macaroni and Cheese

2 c elbow macaroni--or any other fun shape of similar sized pasta you might have around (colored rotini is a special favorite)
2 to 3 oz Velveeta, sliced or cut into cubes
1/4 c nonfat dried milk (optional)
12 ounces frozen peas (broccoli, cooked carrots, mixed vegetables, etc., may be substituted), unthawed
freshly ground pepper to taste

Cook the macaroni as directed on the package until just done. Drain, leaving a tablespoon or so of the water in the pan. Stir in the Velveeta and dried milk into the pasta in the pan, mixing until well-blended and smooth. Turn burner to low, add the frozen vegetables and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, just until the vegetables are fully heated.

Alternatively, the drained pasta, cheese, dried milk, and frozen vegetables can be turned into a microwave safe bowl and put in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes until the vegetables are hot.

This also works for leftover vegetables of any kind. Just stir them in as with frozen vegetables, shortening the heating time accordingly.

(Pasta purists may want to stop reading now, but, if your family is like ours, you might want to serve this with ketchup and/or salsa.)

Quick and Easy Cornbread

This cornbread is truly a "frugal, fast, and fun" accompaniment to chili or soup. While I rarely buy canned vegetables, I keep some creamed corn on hand just for this recipe. The chiles can be omitted, but they add just the extra flavor boost needed to make this bread stand out. And don't hesitate to spread a little homemade jam or apple butter on the cornbread even with the chiles--the mix of sweet and savory is really good.

Quick and Easy Cornbread

2 packages corn bread mix (the size that makes 6 corn muffins)
2 eggs
1 15 oz can creamed corn
1/2 to 1 4 oz can diced green chiles, including liquid (if you use only half of the can, the remaining chiles can be frozen for another batch later)
1 to 2 T butter
1 T canola oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put the butter and oil into a glass, ceramic, earthenware or other heavyweight 9 X 13 pan OR 10 inch cast iron skillet and place in pre-heated oven.

Meanwhile, stir all the remaining ingredients together. When the butter is melted and just beginning to sizzle (don't let it burn!), remove the pan from the oven and pour in the batter. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. While this is best served warm, it is good the next day with leftover soup and chili too.

This serves far fewer than you might think, because everyone comes back for seconds and more!

The frugality? In early 2011, I can buy the cornbread mix for 33 to 35 cents a box. I watch for sales on the green chiles (Cinco de Mayo in May and Mexican Independence Day in September are good times for all things Mexican to go on sale) and stock up. Half a can is enough to give the bread good flavor, so that is one way to reduce the cost of the bread more.

Fast? With all the ingredients on the shelf, this can be put together in about 3 minutes, so the longest time required is waiting for the pan and butter and oil to heat.

Fun? Adult help will be needed with the heating of the fats, but the rest of the recipe can easily be handled by young cooks, so it's a good starter recipe for kids.

A Salad for Kids that May Need a New Name

When my daughter was a child, she loved a salad we had dubbed "Pink Lady Salad." This variation on classic Waldorf salad was easy, low fat, and something that was popular with just about any of the kids who ate at our house. Best of all, it is one that can be made in the winter months when fresh produce is not always readily available.

We made a slight variation today when my grandsons discovered how much fun it is to shell pecans, but the name may need to be updated to something a little more boy-ish! Whatever the name, it brought on calls for seconds.

Pink Lady Salad

1 c diced celery
1 1/2 c apples, cored and coarsely chopped but not peeled--a mixture of red and yellow-skinned apples makes a nice color contrast
1/3 c coarsely chopped walnuts
6 to 8 oz container strawberry yogurt

Stir all ingredients together and serve in clear dishes to show off the colors. Serves 3 to 4.

Variations: Use pecans or almonds instead of walnuts. Other fruits may also be added with the apples. Grapes and pears are especially good. Bananas can also be included for children who eat few other fruits, but they tend to overwhelm the other fruits, so I don't really recommend them.

Raspberry yogurt can be substituted for the strawberry.

For adults, and some children, a light grind of black pepper makes a nice contrast, as does a garnish of fresh mint leaves.

"Snakesticks"

Our extended family includes five young cousins all with birthdays in August, so there is usually one massive party for them all. Yesterday's bash carried the theme of "crawling things" that included mostly bugs and snakes, and the day was just right for outdoor games like searching for plastic bugs instead of eggs, etc.

Food of course included "worms" (spaghetti) in sauce and "snakesticks." The breadstick recipe on which they were based is a good introduction to yeast dough for kids, and this variation adds even more fun to the baking lesson. We doubled the recipe for the two dozen people in attendance and were glad we did.



Breadsticks, aka Snakesticks

1 T dry yeast (or 1 packet)
1 1/2 c warm water
1 t salt
1 to 2 T sugar
4 c whole wheat flour OR half and half whole wheat and unbleached enriched flour

1 egg
1 t. water
1 t garlic powder (optional)
1 t salt

(for Snakesticks: sliced or chopped black olives)

Mix all except the flour together and then add the flour gradually to make a firm dough. Knead until smooth and elastic. Let dough stand for about 10 minutes to relax.

Cut the dough into 24 pieces. (To do this most evenly, shape it into a fat log and cut in half; then cut each piece in half again. Divide once more in half so you have 8 pieces. Roll each into a small log and divide evenly in thirds.)

Spray two baking sheets with cooking spray or oil well.

Roll each piece of dough into a long rope and place on the prepared baking sheet. For regular breadsticks, keep the dough in a straight line. For "snakesticks," arrange each stick in a curving line suggesting a snake.

If making snakesticks, press two small pieces of black olive for eyes at one end. Press firmly into the dough.

Beat the egg, water, garlic powder and salt together until well mixed and brush over the sticks.

Bake at 400 degrees about 10 minutes or until golden.

Variations:

Sprinkle the sticks with crushed herbs, sesame or poppy seeds or Parmesan cheese after applying the egg wash.

Omit the salt and garlic powder in the egg wash and sprinkle the sticks generously with kosher or seasoning salt.

Omit the salt and garlic powder in the egg wash and sprinkle with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon.

Frugal, Fast, and Fun for Fourteen Friends

Take eight children, ages six and under, and add six adults. Stir in a schedule that keeps the hostess away from her home for about 6 hours the day of the meal, bringing her home only an hour before the first guests arrive. Blend well with a lot of fun and informality and you have the makings of an altogether wonderful evening.

Really.

Sure, we are by now comfortable with this informality because we eat together about every two weeks. Still, I do like to think that every meal should reflect warm hospitality, but an especially busy week made last Wednesday's dinner a little more challenging than usual.

The hardest part was deciding what to serve. I provide the main dish while others bring the rest of the meal. This week, that would include a special first birthday cake for the youngest in our group. So how could I balance such a special ending with something simple and yet not too unhealthy?

Looking in the freezer, I decided on hot dogs on buns with a crockpot of baked beans. Along with the birthday cake, there was also a wonderful spinach salad and lots of sliced oranges. While I often make my beans from scratch, the week was so hectic that I used canned beans as the base. The turkey hot dogs were put in a 7 X 11 cake pan in the oven at 350 degrees, long enough to "grill" them; I then turned the heat down to 200 to stay warm until ready to serve. There were buns, ketchup, three kinds of mustard, two kinds of relish, and chopped onions to include most favorite toppings. (I know, no sauerkraut; I always forget that since it something I really don't care about. Maybe next time I'll remember.)

The food seemed rather like a picnic, even if the weather outside is still way too cold to think in those terms, so I pulled out my bright and orange plastic plates and put them on my sand-colored tablecloth to help us think warmer thoughts. The beans and franks were served buffet-style from the counter, while the salad and oranges sat on the table along with a fat candle lit for the occasion.

The end result was a lot of satisfied eaters and conversation—with the kids playing peacefully at our feet—until almost 9 pm. Gratifying too was the fact that the kids had chosen large servings of the healthier parts of the meal and there didn't even have to be any "no dessert until you finish your food" comments. In fact, six-year-old Sam proudly stacked up twenty-seven pieces of orange rind to reflect how much he had eaten of his favorite part of the meal.

Frugal? I had purchased the hot dogs and beans on sale over time and tucked them away on the pantry shelf and in the freezer. The hot dogs were lower fat turkey dogs so not as inexpensive as some brands might have been, but the sale prices meant that the three packages cost well less than $4. The total cost of the beans—which served us all with almost a quart left over—was also under $4. I bought the whole wheat buns at the bread surplus store for a total of $3 and still have one package left. The beautiful cake was made from a mix also purchased on sale for less than $1, with a basic cream cheese and powdered sugar icing, so it may have cost less than $3. We ate a four-pound bag of oranges that were featured this week for $2.50, and the salad was probably around $3 to $4. Even at the higher cost for the salad, the total food for 14, with a few pieces of cake and a lot of beans and buns left over, came to well below $20.

Fast and Fun? Sara says the salad was "really easy" to put together, the oranges were sliced while we put the rest of the food out, and the beans and hot dogs couldn't have been easier. The cake was probably the most labor intensive, but Michelle used this as an opportunity to teach one of the middle-schoolers in our church about cake decorating, so it sounds like the time they put into it was a lot of fun.

Healthy? Whole wheat buns, pinto beans added to reduce some of the overly sweet sauce in the canned variety, reduced fat hot dogs, salad and oranges on the side to balance the not quite so healthy finale, and milk for all the kids. Maybe not your perfect nuts and granola meal but still a lot of good nutrition overall.

NOTE: Everyone was aware of the potential choking hazard of hot dogs for small children, but we were careful to cut up these for the youngest among us, and none of the children was allowed to walk around with their food. When serving this meal to those under four, you really do need to exercise extra caution and watchfulness.

Quick Beans in a Pot
Serves 12 to 16

2 28 to 30 oz baked beans, any style (NOT "pork and beans")
1 29 to 32 oz can pinto beans, drained
1 to 2 15 oz cans pork and beans, drained (optional)
1/2 medium onion, chopped—about 1 cup
1/2 finely diced green pepper (optional)
Barbecue sauce to taste (optional)
Yellow mustard to taste (optional)
Dash of balsamic or cider vinegar (optional)

Open beans and put in a slow cooker. Add onion and green pepper if used. Turn to high for 2 to 3 hours (or low for up to six hours). Taste after a few hours of cooking and add barbecue sauce, vinegar, and/or mustard if desired. It is likely the beans may have more sauce than home-baked beans, so serve with a slotted spoon.

I used two different kinds of the local store brand baked beans—maple bacon and vegetarian—and found the combination to be especially good. I would not include the pork and beans next time; I tossed them in only because I wanted to be sure I had enough for everyone, but I don't think they add much more than sweetness to the overall mix.

Orange Smiles

Okay, so this isn't so much a recipe as a method. The point is that, where children are concerned, presentation can often be everything.

Oranges, preferably navel or other seedless variety

1. Wash the oranges and dry. Using a sharp knife, cut each orange in half from the stem end to the navel.
2. Lay the half orange face down on a cutting board and slice into quite thin half circles.
3. Arrange the oranges on a plate or on the cutting board—this is a good "helper task" for beginning cooks, as the end result can look quite festive.

Be prepared to serve lots of these orange smiles, allowing at least half an orange per person unless you have other fruits alongside.

CAUTION: This is a casual meal food, as you should allow—and expect—everyone to eat the smiles with their fingers. At a more formal dinner, the peeling should be cut off with a knife and then the orange can be eaten with a fork, but these are a lot more fun the casual way!

Making Pizza with the Grandchildren, a New Pizza Stone, and the Last Garden Tomatoes

After years of reading about the wonders of a "pizza stone," I finally picked one up in an after Christmas sale and we tried it out last night, we being my two grandsons, ages 4 and 2 1/2, and me.

I did some exploring to find more information about using and caring for a pizza stone (my "kit" included lots of utensils but absolutely no instructions) and came up with lots of crust suggestions along with some wonderful sounding bread recipes that I'll be trying later in the week. The crust we ended up with was basic and not as healthy as I might have liked since I had just finished the last of my whole wheat flour and had only unbleached to work with. The following recipe was just enough for two 12 to 14 inch pizzas.

Quick and easy pizza crust

2 t dry yeast
1/4 c warm water
4 t sugar
2 T canola oil
1 t salt
3/4 c cool water
3 c unbleached white flour
2 T gluten (may not need if you have bread flour instead of regular unbleached)
cornmeal (see NOTE)

Stir yeast into warm water and add sugar. Set aside for 5 to 10 minutes until it is rising and foamy. Meanwhile, combine oil, salt, cool water, gluten, and half the flour. Stir in the yeast mixture and add the remaining flour. Beat and then turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead until a smooth ball is formed. Brush lightly with a little oil or soft butter so surface is completely covered. Put a towel over the bowl and set the dough aside in a warm place for an hour or so, until doubled.

When you are ready to start making the pizza, put the pizza stone in the cold oven, on a rack in the middle of the oven, and turn to 500 degrees. It should preheat for about 15 minutes or so, depending on your oven. (Some instructions talk about up to an hour of preheating, but this does not seem at all necessary.) Divide the dough in half, punch each down and let sit for about 10 minutes or so. Roll each half into a 12 to 13 inch circle and place on a cornmeal covered pizza peel or baking sheet with no rim. Spread with sauce and add toppings.

Open the oven, sprinkle the pizza stone quickly with just a little cornmeal and then slide the pizza onto the stone. Bake for about 5 to 7 minutes or until cheese is bubbly. Carefully remove the pizza from the oven with a pizza peel or by sliding it back onto a baking sheet.

If you are making more than one pizza, wait about 5 minutes before putting the second one in, giving the oven and the stone time to return to full heat.

NOTE: This cornmeal is really just to keep the pizza from sticking to the surface of the pizza peel and stone, so you can use the cheapest brand available for this. Save your really good stone-ground cornmeal for times when it will be an integral part of the recipe!

Pizza sauce

While there are all kinds of recipes for this part of the pizza, my favorite is just whatever spaghetti sauce your family prefers, with some fresh garlic and dried herbs (I use oregano, marjoram, basil, and rosemary) stirred in. The key with a thin crust pizza like this is to spread the sauce sparingly to avoid sogginess.

Toppings

We used what we had on hand for vegetarian offerings: chopped peppers, black olives, chopped onion, sliced Roma tomatoes (see below), and lightly steamed broccoli flowerettes. Then we covered with grated Mozzarella cheese (I ended up using about 6 ounces on the two pizzas). We served the pizza with red pepper flakes and freshly grated Parmesan.

My "helpers"

Pizza is a great learning to cook food, and my grandchildren have all helped me make mini-pizzas using split pitas. They all have also used the rolling pin, having made cinnamon rolls and Christmas rolled out cookies at Grandma's house too, so rolling this "big" crust made the preparation even more fun. Both boys took turns rolling and then I applied the finishing touches before putting the crusts on to the pan.

I ladled out the amount of sauce I wanted into two little puddles on each crust and then handed each boy a small rubber scraper so they could spread the sauce over their half of each one. (These scrapers are about an inch wide by 2 inches high and have very short handles, just right for small hands. I think I found them in a dollar store.) All of the toppings had been prepared ahead of time and were placed in small bowls from which the boys could take their preferred toppings to spread evenly over the sauce. They were able to "take orders" for toppings from the adults, which added to the fun. For now, I handled the cheese, having found that getting this spread evenly is not yet within their skill level. Then it was time to set the table while the pizzas cooked. We had leftover broccoli, so the boys snacked on that with some yoghurt and dill dip while they waited.

The End of Garden Tomatoes

Finally, one other highlight. Here, almost in the middle of January, the tomatoes that we used to top the pizza were still from last year's garden! I had quite a few small green Romas and cherry tomatoes that I had picked just before the last frost, thinking to make green tomato mincemeat. I put them in my cool dark garage and found that they kept ripening slowly, so I enjoyed a few now and then, monitoring the rest for signs of decay--probably about a quarter to a third didn't make it--and bringing up to the kitchen those with the most color. Yes, the flavor of these last stragglers has been at the level of subpar winter tomatoes in the store, but it has been a great experiment, and they tasted fine on the pizza, especially knowing where they had been grown--you can't get more local than these.