The Search is Over

The search for the best macaroni & cheese recipe, that is.

With undying gratitude to my friend Angie and (again!) Paula Deen:

Ingredients
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
4 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed cheddar cheese soup
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp black pepper

Directions
Cook the macaroni. Drain.
In a medium saucepan, mix butter and cheese. Stir until the cheese melts.
In a slow cooker, combine the cheese mixture, add the sour cream, soup, salt, milk, mustard and pepper.
Add the drained macaroni and stir.
Cook on low for 2 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
Take a bite and say "Oh yeah". (That's what I did, anyway.)

It's a Sunday in January. What else would you do besides watch football and eat chili?

I can't think of a thing.

So...



White Bean Chili
(courtesy Paula Deen)

Ingredients
1 pound dried navy beans
5 cups chicken stock
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3/4 cup diced onion
1 can chopped green chiles
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 to 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
Pinch red pepper flakes
1/2 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped

Directions
Rinse beans well, cover with cool water, and soak overnight. Drain.
Put the beans in large pot with the chicken stock and bring to a boil over high heat.

In a saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat.
Add the garlic, onion, and chiles and saute for 5 minutes. Add chile mixture to pot with beans.
Add the chicken, cumin, oregano, pepper, white pepper, red pepper flakes, and cilantro.
Lower the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, for approximately 1 1/2 hours.
Serve with cornbread, if desired (and why wouldn't you desire?!?)

Baby it's Cold Outside

But that's ok if you're prepared.

And I am!

I swept through the DVD section at the library...



I've got a good (and long!) book...



and these...



Here's my mom's (and, maybe Betty Crocker's) chocolate chip cookie recipe:
(I think they're better than Toll House!)

Ingredients
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sifted flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions
Cream shortening, sugars, egg and vanilla until fluffy
Sift together dry ingredients
Stir into creamed mixture
Stir in chocolate
Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes

Makes 3 dozen

One Down!

There's a desk in my apartment, where I keep things like envelopes, paper clips, notebooks, pens...

a bluetooth headset and extra mobile phone charger (both still in the package), label maker (also still in the package), candle holders, extra umbrellas...


Whenever I open it, I have to balance the label maker on top of a stack of notebooks, just to get it closed again.

But not anymore!


This was one of the many projects that's been in the back of my mind forever. But last night, in a fit of productivity, I took everything out and found new places for it all.

It's nice to get one project on my list done.

It's also nice to be able to close my desk again.

The (Imperfect) Imperfectionists

In honor of my recent stint as "journalist", I decided to read The Imperfectionists, by Tom Rachman.

The Imperfectionists is a novel about an English-speaking newspaper, headquartered in Rome.

Each chapter focuses on a different member of the staff, and reveals various personal imperfections:
- desperation (both personal and professional)

- insecurity (and a tendency to compare ourselves, usually unfavorably, to others)

- loneliness, and the lengths some people will go to avoid it

- giving up

- inadequacy

- jealousy and revenge

- selfishness

- arrogance

- timidness

- ambition

Each chapter also contains a flashback to the history of the paper and the newspaper industry in general.

I thought the book was... good.

I didn't LOVE it.

But, I think it would prompt some really interesting conversations.