Nacho Cheese Sauce

Wondering why my posts have been few and far between?

It's NOT because I've lost interest in blogging about food. I've just been too tired to photograph and write about what I've been eating.

In fact, my interest in food has become all-consuming as of late. I don't know for sure if what I have been feeling are cravings, but I will borrow the words of my friend Sarah when I say that these days I am "very susceptible to suggestion". If I see an ad for a food, or someone tells me about a food, chances are, I'm going to need to find a way to buy or make that food soon, because I won't be able to stop thinking about it until I do. And when I do eat that particular food, it will be the best (insert-name-of-food-here) that I've ever had. It's like all my taste buds are heightened and my usual obsession with food has been taken to the next level.

To illustrate my point, the woman who rang up my groceries at the Co-op told me about a tuna sandwich she made that sounded so fantastic I made it myself the very next week. It was just plain tuna, but she added a slice of smoked mozzarella and topped it with a quick slaw made out of just kale and apple cider vinegar. It was incredible!

I haven't been eating any weird food combinations like pickles and ice cream or anything like that, but lately I've been going for things that I never used to eat very often, like chicken Caesar salad, tuna sandwiches, cottage cheese and pineapple, and orange juice. I even had a Pepperoni Hot Pocket the other day (now there's a blast from the past which I hope does not become a regular occurrence. They used to be my breakfast almost every day in high school). Strawberry lemonade has become a new obsession as well.

Have you picked up on my little hints? Well, here's a big hint that explains my lack of posts and sudden extreme obsession with food.

Yep, that's right, we're having a baby! I'm so excited to finally share this news on my blog. I'm about 4 months along now, so that means we'll get to meet this little one sometime in mid-October. I'm officially taking suggestions for adorable Halloween costumes for a two-week old infant.

So why am I posting about nacho cheese sauce?

Well, that's been another favorite food lately. My workplace is a mere five minute stroll from the university dining hall where they serve up huge portions of delicious nachos, covered in that classic oh-so-good-for-you cheese sauce. For awhile there in the first trimester I went ventured over to get my nacho fix once a week, but after a few weeks of that I decided I wanted to try to make my own cheese sauce at home, so I could control my portions better and know exactly what was in the sauce itself. As it turns out, making nacho cheese sauce is just like making any other kind of cheese sauce - easy. This is actually really delicious served over steamed mixed vegetables as well!

Nacho Cheese Sauce
adapted from - Kitchen Simplicity

4 ounces pepper jack cheese, shredded
4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk, divided
2 teaspoons hot sauce
Salt to taste

In a medium saucepan, toss together the cheeses and cornstarch until evenly coated. Add 1 cup of the milk, the hot sauce, and a pinch of salt. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until thickened and smooth. Once it's hot and bubbling, check the consistency and add more milk if you'd like it thinner. Otherwise, taste and season with more salt if needed, and serve immediately. 

Cantaloupe with Gruyere, Honey, and Thyme

One of my favorite parts of our trip to Greece was the food. I realize that we had a very limited experience since we spent most of our time in Athens, but we were still really impressed.

Honestly, I was a little worried about the fact that we would be eating restaurant food for ten days straight. Usually when I have to eat out at restaurants for several meals in a row, I get sick of it very quickly. American restaurant fare can be so heavy that I just can't take it for more than a couple of days in a row without feeling completely drained physically and mentally. I didn't really feel that way in Greece though. I'm not really sure why. We ate some combination of bread, cheese, olive oil, and meat with almost every meal. Maybe it was that the portions were usually smaller than they are here. Maybe it was that everything was prepared with fresh ingredients. Maybe it was because they didn't rush you and in fact expected you to sit for hours savoring your meal. Regardless of the reason, I never got sick of Greek food, and I even made an attempt to replicate one of my favorite simple meals the minute I got home!

Before I get to that, here are some highlights of our trip, as promised:

Temple of Zeus.

View of the Acropolis from the Temple of Zeus.

Arch of Hadrian

Panathenaic Stadium

Parthenon

View of Athens from the Acropolis.

Sometimes we got lost in the labyrinth of tiny streets so we took some photos while we got our bearings.

We went on a day cruise to a couple of islands. Our favorite was Hydra.

Many sleepy stray cats on Hydra.

We got some beach time on Aegina.

Gorgeous sunset on the ride back.

Warning: Here comes the food porn...

Feta cooked with sliced tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions.

Moussaka - one of my favorites.

Fresh, hot loukoumades - drizzled with honey and topped with cinnamon and chopped nuts.

Fried feta topped with honey and sesame seeds. Tzatziki and pita bread. 

Tomatoes stuffed with rice and meat.

Pies: one filled with cheese, the other tomato sauce and olives.

Grilled sea bass with vegetables.

Salad with sun-dried tomatoes, croutons, and mizithra cheese from Crete.

Souvlaki

Pita gyro.

Koulouri - slightly sweet sesame bread. Made a great mid-morning snack and street carts everywhere were selling them.

Boiled greens with olive oil and lemon.

Gruyere with melon, drizzled with honey and thyme.

Ok, back to the recipe I tried to replicate at home. You can probably guess it based on the photo.

Our first CSA box after we got back contained a perfectly ripe cantaloupe revealing bright orange, juicy flesh. I used a melon baller to make some melon balls. Deciding to make it an appetizer, I cubed the gruyere, stacked the cheese and melon and skewered them with toothpicks, and placed them on a plate that I first drizzled with honey. After taking the photo I decided that was not enough honey so I drizzled a bit more over the top before eating. You could also forego the pretentious fanciness and just put all the ingredients in a bowl and dig in with a fork. It's just a wonderful combination of ingredients, you really can't go wrong. 

Chunky Fresh Tomato Salsa

One of these days I want to can my own salsa, but for now making a batch at a time is what works for me. We made this salsa to go in burritos filled with our favorite America's Test Kitchen beef taco filling. It's just a great, basic fresh salsa recipe that you could put on practically anything.

CSA Week 11:

In the box: 1 green leaf lettuce, 1 bunch carrots, 1 basket cherry tomatoes, 2 pounds Sweet Girl tomatoes, 2 pounds red potatoes, 1 head garlic, 1 bunch cilantro, 1 basket blackberries, 1 basket strawberries

We were out of town for most of the week, so we didn't do anything super spectacular with this week's haul. We continued to work through the lettuce from last week in addition to this week with side salads at dinner and big salads at lunch. The carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, and berries made good simple snacks.

I made a great lunch salad this past week that I was pretty proud of. I used lettuce, cherry tomatoes, feta, homemade pesto, sliced chicken sausage, and boiled red potatoes. It was very filling and flavorful, with a good mix of carbs, proteins, and veggies. I boiled the potatoes the night before, packed things in separate containers, and tossed them together when I was ready to eat it. I could have eaten the whole salad cold, but since I had access to a microwave I warmed up the potatoes and sausage before adding it to the salad.

For the rest of the potatoes, I made a potato and green bean side dish using a recipe from my friend Sarah. You just toss together steamed green beans and warm boiled potatoes with a dressing that included olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, dried oregano, minced garlic and finely chopped onion. What did I have with it? A hot dog sans bun. Sometimes I'm more interested in planning the side dish so the entree/protein ends up being an afterthought. On another note, I highly recommend Applegate Farms beef hot dogs, they have the best flavor of any hot dog I've ever had. I signed up for their email newsletter so I can get coupons.

About half of the Sweet Girl tomatoes and some of the cilantro were used to make the salsa recipe below, and the rest were used for a batch of pico de gallo that I made ahead and brought along to enjoy with our friends over the weekend. 

Chunky Fresh Tomato Salsa
adapted from Rick Bayless - Mexican Everyday
makes about 2 cups

Notes: Don't even bother making this unless you can use ripe (preferably local) summer tomatoes.

1 garlic clove, peeled
Fresh hot green chiles to taste (such as 2 serranos or 1 jalapeno), stemmed and halved, remove some or all of the seeds if you want it less spicy
1 pound ripe round tomatoes
1/3 cup loosely packed roughly chopped cilantro
1 large green onion, roots and wilted outer leaves removed, chopped onto small pieces
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (or light-flavored vinegar)
Salt, to taste

Turn on your food processor. While it's running, drop the garlic and chile pieces in one at a time, allowing each piece to get finely chopped before adding the next. Turn off the processor and remove the lid. Chop about half of the tomatoes into quarters and add them to the processor, along with the cilantro. Pulse 4-6 times, until the mixture resembles a coarse puree. Scrape this mixture into a bowl.

Chop the rest of the tomatoes into 1/4-inch pieces and add to the bowl, along with the green onion. Taste and season with the lime juice (or vinegar) and salt (I used a generous 1/2 teaspoon). Stir to combine.

This salsa is best if eaten with an hour or two, but you can also store it in the fridge for a few hours if you want to make it ahead of time.  

Tomatoes Stuffed with Summer Corn Salad

We weren't super hungry for dinner one night, so I made this super fast appetizer as our main meal, using lots of the fresh produce from the CSA.

CSA Week 10:

In the box: 1 green leaf lettuce, 1 red bottle onion, 2 pounds tomatoes, 4 ears of corn!, 2 pounds mixed summer squash, 3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, 1 basket blackberries, 1 basket strawberries.

We had a killer grill fest one night. We grilled burgers (which we ate wrapped in lettuce leaves, both to cut down on carbs and because sometimes it's hard to justify buying a whole package of hamburger buns for two burgers). We also grilled all of the summer squash, sliced in planks. Inside, on the stove, we cooked all of the corn, and we made oven fries with about half of the potatoes (America's Test Kitchen has a fabulous recipe).

The other half of the potatoes were used to make a delicious Indian dish that I will blog about later!

The leftover corn, red onion, and tomatoes were used for the stuffed tomato appetizers.

The leftover corn salad and leftover tomatoes (chopped) were combined with some of the lettuce to make a substantial salad for lunch the next day.

The blackberries were some of the biggest I'd ever seen! I wish I'd done something special with them, but I just put them on yogurt like I do with all the fruit we get.

Tomatoes Stuffed with Summer Corn Salad
adapted from Better Homes and Gardens - June 2010
about 16 small stuffed tomatoes

Notes: This is a pretty loose recipe. It wasn't even a formal recipe to begin with; in the magazine it's pretty much just a side note. So all amounts are approximate, depending on how many you want to make and what ingredients you have on hand. I had just two ear's worth of leftover kernels to work with, so I compensated with some frozen corn, and because of that I sauteed it in butter along with the red onion first. I think lime juice would be a great addition to this salad, if you have a lime on hand.

8 small tomatoes, sliced in half along their equator, insides hollowed out
About 2 cups of corn kernels, from leftover corn on the cob and/or frozen
1/2 medium red onion (or 1 small), chopped
2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (whatever you have)
generous 1/2 cup crumbled feta (goat cheese or queso fresco would be great too)
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

If using frozen corn, saute for a few minutes in a little butter, adding the red onion if you want (especially if you don't care for raw onion). Set aside in a medium bowl and allow to cool while you prepare the other ingredients.

Add to the corn mixture the herbs, feta, oil, salt, and pepper and toss to combine. Spoon mixture into tomato cups, and serve.

French Breakfast Radishes and Anchovy Butter on Sliced Baguette

I think I can officially get on board with radishes. Why? Because I recently learned that it is perfectly acceptable to eat sandwiches that are composed entirely of butter and thinly sliced radishes.  It's a very French thing to do, in fact. The French are awesome.

What's more awesome than butter? Anchovy butter. Yes, you read that right. Mince up a few anchovy fillets, especially the kind packaged in oil, and stir them into a stick of softened butter. Add some minced chives, a little salt and pepper, and you have just made the best.thing.ever!

We literally could not stop eating this - the creamy, salty flavor is deliciously addicting. Definitely not the best thing to pair with a heavy steak dinner, but it can be balanced perfectly with a light soup or salad (and a good sweaty calorie-blasting cardio workout earlier in the day wouldn't hurt either!).

French Breakfast radishes are milder than regular radishes, but regular radishes would work here as well. I accidentally bought a 3-seed baguette at the store, but the seeds were fennel, sesame, and poppy, which actually were a nice compliment to the other flavors, so it turned out great in the end.

CSA Week 7:

In the box: 1 head lettuce, 1 bunch French Breakfast radishes, 1 cucumber, 1 pint Sungold Cherry tomatoes, 1 pound vine ripe tomatoes, 2 pounds Honeypod fava beans, 1 pound Romano beans, 1 pint strawberries, 1/2 pint red raspberries

We ate all the radishes with the anchovy butter.

We made Ellie Krieger's Garlic Basil Shrimp with the cherry tomatoes. We made a few changes, such as adding fava beans and serving alongside roasted potatoes instead of the orzo because I had potatoes leftover from last week and didn't have time to go to the store for the pasta.

A highlight of the week was Mahi Mahi with coconut rice and steamed Romano beans. I based this off of a blog post over at Liv Life and the original recipe from Sunset magazine. I used wild rice instead of white rice, which I think was an excellent choice because it has a nuttier flavor that compliments that chopped almonds that go into it. I did the same thing as Liv Life though - she mentioned in her blog post that she totally forgot to add the coconut flakes to the rice, and I spaced it too! What is up with that? Too funny!  I steamed our whole pile of Romano beans, plus a couple handfuls of snow peas from our garden. I placed the veggies on a sheet of foil, drizzled with water and a splash of white wine, then folded it up into a packet and placed it on the cooler side of the grill while the fish cooked. They came out perfectly tender.

The vine tomatoes, most of the cucumber, and the lettuce became salads for lunch/dinner throughout the week.

We ate the fruit as we usually do. We got an email from the farm to say that they had an overabundance of raspberries that week so they were offering a deal - a flat of berries for only $18. Score! We froze all of them right away. They were in little baskets inside the cardboard flat, and we just placed the whole flat in our chest freezer overnight just like that (ok, honestly, it was two days before I got around it them). Then I took each basket and shook the berries out into quart-sized ziplock freezer bags. Each berry still froze individually! I can't wait to start baking with them.

French Breakfast Radishes with Anchovy Butter on Sliced Baguette
adapted from Bon Appetit
Makes about 16

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2-3 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, plus more for garnish
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
16 1/2-inch thick diagonal slices baguette
1 bunch French Breakfast Radishes (or regular radishes), trimmed and thinly sliced on the diagonal

Mix the butter, two of the minced anchovy fillets, and two tablespoons of the chives in a small bowl. Add the third minced anchovy fillet to taste, if desired. Season with salt and pepper.

Spread the anchovy butter over one side of each slice of baguette. Top with sliced radishes, overlapping slightly, garnish with additional chopped chives, and serve.

The anchovy butter will keep in the fridge for several days, if for some reason you don't finish it all right away.

Phyllo-Wrapped Ground Beef and Vegetable Pastries

It took me a long time just to figure out what to call this recipe, because my end result was so different from what I had originally set out to cook. I wanted to make Jamie Oliver's Ground Beef Wellington, from his latest cookbook. I had one single potato to use up, some puff pastry and ground beef in the freezer already, so this looked like a great meal to put on the menu for the last week of a long month when I've already spent as much as I want to spend on groceries until my next paycheck.

When I started prepping the ingredients, however, I realized that what I had assumed to be a box of puff pastry in the freezer turned out to be phyllo dough. Not wanting to go out and buy puff pastry, I decided to work with what I had and figure it out. Thank goodness for google and food blogs!

Jamie's recipe has you bake the thing for an hour. After looking up similar sounding recipes using phyllo, I didn't think that I would be able to bake that thin, flaky dough for as long as you would bake puff pastry, but I was afraid that cooking it for less time would not cook the meat thoroughly. So I opted to make mini appetizer-sized phyllo wraps to ensure that the beef cooked all the way through, and I baked them for about 30 minutes. They came out golden brown and flaky and the meat was perfectly cooked inside!

In the end, it just didn't feel right to call them beef wellingtons. Traditional beef wellington is made with a steak like beef tenderloin, covered with a layer of pate and wrapped in puff pastry. My recipe was none of those things, but was delicious!

Phyllo-wrapped Ground Beef and Vegetable Pastries
adapted from Jamie's Food Revolution, and some food blogs (this one and that one)
makes 18-20 appetizers (serves 4-6 as main course)

1 medium onion, diced small
1 carrot, diced small
1 celery stalk, diced small
1 potato, peeled and diced small
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 portabello mushrooms, cleaned and roughly chopped into small pieces like the other veggies
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves removed from stalks and finely chopped
handful frozen peas
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 pound ground beef
salt and freshly ground black pepper
About 20 sheets Phyllo dough, thawed according to package directions
Melted butter or cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350F.

Add the olive oil to a large skillet and turn the heat to medium-low. When hot, add the onion, carrot, celery, potato, garlic, and mushrooms. Saute for a minute or so, then add the rosemary. Cook for about 8 minutes, until the vegetables soften and color slightly. Add the peas and cook for another minute.

Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and let cool completely. Add the ground beef, half the beaten egg, and some salt and pepper to the vegetable mixture. Using your clean hands or a spatula, combine all ingredients thoroughly.

Remove the phyllo sheets from the box and unroll carefully. Keep the stack covered with a moist kitchen towel. Carefully remove one sheet from the pile, recover the stack. Lay the sheet flat on your working surface and brush the edges with the butter or cooking spray. Lay another sheet on top of that one and brush with more butter/cooking spray. Cut the stack in half lengthwise.

Place about 1 heaping tablespoon of the filling onto the edge of each half, leaving about a 1-inch border from the end. Roll it up like a burrito, tucking in the sides as you go. Place on a large baking sheet and cover with a most towel.

Continue rolling up your packets until you either run out of space on your baking sheet, run out of filling, or run out of phyllo sheets. You'll have somewhere between 18-20 little meat/veggies packets.

Brush the tops of the phyllo packets with the rest of the beaten egg. Cut three diagonal slits into each one. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the phyllo is golden brown.

We served ours with steamed rabes (kale, I think? I already forgot) drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar.